Tajfel Study (FLASHCARDS)

Aim

Aimed to investigate whether intergroup discrimination would occur based solely on being assigned to different groups, even if the group assignments were arbitrary

Procedure

• Participants were randomly assigned to groups based on trivial or meaningless criteria (e.g., preference for a particular artist, coin flip)

• Participants were presented with scenarios where they had to decide how to allocate points or money between members of their own group (in-group) and members of other groups (out-groups)

Results

• Showed that participants favored their own group, even when it meant reducing their own potential rewards or when the group assignments were based on trivial criteria

Conclusion

Supports the social identity theory, which suggests that simply knowing that someone belongs to a different group is enough to trigger in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination