STATUS CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
39
all status characteristics have equal effects on performance expectations. Importantly, the
removal of the simplifying assumption by the reformulation entails no loss of parsimony.
In addition, the revised formulation offers competing predictions for cases in which
interactants are differentiated by one or more diffuse characteristics. Specifically, it pre-
dicts that diffuse characteristics have greater effects on performance expectations than
specific characteristics. Given the deleterious effects that diffuse characteristics such as
race and gender often have on expectations for competence ~e.g., when employers assess
promotion merit!, we consider this an important feature of the reformulation.
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