Do high-status groups discriminate more? Differentiating between social identity between and equity concerns

High status groups have been found to discriminate more than low status groups and this tendency can be interpreted as reflecting either a desire to maintain a positive social identity or an application of equity. An experiment was conducted in order to examine the roles of these two factors. The independent variables were status (high vs. low), and the nature of the relation between the dimension on which status was defined and the dimension on which in-group bias was measured (relation, no relation). It was predicted that the status differential would be reproduced through the allocations. Contrary to this hypothesis, neither the high nor the low status group displayed in-group favoritism in this condition. It was further predicted that members of both groups would display in-group bias on the new dimension, either as a means of preserving a positive social identity or in order to achieve one. This second hypothesis was confirmed.