Describe Social Identity Theory, making reference to one relevant study.

Question 1

SIT (1)

Answer 1

Social Identity Theory is based on the assumption that we have both an individual and a social self. Social identity theory argues that one’s self-esteem comes from their membership in social groups. Tajfel argued that there were four psychological concepts to Social Identity Theory

Question 2

SIT (2)

Answer 2

Categorization, in which an individual considers himself a member of a group. Then there is social identification when the person conforms to the behaviors and values of the group. Then, the individual achieves self-esteem by social comparison with members of the out-group. Seeing the traits of one’s own group as positive and the out-group as inferior raises a sense of self-esteem. Our need for a positive self-concept leads to biases in these intergroup comparisons, making us more positive towards anything that our in-group represents, known as
positive distinctiveness.

Question 3

SIT (3)

Answer 3

Social Identity Theory also argues that one’s group membership is made salient, it has an effect on behavior.

Question 4

Abrams (1)

Answer 4

One study that demonstrates the role of one’s Social Identity on behavior was done by Abrams et al. Abrams wanted to see if being made aware of one’s social identity would increase the level of conformity to a group.

Question 5

Abrams (2)

Answer 5

To do this, he had participants take part in the Asch paradigm. In this test, there is a group of confederates and one naive participant.

Question 6

Abrams (3)

Answer 6

The group is shown a line and then asked to match it with a line of the same length in a set of three lines. In half of the trials, the confederates gave the correct answer; in half, they did not.

Question 7

testing social identity (1)

Answer 7

To test the role of social identity, one group of naive participants was told that the other participants were “fellow psychology students from the university.”

Question 8

testing social identity (2)

Answer 8

In the other condition, they were told that they were “ancient history students from the competitor university.”

Question 9

testing social identity (3)

Answer 9

When they thought it was their in-group, participants conformed almost 50% of the time to the incorrect answer; when they thought it was their out-group, they conformed only 5% of the time.

Question 10

Results (1)

Answer 10

It appears that when the participants’ social identity was made salient, conformity increased in order to be accepted by one’s in-group and to maintain self-esteem, but this did not happen when the participant believed that he was with an out-group.

Question 11

Results (2)

Answer 11

One type of conformity is normative social influence where the need to belong influences the likelihood that one will conform.

Question 12

Results (3)

Answer 12

This appears to be the case in this study, where the need to belong to one’s in-group increased the level of conformity, whereas the lack of desire to belong to an out-group meant that conformity levels were low.

Question 13

describe social identity theory, making reference to one relevant study

Answer 13

SIT is…. one study that demonstrates the role of one’s social identity…

In the study by Abrams…

It appears that when…

Question 14

Evaluation of Abrams (1)

Answer 14

The situation in which the participants found themselves was highly artificial. The study has low ecological validity and may not predict what would happen in a naturalistic situation.

Question 15

Evaluation of Abrams (2)

Answer 15

The manipulation of the independent variable and the high level of control in the experiment allows us to see a causal relationship between group membership and the dependent variable - the rate of conformity to an incorrect response.

Question 16

evaluation of Abrams (3)

Answer 16

The study was made up of university students, so the results may be difficult to generalize. Remember that samples of university students tend to be YAVIS: young, affluent, verbal, intelligent, and social.

Question 17

strength of SIT

Answer 17

The theory and research have many applications. It can be used to explain why people help in emergencies. It has been argued that increasing one’s salience as part of a group leads to less panic and more cooperation when responding to an emergency. Social identity theory has also been used to explain how juries make decisions and why we may or may not conform to a group.

Question 18

limitation of SIT

Answer 18

That being said, there are some limitations to the theory. Social identity theory looks at several “stages” – going from categorization to self-esteem. However, it is difficult to observe this progression under naturalistic conditions. For example, it is difficult to measure one’s level of “social identification.” A person may be a Manchester fan, but not at the same level as other fans. It is also difficult to measure how “salient” one’s identity is. In manipulated situations like the research above, we can assume that the social identity was salient, but in a real-life situation, we have many different social identities. It is difficult to predict which one (for example, a football fan, father, teacher, or foreigner) might motivate one’s behavior. It may actually be the interaction of different identities that plays the strongest role in predicting one’s behavior.