Perceiving Status (In)stability in a Low-Status Group: The Effects of Identification on Explicit and Implicit Intergroup Attitudes

We examined whether perceptions of status (in)stability moderate the effects of ingroup identification on explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes. We expected that identification with Italians (low-status group) would enhance ingroup bias toward Americans (high-status group) more when status was unstable rather than stable. We also predicted that the effects of identification on bias would be driven by ingroup enhancement for explicit attitudes and by both ingroup enhancement and outgroup derogation for implicit attitudes. The results revealed that identification increased explicit ingroup evaluation and ingroup bias independently from status (in)stability. However, identification increased implicit outgroup derogation only with unstable status. The results are discussed with reference to Social Identity Theory and to the importance of considering both explicit and implicit attitudes.