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The Impact of Ingroup vs Outgroup Performance on Personal Values☆,☆☆,★

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Abstract

Two experiments explored the effects of ingroup vs outgroup performance on the extent to which individuals value an attribute. Self-appraisals of personal standing on the attribute were examined as a potential mediator of this relationship. In both experiments, members of two groups (either experimentally created or gender groups) took a test of a bogus personality trait and received feedback about the performance of their ingroup relative to an outgroup. Feedback about personal performance was not provided. Results of both studies demonstrated that individuals valued the attribute less when their ingroup scored lower than the outgroup compared to when the ingroup scored higher than the outgroup. Relative ingroup performance also affected participants' self-appraisals of their own standing on the attribute. These self-appraisals, however, only partially mediated the effects of group performance on personal valuing. The implications for selective devaluing as a self-protective strategy used by stigmatized groups are discussed.

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    ☆

    This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SBR 9412306 awarded to Jennifer Crocker and Brenda Major while at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Portions of this research were presented at the April 1988 meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Buffalo, New York, and at the May 1997 meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC. We are extremely grateful to Brian Peterson, Cathy Cozzarelli, and Jennifer Crocker for their contributions at various phases of this research. We also thank Brian Lickel for his helpful comments on an earlier draft.

    ☆☆

    Correspondence concerning this article and reprint requests should be addressed to either Toni Schmader or Brenda Major, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Electronic mail may be sent via the Internet [email protected].

    ★

    J. SwimC. Stangor

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