Social Dominance Orientation: Mapping a Baseline Individual Difference Component Across Self-Categorizations

Abstract

There has been considerable debate regarding the extent to which prejudice results from individual differences versus situational factors affecting self-categorization. We provide evidence for a stable baseline level of association between one individual difference index of prejudice proneness, that of social dominance orientation (SDO), and generalized racist attitudes. Consistent with an individual difference perspective, SDO retained a baseline level of association with racism across conditions invoking ethnic versus personal identity (N= 179 European/white undergraduates). Consistent with a self-categorization theory perspective, however, this association was heightened when ethnic (vs. ..