4.4 Evaluate social identity theory (SIT)

What are the limitations of SIT?

* Minmal group research has been criticized for articifiality. the set-up is far from natural behavior and can be questioned whether it reflects how people would react in real life * It cannot fully explain how ingroup favoritsm may result in violent behavior towards outgroup. *It cannot explain why social constraints such as poverty could play a bigger role in behavior than social identity.

What are the strengths of SIT?

* SIT assumes that intergroup conflict is not required for discrimination to occur. this is supported by empirical research (Tajfel, 1970). * It can explain some of the mechanisms involved in establishing "positive distinctiveness" to ingroup by maximizing differences to the outgroup. *It has been applied to understanding behaviors such as ethnocentrism, ingroup favoritism conformity to ingroup norms, and stereotyping

Define social comparison

*Individuals strive to maintain a positive self-concept as well as a positive social identity. People make comparisons between ingroup and outgroup on valued dimensions to establish, maintain, and defend positive ingroups distinctiveness (social comparison) *When a social comparison resulst in a positive outcome for the ingroup, the need for a positive social identity is satisfied but the opposite may also happen. *Intergroup discrimination can be one way to uphold a positive social identity for the ingroup (e.g. when women earn less than men for the same work etc.)

Define SIT

*It is a theoretical framework developed by Tajfel and Turner (1979) for the analysis of inergroup relations. *Social identity can be defined as a positive self-concept based on the knowledge of membership in social group(s)

Explan Howarth (2002)

Howarth (2002) performed focus group interviews with adolescent girls in Brixton to study how the girls described and evaluated themselves. She found that girls had a positive view of "being from Brixton" which contrasted with how people living outside Brixton perceived people from Brixton. This is an example of creating a positive 'social identity' based on group belonging.

Explain and evaluate Tajfel (1970)

Tajfel (1970) Experiment in intergroup discrimination - the minimal group paradigm: *Aim: to investigate if boys placed in random groups based on an arbitrary task (minimal group) would display ingroup favoritism and intergroup discrimination. *Procedure: 64 schoolboys (14-15) came to a psychology laboratory in groups of 8. they knew each other well prior to the experiment. the boys were shown clusters of varying numbers of dots and hat to estimate how the number of dots in each cluster. the boys were randomly categorized as 'over-estimators' and 'under-estimator'. Later the boys has to allocate small amounts of money to the other boys in the experiment (the only thing they knew of the boys was is they belonged to the same or different category). In a second experiment, the boys were randomly allocated to groups based on their supposed artistic preferences for two painters, then had to award money to the other boys. *Results: a majority of the boys gave more money to the boys in their own category (ingroup) than the other ones (outgroup). the results indicate that the boys adopted strategy of ingroup favoritism. this proves the predictions of SIT. *Evaluation: The experiment contributed to the development of SIT, which states that the social groups and categories to which we belong are an important part of our self-concept. Tajfel showed that a minimal group is all that is needed to for individuals to exhibit discrimination against outgroups. the experiment has been criticized for artificiality and demand characteristics.