On the effects of changes in group status

• Main Author: Radmila Prišlin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Slovenian Psychologists' Association 2000-03-01
• Series: Psihološka Obzorja
• Subjects: personal change; social change; loss-gain asymmetry; attitudes; majority-minority status; intergroup relations; effects of change
• Online Access: http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2000_1/prislin.pdf

Change is very frequent sociopsychological phenomena, that we notice when transformations from minority to majority, high to low social status, weak to strong social position and vice versa are being conducted. Causes of change are described in literature that deals with attitudes and persuasion, group dynamics, conformity and group development. But we lack the information concerned with consequences of change. This article describes three subjects related to this problem: (i) assessment and evaluation of personal change, (ii) assessment and evaluation of social change and (iii) reactions to change-related agents in a group context. The author introduces a series of experiments based on loss-gain asymmetry (Tversky & Kahneman, 1991). The results implicate that assessment and evaluation of change is influenced by different agents like the direction of comparison (comparing past to present or vice versa), desirability of stability or change of attitudes, maintaining the positive views about the self or the group, gain or loss of group status or power. The change of group status leads to change in the perception of group-self similarity and group attraction, expectancies about future group interactions and group self-evaluation. Change of group status and power is a central determinant of intergroup relations.