Tajfel et al (1971)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To clarify the strategy used by participants when making between group choices.

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

• 48 boys of the same age from the same school.
• Participants were shown slides with pairs of abstract paintings- one by Kandinsky and the other by Klee, and asked to choose the one they liked better.
• They were told they would be split into groups based on whether they preferred Kandinsky or Klee, when really groups were randomly allocated.
• Different matrices were used, allowing experimenters to distinguish 3 types of strategy, which were:
• Maximum joint payoff- the choice that corresponds to the highest total number of points.
• Maximum in-group payoff.
• Maximum difference in favour of the in-group- the point in the matrix that maximises the difference between the payoffs for the members of the two groups.
• Matrices were manipualted in such a way that the three strategies would contradict each other.

Question 3

Findings

Answer 3

• Participants demonstrated a clear oreference for MD.
• This means they preferred their group to get less money if this meant that their group would compare favourably to the other group.
• Subjects sacrafice group and personal gain to achieve favourable intergroup differences.
• Note: findings particularly support positive distinctiveness.