This research tests status cues theory, which is a theory in the expectation states research program. Status cues signal the status of an actor to others. Status cues theory predicts that in a status homogeneous group, status cues can create different performance expectations (Berger, Webster, Ridgeway, and Rosenholtz 1986). Actors with high performance expectations are given more opportunities to make contributions to tasks, and their contributions are more highly evaluated (Correll and Ridgeway 2006). Therefore, status cues can be used to create a hierarchy where none exists. I test this theory's prediction by using response latency as a status cue. Most researchers study status cues in cue gestalts, but I isolate response latency and test its strength independently. In a two condition experiment, I use the standard experimental situation to determine if low response latency (a high status cue) and high response latency (a low status cue) create different performance expectations. I found that there was not a significant difference between the performance expectations produced in the two conditions. Therefore, response latency alone did not create a hierarchy.
