I&G Group identities Flashcards
Who is Henri Tajfel 1919-1982?
Born in Poland, studied in France - antisemitism
Joined French army for WWII
Lost almost entire family in Holocaust
He was captured by Germans 🡪 became prisoner of war camp
People disagree on whether he hid Jewish identity(?)
Post-war – resettling Jewish orphans / refugees
One of founders of social psychology in Europe
Sought to understand prejudice and discrimination
Who is John Turner 1947-2011?
Gained experience as Trades Union Organiser- important given interest in intergroup relations.
Sought to understand origins of collective behaviour
and how social change is possible-
Co-author of Social Identity Theory
Lead author of Self-Categorisation Theory
The Minimal Group Experiments
[Tajfel et al (1971) European J. Social Psychology, 1, 149-177]
What was the experiment & what did it test?
Experiment presented as a test of decision making.
First decision-choose which painting you like- by Klee/ Kadinsky.
Assignment to Klee or Kandinsky group (privately) – no knowledge of other ingroup/outgroup members- all you know is name of own group
Given task- allocate money to anonymous recipients (only identified by group membership and a code number)- no money goes to yourself.
The Minimal Group Experiments
[Tajfel et al (1971) European J. Social Psychology, 1, 149-177]
The reward allocation matrices- what was this?
People tended to allocate more money to participants in their own group (in group favouritism)- despite it having no meaning.
If there were two people both in their group- they would go for the fair option- giving some to both.
They don’t know who the people are & no money is going to themselves.
Explaining MGP discrimination?
Competitive norms in Western cultures?
But bias not restricted to Western cultures- if norm is for their group to be the winning group, they will try to do better than the other group.
Cognitive process of social categorisation
What study was made on the
Effects of categorization on physical judgements?
(Tajfel & Wilkes, 1963)
Interested in how categorization could effect peoples judgements- e.g. the size of lines.
Were interested in peoples estimations of the difference in length between the two lines in the middle.
They were only 1cm different in length
When no category- participants tended to underestimate the different in length between the lines.
When there was a category (labelling the lines either A or B)- participants judged the lines to be much more different in length- exaggerate the difference (e.g. 2.3 cm)
How can we explain MGP (minimal groups paradigm) discrimination?
Competitive norms in Western cultures?
But bias not restricted to Western cultures
(Actually, results are a bit complex)
Cognitive process of social categorisation
Accentuates differences between categories
Minimises differences within categories
Explains difference but not favouritism
Explaining MGP discrimination
What was Tajfels Explanation?
Tajfel’s explanation:
Social identity processes
Discrimination helps to establish positive distinctiveness of ingroup from outgroup
Positive group distinctiveness 🡪 self-esteem
(similar to downward social comparison
as self-enhancement mechanism)
What is the core of social identity theory?
Wanting our group to be positively distinct from other groups.
Do minimal group paradigm studies findings mean that intergroup discrimination is inevitable?
No this is not true
They believe instead that it is the role of uncertainty in minimal group paradigm that leads to people discriminating.
People therefore use discrimination to give their group meaning (higher discrimination when meanings of social context/ self are unclear.)
Self-anchoring: projecting one’s own characteristics onto the group (to give the group meaning)
What is minimal group paradigm?
A method for investigating the minimal conditions required for discrimination to occur between groups.
What are the key insights from minimal group paradigm?
You can create in group favoritism from the social context- not individual differences.
There is positive group distinctiveness- leads to Social Identity theory.
Fluidity of social identities- you can get people to behave as group members through telling them their meaningless group- self categorization theory.
Who was social identity theory introduced by?
(Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
What does social identity theory state?
Social categories do not only simplify and bring order to our world -They also provide a basis for our identity, our sense of who we are.
People strive to achieve/maintain a positive identity & positive group identities.
Positive social identity is largely based on favourable intergroup comparisons – we seek to make our group positively distinct from other groups.
Threats to group identity can cause people to seek to leave their group or to make it more distinctive
Behaviour in situations where our group or social identities are salient will be driven by these, rather than our personal identities
Social identity theory
How do groups respond to threat/disadvantage- there group isn’t the high status group?
Social identity maintenance strategies include:
Individual mobility – move to a better group
Social competition – try to improve group’s status- compete with the other group.
(Including prejudice and discrimination against other groups &
Also including collective action, protest movements, etc.)
Social creativity – use different dimensions to compare your group to the other group. E.g. group may not be as financially successful- but is more kind.
Depending on perceptions of group context
permeability, stability (how stable is the relationship between groups), legitimacy (are the status differences legitimate)
