Low status groups show in-group favoritism to compensate for their low status and to compete for higher status.

In two studies where status relations were either relatively illegitimate (Study 1, N = 139) or legitimate (Study 2, N = 114), undergraduate students completed a minimal group resource allocation task that took into account the intergroup status hierarchy. In both studies, members of low-status groups showed two forms of in-group favoritism.

They selected resource allocation choices that (a) compensated for their low status and led to intergroup fairness ( compensatory favoritism ) and (b) competed with the out-group for status and led to positive distinctiveness for the in-group ( competitive favoritism ). These results suggest that members of low-status groups use in-group favoritism to make their group (a) as good as the high-status out-group and (b) better than the high-status out-group.