Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity?
It is often surprisingly difficult to make definitive scientific statements about the functional value of group diversity. We suggest that one clear pattern in the group diversity literature is the prevailing convention of interpreting outcomes as the effect of diversity alone. Although work in this...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Sage Publications
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87730 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1941-4700 |
| _version_ | 1826208632590565376 |
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| author | Apfelbaum, Evan Paul Phillips, Katherine W. Richeson, Jennifer A. |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Apfelbaum, Evan Paul Phillips, Katherine W. Richeson, Jennifer A. |
| author_sort | Apfelbaum, Evan Paul |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It is often surprisingly difficult to make definitive scientific statements about the functional value of group diversity. We suggest that one clear pattern in the group diversity literature is the prevailing convention of interpreting outcomes as the effect of diversity alone. Although work in this arena typically compares diverse groups with homogeneous ones, we most often conceive of homogeneous groups as a baseline—a reference point from which we can understand how diversity has changed behavior or what type of response is “normal.” In this article, we offer a new perspective through a focus on two propositions. The first proposition is that homogeneity has independent effects of its own—effects that, in some cases, are robust in comparison with the effects of diversity. The second proposition is that even though subjective responses in homogeneous groups are often treated as a neutral indicator of how people would ideally respond in a group setting, evidence suggests that these responses are often less objective or accurate than responses in diverse groups. Overall, we believe that diversity research may unwittingly reveal important insights regarding the effects of homogeneity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:08:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/87730 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:08:42Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Sage Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/877302022-10-01T19:29:03Z Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? Apfelbaum, Evan Paul Phillips, Katherine W. Richeson, Jennifer A. Sloan School of Management Apfelbaum, Evan Paul Apfelbaum, Evan Paul It is often surprisingly difficult to make definitive scientific statements about the functional value of group diversity. We suggest that one clear pattern in the group diversity literature is the prevailing convention of interpreting outcomes as the effect of diversity alone. Although work in this arena typically compares diverse groups with homogeneous ones, we most often conceive of homogeneous groups as a baseline—a reference point from which we can understand how diversity has changed behavior or what type of response is “normal.” In this article, we offer a new perspective through a focus on two propositions. The first proposition is that homogeneity has independent effects of its own—effects that, in some cases, are robust in comparison with the effects of diversity. The second proposition is that even though subjective responses in homogeneous groups are often treated as a neutral indicator of how people would ideally respond in a group setting, evidence suggests that these responses are often less objective or accurate than responses in diverse groups. Overall, we believe that diversity research may unwittingly reveal important insights regarding the effects of homogeneity. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Grant 0921728) 2014-06-11T14:38:05Z 2014-06-11T14:38:05Z 2014-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1745-6916 1745-6924 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87730 Apfelbaum, E. P., K. W. Phillips, and J. A. Richeson. “Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity?” Perspectives on Psychological Science 9, no. 3 (May 1, 2014): 235–244. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1941-4700 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745691614527466 Perspectives on Psychological Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Sage Publications Apfelbaum |
| spellingShingle | Apfelbaum, Evan Paul Phillips, Katherine W. Richeson, Jennifer A. Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title | Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title_full | Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title_fullStr | Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title_short | Rethinking the Baseline in Diversity Research: Should We Be Explaining the Effects of Homogeneity? |
| title_sort | rethinking the baseline in diversity research should we be explaining the effects of homogeneity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87730 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1941-4700 |
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