How does the status of a group influence the behavior of individuals within the group? This dissertation aims to answer this question by investigating the psychological and behavioral implications of membership in high- versus low-status groups, with a primary focus on the impact of membership in a high-status group. I propose that membership in high-status groups leads to self-oriented intragroup behavior, behavior that best suits members’ own interests regardless of the impact on group outcomes. In five studies, I test this idea and examine the psychological mechanism underlying this effect. The first three studies find that membership in a high-status group (a) decreases the resources allocated for the group as members attempt to ensure personal gain; (b) lowers the preference for a competent newcomer who may enhance group outcome but who may jeopardize personal gains; and (c) reduces the amount of voluntary information sharing during group negotiations, hindering group outcomes. The findings also reveal that reducing the conflict between group and personal interests via cooperative incentives encourages group-oriented behavior in high-status groups. The next two studies conceptually replicate these findings focusing on members’ information withholding – self-oriented behavior designed to prevent other in-group members from outperforming them. Specifically, results reveal that high-status group-membership increases intentional withholding of information, which in turn impairs group outcomes. However, this damaging pattern of intragroup behavior triggered by membership in a high-status group is alleviated when group members are led to believe that their group status is at stake. Taken together, this dissertation provides converging evidence that membership in high-status groups increases emphasis on personal interests within the group and that these concerns manifest in intragroup behavior that is distinct from that triggered by membership in low-status groups. The findings illuminate how the status of a group might shape the ways that members interact with other in-group members, as well as document the potential micro- and meso-level mechanisms through which status differences among social groups persist and change.

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A travers cette thèse réalisée auprès des français d'origine maghrébine, nous avons essayé de déceler le rôle de certains processus cognitifs, affectifs et motivationnels qui peuvent conditionner la perception de discrimination en milieu professionnel et déterminer les stratégies d’ajustements mises en œuvre face à la privation de l’emploi. Dans une première étude (Etude1), nous avons essayé d’évaluer les effets directs ou indirects du statut « social acquis » sur la perception de discrimination au niveau individuel et groupal ; en ce sens, nous amorçons un questionnement quant à leurs répercussions sur l’estime de soi et les stratégies d’ajustement cognitives et identitaires. Dans la continuité des travaux sur l'ambiguïté attributionnelle (Crocker & Major, 1989), la deuxième étude (Etude 2) s’est intéressée aux effets émotionnels, cognitifs et comportementaux de l’activation de la situation de la discrimination face à l’emploi selon qu’elle est explicite ou ambiguë. Dans la troisième étude (Etude 3), qui s’est déroulée en deux phases, nous avons étudié les processus de perception de discrimination selon la source de discrimination (endogroupale vs exogroupale). Enfin, dans notre dernière étude (Etude 4), également en deux phases, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’impact du processus de comparaison (intergroupale vs intragroupale) sur la dévaluation du travail et la Croyance en un Monde Juste. / Despite structural dimensions which are linked to the unchanging objective factors of discrimination, we have been focused on the issue of the cognitive, affective and motivational processes that condition the reactions of French citizens with Maghreb origins and their perception. The aim of the first study « Study 1 » was to evaluate the direct and the indirect effects of the « obtained social status » about the feeling of individual and group discrimination towards stigmatized people. In that way to initiate a reflection regarding their impact on the self esteem. Then, within the second study « Study 2 », we were inspired of the work on the attributional ambiguity (Crocker & Major, 1989) in order to interest us on the emotional and behavioural effects which cause explicit or implicit discrimination. Within the third study « Study 3 », in two phases we have studied the perception process according to the source of discrimination. This was carried out in two phases. Finally, in our last study « Study 4 », we were interested on the impact of the comparison impact made (intragroup vs intergroup) concerning the psychological withdrawal and the belief in a righteous world.

The moderation function of in-group status position on the relationship between group-based guilt and reparation intention was tested in a 2 (group-based guilt: low versus high) x 2 (status loss: weak versus strong) factorial between-subjects design, using an online survey software program named Qualtrics. The target population was white South African undergraduate students born after 1988 and registered at the University of South Africa. The results of the first Experiment confirmed the hypothesis, that the relationship between group-based guilt and reparation intention becomes less significant the more participants perceive a loss of status for their in-group. However, the hypothesis could not be confirmed in Experiment 2. The results are presented and discussed in detail / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The moderation function of in-group status position on the relationship between group-based guilt and reparation intention was tested in a 2 (group-based guilt: low versus high) x 2 (status loss: weak versus strong) factorial between-subjects design, using an online survey software program named Qualtrics. The target population was white South African undergraduate students born after 1988 and registered at the University of South Africa. The results of the first Experiment confirmed the hypothesis, that the relationship between group-based guilt and reparation intention becomes less significant the more participants perceive a loss of status for their in-group. However, the hypothesis could not be confirmed in Experiment 2. The results are presented and discussed in detail / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)