Murray Webster

Beauty as Status

Physical attractiveness (beauty) affects both cognitions about individuals and their interaction patterns. Our proposed theoretical explanation for these phenomena links attractiveness effects to other cases of status generalization such as those produced by race or sex. Many effects of attractiveness can be explained by viewing it as a status characteristic and applying a theory of status charactersitics and expectation states proposed and elaborated by Joseph Berger and others. A test of the proposed explanation shows that (1) attractiveness produces predicted differences in both general and specific expectations; (2) attractiveness effects can be modified in combination with additional status characteristics; and (3) neither of the two above results is affected by sex of stimulus individuals or respondents, a differentiation of this explanation from one that relies on sexual or romatinc appeal.

Assessing the Gender Gap in Just Earnings and Its Underlying Mechanisms

We report new theoretical and empirical developments in the study of the gender gap in just earnings-the earnings regarded as just, in the eyes of observers-estimating both the gap and the mechanisms by which just earnings are produced. Four models previously presented are elaborated to include effects of experience as well as education ; data from a new and larger sample are used; and improved procedures for measuring the just reward are introduced. Results show that the gender gap in perceived just earnings has closed for these respondents but that gender-related differences persist in the mechanisms by which just earnings are produced.

Double standards in just earnings for male and female workers

When observers judge the amount of a reward they consider just for target recipients, they may treat male and female recipients differently, and this gender-based double standard may itself differ by the observers own gender. In this paper we develop a framework that enables quantitative assessment of multiple standards as well as of the mechanisms by which they operate. The framework also makes it possible to test for differences in multiple standards across different subsets of respondents; and it is applicable to questions of multiple standards in both justice judgments and allocation decisions. To illustrate the framework, we examine a special case of multiple standards-gender-based double standards-and we focus on judgments of just earnings, using data collected by Rossis factorial survey method. We conduct two main sets of analyses, the first focusing on the double standard and the second on the mechanisms by which the double standard operates. In the first set we estimate the just gender wage gap, in the eyes of male and female observers separately, establishing the existence and direction of the just gender wage gap and quantifying the differential across male and female observers. In the second set we assess the mechanisms by which the double standards operate, separating and quantifying two mechanisms-double standards in the just base wage (i.e., the base wage regarded as just by the observer) and in the just rate of return to schooling (i.e., the rate of return to schooling regarded as just by the observer)-establishing their direction and testing whether the mechanisms differ by observers gender.

Expectation States Theory: Growth, Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract Purpose We survey and organize over fifty years of theoretical research on status and expectation state processes. After defining some key terms in this theoretical approach, we briefly describe theories and branches in the program. Methodology/Approach We also focus on a few theories that illustrate distinct patterns of theory growth, using them to show the variety of ways in which the research program has grown. Findings The program structure developed from a single set of theories on development and maintenance of group inequality in the 1960s to six interrelated branches by 1988. Between 1988 and today, the overall structure has grown to total 19 different branches. We briefly describe each branch, identifying over 200 resources for the further study of these branches. Research Implications Although the various branches share key concepts and processes, they have been developed by different researchers, in a variety of settings from laboratories to schools to business organizations. Second, we outline some important issues for further research in some of the branches. Third, we emphasize the value of developing new research methods for testing and applying the theories. Practical Implications These theories have been used to explain phenomena of gender, racial, and ethnic inequality among others, and for understanding some cases of personality attributions, deviance and control processes, and application of double standards in hiring. Social Implications Status and expectation state processes often operate to produce invidious social inequalities. Understanding these processes can enable social scientists to devise more effective interventions to reduce these inequalities. Originality/Value of the Chapter Status and expectation state processes occupy a significant segment of research into group processes. This chapter provides an authoritative overview of ideas in the program, what is known, and what remains to be discovered.

Behavior, Expectations and Status

We predict effects of behavior patterns and status on performance expectations and group inequality using an integrated theory developed by Fişek, Berger and Norman (1991). We next test those predictions using new experimental techniques we developed to control behavior patterns as independent variables. In a 10-condition experiment, predictions accounted for about 72 percent of variance in the data, with closer fit for women than for men. The gender difference may be related to features of the experiment, especially to the experimental design that counters cultural gender prescriptions in some conditions. We suggest ways to improve the experiment by more precisely separating behavior from inferred performance competence in later research. Applications include using behavior to reduce undesirable effects of status generalization.

Accepting "Significant Others": Six Models'

Six alternative models of the ways in which individuals accept and organize information from potential sources are proposed. Parameter estimates are obtained from a set of experiments (N=110), and the models are tested against data from an independent set of experiments (N=114). Result of the test favor a simple additive model. Two of the models proposed are elaborations of ideas recently proposed by Berger and Fisek (1970), and results of our tests are generally consistent with theirs. Further applications of the models to experimental and to natural settings are drawn, and some consequences of the results of the tests are discussed.

Applications of Theories of Group Processes

Theories of group processes have been and are being applied usefully to natural situations. We review a selection of these theories and examine different types of applications and interventions to which they have led. We then offer a typology of application, five “stages” with examples. As theoretical application proceeds, issues of complexity, rules of correspondence, and competing social interests increase the difficulty of that work, yet the benefits are considerable for theoretical development.

Pretesting Experimental Instructions

Laboratory experiments, well established in sociology and social psychology, are alternate realities constructed for assessing derivations from theories. Experiments instantiate a theorys scope and initial conditions, and that information is usually delivered through instructions to participants. Because experiments often use video and computer technology and often test very precise predictions of new theories, we suggest developing objective means to assess information delivery. We illustrate these points by reference to a widely used standard experiment to assess theories of status processes. We first describe elements of good experimental design with their justifications. Next, we describe new techniques we have developed and illustrate their usefulness, showing results of a first use of the new techniques. While the assessment still relies somewhat on judgments, we find the technique useful and suggest further developments that might improve it for experimental and other research uses.

WORKING ON STATUS PUZZLES

Basic science, sometimes called “curiosity-driven research” at the National Science Foundation and other places, starts with a question that somehow stays in the mind, nagging for an answer. Such questions really are “puzzles”; they arise in an intellectual field or context, asking someone to fit pieces to an improving but incomplete picture of the social world. What makes a worthwhile puzzle is a missing part in understanding the picture, or a new piece of knowledge that does not seem to fit among other parts. Sometimes creative theorists can imagine a solution to one of the holes in the puzzle. If they are also empirical scientists, they devise ways to get evidence bearing on their ideas, and some of those ideas survive to give more complete and detailed pictures of the world. This chapter is the story of puzzles and provisional solutions to them, developed by dozens of men and women investigating status processes and status structures, using a coherent perspective, for over half a century.1

Status, Participation, and Influence in Task Groups:

Status generalization theories describe how society’s status advantages and disadvantages can structure group inequality and also can suggest ways to design interventions to overcome its undesirable effects. We address problems of interaction as affected by the status characteristic race, which often disadvantages black members of work teams. Following the lead of Goar and Sell, we devised mixed-race task groups of women aimed at equalizing influence over the groups’ decisions. In baseline groups, white women exerted greater influence than did black women. In experimental groups, we artificially increased the participation of black women, and thereby increased their influence over group decisions. We consider some implications for diversity in natural settings including business organizations.