Henri Tajfel (1970 and 1971)

Who and when

Who and when

Henri Tajfel (1970 and 1971)

Method

Laboratory Experiment

Aim

To demonstrate that placing people in groups is enough for there to be outgroup discrimination (minimal group paradigm)

Participants (1970)

64 boys from the same school in Bristol were split into 8 different groups.

Procedure (1970)

Intergroup Categorization

1. Boys were brought into a room and told the study was about visual judgment

2. A series of dots was flashed, and the boys estimated how many dots they had seen. They were told depending on this, they would be either over or under-estimators

Effects of Categorization

1. ATP The boys were no longer in groups and were told they would be giving points to unknown participants that would become money after the experiment.

2. The boys received an booklet with a matrix that shows that if x amounts of points were given to an ingroup member, then the outgroup members would receive a larger amount.

3. There were three matrixes: ingroup vs ingroup, ingroup vs outgroup, and outgroup vs. outgroup.

Findings (1970)

Ingroup vs. ingroup

They would give both members no points to cause no harm to either ingroup member.

Ingroup vs. outgroup

The boys favored the ingroup member.

Participants (1971)

48 boys from the same school in Bristol between the ages of 14-15 were placed into 3 groups.

Procedure (1971)

Intergroup Categorization

1. The boys were shown 12 slides with unlabeled paintings from 2 artists (6 and 6).

2. They were then assigned groups randomly (they thought it was because of what painting they chose)

Effects of Categorization

1. Boys were given a booklet with 14 different tables. The tables did not remove points from one group but would favor another (14=1 → 1=14)

2. Some of the tables would favor the outgroup more if the boys favored the ingroup, but there was an option for equal balance.

Findings (1971)

The boys would not pick the fair option if there was a significant difference between the two groups.

Conclusion

Discrimination is a result of the designation of the ingroup and the outgroup.