Tajfel et al- socio- Social Identity Theory and its limitations Flashcards
(7 cards)
Aim
to investigate if intergroup discrimination would take place based on being put into different groups
Procedure
48 boys were seperated into two groups.
Each boy was then given the task to award points to two other boys, one from his same group and one from the out group of
2 systems of awarding points:
Point allocation system 1: The point scores for each boy were linked so that the sum of the two scores was 15. If a participant chose 8, the other boy automatically got a score of 7 (15 - 8). This means that as the score for the participant increases, the score of the other boy decreases.
In the second Point allocation system, Tajfel wanted to test bias:
High value for your in-group = out-group also gets a high value (so both benefit)
Mid-range value for your in-group = both groups get the same value (neutral, equal)
Low value for your in-group = out-group only gets 1 point (which is the lowest possible score they could get)ember chose a low value for another Klee member, it would award only 1 point to the other team.
Results
In System 1, boys gave more points to their own group → showing in-group favoritism.
In System 2, boys were willing to give their team fewer points if it meant increasing the difference between in-group and out-group.
Shows people favor their group even with meaningless groupings (minimal groups).
Key conclusion: Intergroup conflict isn’t needed for discrimination — just being in a group is enough.
This challenged older ideas that competition was necessary for prejudice.
Social Identity Theory
The theory argues that a person has not just one “personal self” but rather sever social selves that correspond to group membership.
In-Group Favouritism
Preference for one’s own group members over others.
Salience
When we are very aware of one of our social identities (group membership)
Minimal Group Paradigm
Minimal conditions required to case discrimination to occur between groups.
