Retracted: Group Status and Attributions to Discrimination: Are Low- or High-Status Group Members More Likely to Blame their Failure on Discrimination?

Abstract

Research has shown that low-status group members tend to minimize discrimination as a reason for negative feedback relative to other causes. Three experiments examined whether this tendency is limited to low-status group members or extends to high-status group members. Participants made attributions for negative feedback on a test after receiving information about the probability that they had been discriminated against by an out-group member. Experiment 1 compared women and men, Experiment 2 compared Blacks and Whites, and Experiment 3 compared members of experimentally created low- and high-status groups. All experiments demonstrated that low-status group members were significantly less likely than high-status group members to blame their poor performance on discrimination and more likely to blame their failure on the type of test, the quality of their answers, and their ability and effort. This was especially apparent when the probability for discrimination was ambiguous.