GROUP STATUS AND ATTRIBUTIONS TO DISCRIMINATION - ARE LOW-STATUS OR HIGH-STATUS GROUP MEMBERS MORE LIKELY TO BLAME THEIR FAILURE ON DISCRIMINATION

Research has shown that low-status group members tend to minimize disc rimination as a reason for negative feedback relative to other causes. Three experiments examined whether this tendency is limited to low-st atus group members or extends to high-status group members. Participan ts made attributions for negative feedback on a test after receiving i nformation about the probability that they had been discriminated agai nst by an out-group member Experiment I compared women and men, Experi ment 2 compared Blacks and Whites, and Experiment 3 compared members o f experimentally created low and high-status groups. All experiments d emonstrated that low-status group members were significantly less like ly than high-status group members to blame their poor performance on d iscrimination and more likely to blame their failure on the type of te st, the quality of their answers, and their ability and effort. This w as especially apparent when the probability for discrimination was amb iguous.