Social Identity theory

Question 1

What is an In-group?

Answer 1

• The group we belong to

Question 2

What is an out-group

Answer 2

• the rest
• (the group we don’t belong to)

Question 3

what is social categorisation?

Answer 3

• we categorise ourselves and others as members of particular social groups to aid our understanding.
• the group we belong to is the in-group and others are the out-group
• some social groups are more important than others
• if we assign people to a category that tells about these people and, similarly we find out things about ourselves by knowing what categories we belong to
• an individual can belong to many groups

Question 4

What is social identification?

Answer 4

we adopt the identity of the group we have categorised ourselves as belonging to. We then behave in ways we believe are appropriate to the identity. There will be an emotional significance to your identification with a group, and your self-esteem will become bound up with group membership. We comform to the social norms of that group and take on not just the behaviour, but also the values they believe in too.

Question 5

What is social comparison?

Answer 5

→ this is the final stage, once we have categorised ourselves as part of a group and identified with that group, we compare that group with others - we show in-group favouritism and out-group negative bias. Our group needs to compare well against others in order to maintain self-esteem. This is critical to understanding prejudice, because once two groups identify themselves as rivals they are forced to compare in order for the members to maintain their self-esteem.