SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

Prejudice
Henri Tajfel believed that there was a cognitive basis for prejudice rooted in peoples need to make sense of the world. During the 50s, the dominant approach in psychology was that prejudice was caused by an abnormal, authoritarian personality. He suggested 3 basic processes: Categorization: human thinking by which objects, people and events are identified; differences between categories are exaggerated while within minimized; so called stereotyping. Assimilation: process of learning the norms, values and beliefs of a culture; we see the world through our own cultures lens. Search for coherence: people wish to make sense of a world that constantly changes; they draw on the attitudes and outlook of their own group to provide a coherent understanding of the world. Social Identity Theory assumes that people would like themselves to be seen in a positive light, which is explained by their strive for a positive self-image. Since people tend to be in favour of the groups they belong in, this will cause in-group favouritism and they will develop negative views towards their out-groups, so called negative out-group bias.

Tajfel (experiment 1)
Aim: demonstrate prejudice and SIT Method: 64 boys, aged 14-15 from Bristol who knew each other well, were separated into groups of 8. In the first part of the experiment, forty clusters containing varying numbers of dots were flashed on the screen and boys had to write the estimates. After this task, boys were separated into groups of over-estimators and under-estimators. In the second part of the experiment, boys were given an 18-page-booklet with a matrix containing 14 columns and 2 rows. Each boy had to choose one column each, so that he would earn points for his own team and penalty for the other team. In the end, boys got a penny for each 10 points. The rows were: In-group choices: boys in both rows were members of the participants own group. Out-group choices: boys in both rows were members of the out-group. Intergroup choices: one boy was ingroup, the other boy was out-group. Results: the experiment sample is biased because of age and gender. The experimenters didnt want to see the real behaviour, so they randomly assigned the boys to random groups, over-estimators and under-estimators. The independent variable of the experiment is division, while dependent is giving points. Each boy got 50p and when boys had to make an entirely in-group choice, they tended towards the point of maximum fairness. Discrimination occurred and choices were not made to maximize everyones winnings (as joint maximum profit would be higher than the maximum of group profit).

Even though this explains some aspects of prejudice, it doesnt explain its development and in order to explain the origin of prejudice, Henri Tajfel proposed social identity theory.

Social Identity Theory

According to the social identity theory, prejudice and discrimination are only possible if people are categorized into groups. This leads them to identify with certain groups and from this they develop a sense of in-groups and out-groups. Group identification provides people with their social identity. Tajfel defines this as individuals self-image, which is basically where an individual puts himself in terms of a social category. These categories can be absolutely anything, for example: Social class Ethnicity, religion, nationality, region Sexual orientation Gender Occupation

Tajfel (experiment 2)
Aim: demonstrate prejudice and SIT Method: in the second experiment, there were 48 boys in 3 groups of 16, which were divided based on their aesthetic preference. They were shown 12 slides of paintings: 6 of Kandinsky, 6 of Klee. The paintings were not signed so that boys could be assigned at random. Different matrices were used this time. Tajfel wanted to assess three things: Maximum joint profit (MJP): the largest possible award for 2 people. Maximum in-group profit (MIP): the largest possible award to member of the in-group. Maximum difference (MD): largest possible difference in gain between ingroup and out-group member, in favour of the former.

Advantages and disadvantages

Social Identity Theory combines all explanations for stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination and all are seen to result from a need of a positive identity. However a disadvantage for it is that there is a lot this theory does not explain. The relationships between groups are not simply based on a need for people to see their own group in a positive light. They are also based on a struggle for scarce resources (money, material goods, power) and this struggle can generate the prejudice and discrimination. It also finds difficult to explain extreme forms of prejudice, such as systematic slaughter of millions in Nazi concentration camps.

Results: as a result Tajfel concluded that the boys didnt make their choices based on their best joint deal. As for MIP & MD, the participants always tried to maximize the profit of their own group. The participants decided to be less fair with out-group members. In-group identity is powerful and inevitable. This study supports the social identity theory as the boys were split into groups (categorized) and discriminated against the other group to feel superior.

Jane Elliot
A schoolteacher from all-white community in Iowa wanted to make children feel what it felt like to be discriminated. Two groups were created: blue eyed and brown eyed. One day she treated the blue eyed people more favourably and gave them privileges and took every opportunity to criticize brown-eyed children. The relationships between groups were quickly becoming progressively worse (e.g. fights between ex-friends). Within a day the inferior group saw itself as inferior and the children performed worse than they did before (when they were told that their group is actually superior) and also they described themselves as stupid and bad and mean.