You can win but I can't lose: Bias against high-status groups increases their zero-sum beliefs about discrimination

• High-status groups endorse zero-sum beliefs (ZSBs) more than low-status groups.
• High-status groups' ZSBs increase when they perceive increasing bias.
• ZSBs correspond with efforts to improve high-status groups' outcomes.
• ZSBs correspond with efforts to worsen low-status groups' outcomes.

What leads people to espouse zero-sum beliefs (ZSBs) – the perspective that gains for one social group come at the cost of another group – and what are the consequences of those beliefs? We hypothesized that high-status groups (Whites and men) would be more likely than low-status groups (Blacks and women) to endorse ZSBs, particularly in response to increasing perceptions of discrimination against their own groups. We found that high-status groups endorsed ZSBs more when they contemplated increasing bias against their group than when they contemplated decreasing bias against their low-status counterparts. Furthermore, we demonstrated that greater ZSB endorsement corresponded with efforts to decrease outgroups' ability to compete in society and efforts to increase the ingroup's ability to compete. We discuss how this pattern may perpetuate social inequality.