While playing a game of strategy, nineteen groups of two black and two white seventh and eighth grade boys, otherwise similar, were systematically observed by black and white observers both, using a schedule derived from status characteristic theory. (JM)

Reports studies of bi-racial groups of schoolboys working on tasks of cooperative problem-solving in an integrated setting, designed to determine if status can be based on contributions to the task in terms of motivation and competence regardless of race. (JM)

In this study, the status ordering of a four-man group working on a task requiring discussion and decision was predicted on the basis of status characteristic theory. Two of the group members were white; two were black. They were matched as to age, height, and also on a combined index of socioeconomic status and attitude toward school. The…