social identity theory Flashcards
who created social identity theory?
Tajifel (1979)
what does social identity theory aim to explain? (intro)
he proposed that prejudice can be explained by our tendency to classify as part of a group , and classify others as within/outside that group.
- there are 3 mental processes that determine others as us/them
- merely being in a group can cause prejudice towards another group.
describe the 1st stage in forming prejudice.
social categorisation: we categorise people into groups to aid our understandings eg age, gender, race. an individual can belong to many different social groups. in groups are the groups we belong to, and out groups are the rest.
describe the 2nd stage of forming prejudice.
social identification: we adopt the identity of the group and behave in the same way as them, building an emotional significance to the group.
- our self esteem becomes bound with group membership
-we confirm to social norms+ values they believe in.
example of stage 2 (social identification)
football supporters- take on the same beliefs as people in their team e.g which team they hate the most, and buy/wear merch to identify with their team.
describe the 3rd stage in forming prejudice
social comparison: we compare our in group with out groups
- show in group favouritism and out group negative bias, comparing groups maintains self esteem.
example of stage 3: social comparison
a football supporter may show in group favouritism to their team by saying they deserve their fame, supporting through rough patches.
- show out group negative bias by picking on weaknesses of rival teams, things that went wrong, emphasising they’re bad.
