Raymond T. Garza

Social group salience and interethnic cooperation

Abstract This research was designed to test the adequacy of H. Tajfels (1978, Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations, New York/London: Academic Press) theory of social identity for predicting cooperative behavior among members of ethnically mixed groups. Equally divided by sex, subjects were 24 Anglo-American and 24 Hispanic undergraduate students attending the University of California, Riverside. Subjects were exposed to cooperative and competitive feedback in four-member, same-sex groups which varied in the ratio of Anglo to Hispanic subjects to create two conditions—a 3 to 1 versus a 1 to 3 in-group to out-group composition. Results showed that members of both ethnic groups were equally cooperative when their own group was in the numerical majority (low-salience condition). In the high-salience condition, however, when their own group was in the numerical minority, Hispanic subjects were significantly more competitive than Anglo subjects. In addition, while Hispanics were significantly more competitive in the minority than in the majority condition, Anglos showed a slight tendency to be less competitive in the minority than in the majority condition. These results are discussed in light of social identity theory and its application to the study of interethnic cooperation/competition in heterogeneous groups.

Environmental Influences and Personal Choice: A Humanistic Perspective on Acculturation

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical rationale for the application of the Garza and Lipton (1982) interactional model to the study of acculturation. The major contention is that past models have failed to adequately account for the highly complex interaction between environmental influences and personal choice. The interactional model is reviewed and discussed in order to show how certain aspects of the theories of Egon Brunswik (1952), George Kelly (1955), and Kurt Lewin (1935) have been incorporated into the proposed model. Following this discussion, the model is presented in detail, emphasizing its relevance for understanding the acculturation phenomenon. Finally, the notion of the multicultural person is proposed as guide to future work on acculturation from the perspective of humanistic interaction.

Social identity: a multidimensional approach

Abstract In this study salience, importance, and multidimensional aspects of spontaneous social identities were examined. A Social Identity Survey was developed and administered to an ethnically diverse sample of American undergraduate students. Freely generated, social identities were rank ordered for importance and rated along four conceptually-derived dimensions: emotion, evaluation, importance, and stability. Results showed pattern differences among three groups of highly salient social identities: (a) gender, religion, and ethnicity; (b) academic major and student; and (c) hobbies and athletics. Ethnic differences suggest that mainstream Americans attributed less importance to the gender and ethnic identities in comparison with Asians and Hispanics.

Ingroup/outgroup balance and interdependent interethnic behavior

Abstract The effects of ingroup/outgroup balance and situational interdependence on interethnic competitive behavior of Anglos and Hispanics were examined. Equal numbers of male and female Anglo and Hispanic subjects (N = 240) were exposed to either cooperative or competitive interdependent feedback in six-person, same-sex groups. Ingroup/outgroup balance was manipulated by varying the ratio of Anglos to Hispanics from 1:5 through 6:0 (in both ethnic directions). With the single exception of the solo (1:5) condition in which Anglos cooperated and Hispanics competed with equal levels of intensity, the response patterns of the two ethnic groups were strikingly similar under the competitive interdependence condition. However, ingroup/outgroup balance had a drastic impact on the behavior of Hispanics under a cooperative feedback condition. Hispanics engaged in intense intergroup competition (sought relative gain) in both the solo and the minority condition (2:4), but they cooperated (sought absolute gain) when their ingroup/outgroup balance was equal, majority, extreme majority, and exclusive. In contrast, the behavior of Anglos exposed to the same cooperative feedback condition was minimally affected by changes in ingroup/outgroup balance. These results are discussed in terms of Social Identity Theory and its limitations within the context of Anglo-Hispanic relations in the United States.

Attributions for the Occupational Success/Failure of Ethnic Minority and Nonminority Women

Chicana and Anglo female subjects responded to verbal descriptions in which an Anglo, Black, or Chicana female experienced either occupational success or failure. Respondents were asked to make causal attributions and to rate the importance of the following factors in affecting the actors occupational outcome: task difficulty, competence, effort, luck, personal connections gender, and ethnicity. A MANOVA showed significant variations in attributions for occupational outcome as a function of ethnic background of both the subject and the succeeding or failing actor, thus highlighting the potent qualifying role of ethnicity in attributions for occupational stress/failure.

Theoretical Perspectives on Chicano Personality Development

The vast majority of the empirical research dealing with personality development in Mexican-Americans has focused on the measurement of specific variables like cognitive style, cooperation-competition, need for achievement, selfconcept, and locus of control. While the level of methodological sophistication in cross-cultural psychology has improved dramatically in recent years, few advances have-been made at the theoretical level. Traditional theories of personality development are critically examined with specific emphasis on their applications to Mexican-Americans. The need for a theoretical model that can incorporate the interactive effects of culture and personality within a multicultural context is stressed. A preliminary framework for an interactional model of multiculturalism and personality development which can synthesize and integrate the effects of Chicano culture on the development of personality is proposed and discussed.

Preventing Smoking among Hispanic Preadolescents: Program Orientation, Participant Individualism-Collectivism, and Acculturation.

The present study examined the role of individualism-collectivism (IC) and acculturation in smoking prevention programs for Hispanic preadolescents. The sixth graders received a collectivist or individualist curriculum. Both programs contained knowledge-based facts about smoking. The collectivist condition included an interdependent (group-oriented) perspective of smoking, while the individualist condition had an independent (individual-oriented) perspective. Measurements assessing attitudes and behaviors were taken before and after the implementation. Compared to the individualist program, Hispanic youth in the collectivist condition reported greater awareness about the dangers of smoking, revealed more accurate and healthier perceptions, and expressed restraint in engaging in unhealthy behaviors. Acculturation effects depended on participants’ IC characteristic. This research showed the utility of cultural dimensions in health programs for Hispanic youth. It also blends basic and applied research in furthering the prevention of smoking among minority youth.

Status Differentials, Status Stability, and Interethnic Social Competition in Anglo-Americans and Mexican Americans:

A 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design was employed to examine the relationship among status differentials, status stability, and intergroup social competition. The three independent variables were the ethnic background of subjects (Anglo-American/Mexican American), manipulated status rank (high status/low status), and status stability (stable status/unstable status). The dependent variable was social competition defined as in-group bias/out-group discrimination as measured by Taffels matrices. Fifty-two Mexican American and 42 Anglo-American subjects participated in this study. They were asked to rate a bogus ethnic in-group and out-group on the quality of their solutions to a problem-solving task. The results indicated that stable high-status Anglo-Americans exhibited social competition against the Mexican American out-group whereas stable low-status Anglo-Americans showed slight favoritism toward this out-group. Furthermore, unstable Anglo-Americans, both low and high statuses, displayed social competition against Mexican Americans. Finally, the results showed that Mexican Americans, regardless of their status rank or status stability, exhibited social competition against the Anglo-American outgroup. Thesefindings are believed to be a result of the real-world minority status of Mexican Americans.

Affective and associative qualities in the learning styles of Chicanos and Anglos

The role of affective and associative meaningfulness in the learning styles of Chicanos and Anglos was examined in the present study. Sixty-four Chicano and Anglo undergraduates were compared on their learning of affectively and associatively assessed consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams. Chicanos did not differ from Anglos in their reliance on the affective relative to the associative dimension of meaningfulness in their learning style. However, Chicanos differed significantly from Anglos in affective learning style, manifesting a greater propensity to learn their liked materials more readily than their disliked materials. It was further found that while the performance of the two ethnic groups was comparable in the disliked condition, the Chicano subjects performed significantly better than the Anglo subjects in the liked condition. It is suggested that the intensified Chicano sensitivity to affective meaningfulness is consistent with their cultural concerns.

Protestant Work Ethic Endorsement among Anglo Americans, Chicanos, and Mexicans: A Comparison of Factor Structures.

The cross-cultural appropriateness of the Mirels and Garrett (1971) Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) scale was assessed by comparing the factor structures of Anglo American, Chicano, and Mexican samples. The model derived from the Anglo American sample was not statistically acceptable in its entirely for either the Chicano or the Mexican samples. However, examination of specific discrepancies showed considerable similarity across the samples on several factors, namely honor, success, and effort. The factor structure of the Mexican sample was more similar to the Anglo American sample than that of the Chicano sample. Contrary to predictions based on acculturation theory, comparisons using the full scale indicated PWE endorsement in the following order: Mexicans, Chicanos, and Anglo Americans. The findings are discussed in terms of cultural differences in orientation towards work and leisure.