Social Identity Theory

Background and History

Social identity theory developed out of a series of studies conducted by Tajfel and his colleagues in the early 1970s, which are commonly referred to as the minimal group studies. These were designed to identify the minimal conditions that would lead individuals to discriminate in favor of the ingroup, to which they belonged, and against an outgroup. For this purpose, participants were assigned to groups that were intended to be as empty and meaningless as possible. Nevertheless, when people were asked to assign points to other research participants, they systematically awarded more points to ingroup members than to outgroup members. In doing this, they maximized the relative gain for ingroup compared with outgroup members, even when this implied awarding a lower number of points to the ingroup. The results of these minimal group studies were interpreted by arguing that the mere act of categorizing individuals into groups can be sufficient to make them think of themselves and others in terms of group memberships instead of as separate individuals. This deviated from common views at the time, namely, that an objective conflict of interest is a central factor in the emergence of intergroup conflict.

Thus, social identity theory originated from the conviction that group memberships can help people instill meaning in social situations. Group memberships help people define who they are and how they relate to others. Social identity theory was developed as an integrative theory, as it aimed to connect cognitive (thought) processes and (behavioral) motivation. Initially, its main focus was on intergroup conflict and intergroup relations more broadly. For this reason, the original form has been referred to as the social identity theory of intergroup relations.

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