Kevin R. Binning

Testing an Integrative Model of Respect: Implications for Social Engagement and Well-Being

Prior research demonstrates that feelings of respect affect important aspects of group functioning and members’ psychological well-being. One limitation is that respect has been variously defined as reflecting individuals’ status in the group, degree to which they are liked by the group, and how fairly they are treated in interactions with group members. These different conceptions are integrated in the dual pathway model of respect. The authors tested the model’s prediction that fair treatment from group members shapes attitudes toward the group and self via two distinct pathways: status and inclusion. Findings from a field study supported the model and yielded new insights: Whereas perceptions of status predicted social engagement, liking was more important in predicting well-being (especially among dominant subgroups). Discussion focuses on the utility of the dual pathway model for understanding how respect perceptions are formed and how they affect the welfare of groups and individuals.

Subgroup respect, social engagement, and well-being: A field study of an ethnically diverse high school.

Recent research points toward the utility of the pluralist (multicultural) model as a viable alternative to the traditional assimilation model of cultural integration. In this study, we extend this work by evaluating when and to what extent feelings that members of a common group respect and value ones ethnic group membership (subgroup respect) shape social engagement and well-being. We do so in the context of a survey of students at a diverse, public high school. Subgroup respect was linked to more positive evaluations of both school authorities and students from ethnic outgroups as well as to lower levels of school disengagement. Consistent with past research, these relationships held only among ethnic minority groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos) but not among Whites. Findings about the relationship between subgroup respect and indicators of well-being were more mixed, with the relationship most evident among Asians Americans and Latinos and especially on indicators of physical health. Implications for understanding the consequences of pluralism are discussed in light of the observed ethnic group differences.

Diversity Is in the Eye of the Beholder: How Concern for the In-Group Affects Perceptions of Racial Diversity

The reported studies suggest that concern for the in-group motivates Asian Americans and African Americans to define diversity specifically, that is, as entailing both minorities’ numerical and hierarchical representation, while motivating White Americans to define diversity broadly, that is, as entailing either minorities’ high numerical and/or hierarchical representation in an organization. Studies 2–4 directly assess if a concern for the in-group affects conceptions of diversity by measuring Black and White participants’ racial identity centrality, an individual difference measure of the extent to which individuals define themselves according to race. These studies suggest that the tendency to conceive diversity in ways protective of the in-group is especially pronounced among individuals who identify strongly with their racial in-group.

Self-affirmation facilitates minority middle schoolers' progress along college trajectories

Significance This research represents an experimental investigation of how a psychological process unfolds over many years to affect success at a later period of transition, even almost a decade later. A series of 15-min reflective writing exercises not only closed academic performance gaps in early adolescence but, years later, improved drivers of academic and economic opportunity among minority youth: high school course choices, college enrollment, and 4-y college selectivity. Long-term benefits occurred despite the barriers that confront minority students on the path to college. A psychological intervention can have a persistent positive effect when it ushers people onto positive structural pathways. Small but timely experiences can have long-term benefits when their psychological effects interact with institutional processes. In a follow-up of two randomized field experiments, a brief values affirmation intervention designed to buffer minority middle schoolers against the threat of negative stereotypes had long-term benefits on college-relevant outcomes. In study 1, conducted in the Mountain West, the intervention increased Latino Americans’ probability of entering a college readiness track rather than a remedial one near the transition to high school 2 y later. In study 2, conducted in the Northeast, the intervention increased African Americans’ probability of college enrollment 7–9 y later. Among those who enrolled in college, affirmed African Americans attended relatively more selective colleges. Lifting a psychological barrier at a key transition can facilitate students’ access to positive institutional channels, giving rise to accumulative benefits.

Understanding Status as a Social Resource

Status has been the focus of a large number of studies in sociology and social psychology. However, less attention has been devoted to systematic conceptual analyses of status. In this chapter, Kevin Binning and Yuen Huo apply social resource theory to gain insight into the meaning and uses of social status in everyday social experience. The authors present a taxonomy in which status is theorized to vary along the particularism and concreteness dimensions. Thus, status can be highly symbolic (e.g., politeness) or relatively concrete (e.g., military or societal ranking or position). It can also be held and distributed in universalistic fashion, without regard to personal or idiosyncratic features, or in a highly particular, targeted, and specific fashion. Combining the two dimensions, four distinct types of status are developed to understand status in a variety of manifestations: status as a symbolic recognition of human dignity, status as respect and social deference, status as a concrete ranking system in a group or organization, and status as a broad, societal hierarchy. This chapter illustrates the possibility of distinguishing resource subtypes along the same two dimensions that are used to distinguish among Foa’s six “major” resource classes.

Perceiving Ethnic Diversity on Campus Group Differences in Attention to Hierarchical Representation

A field study tested whether Asian and White students use different criteria when judging the racial and ethnic diversity of their university. The university under study had roughly equal numbers of Asians and Whites, but Asians were heavily concentrated in the student body and had relatively low numbers in high-status university positions (the faculty and administration). Results showed that, as long as the student body was deemed diverse, the status asymmetry did not prevent Whites from regarding their university as diverse or from opposing efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity on campus. Asians, by contrast, were attentive to the status asymmetry: they incorporated faculty/administrative diversity into their judgments of the university and saw diversity in the student body as a reason to increase diversity in high-status positions. The results suggest that people perceive and support diversity in ways that align with the interests of their ethnic in-groups.

Chapter 4 The Interplay between fairness and the experience of respect: Implications for group life

Purpose – To present a new conceptual framework for understanding how perceptions of fairness shape the experience of respect in groups and its implications for individuals’ engagement in groups, their psychological well-being, and intergroup relations. Design/methodology/approach – Research on fairness perceptions and respect emerge from different theoretical traditions including theories of justice, social identity theory, and social context and health. We review this body of work and present the dual pathway model of respect, developed to integrate the different lines of research into a single testable framework. Research testing the models predictions is presented. Findings – The dual pathway model posits that concerns about respect follow from the need for social inclusion and for status attainment. Fair treatment from group peers and authorities communicates the extent to which these needs are satisfied, and as such, perceptions of being liked (indicative of inclusion) and of being judged worthy (indicative of status attainment) independently and differentially predict social engagement and psychological well-being. Originality/value – The dual pathway model provides a framework for integrating and extending existing research on the experience of respect in groups. The model highlights how the inclusion and status dimensions of respect differentially shape outcomes relevant to group functioning: social engagement and psychological well-being. Insights from the model address a broad array of challenges faced by organizations, including building commitment, managing diversity, and promoting health and well-being among its members.

The effect of math SAT on women's chemistry competency beliefs

In chemistry, lack of academic preparation and math ability have been offered as explanations as to why women seem to enroll, perform, and graduate at lower levels than men. In this paper, we explore the alternative possibility that the gender gap in chemistry instead originates from differential gender effects of academic factors on students’ motivation. Using a sample of approximately 670 students enrolled in a mid-sized university in the United States we conducted: (1) t-tests to understand incoming academic differences between freshman students by gender, (2) regression analysis to determine which academic and attitudinal factors predict success in General Chemistry 1, and (3) a mediation analysis to understand the underlying mechanisms of how academic performance affects students’ beliefs about their competency in chemistry, which in turn has an effect on chemistry achievement. We demonstrate the importance of math ability as a contributor to chemistry achievement, but further that ability differences in math are important because they affect students’ chemistry competency beliefs. Critically, this link between ability and competency beliefs is stronger for women than men. These results suggest that interventions geared towards improving womens chemistry competency beliefs could have an important influence in improving their achievement in the classroom, and in consequence reduce the gender gap in chemistry.

Categorization and Communication in the Face of Prejudice: When Describing Perceptions Changes What Is Perceived

In the face of prejudice against an ingroup, common ground for communication exists when people use similar social categories to understand the situation. Three studies tested the hypothesis that describing perceptions of prejudice can fundamentally change those perceptions because communicators account for the common ground in line with conversational norms. When women (Study 1), African Americans (Study 2), and Americans (Study 3) simply thought about suspected prejudice against their ingroup, categorization guided their perceptions: Participants assimilated their views of the prejudiced event toward the perceptions of ingroup members but contrasted away from the perceptions of outgroup members. Conversely, when participants described their perceptions, they contrasted away from the given category information and actually arrived at the opposite perceptions as those who merely thought about the prejudiced event. Study 3 identified an important qualification of these effects by showing that they were obtained only when participants could assume their audience was familiar with the common ground. Implications are discussed for understanding the role of communication in facilitating and inhibiting collective action about prejudice.

Persistence Mindset among Adolescents: Who Benefits from the Message that Academic Struggles are Normal and Temporary?

Research proposing that mindset interventions promote student achievement has been conducted at a frenetic pace nationwide in the United States, with many studies yielding mixed results. The present study explores the hypothesis that mindset interventions are beneficial for students only under specific circumstances. Using a randomized controlled trial with student-level random assignment within two public schools (School 1: n = 198 seventh-graders, 73% Black, 27% White, 53% male; School 2: n = 400 ninth-graders, 98% White, 2% Black, 52% male), this trial conceptually integrated elements from three evidence-based mindset interventions. It then examined two theoretically driven moderators of student performance following the transition to middle or high school: students’ racial backgrounds and students’ educational expectations. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for a particular subset of students—Black students with high educational expectations—resulting in higher grades over the course of the year. Among students with low educational expectations (regardless of race), the intervention did not impact grades. For White students with high educational expectations, the control activities actually benefitted grades more than the mindset intervention. Both theoretical and practical implications for mindset research are discussed.