The Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy: The Role of Informational Complexity

Abstract

The personal/group discrimination discrepancy (PGDD) refers to the tendency of disadvantaged group members to report higher levels of discrimination against their group in general than against themselves personally as members of that group. In two studies, the authors examined the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the PGDD. In Experiment 1, the authors demonstrated that the PGDD emerges from a divergence in the comparison standards on which personal and group judgments are made and that specifying that the same standards be used for both types of judgments eliminates or reduces the PGDD. In Experiment 2, the authors demonstrated that the magnitude of the PGDD was a function of the degree of informational complexity in the comparison targets. Implications for conceptualizations of the PGDD are discussed.

Greek Intensive and Emergency Care Nurses' Perception of Their Public Image

“…The personal/group discrimination discrepancy theory may be useful to comprehend this incongruence. 40 According to this theory, individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups tend to interpret negative social stereotypes as undermining the group they belong to, but not themselves. 41 Crosby 41 first explained that phenomenon by stating that people deny personal negative experiences about any kind of discriminations in order to justify their inaction against the injustice or to maintain perception of control over their lives.…”

Perceived group and personal discrimination: differential effects on personal self‐esteem

“…This result may appear somewhat surprising in view of the relative deprivation literature which predict that the personal level of deprivation is related to individual cognition whereas group deprivation is related to group cognition. Moreover, some authors (Kessler et al, 2000;Postmes et al, 1999;Quinn et al, 1999) suggest that people make interpersonal or intragroup comparisons when evaluating personal discrimination whereas perceptions of group discrimination result from intergroup comparison. Obviously, the current state of the literature reveals that the relationship between identification and discrimination is far from straightforward.…”

“…Finally, some authors recently argued that group and personal levels of perceived discrimination are not comparable because such judgments rely on different standards of comparison (Dumont, Seron, Yzerbyt, & Postmes, 2005;Kessler, Mummendey, & Leisse, 2000;Postmes, Branscombe, Spears, & Young 1999;Quinn, Roese, Pennington, & Olson, 1999). Evidence shows that people make interpersonal or intragroup comparisons when evaluating personal discrimination but engage in intergroup comparisons when they evaluate group discrimination.…”

An experimental study of the correlates and consequences of perceiving oneself to be the target of gender discrimination

“…When situations are ambiguous because little is known about (a) evaluators' attitudes or past behavior or (b) the feedback received by others, adults are unlikely to state that they are the targets of discrimination (e.g., Crosby, 1984;Moghaddam, Stolkin, & Hutcheson, 1997). The adoption of conservative standards for discrimination claims may be due to the psychological costs associated with perceiving oneself to be the target of discrimination (Quinn, Roese, Pennington, & Olson, 1999).…”