The groups which people belong are an important source of personal pride and self-esteem as belonging to those groups gives us a sense of belonging in the social world.
The mere presence or perception of another group that can lead to prejudice.
What does the social comparison stage involve in social identity theory?
We enhance the ingroup status by exaggerating their positive qualities so increasing our self-esteem while underestimating the qualities of the outgroup, leading to maximising the difference between the groups.
We also show ingroup favouritism by giving resources to our own group over the outgroup.
What is a piece of supporting evidence for social identity theory?
Levine (2005) found that football fans are more likely to help an injured stranger who tripped in front of them when wearing colours of the team shirt they supported (in-group) as opposed to neutral or those of a rival team shirt (out-group) which suggests that groups show favouritism to their ingroup opposed to the outgroup when helping.
What is a piece of critical evidence for social identity theory?
Sherif (1954) found that creating competition between the rattler and eagles such as tug of war, was enough to cause prejudice such as name calling. This suggests that competition is needed for prejudice to arise, rather than just belonging to a group.