Social Identity Theory

What is social identity theory?

• argues that an individual has not just one “personal self”, but rather several social selves that correspond to group membership

• according to the theory, individuals categorize themselves in terms of group membership in order to understand who they are and know their values in specific social contexts

Who proposed social identity theory?

Tajfel (1979)

What is a personal self?

the collection of unique traits, beliefs, values, and experiences that define an individual’s inner world and sense of who they are separate from others

What is a social self?

How an individual perceive themself in relation to others, shaped by your interactions, group memberships, and social roles.

What are the 3 mechanisms of social identity theory?

Social categorization, social identification, and social comparison.

What is social categorization?

• The process of classifying people into groups based on similar characteristics (e.g. nationality, gender, occupation, etc…)

• This categorization gives rise to in-groups (us) and out-groups (them)

• Tajfel argues that social categorization can occur even when people are randomly assigned to a group

What are in-groups and out-groups?

• In-groups → groups which we belong to and identify with

• Out-groups → groups we do not belong to

What is a minimal group?

a social group created based on arbitrary and trivial criteria, that lacks interdependence, history, or interaction between members

What is in-group favoritism?

the tendency to favor members of your in-group group over those in other groups

What is social Identification?

• Occurs after deciding to belong to the group

• This is the process of adopting the norms and characteristics of the group

What is social comparison?

• After identifying to an “in-groups”, individuals then engage in social comparison

• Serves as a means of justifying their group membership 

• Self-esteem is maintained by social comparison, as they perceive the benefits of belonging to the in-group versus the out-group

What is positive distinctiveness?

The desire to make one’s social group (in-group) seem more positive and valuable compared to other groups through social comparison

What is salience?

• when in a particular social context one aspect of an individual’s social selves becomes salient (or prominent) and they become more aware of that facet

• When one social identity becomes salient, all others are “muted”

• Social Identity theory predicts that salience influences our behaviour

What are the 4 applications of social identity theory?

• conformity

• juries

• emergency situations

• football hooliganism

Evaluate the testability of SIT

• testable under lab conditions but not naturalistic conditions

• leads to the problem of low ecological validity and high artificiality

Evaluate the empiricism of SIT

• several studies support this theory

• evidence and support from other approaches (biological)

Evaluate the applicability of SIT

• high heuristic validity

• can be used to explain a variety of human behaviours

Evaluate the constructability of SIT

• Several constructs are difficult to measure

  • salience of one’s social identity 

  • boundaries of identities (hard to identify where one’s social identity ends and start, they overlap intersectionality)

  • level of self-esteem related to social identity

Evaluate the unbiased of SIT

• past research was only conducted on boys

• however, modern research is done on more diverse samples (gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and culture)

Evaluate the predictability of SIT

• since we have a lot of social identities it is difficult to predict which identity will determine our behaviour