Social Identity Theory Socio-Cultural LOA Social Identity Theory

What Type of Doodler are you? Psychological research has identified two types of doodler, Concrete Abstract You have 2m to draw a doodle, (as you would normally) on your piece of paper, then hand it in with your name on and I will let you know which type of doodler you are.

The task You should be sat in your 2 groups Your task is to allocate points to an anonymous members of both groups in the form of a grid. Your choice for one group determines the choice for the other. At the end of the experiment both groups will be given the equivalent amount of wonderful prizes for points for points. The grid’s will look something like this; Points to #4 Abstract Group 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points to #3 Concrete Group 1 3 5 17 Columns may be used more than once provided that the rows align. You will do this four times in your groups

Results Grid Abstract Concrete 1 2 3 4

Conclusions There was 3 possible strategies that your group could have used; Maximum in-group profit i.e. 15(ig)/1(og) Maximum joint profit i.e. 16(ig)/16(og) Maximum difference in favour of the in-group i.e. 14(ig)/4(og) Which strategy did your group go for? Was this a conscious decision?

Tajfel’s Minimal Group Paradigm (1970) The experiment we have just replicated was done by Tajfel in 1970 to demonstrate how easy it is to form competitive groups (and prejudice). His results showed that groups would always maximise the difference between the groups (i.e. Choosing option 3) rather than maximising their own reward (i.e. Choosing option 1). Hopefully your results should have been the same, if not why do you think this was?

Lesson Objectives To be able to describe Social Identity Theory To look at one study which evaluates Social Identity Theory (Sherif’s Robbers Cave Study)

Social identity theory Tajfel saw humans as having two identities, a personal one and a group one. Tajfel said our personal identity will change depending upon the groups we perceive to be in, e.g. Karate Club / Lawyers / Emo etc

Social identity theory Membership of a particular group can influence our self-concept (how we view ourselves) and can determine our reactions to events. We may respond to events primarily as group members, and not as individuals. In 2002/2003 an estimated 36million people in 3000 separate rallies around the world marched against the Iraq war, most of these were not American or Iraqi, they were members of groups such as anti-war coalitions and pro peace groups. Although these individuals had not been affected individually by the war in Iraq they acted as group members and showed their support by protesting.

Jette Hannibal Inthinking 2011 Self-concept Cognitive Representation Self-Esteem based on evaluation of self along a positive-negative continuum (positive and negative self-concept). It’s a cognitive representation of the self, (individual’s self-perception) People categorize and evaluate themselves based on physical characteristics and skills as well as social categories (e.g. gender, and ethnicity) Jette Hannibal Inthinking 2011

Three steps to SIT Categorization Joining of a group Social Comparison/Positive & Negative Distinction Development of in-group favoritism and Distinguishing from out-group (discrimination) Validation of Self Concept/Self Esteem Yay, I feel great because I am part of ____ group Being a member of ____ group says ____ about me Being a member also allows me to behave in ____ way AND dictates that I should behave in ____ way. It therefore influences my PERSONAL IDENTITY

Social identity theory Tajfel said this was a natural process that every human makes – to join a group. Tajfel referred to everyone in the group as in-group members and everyone in rival groups (or indeed outside of our particular group) are out-group members. In-group Out-group

Social identity theory Tajfel’s theory has been used to explain why in-group favouritism occurs (as happened in the experiment at the beginning of the lesson). Tajfel also interestingly showed through his experiment that this in-group/out-group formation and subsequent inter-group rivalry occurs in randomly assigned groups as well as naturally occurring ones such as family / ethnicity / friendship groups.

Sherif’s Robbers Cave Study We are going to look at a second study which supports the idea of Social Identity Theory. Come and collect a handout each. We will read through them as a class and you can ask any questions about the study.

The task To complete a storyboard of the Sherif Study. Decide on the 8 key events in the study (these will make the captions) Think of a picture to go with each caption Explain the study as fully as possible within your storyboard.

Plenary questions Evaluate Sherif’s study in terms of Gender? Methodology? Ethics? Culture? How does Sherif’s study support Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory? See Person pgs 113-115 for help!