Effects of Status Inconsistency: Negative Evidence from Small Groups

Abstract

A dramatic change in the results of status inconsistency research in the past decade has brought the weight of evidence today against the status inconsistency hypothesis-at least on the societal level. A major explanation for this change lies with a changed methodology which now controls for original status ranking. The position of the status inconsistency hypothesis in sinall-groups research is much less clear. Small-groups researchers have found supportive evidence for the status inconsistency hypothesis, but they have generally not controlled for original status r anking. The present r esearch was designed to test six major theories of status inconsistency in a small-groups setting. The results indicate that when the inconsistency variables were taken alone, all six theories were relatively strong predictors of inconsistency effects. When added to the original status r ankings, however, the inconsistency variables from all six theories become uniformly weak predictors. These results suggest that status inconsistency may be just as impotent a condition in our groups as it is in our society.