Abstract

Three studies investigated whether individuals display an attentional bias towards symbols that denote high status. Undergraduate students in each study learned the symbol of a high and a low status group. In Studies 1 and 2, participants learned about a high and a low status group belonging to a remote culture. In Study 3, status was instantiated by gender. Participants in each study were presented one symbol at a time over 60 consecutive trials. Each participant indicated whether the symbol identified the high status or the low status group. In both Studies 1 and 2, participants showed a tendency to respond faster to the high relative to the low status symbol. Finally in Study 3, there was no significant difference in reaction time when status was instantiated by gender. The present studies tend partial support to the hypothesis that individuals display a status-related attentional bias.