Social identity theory

Who created the theory? When?

Tajfel and Turner, 1979

Summary?

Theory suggests that prejudice occurs from the formation of two groups, without any other factor being present. The mere existence or perception of another group can lead to prejudice.

What is our social identity?

The way we distinguish ourselves by our membership of certain groups.

This can affect our personal identity because group members are often a source of our self esteem. This means that when the social identity is favourable, personal identity id group members is positive. This is achieved via in-group favouritism and negative out-group bias.

What are the three cognitive processes involved in establishing whether someone is in our in-group vs our out-group?

Social categorisation, social identification and social comparison

What is social categorisation?

We categorise ourselves as members of a particular social group (eg- gender, class, race). This occurs naturally and in the absence of conflict.

What is social identification?

We adopt the identity of the group we have categorised ourselves as belonging to. We follow the behavioural norms of our in-group. Group identification affirms our self esteem.

What is social comparison?

Where we compare our in-group to other out-groups. In order for self-esteem to be maintained, our group needs to compare well against other groups.

Define in-group favouritism

The tendency of group members to see the individuals within their group as unique (heterogeneous) and favourable.

Define negative out-group bias

The tendency to view members of the out-group as ‘all the same’ (homogeneous) and in an unfavourable light.

Strength?

There is evidence to support the idea that the presence of another group is enough to create prejudice. In Tajfel and Turner’s minimal group studies, they found that the boys would often display preference to their in-group when allocating points based on the painting they liked, even when the boys didn’t know who was in their in-group and there was no completion between the two groups (positive interdependence situation). This demonstrates the principles of social identity theory - individuals will be prejudiced due to the mere existence of another group, even with a lack of competition.

Weakness?

A weakness is that perhaps the theory can only explain intergroup behaviour in Western societies. Margaret Wetherell (1982) conducted a replication of Tajfel and Turner’s minimal group studies using 8 year old school children in New Zealand. She found that Polynesian children were more generous in their point allocation to out-group members in comparison to their New Zealand classmates. Therefore, social identity theory may be ethnocentric and not sufficient to explain prejudice in more collectivist cultures.

Describe the procedure of Tajfel and Turner’s minimal groups study: Experiment 2

3 groups of 16 year old boys were used. They were shown slides of paintings by ‘Klee’ and ‘Kandinsky’ but were not told what paintings were by which artists, and were then told to individuate their preference for each painting. The boys were then told they would be assigned groups based on their preferences for either Klee or Kandinsky, however, they were actually randomly assigned. A system of rewards and punishments via point allocation was used - this was a positive interdependence situation where both groups could succeed. This was used to determine whether the boys would show fairness of display negative out-group bias.

Findings of Tajfel and Turner’s minimal group study: Experiment 2?

The boys consistently rewarded their own group, ignoring the fairer alternative despite it rewarding them further. The demonstrates in-group favouritism - the boys failed to maximise their own profit in order to ensure the other group was penalised.