While playing a game of strategy, nineteen groups of two black and two white seventh and eighth grade boys, otherwise similar, were systematically observed by black and white observers both, using a schedule derived from status characteristic theory. (JM)

Reports studies of bi-racial groups of schoolboys working on tasks of cooperative problem-solving in an integrated setting, designed to determine if status can be based on contributions to the task in terms of motivation and competence regardless of race. (JM)

This experiment attempted to alter the effects of race as a diffuse status characteristic. Black subjects were given instructions meant to induce "high competence" on a task performed with white subjects. All subjects were seventh and eighth graders who did not know each other prior to the experiment. Each group comprised two white and…

The experiments here reported represent attempts to produce "equal status interaction" in four-man groups of junior high school boys, two of whom are white and two black. The theory is that equality is not a consequence of interracial task performance. Rather, it is likely that generally held beliefs about the differential competence of…

In the summer of 1972, a field experiment on intergroup behavior was conducted in Oakland, California. For the purpose of this experiment, a tuition-free 6-week summer school for black and white students of junior high school age was created. The design of the experiment compared the effectiveness of two treatments in producing "equal…

The Status Equalization Project had as one of its goals the elimination of systematic white dominance on intellectual tasks in desegregated classrooms. The field experiment described in this report was designed to test the effectiveness of the Multiple Abilities Curriculum and Expectation Training in equalizing race relationships in such settings.…

In this study, the status ordering of a four-man group working on a task requiring discussion and decision was predicted on the basis of status characteristic theory. Two of the group members were white; two were black. They were matched as to age, height, and also on a combined index of socioeconomic status and attitude toward school. The…

The introduction of the Multiple Ability Curriculum (MAC) and Expectation Training (ET) into the curriculum of racially integrated elementary schools appears to improve the equal status interaction between students of differing academic and social status. The goals of the MAC and ET are the following: (1) prevent classroom dominance by students of…