Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026
10:29
A Complex Diving-For-Food Task to Investigate Social Organization and Interactions in Rats
Published on: May 8, 2021
Faustian bargains for minorities within group-based hierarchies
C David Navarrete1, Melissa M McDonald
1Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. c.d.navarrete@gmail.com
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|November 21, 2012
Summary
Minority youth face a dilemma: academic success may cost social support from peers. This dual-audience signaling model explains persistent group-based inequality, offering a strategic agent perspective.
Area of Science:
- Social psychology
- Sociology
- Economics
Background:
- Group-based inequality persists across generations.
- Existing psychological models offer limited explanations for minority underachievement.
- A dual-audience signaling problem framework is proposed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a model explaining underachievement among minority youth.
- To explore the trade-off between academic success and peer social support.
- To offer a strategic agent perspective on inequality.
Main Methods:
- Development of a theoretical model.
- Analysis of a dual-audience signaling problem.
- Consideration of strategic agent perspectives.
Main Results:
- A necessary trade-off exists between academic achievement and peer social support for minority youth.
- This dilemma is not typically faced by nonminority youth.
- Preliminary evidence supports the proposed model.
Conclusions:
- The dual-audience signaling framework deepens understanding of group-based inequality.
- This perspective complements existing psychological approaches with fewer assumptions.
- The model highlights a key mechanism perpetuating inequality among minority youth.
Related Concept Videos
01:31In- and Out-Groups
People all belong to a gender, race, age, and social economic group. These groups provide a powerful source of our identity and self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and serve as our in-groups. An in-group is a group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to.
01:19Impact of Groups on Groups
Social psychologists analyze how groups influence one another, shaping social structures and interactions through both cooperation and competition. These dynamics manifest in various ways, ranging from economic partnerships to intergroup conflicts that shape societal structures and perceptions.Cooperation and Competition in Intergroup RelationsIntergroup relationships vary across contexts, sometimes fostering cooperation and mutual benefit while at other times leading to conflict and...
02:16Stereotype Content Model
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence categorization, a person will feel...
02:55Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are...
04:49Robbers Cave
During the 1950s, the landmark Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that when groups must compete with one another, intergroup conflict, hostility, and even violence may result. At the Oklahoman summer camp, two troops of boys—termed the Rattlers and the Eagles—took part in a week-long tournament. During this time, their negativity culminated in derogatory name-calling, fistfights, and even vandalism and destruction of property. However, this work also revealed that such tension could be...
02:09Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...