SIT - Tajfel + Turner 1979

• Keywords 


  • Reliability - Ensuring all procedures are the same for every participant so that their performances are comparable.
  • Deception - Occurs when a participant is not told the true research aims of a study.
  • Autonomous State - State of free will, where a person is fully responsible for their actions.
  • Internal Validity - How well the independent variable measures the dependent variable, ensuring that the results are due to the manipulation of the independent variables.
• keywords


  Right to Withdraw - The ability of a participant to leave an experiment whenever they wish.

  Demand Characteristics - Any aspect of a study that gives away the true aims of the research to the participants, potentially influencing their behaviour~.

  Locus of Control - The degree to which a person believes they have control over their decisions and actions, either internal (self-controlled) or external (controlled by external factors).
• What is the basis of our self-concept according to Tajfel and Turner?

  Our self-concept is made up of many social identities.
• What drives human social behaviour according to Social Identity Theory?


  The desire to belong to a group and maintain a positive self-esteem.
• Who proposed that our self-concept is made up of many social identities?

  Tajfel and Turner.
• 3 parts that make up social identity theory:

  1. Social categorisation (fitting into group/category - gender, race, ethnicity etc)
  2. Social identification (beliefs + values start to change identity)
  3. Social comparison (self esteem increases due to prejudice views of out group can lead to discrimination)
• Social Identification:


  • When an individual adopts the beliefs, values and attitudes of the groups they see themselves belonging.
  • They may alter their behaviour to fit in with said group + outward changes in appearance may also happen.
  • It causes a shift in a person's thinking and a new self concept + social identity is formed.
• Social categorisation:


  • The "in group" in any group that we see ourselves as being a part of based on attributes like race, gender, nationality, religion. The outgroup is anyone that is not part of that.
  • Social categorization refers to the separation of individuals into 2 groups: 'like me /us' and 'not like me/them".
  • It is an automatic process, the existence of an outgroup is enough to bring about prejudice discrimination between "us" + them.
• Social comparison:


  • An individual may boost their self esteem through comparisons between the in group and outgroup.
  • Since the outcomes of these comparisons affect our self esteem , they may not always be objective.
  • If the "in group" is seen as better /superior, then we too would feel the same as we feel attached to that group.
  • We are therefore motivated to perceive the ingroup in a positive light and the “out group" in an unfavourable way.
  • This can lead to discrimination, as we think of our group members differently but also may end up treating them differently.