Social Identity Theory

Studies

Tajfel (1971) Terms to define

• Social identitiy theory

• Social identification

• Social categorization

• Social comparison

• Positive distinctivness

• In group

• Out group

Tajfel (1971) Aim

To investigate the minimal conditions under which discrimination between social groups could be brough about

Tajfel (1971) Procedure

• 48 school boys

• Shown a series of slides with unlablelled abstract paintings

• Told they were by Kandinsky and Klee and asked to express their preferences for one or the other based on the slides

• Randomly allocated to one of two groups the 'Klee group' or 'Kandinsky group'

• Asked to allocate anonymous points, where there were three options, 1. allocate more points to the other group so they had an advantage, 2. Allocate the same amount of points for both groups, 3. allocate more points to own group to have an advantage

Tajfel (1971) Results

• When they had the option between maximizing the profit for all and maximising the profit for their own group the chose the second option

• They were found to be more concerned with creating a large difference between both groups (in favour of their own group) than having the greater amount of points than the other group

Tajfel (1971) Evaluation

• This is evidence of very obvious discrimination associated with the categorization of the boys into apparently meaningless social groups

• Forms the basis of Tajfel's minimal group paradigm

Chen (2005) Terms to define

• Social identitiy theory

• Social identification

• Social categorization

• Social comparison

• Positive distinctivness

• In group

• Out group

• Saliency

Chen (2005) Aim

To investigate if one's cultural dimension (long term orientation) would affect their purchasing behaviors

Chen (2005) Procedure

• 149 bi-cultural participants (had background from both Singapore and America)

• Online study

• Randomly assigned to two conditions: Singaporean or American priming

• They were primed in order to make either their Singaporean or their American identity more salient

• Showed them a collage of 12 photos that were emblematic to the culture they were asigned to

• After looking at the collage they were asked to write down as many of the items they remebered

• They were given an online shopping scenario to buy a novel

• They were told that it would take five business days to recive the delivery

• But in addition to the standard delivery cost, they could pay extra to get the book in one day

• Asked how much they were willing to pay to recive the book in one day

• Finally they were asked to list the first three politicians that came to mind

Chen (2005) Results

• People whose American culture values were made more salient through the priming placed a higher value on faster delivery (immediate consumption) than the people whose Singaporean culture values were made more salient

• When asked to list three politicians, the people whose American culture was more salient named three American politicians, while the SIngaporean salient people listed three Singaporean politicians

Chen (2005) Evaluation

• Long term orientation played a role in their online shopping behavior

• In both cases the participants listed politicians that were relevant to the culture they were primed for

• This indicated that the priming had remained throughout the study and should discount individual differences between the groups

Social identity theory and studies general evaluation

• Theory may be more explanatory than predictive

• Studies are low in ecological validity

• Difficult to measure social identities

• Salience and self-esteem

• The is biological support for in-group / out-group classification

• Many applications of the theory