Perceivers' Responses to In-Group and Out-Group Members Who Blame a Negative Outcome on Discirmination

The authors extend recent research concerning the social costs of claiming discrimination by examining men's & women's responses to in-group & out-group targets who either blamed a failing grade on discrimination or answer quality. Although participants generally responded more negatively to targets who blamed discrimination, rather than answer quality, dislike was greatest & gender group identification was lowest when participants evaluated an in-group target. Moreover, an in-group target who claimed discrimination was perceived as avoiding personal responsibility for outcomes to a greater extent than was a similar out-group target. Perceptions that the target avoided outcome responsibility by claiming discrimination were shown to mediate the relationship between attribution type & dislike of the in-group target. The authors discuss their results in terms of intragroup processes & suggest that social costs may especially accrue for in-group members when claiming discrimination has implications for the in-group's social identity. Tables, Figures, References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2005 the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.]