Premium
By whose standard? The affective implications of ethnic minorities' comparisons to ethnic minority and majority referents
Author(s) -
Leach Colin Wayne,
Smith Heather J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.315
Subject(s) - ethnic group , affect (linguistics) , psychology , social psychology , context (archaeology) , minority group , developmental psychology , sociology , communication , biology , paleontology , anthropology
In a ‘diary’ study, we examined the frequency and affective implications of 34 ethnic minority students' comparisons to other ethnic minorities or to members of a high‐status ethnic majority (i.e., European‐Americans). Participants made more frequent comparisons to ethnic majority than ethnic minority referents, although neither type of comparison tended to be perceived in terms of group membership (see also Smith & Leach, 2004). Comparisons to ethnic majority referents did not alter participants' positive affect even where they suggested poor future prospects in status‐relevant domains. In contrast, comparisons to fellow ethnic minorities led to increased positive affect when they suggested a future prospect of improvement. We discuss the conceptual and practical implications of social comparison in the context of group status. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.