PI: Jane Sell Institution: Texas A&M University
SES-0962289 PI: Carla Goar Institution: Northern Illinois University
Even when there is no logical reason for them to do so, initial status differences among group members, such as race, class and gender, can organize interaction in groups. Such organization is often detrimental to both the individual and the group. We propose four experimental studies to study how racial inequality in task groups can be lessened. The first two studies examine how presentation of the group task affects racial inequality. The next two studies test whether group members can transfer their experiences from groups in which racial inequality is lessened to new groups.
Broader Impacts: The results reflect upon interactions common to many small groups, such as research teams or classrooms. Additionally the studies involve research training for both graduate and undergraduate students.
Carla Goar (Co-PI, Kent State University) Jane Sell (PI, Texas A&M University) Our research examines the mechanisms associated with the reduction of inequality in task groups. Expectation states theorists argue that individuals possess traits or characteristics to which different meanings and values are attached. Some traits are more valued than others (for example, in the United States, men and White individuals tend to enjoy higher social status than women and people of color, respectively). Individuals who possess different statuses often interact in task groups, and in the absence of specific information about other group members, may rely on others’ status characteristics to form expectations about their ability to contribute to the task group’s success. This leaves those who possess low status characteristics at a disadvantage; that is, those individuals tend to exhibit less power and prestige during group interaction when compared to their high status peers. We propose an experiment that examines an intervention that might hamper the activation of expectations based on status characteristics. Our experiment uses the multiability intervention, a condition that characterizes completion of a group task as requiring many different abilities instead of one primary skill set. By masking the exact abilities needed to complete a task, groups become open to the broad array of capabilities that members possess. This creates additional opportunities for group members, and especially low status members, to contribute to task completion. Specifically, we use the multiability intervention to examine how racial inequality may be reduced in diverse task groups. Our previous research indicates that, when intervention did not occur, racial inequality in social interaction was generated. White women exhibited greater levels of power and prestige than African-American women during group interactions. However, when the multiability intervention was introduced, racial disparities between White and African-American women were reduced. We replicate and expand our prior work by examining how racial inequality in groups can be decreased, whether the decreases last over time, and whether decreases can be transferred to new groups. To test these ideas, we conducted experiments using task groups composed of White and African-American women. In phase one, groups were exposed to either the multiability intervention or a control condition in which no intervention was introduced. Groups were then charged with solving a number of objective problems that required a great deal of interaction. During this interaction, groups were videotaped and these recordings were later coded for interaction type and amount of time each participant spent talking. These groups met for three sessions over a three week period. In a second phase of experiments, randomly selected White and African-American women from the initial groups were placed in new groups in which no intervention was introduced. The second set of experiments was designed to test whether interaction patterns are transferred from old to new groups. Our preliminary findings suggest that, when comparing groups exposed to the multiability intervention with groups exposed to the control condition, initial reductions in racial inequality occur but are not lasting. Though significant reductions occur during the first two sessions, these reductions do not appear in the third session. This suggests that as groups interact over time, differences between the multiability intervention and baseline condition decrease. This finding supports the contact hypothesis which argues that consistent interaction helps create environments in which power and prestige disparities among diverse group members is lessened. Additional analyses of influence, individual attitudes and perception, group success, and phase two measures are forthcoming. The principles examined here are important for understanding how racially diverse task groups, increasingly found in classrooms and work groups, interact over time. Preliminary results offer implications of how such groups might be structured to lessen inequality. If forthcoming analyses offer additional convincing instances of inequality reduction, then interventions could be implemented in settings where such groups interact. Finally, this project involved the education and training of an interracial research team composed of both undergraduate and graduate students. Students were involved in all aspects of the research process including laboratory preparation, subject recruitment, experiment implementation, data transcription and coding, conference presentations, and manuscript preparation. Findings for the project will result in papers submitted for publication to a broad academic audience and presentations at national conferences.
