social identity theory - social

• what did the theory suggest prejudice can result from

  the mere presence of another group when you yourself have membership to a different group
• what theory does this go against, why

  Sherifs, realistic conflict theory because this states competition isn't necessary to cause prejudice
• what is self concept made up of

  many social identities
• what are our social identities linked to

  the social groups we belong to
• how do we grow our self esteem

  having a desire to belong so through group membership (belonging to a group) and acceptance from others
• what is our behaviour driven by as a result of desire for group membership and acceptance


  motivation to maintain a positive self concept/esteem as a valued group member
• what does this form

  an individuals personal identity
• what is a personal identity

  characteristics personal to an individual
• what is personal identity influenced by

  social identity (changing our behaviour to fit with a group)
• what is social identity

  image based on attributes of groups we belong to
• what happens when social identity is favorable, why

  personal identity of group members is more positive as self esteem/concept is higher
• what are the stages of the social identity theory

  1 - social categorisation

  2 - social identification

  3 - social comparison
• what happens in social categorisation

  we categorise people including ourselves in order to understand the social environment we are in
• what categories do we use in social categorisation

  in group - the individual is in the group we belong to

  out group - the individual is in a group we don't belong to
• what happens in social identification

  we adopt the beliefs, values, and attitudes of our in group and alter out behaviour to fit in with group norms
• what often happens to our self concept in social identification, why

  it will change as a new social identity is formed which in turn will change our personal identity
• what happens in social comparison

  we compare our ingroup and outgroup
• why do we do social comparison

  to raise the positive attributes of the ingroup and to reconcile negative social identity in order to elevate our personal identity
• what two ways can we do social comparison

  1 - in group favoritism

  2 - negative out group bias
• what is in group favoritism

  seeing in group members as unique and favorable
• what is in group favoritism called as a bias in psychology terms

  in group homogeneity bias
• what is negative out group bias


  seeing out group members as all the same and unfavorable
• what is negative out group bias called in psychology terms

  out group homogeneity bias
• what is the three evidences for the theory

  1 - jane elliot

  2 - Tajfel

  3 - Cialdini
• what was Jane Elliots experiment

  splitting her primary school class into groups - blue eyed children and brown eyed children - and making them have seperate rules and allowances, blue eyed children were 'better
• what did Jane Elliots experiment show

  hostility increased due to formation of groups
• how does Jane Elliots experiment support the theory

  shows there is evidence to support that prejudice is result of merely being part of a group ( no competition is necessary)
• what was tajfels minimal group experiment

  boys asked to chose a painting they liked best from options, were told which boys behaved like them and which didn't when choosing the painting, then asked to allocate points to boys, boys allocated more points to in group members
• what did Tajfels experiment show

  social categorisation is enough to trigger in group favoritism
• negatives to Tajfels experiment

  1 - lacks mundane realism (privately allocating points)

  2 - lacks ecological validity (discrimination is rarely this covert)
• application (2)


  1 - reduce prejudice

  2 - help understand/stop discrimination
• how can the theory be applied to reduce prejudice

  says increasing self esteem can reduce prejudice - prejudice in society could be reduced by implementing policies to target low self esteem
• how can the theory be applied to understanding/stopping discrimination

  suggests to stop it we must stop categorising people and stop in group favoritism and negative out group bias
• shortcomings (3)


  1 - ignores role of individual differences in prejudice eg authoritarian personalities may be more prejudiced, how culture could affect it

  2 - elements f theory are hard to measure and can be considered to be hypothetical eg measuring of self esteem

  3 - can be seen as reductionist as doesn't consider prejudice as result of competition
• alternative


  . RCT better at explaining prejudice between groups in competition

  . but this theory better at explaining prejudice where there is no competition

  . overall both reductionist