explanations and research into prejudice Flashcards
who created social identity theory
tajfel and turner
decribe social identity theory
social categorisation- placing yourself in one group and being apart of it (in group)
social identification - associating yourself with the culture of your group, take on norms and attitudes
social comparision - to boost self esteem you make your group look better than out group via discrimination and prejudice
ingroup favatourism is based on : the ectent to which individuals identify ingroup, ectent to which there are groups for making comparisions
prejudice arises as people are placed into ingroups and outgroups
evaluate social identity theory
+ levine et at - football fans witnessed a stranger fall and injure themselves, pts were more likely to help the person if they were wearing their football team colours rather than rival colours
+ tajfel used school boys from bristol and created ingroups and outgroup, more points given to ingroup by the boys than outgroup
+ tajfels minimal group studies support the theory as they show ingroup favourtism in the absence of competition, large samples and high control increase generalisability, reliability and validity
- however allocating points lacks mundane realism we may be less discriminating as there may be unpleasant social consequences
- other factors not taken into account, doesnt measure prejudice in different situations
- wetherell conducted tajefels study in new zealand, indigenous children allocated many points to outgroup
who created realisitic conflict theory
sherif
what is realistic conflict theory
conflict of intrests - two groups want to achieve same goal but cant, hostility produced
negative stereotypes - used to justify discrimination
zero sum- prejudice more likely if resource can run out, only one winner and one loser
negative interdependence - a groups gain can only occur at another groups loss
superordinate goals - reduce conflict by working together as neither group can attain goal on their own can be reffered as positive interdependance
evaluate realistic conflict theory
+ aronson and bridgeman- developed jigsaw classroom to tackle prejudice in american schools, superordinate goals
- tyerman and spencer observed english boy scouts similar to robbers cave, 4 groups competed but no conflict
- arsonsons research hasnt been longitudinal so only shown short term benefits, may not be enough to reduce prejudice
+ supported by robbers cave experiment
- robbers cave was carried out on school boys not adults, testosterone and upbringing can increase competition, cant generalise to adults
+ good face validity, football fans have negative sterotypes about rival teams but no particular view on teams much lower or higher as no competition
