Samenvatting
Understanding
Prejudice
,Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction and Social Identity Theory
Audit test in retail market
● Subordinate-male target hypothesis = out-group men are more discriminated
Group formation
● Categorization process is a central component of Social Identity Theory
○ Evolutionary perspective: necessary to distinguish friend and enemy
○ Cognitive perspective: necessary to process large amount of
information
Categorization
● People search actively for information
● People simplify processing all that information by ignoring certain differences
and emphasizing (or even exaggerating) certain similarities of that information
SIT experiment 1: non-social stimuli
● Tajfel: how do people deal with categories?
● People have to rate non-stimuli
Non-social versus social stimuli
● Categorization of non-social stimuli: similarities within groups (homogeneity)
and differences between groups are over-emphasized
● Can this be generalized to social stimuli?
SIT experiment 2: minimal group experiment
● Goal: manipulate social categorization as an independent variable
○ Step 1: generate social categorization on basis of a trivial criterion
○ Step 2: let participants give rewards to members of their own and the
other group
● Part 1: dot estimation task → how many dots do you estimate are in this
picture
● Part 2: rewarding people → give monetary reward to 2 people
○ Potential strategies
■ Fairness
■ Maximum joint profit
■ Maximum ingroup profit
■ Maximum difference in favor of in-group
○ Maximum difference in favor of in-group is mostly chosen
Conclusion minimal-group experiments
● Group formation leads to discriminatory behavior (in-group favoritism)
● Even if groups are formed on basis of a trivial category
● Tajfel: social categorization is a sufficient condition for intergroup bias
,Social Identity Theory
● Social categorization
○ Process of bringing together social objects or events in groups which
are equivalent with regard to an individual’s actions, intentions and
system of beliefs
○ Similar to categorization of non-social stimuli
■ Use of any characteristic available
■ Perceive more similarly within and more differences between
categories
○ Not just the basis of how we perceive the world, but also how we
perceive ourselves
● Social identity
○ Social identity is based the realization that one belongs to a social
category and the positive or negative evaluation association with this
membership
■ Are divisive and exclusive
■ Are context dependent
■ Have a cultural component: this turns a category into an identity
■ Include a judgment of the nature of people in a certain category
○ This is more than a minimal group. Social identities may thus have
even more powerful consequences in intergroup interaction!
○ Ascribed identity vs self-identification
● Social comparison
○ Through social comparison with other groups, people ty to evaluate
their group’s relative status
○ People strive for a positive social identity
■ People are more motivated to belong to a positively evaluated
group
○ They value their own group more than other groups (social
identification vs contra-identification)
● Psychological group distinctiveness
○ Need for belonging to a positively evaluated group but also need to be
distinct from others
○ People thus try to achieve a position of their group that is distinct and
positive
Understanding behavior
● People strive to belong to groups that have positive and distinct identities
● Social comparison:
○ Adequate social identity
■ Attempt to retain superiority
■ Attempt to enhance superiority
○ Inadequate social identity
■ Seek change
, ■ Are there cognitive alternatives?
● No: situation stable/legitimized → individual strategy
○ Individual mobility
○ (Intra-group comparison)
● Yes: situation not stable/legitimized → group strategy
○ Absorption
○ Change meaning of group traits
○ Compare on other dimension
○ Compare to the other group
○ Social competition
Understanding
Prejudice
,Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction and Social Identity Theory
Audit test in retail market
● Subordinate-male target hypothesis = out-group men are more discriminated
Group formation
● Categorization process is a central component of Social Identity Theory
○ Evolutionary perspective: necessary to distinguish friend and enemy
○ Cognitive perspective: necessary to process large amount of
information
Categorization
● People search actively for information
● People simplify processing all that information by ignoring certain differences
and emphasizing (or even exaggerating) certain similarities of that information
SIT experiment 1: non-social stimuli
● Tajfel: how do people deal with categories?
● People have to rate non-stimuli
Non-social versus social stimuli
● Categorization of non-social stimuli: similarities within groups (homogeneity)
and differences between groups are over-emphasized
● Can this be generalized to social stimuli?
SIT experiment 2: minimal group experiment
● Goal: manipulate social categorization as an independent variable
○ Step 1: generate social categorization on basis of a trivial criterion
○ Step 2: let participants give rewards to members of their own and the
other group
● Part 1: dot estimation task → how many dots do you estimate are in this
picture
● Part 2: rewarding people → give monetary reward to 2 people
○ Potential strategies
■ Fairness
■ Maximum joint profit
■ Maximum ingroup profit
■ Maximum difference in favor of in-group
○ Maximum difference in favor of in-group is mostly chosen
Conclusion minimal-group experiments
● Group formation leads to discriminatory behavior (in-group favoritism)
● Even if groups are formed on basis of a trivial category
● Tajfel: social categorization is a sufficient condition for intergroup bias
,Social Identity Theory
● Social categorization
○ Process of bringing together social objects or events in groups which
are equivalent with regard to an individual’s actions, intentions and
system of beliefs
○ Similar to categorization of non-social stimuli
■ Use of any characteristic available
■ Perceive more similarly within and more differences between
categories
○ Not just the basis of how we perceive the world, but also how we
perceive ourselves
● Social identity
○ Social identity is based the realization that one belongs to a social
category and the positive or negative evaluation association with this
membership
■ Are divisive and exclusive
■ Are context dependent
■ Have a cultural component: this turns a category into an identity
■ Include a judgment of the nature of people in a certain category
○ This is more than a minimal group. Social identities may thus have
even more powerful consequences in intergroup interaction!
○ Ascribed identity vs self-identification
● Social comparison
○ Through social comparison with other groups, people ty to evaluate
their group’s relative status
○ People strive for a positive social identity
■ People are more motivated to belong to a positively evaluated
group
○ They value their own group more than other groups (social
identification vs contra-identification)
● Psychological group distinctiveness
○ Need for belonging to a positively evaluated group but also need to be
distinct from others
○ People thus try to achieve a position of their group that is distinct and
positive
Understanding behavior
● People strive to belong to groups that have positive and distinct identities
● Social comparison:
○ Adequate social identity
■ Attempt to retain superiority
■ Attempt to enhance superiority
○ Inadequate social identity
■ Seek change
, ■ Are there cognitive alternatives?
● No: situation stable/legitimized → individual strategy
○ Individual mobility
○ (Intra-group comparison)
● Yes: situation not stable/legitimized → group strategy
○ Absorption
○ Change meaning of group traits
○ Compare on other dimension
○ Compare to the other group
○ Social competition
