Lecture 2: Social Identity theory Flashcards
(21 cards)
What do groups vary by?
- Size (Family Vs Nation)
- Longevity
- Structure (Highly organised or informal)
- Purpose (Task focused or social)
- Decision making (Autocratic or democratic)
What is a common bond group?
Based on interpersonal bonds like a family.
What is a common identity group?
Based on a shared category membership like a nationality. We cannot see the other members of the group.
What is a social aggregate?
People in the same place or sharing superficial features, like hazel eyes. In a researchers eyes they are a group but the group themselves don’s see themselves as a group.
What is entitativity?
The extent to which a group it seen as distinct, coherent and bounded. A football team has high entitativity but in a shopping mall, trying to figure out who is shopping has low entitativity.
What is group cohesiveness?
The glue which binds members together, includes solidarity, shared goals and mutual support.
Social attraction: Liking someone because they embody group ideals (prototypicality)
Research on group cohesion (Boyd et al., 2014)
- Participants in the task involving group (focusing on effort and improvement) had high cohesion
- Participants in the Ego-involving climate (focus on outperforming others) had low cohesion
What are the five stages of the group socialization process?
1) Investigation - considering joining.
2) Socialisation - learning the norms of the group.
3) Maintenance - mutual role negotiation
4) Resocialisation - reintegration if deviating
5) Remembrance - former members legacy
What are did Decker et al, 2014 find?
Gang exit is a staged process. There are doubts, turning points until finally leaving.
What are norms?
Shared standards or beliefs of behaviour. They define group membership and guide different actions. Violations can lead to social sanctions or ostracism.
McNeil et al 2013- ‘Work hard, play hard culture’ in medical students.
Overall identifying as a medical student had beneficial effects on well being due to social support. Students who identified with the staying strong norm suffered reduced well-being. Results for identifying with the party hard norm was mixed as it is still a form of social support.
What are marginal group members?
- They are disliked often more than the outgroup members (Black sheep effect)
- Criticism from within is taken more seriously from within the group than from outsiders
- They can drive group change
- Vilification of marginal members can increase group cohesion
Abrams, Palmer and Rutland 2014- Marginal members
Found kids 8+ reacted negatively to ingroup non-conformity, whereas younger kids were less judgemental. (Whether they wanted to go to the funfair or not)
What is the difference between personal and social identity?
Personal identity: Your identity as a unique individual, you are separate from others. You are individualistic, stable and internally driven.
Social Identity: You identify as a member of a social group, with shared characteristics and norms with the group. Can shift depending on the situation and drive group based behaviour.
What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis?
States that frustration leads to aggression, especially during goal-blocking.
What is the Realistic Conflict theory (Sherif 1966)?
States that intergroup conflict arises from conflict over scarce recourses.
Robbers Cave study: Groups of boys developed hostility until given superordinate goals to promote cooperation.
What is the games theory/ commons dilemma?
It stimulates real-world recourse use. If too may players act selfishly the shared recourse is lost. (Grazing cows concept)
What is Tajfel’s Minimal groups paradigm? (1971)
- Even arbitrary group assignment leads to bias
- Participants favour ingroup even when differences are meaningless
- They maximised ingroup gain and differences from the outgroup even at their own expense.
What is self-categorisation theory?
Identity= personal + multiple social identities
Which one is salient depends on the context and the chronic accessibility.
Leads to acting as the ideal group member.
What are two benefits of social identification?
1) Self-Enhancement (Tajfel)
- Belonging to high-status groups increase self esteem
- However, low self-esteem does not necessarily cause ingroup bias.
2) Uncertainty Reduction
- Knowing ‘who we are’ through group membership helps to reduce ambiguity.
How can social identity improve?
(with a impermeable boundary, permeable means the individual can leave the group for a better status)
1) Social creativity
- Change how the group is seen, new dimensions, redefine values and compare with different outgroups
2) Social competition
- If the hierarchy is illegitimate & unstable, low-status groups may choose to protest, form movements or engage in conflict or revolution.
