The thesis describes a program of research aimed at delineating an important concept in the social psychology of intergroup relations: tokenism. A series of experiments first established that disadvantaged group members faced with open access to an advantaged group (meritocracy) choose either inaction or attempts at individual upward mobility. Conversely, those faced with an advantaged group that is closed (complete discrimination) engage primarily in collective nonnormative action. However, when faced with severe, but not total, discriminatory restrictions (tokenism), disadvantaged group members consistently prefer individual nonnormative action. This preference is unaffected by increases in ingroup identification, increased prior ingroup interaction, and removal of direct self-interest. Some support was found for the role of situational ambiguity in maintaining the preference for individual action in conditions of tokenism. In two final experiments the behavioral responses of "successful tokens" were investigated. These experiments show that successful tokens shift their allegiance from the disadvantaged group to the advantaged group and choose action in support of this new high-status ingroup at the expense of the disadvantaged group.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.70237 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Wright, Stephen C. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001254843, proquestno: AAINN72206, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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