Signal Of Social Status Research Articles

Product Positionality as a Signal of Social Status

This study is concerned with the effect of social comparisons on consumers’ budget allocation across different product categories. We propose that consumers allocation is influenced by each category’s ability to signal social status, herein referred to as the category’s positionality. To test this assertion, we propose a metric of positionality that accounts for both visibility and expensiveness. Accordingly, we operationalize positionality as the product of visibility scores and consumption cost. The relevance of this metric is tested empirically by showing that it explains consumers’ budget allocation. The validity of the metric is established by proving that it strongly correlates with structural estimates of positionality. In addition, we investigate the conditions under which positionality is most influential. We demonstrate the moderating roles of: a) consumption disparity; b) consumers’ degree of social involvement; and c) consumers’ social class. The results indicate that the degree of social involvement is positively associated with levels of spending on positional goods. Comparison discrepancy, as approximated by income inequality, correlates negatively with levels of spending on positional product categories. However, income inequality also has a positive correlation with status consumption. Social class, as measured by occupational prestige, negatively correlates with the expenditure shares of positional goods. Implications to marketing and public policy are discussed.

White Flank Spots Signal Feeding Dominance in Female Diamond Firetails, Stagonopleura guttata

AbstractPlumage colour can be used as an honest signal to convey health and status, which has traditionally been examined in the sexual selection context of choosy females and elaborate males. We use a model avian system to study the role of plumage coloration in a social context such as inter‐ and intrasexual competition over food resources. The diamond firetail (Stagonopleura guttata) is an endemic Australian finch: females have more white flank spots than males, and white spot number was correlated with cell‐mediated immune response in females. We use two experimental designs to test the role of white flank spots for feeding dominance and dominance discrimination in a group‐living bird. The results from two‐choice trials and from single‐arena trials showed that female ornamentation was consistently important in social food contests, and males consistently responded to female spot number. Females with higher spot number fed first, in trials with males and/or females. Also, females preferred to feed next to test birds with low spot number, but males showed no preference for feeding next to birds with few or many spots. Finally, latency to feed was predicted by spot number: both males and females had longer latency to feed if test birds had more spots than the focal birds. We conclude that female, but not male, ornamentation was important for inter‐ and intrasexual food competition. This is one of the very few studies to show that the same plumage ornament can have a different function between the sexes as a signal of social status. Moreover, this study shows that white plumage can be a signal of dominance.

Nest Defence Intensity in House SparrowsPasser domesticusin Relation to Parental Quality and Brood Value

Abstract. We investigated whether brood value (laying date, brood size, nestling age and condition) and parental quality (condition, male badge size) affect experimentally provoked nest defence in House Sparrows in the Czech Republic. We included the badge size (a melanin-based throat feather patch) because it serves as a signal of social status, age and condition. We presented a stuffed Black-billed Magpie Pica pica to 19 pairs of sparrows. To assess the defence intensity we used the “risk index”, increasing with time spent reacting and riskiness of the reaction (number of approaches and attacks), while declining with increasing distance from the predator. Females did not adjust their nest defence to the brood value and males did so only partially, tending to defend the early broods more intensely, which marginally supports the “value of offspring hypothesis”. The birds did not adjust their nest defence to quality or defence intensity of their partners, thus the “differential allocation hypothesis” was n...

Social Status Signaling in Winter Flocking Birds: An Examination of a Current Hypothesis

-S. Rohwer recently has proposed that intraspecific plumage variability in winter flocking birds represents a polymorphism that functions to signal social status. We test several predictions of Rohwer's status signaling hypothesis for Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis), explore some theoretical implications of our findings for juncos, and discuss the generality of social status signaling. Both darkness of hood and whiteness of tail were positively, although imperfectly, associated with social rank in captive winter flocks of first-year juncos. If plumage differences function as cues to dominance status in this species, our results suggest that their signal value derives primarily from learned associations between plumage attributes and other variables (such as sex or body size) that might influence fighting ability. Ultimate factors possibly responsible for winter plumage variability in juncos, both within and between age/sex classes, appear to be complex; selective pressure for a system of social status advertisement could (but need not) be one of these factors. Findings for some other winter flocking species reveal both similarities to, and differences from, our results for juncos. We suggest that more information on the behavior and ecology of a variety of winter flocking birds is needed before a satisfactory generalized model of social status signaling can be formulated-if such a model is possible. Received 28 February 1978, accepted 5 September 1978. FLOCKING is a widespread phenomenon among birds that winter in temperate regions. Such behavior affords many benefits; for instance, it may facilitate orientation during migration or refuging, aid in the location and efficient exploitation of food, and assist in the detection and mobbing of predators. However, flocking also may impose costs, not the least of which is the promotion of intraspecific competition for essential resources. The cost of such competition may be reduced by social systems, such as social dominance hierarchies, that function to order priorities at resources and to regulate the frequency, form, and intensity of aggressive behavior (discussed by Balph 1977a). Of considerable interest is a hypothesis stating that dominance hierarchies are predetermined by adaptive variation in the appearance of individuals. Rohwer (1975, 1977) observes that wintering birds differ markedly in the degree to which they vary intraspecifically in appearance and indicates that flocking species tend to exhibit polymorphism in plumage coloration or pattern, whereas non-flocking species show monomorphism. He speculates that in flocking species . . plumage variability has evolved to signal the approximate social status of each individual (Rohwer 1975: 594). According to this hypothesis, position in a dominance hierarchy within variably plumaged species is signaled by the studliness (Rohwer 1975: 598) of individuals (defined as the degree to which each exhibits black, brightly colored, or contrastingly patterned plumage, particularly of the head or breast). Rohwer predicts such status advertisement to be especially advantageous if individuals change flocks, as it should enable both an incoming bird and established flock members to assess accurately the newcomer's proper social position without engaging in energetically costly fights. From a series of tests using Harris' Sparrows (Zonotrichia querula), he concludes that winter plumage variability does serve a status78 The Auk 96: 78-93. January 1979 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.178 on Wed, 15 Jun 2016 06:50:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms January 1979] Social Status Signaling 79 signaling function in this species. He also indicates, on the basis of qualitative observations of some other winter flocking passerines, including Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis), that the phenomenon may be a general one. However, Shields' (1977) fine critique points out serious problems in Rohwer's (1975) paper. In the present paper we examine Rohwer's status signaling hypothesis both from an empirical and a theoretical standpoint.

Symbolic consumption and the social construction of product characteristics

As recognized since long, consumption serving to signal social status, group membership, or self-esteem is a socially contingent activity. The corresponding expenditures are motivated mainly by the symbolic value they have for transmitting the signal. However, this presupposes some form of social coordination on what are valid, approved symbols. Unlike consumption not serving signaling purposes, the technological characteristics of the goods and services consumed may be secondary—what counts is their socially agreed capacity to function as a symbol. The paper discusses in detail the cognitive underpinnings of social agreement on consumption symbols and a model of their spontaneous emergence.

Annual, sexual, size- and condition-related variation in the colour and fluorescent pigment content of yellow crest-feathers in Snares Penguins (Eudyptes robustus)

Colourful plumages observed in many birds provide ideal systems for investigating the control and function of animal signals, because we can identify the molecular currency (e.g. pigments, tissue structures) and thus the challenges associated with the production of the trait. To date, most attention has been paid to the signalling costs and benefits of the common pigmentary (e.g. carotenoid- and melanin-based) plumage colours. However, in penguins, the colour of feathers of crests or patches of head plumage is based on an unusual fluorescent pigment, presently thought to be in the class of pterin pigments, which are typically found as colourants in other animals like butterflies and amphibians. These yellow-orange colours may be used in sexual or social communication, but to date little is known about the signalling potential of such ornaments. We collected yellow crest-feathers from adult male and female Snares Penguins (Eudyptes robustus) in two years (2002 and 2003) and examined differences in colour and pigment content as a function of year, sex, body size and body condition. Unlike the typical pattern of birds, crests of female Snares Penguins contained higher concentrations of pigments than those of males. In both years, yellower feathers in females contained more yellow pigment. Birds of both sexes grew yellower and more pigment-rich feathers in 2002—a year in which birds were in better condition—than in 2003. Males with yellower crests also tended to be larger, heavier and in better condition, regardless of year. These results highlight the potential for yellow crests in Snares Penguins to serve as a condition-dependent indicator to conspecifics. Further work is needed to determine whether or not this plumage trait is a signal of social status or attractiveness, as colourful plumage patches appear to be in other penguin species.

Creating Symbolic Value: A Cultural Perspective on Production and Exchange

Research in the sociology of culture and in the anthropology of consumption suggests that goods carry a symbolic value, to the extent that they provide users to express individual identity and to signal social status. In this paper, we examine the process of symbolic value creation. Building on research in sociology and anthropology, we observe how symbolic value is created in production and exchange, and how it involves processes and actors that are only partially under the control of the firm. We argue that specific intangible assets are involved in symbolic value creation: we introduce the concepts of symbolic capital, cultural capital and institutional capital, and we develop propositions about factors leading to the accumulation of these resources. Finally we discuss the implications of this perspective for management research.

Ultraviolet plumage does not signal social status in free-living blue tits; an experimental test

Ultraviolet (UV) signals are suggested to be sexually selected in a wide range of taxa. Most research, however, has focused on the role of UV signals in mate choice, whereas possible functions in intraspecific competition remain largely untested. Studies on other colors indicate that ornaments preferred by females can also function as signals of social status in competitive interactions between individuals. Whereas these colors are mainly pigment based, UV reflectance is generally caused by selective reflectance of light from surface structures. Here we test experimentally whether the structurally based UV-reflective crown plumage in the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) serves as a signal of status in interindividual competition. We reduced the crown UV reflectance of free-living blue tits in winter and compared their probability of winning conflicts over food at a feeding table with control-treated and untreated individuals. Although we controlled for effects of sex, age, and distance from territory, we found no effect of reduced UV reflectance on the probability of winning nor were conflicts involving UV-reduced individuals more likely to escalate. Therefore, we conclude that the UV reflectance of the blue tit's crown does not serve as a signal of status in competition over food in winter. We suggest that the observed site-dependent dominance structure may constrain the opportunity for a status signal to evolve and that enhancing attractiveness in mate choice may be the sole function of the crown's UV reflectance.

The effects of delayed plumage maturation on aggression and survival in male red-backed fairy-wrens

The occurrence of multiple phenotypes within a sex of a single species has long puzzled behavioral ecologists. Male red-backed fairy-wrens Malurus melanocephalus exhibit 3 behaviorally distinct types in their first breeding season: breed in bright nuptial plumage, breed in dull plumage, or remain as an unpaired auxiliary (helper) with dull plumage. The retention of dull plumage by auxiliaries and dull breeders is an example of delayed plumage maturation (DPM), a widespread phenomenon in birds whose costs and benefits are not well understood. At a mechanistic level, DPM might allow dull males either to deceptively mimic females (female mimicry hypothesis) or to honestly signal their subordinate status (status-signaling hypothesis). DPM might function via either mechanism to provide ultimate benefits relative to developing nuptial plumage by increasing reproductive success, survival, or both. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that DPM is related to increased male survival in the red-backed fairy-wren via either female mimicry or status signaling. Aviary-based experiments revealed that dull males were perceived as male, which is consistent with the status-signaling hypothesis but contradicts the female mimicry hypothesis. Further aviary and field-based experiments also revealed that dull males were socially subordinate to bright males and received less aggression than bright males, further evidence for status signaling. However, male survival was not related to plumage coloration or breeding status. These findings indicate that male plumage coloration signals social status but that dull plumage does not afford a net survival advantage, perhaps because plumage color is a conditional strategy.

Absence of status signalling by structurally based ultraviolet plumage in wintering blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Structurally based ultraviolet (UV)-reflective plumage parts can be important cues in mate choice. However, it remains largely unknown if UV plumage variation can also function as a signal of social status during competitive interactions. In blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), the UV-reflective crown plumage functions as a female mate choice cue that probably indicates male quality, as males with higher UV reflectance have been shown to have better chances of over-winter survival. Possibly, the UV crown plumage acts as a status signal in the competition over scarce food sources during winter. To test this idea, we related dominance of individuals at an artificial food source during adverse winter conditions to spectrophotometric measurements of their crown plumage. However, while controlling for the confounding effects of sex, age, and distance from territory, we found no significant effect of crown UV reflectance on dominance. Consistent with this result, we also found no relation between crown UV reflectance and over-winter survival. We conclude that the structurally based UV reflectance of the blue tit crown feathers plays little role in competition between individuals during winter despite its importance as a cue in mate choice.

Carotenoid-based plumage coloration and aggression during molt in male house finches

AbstractBirds often use colorful traits to mediate resource competitions, and typically individuals with bright or large patches of color are more competitive than or dominant to those with drab or small color patches. Male House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) are an exception, however, as drab males tend to be more aggressive than bright males during the breeding season and in winter. One hypothesis for this 'negatively correlated handicap' is that drab male house finches, being comparatively sexually unattractive and in poor health and condition, have more to gain by elevating aggression and increasing access to food and pursuit of (especially extra-pair) mates. It would seem important then to test this hypothesis during the period of molt, when birds are actively acquiring the foods and carotenoid pigments that make them colorful and a time in which there is a clear link between plumage color and nutrition/health in this species. We conducted two captive dominance experiments with male House Finches from the southwestern United States (their native range) to examine the relationship between carotenoid-based plumage coloration and aggression during molt. In the first experiment, where birds exhibited their natural, currently growing plumage color, we found that drab males were significantly more aggressive than bright males. However, when plumage colors were manipulated with art markers in a second experiment, color display was no longer significantly predictive of agonistic outcomes. These results suggest that: (1) drab male dominance is not an artifact in eastern US populations and instead is a conserved property of native and non-native House Finches, (2) like in our previous studies in winter, plumage color is correlated with dominance but does not serve as a visual signal of social status in this species, and (3) drab males should have a competitive advantage over access to important carotenoid-rich foods during molt, but apparently do not become as colorful because they do not adequately locate carotenoid-rich foods or do not use them efficiently for energetic or health reasons, which are perhaps exacerbated by elevated testosterone levels.

Food sharing in jackdaws, Corvus monedula: what, why and with whom?

Food sharing is common in birds between mated pairs during courtship and by helpers at the nest in cooperatively breeding species. In contrast to primates, however, food sharing between peers in birds has received little attention. We explored the extent and pattern of food sharing in a group of juvenile jackdaws. The birds shared food with a number of individuals, regardless of sex and kinship. The frequency of food sharing and the number of recipients per donor decreased over time. Active food sharing, where the initiative for the transfer lies with the donor, appeared to be much more common in jackdaws than in any primate species studied so far. In addition, jackdaws shared more of a preferred food than of a less preferred food. Three functional explanations for food sharing between peers were tested: reciprocity, harassment avoidance and food sharing as a signal of social status. The results were consistent with reciprocity and harassment avoidance.

Social dominance correlates and family status in wintering dark-bellied brent geese, Branta bernicla bernicla

In many gregarious species, including ducks and geese, being dominant provides more benefits than costs, because dominants have better access to resources essential for survival or reproduction. In geese, being in better body condition during migration towards the breeding grounds positively influences reproductive success. However, underlying proximate mechanisms linking prebreeding body condition on the wintering grounds to breeding success remain poorly understood. We investigated social dominance correlates and family status, in three consecutive winters, in a free-ranging, migrating, dark-bellied brent goose population. Families with juveniles dominated pairs, and pairs dominated singletons. Dominance rank did not increase with the number of juveniles per family. Males were dominant over females. Social dominance and reproductive status for a given winter were significantly correlated with body mass, body size and body condition during the previous winter, suggesting that body condition in winter also affects subsequent breeding success and hence also dominance. Levels of testosterone and triiodothyronine were not correlated with immediate or later dominance or reproductive status. We discuss the role of family status as a signal of social status in determining reproductive strategies.

Female Genito-genital Rubbing in a Group of Captive Chimpanzees

Wild and captive female bonobos exhibit a form of noncopulatory sexual behavior—genito-genital (GG) rubbing—in which 2 individuals rub their genital regions together. GG-rubbing in bonobos occurs in several contexts and may serve several functions, including tension reduction and reconciliation. It has not been reported for chimpanzees. In a study of captive, adolescent chimpanzees at the New Iberia Research Center, I observed that females rubbed genital regions at rates equivalent to those of bonobos, though the form of the behavior differed in significant ways from classic bonobo GG-rubbing. I describe the pattern of GG-rubbing in the chimpanzees and provide preliminary tests of 5 hypotheses for why the behavior occurs. All 4 females in the study group participated in GG-rubbing, though the frequency with which they initiated and participated varied. Females that GG-rubbed the most also groomed each other the most, supporting the hypothesis that GG-rubbing reinforces or at least reflects social bonds. The data do not support the hypothesis that females GG-rub to reconcile conflicts, to reduce tension during feeding, to signal social status, or to attract mates.

Wedding Celebrations as Conspicuous Consumption: Signaling Social Status in Rural India

We examine the determinants of expenditures on wedding celebrations by rural Indian families. Fieldwork, using open-ended interviews and focus group discussions in two villages in Karnataka State in Southern India, suggests that wedding celebrations are to a large extent a signal of social status. Using this information we develop a signaling model of wedding celebrations where the size of the celebration signals the quality of the new groom's family and thus the enhanced social status of the bride's family. Predictions from the model are then tested with survey data from 5 districts in Karnataka using variations in norms of village exogamy as a natural experiment to identify the availability of information on the groom's family to the bride's village. The idea is that when families have to marry grooms outside the village, members of the bride's village will have less information on the groom thus increasing the incentive for the bride's family to signal the groom's quality. The econometric results largely mirror the theoretical predictions.

Wedding Celebrations as Conspicuous Consumption

This study examined the determinants of expenditures on weddings and dowries in rural India. Data were obtained from a survey among a random sample of 800 households in 5 districts in rural Karnataka state in the south open-ended interviews with 100 households from 2 villages in the sample and focus groups. The in-depth interviews revealed that dowries were affected by competition for scarce men the quality of grooms and social norms and high social status. Marriage celebrations signal wealth. Arranging marriage partners and celebration expenses follow different cultural patterns. The theoretical model differentiates between dowry and wedding celebration expenses. Marriages can be from inside or outside the brides village. It is posited that families with high quality husbands have a defined range of celebration costs that cannot be met by families with low quality husbands. The decision to signal social status depends upon whether the groom comes from within or outside the brides village. The brides family spends a higher amount when the groom is not from the same village. Greater brides family wealth reduces the dowry paid. Marriage squeeze raises costs. Average wedding expenses amount to about 3000 rupees; average dowry is about 26000 rupees. Analysis of dowry was generally consistent with theories. Regressions on celebration costs were very consistent with theories. Findings suggest that dowries were largely affected by marriage market factors and match quality while wedding expenses signaled conspicuous consumption and were highest when an exogamous household married a high-quality groom.

Carotenoid-based ornamentation and status signaling in the house finch

The status signaling hypothesis (SSH) was devised primarily to explain the adaptive significance of avian ornamental coloration during the nonbreeding season. It proposes that conspicuous male plumage serves as an honest signal of social status within a population of birds. However, to date this hypothesis has been well tested and supported for only one type of plumage coloration, melanin-based coloration. Carotenoid-based pigmentation is known to positively reveal male health and condition during molt in a variety of species, but it is poorly understood whether this ornament type can also function as a status signal during the winter. We tested the SSH in male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) by manipulating the carotenoid-based plumage brightness of first-year males and then pairing unfamiliar birds of differing coloration in a series of dominance trials in captivity. Manipulated plumage color was unrelated to win/loss outcome in these trials. Similarly, the natural pigmentation of males was a poor predictor of winter dominance; as in other studies with this species, we found only a weak tendency for naturally drab males to dominate naturally bright males. These results suggest that carotenoid-based coloration is not a reliable indicator of social status in male house finches during the nonbreeding season. In fact, carotenoid-based coloration may function only in mate choice in this species, and it may be retained throughout the year either because time constraints preclude a second plumage molt or because it aids in pair formation that begins in late winter.

The effects of testosterone on antibody production and plumage coloration in male house sparrows ( Passer domesticus )

Many bird species have patches of colour in their plumage, contrasting with their basic coloration, which are used to display and signal status to conspecifics. These are called ’badges of status’, because they are believed to be low-cost signals of social status. For a signalling system to be evolutionarily stable, cheating must be controlled. The conventional view is that there is frequent testing, which uncovers cheats. Recently, the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) suggested that signals may be dependent on testosterone for their development, with a cost being imposed through immune suppression. We report experiments on house sparrows (Passer domesticus) which show that testosterone significantly influences the size of the bib (a ’badge of status’). The ultimate effect of the testosterone manipulation was to impair antibody production, as predicted by the ICHH. However, testosterone manipulations also changed the levels of the ’stress hormone’ corticosterone. The level of corticosterone was also related to the degree of immunosuppression. After controlling for the effect of corticosterone, testosterone enhanced the birds’ ability to produce antibodies, counter to the ICHH. The hypothesis therefore must be modified. We suggest that testosterone has a dual effect: it leads to immunosuppression through a mechanism involving corticosterone but, conversely, leads to increased immunocompetence probably via dominance influencing access to resources.

Seasonal variation in the relationship between cellular immune response and badge size in male house sparrows ( Passer domesticus )

The immunocompetence handicap hypothesis postulates that secondary sexual traits are honest signals of male quality because steroid hormones (such as corticosteroids and sex steroids), which are supposed to favor the development of secondary sexual traits, may also have immunosuppressive effects. Certain secondary sexual traits are not only used as mate choice signals but also play a role as badges of status. In the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), males have a bib of black feathers which is used both as a signal of social status in male-male interactions and by females when choosing a mate. We investigated the relationships between bib size and cellular immune response in male house sparrows during and outside the reproductive season. Males with large badges were found to have lower levels of immunocompetence, as assessed using a T-cell-mediated immunity assay, during the reproductive season, as predicted by the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis. Conversely, in November, the correlation between badge size and cellular immune response was positive, possibly reflecting the better access to trophic resources of large-badged dominant males in winter flocks.

Scanning and Tail-Flicking in the Australian Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa)

Scanning and Tail-Flicking in the Australian Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa)