Us and Them
Much of who we feel we are comes from the groups we belong to. Social identity theory, developed by Henri Tajfel, holds that a person's social identity derives from group memberships (nation, team, profession), and people are motivated to see their groups positively because they reflect on the self.
This produces powerful biases. In-group favoritism is the tendency to favor one's own group (the in-group), while out-group bias views other groups (out-groups) less favorably and their members as more alike.
Tajfel's minimal group experiments showed how little it takes to trigger this. Even when divided by trivial means like a coin flip, people promptly favored their own group in allocating rewards.
Conflict and Remedy
Raising in-group status relative to the out-group boosts self-esteem, making intergroup comparison feel personally rewarding. Conflict is easily ignited because categorization itself sparks competition.
| Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| In-group | The group to which a person belongs |
| Out-group | Any group to which a person does not belong |
| Superordinate identity | A shared identity encompassing multiple groups |
Common pitfall: Assuming in-group favoritism requires a real history of conflict. Tajfel showed that merely being categorized at random is enough; categorization is the spark. The remedy is building a shared superordinate identity to dissolve boundaries.