Involuntary loss of majority status triggers outsized negative reactions

Evidence

It happens that the negative reaction resulting from a shift from a majority position to the minority is generally greater than the reaction resulting from a change from minority to majority status—but perhaps only when the transition is not of one’s own volition (i.e., majority status is lost owing to the actions of others and not of the actor’s own volition). Moving from majority to minority status generates an extreme and immediate decline in positivity toward the new in-group, less positive group interaction expectations, and poorer perceptions of group-self similarity. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1428

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s loss-aversion/status threads, and to prospect theory explicitly cited here (Kahneman and Tversky), which echoes cognitive-psychology claims in the reader’s prior sources. — connects to: Removing anticipatory status threat eliminates the conservative reaction to demographic shift. — Maureen A. Craig and Jennifer A. Richeson, On the Precipice of a…, 86
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1428