Social dominance orientation and the prediction of women's ingroup-enhancing beliefs and behaviour

This dissertation examines the effects of Social Dominance Orientation (the individual desire for group-based hierarchy in society) and manipulated group power on ingroup-enhancing beliefs and behaviour among members of disadvantaged groups, along with the additional role of group identification in these effects. Three studies investigated these issues with women as the disadvantaged group of interest. Study One examined the relations between Social Dominance Orientation and women's ingroup-enhancing beliefs and behaviour, and the effects of ingroup and outgroup power primes on these outcomes. Study Two also focused on the relations between Social Dominance Orientation and women's ingroup-enhancing beliefs and behaviour, but specifically examined the effects of a persuasive message regarding the power women do have in society. Study Three again focused on the link between Social Dominance Orientation, power and the endorsement of ingroup-enhancing beliefs and behaviour, but went further in including additional measures of women's intergroup perceptions, and specifically examined women's willingness to personally engage in an ingroup-enhancing behaviour - collective action.;These findings are discussed with an emphasis on understanding the motives of individuals high in the desire for group-based hierarchy in society and who experience group-based disadvantage. Implications of these findings for understanding the nature of Social Dominance Orientation and the effects of power on beliefs and behaviour are discussed.;Keywords: Social Dominance Orientation; power; disadvantaged groups; responses to inequality; women; gender identification.;In general, across the three studies, the higher women were in Social Dominance Orientation, the less likely they were to endorse beliefs and behaviours that were ingroup-enhancing and could potentially improve their ingroup's position. For instance, as women increased in Social Dominance Orientation they were less likely to believe that women's position in society could change. It appears that under normal circumstances, members of disadvantaged groups who are high in Social Dominance Orientation show a convergence in their beliefs and behaviours that help maintain the social system as is, even with their low position in it. Under some specific circumstances, however, these beliefs and behaviours can change in ways that may promote resistance to an unequal social system in which they occupy a low position. For example, in Study Two, when women had been exposed to a message about the high power of women in society, as they increased in Social Dominance Orientation they were more likely to believe that women's position in society could change Additionally in Study Two, women who were higher in Social Dominance Orientation and gender identification and were exposed to a high ingroup power message showed greater ingroup-enhancing behaviour---they allocated more money to a women's issues organization. Study Three provided evidence that ingroupenhancing beliefs relevant to the intergroup context (e.g. perceived illegitimacy) mediate the relation between Social Dominance Orientation and the rejection of ingroup-enhancing behaviour---in this case, collective action.