Prejudice: Social Identity Theory Flashcards
Define prejudice
It is a preconceived opinion of another person based on stereotypes.
E.g. believing that your wife should do all the domestic chores in the house.
What is social identity theory?
SIT states that we have a strong desire to belong and we derive self-esteem through group membership and acceptance of others.
What are the three parts to social identity theory?
Social categorisation
Social identification
Social comparison
What is the main concept of social categorisation?
Ingroups and outgroups
Social categorisation is separation into one of these groups.
‘like me’/’us’ = ingroup
‘not like me’/them = outgroup
Mere existence of an outgroup is enough to bring out prejudice and discrimination.
When does social identification occur?
When a person shares common interests with a group.
They adopt the behaviours, beliefs, attitudes and values of the ingroup.
When does social comparison occur?
After social identification - the individual boosts their self-esteem by comparing the ingroup and outgroup.
What is the ‘quest for positive distinctiveness’?
The desire to see the ingroup as different and better.
These cognitive processes lead to prejudice and discrimination.
Who provided research support for social identity theory?
Tajfel (1970)
What did Tajfel (1970) do?
Minimal group experiment
Boys were allocated to groups based on whether they over estimated the number of dots or underestimated them.
Then asked to allocate points to their ingroup members and outgroup members.
Ingroup members were given more points.
What is a weakness of Tajfel’s (1970) study?
It lacks mundane realism due to the privately allocating the points.
Discrimination is rarely this covert.
We may be less discriminatory in real life as there may be unpleasant social consequences.
A further weakness of Tajfel’s study is that it may only explain behaviour of Western cultures. Who provided evidence of this?
Wetherell (1982) replicated Tajfel’s study in New Zealand and found that indigenous Polynesian children were significantly more generous allocating points to outgroups than their white New Zealand classmates.
How does social identity theory have application value to the real world?
It gives suggestions about reducing prejudice.
Prejudice in society could be decreased by implementing policies targeting low self-esteem.
