Subjective Group Dynamics

Background

Research on subjective group dynamics has its roots in several areas of sociology and social psychology. In sociology, Emile Durkheim theorized that deviance is an important part of the way society defines its norms and rules. If people did not break rules, and if others did not enforce rules, it would be difficult to know exactly where the boundaries and guidelines for behavior were. Social psychologists such as Muzafer Sherif, Solomon Asch, and Leon Festinger showed that people make judgments, even about physical stimuli, using the opinions of others as reference points. Reaching agreement about the physical and social world allows people to feel confident about the validity of their judgments. Research on small groups has consistently shown that people who dissent within a group are liable to be marginalized, criticized, and ultimately ignored.

Much of the emphasis in research until the 1980s was on how individuals influenced one another or how people within a specific small group could influence one another. An alternative general perspective was offered by Henri Tajfel's social identity approach, which made the important point that people are motivated to ensure that their groups are distinctive from other groups and that they are evaluated positively relative to other groups. This desire to have a positive social identity means that people may face a problem when they discover deviant members of their groups because those members potentially reduce the extent to which all members fit in the same social category. Criticism or derogation of an ingroup member might imply criticism of the whole group, and this would damage social identity.

The Black Sheep Effect

José Marques, Vincent Yzerbyt, and JacquesPhilippe Leyens examined this question by asking Belgian students to evaluate either Belgian or North African students who showed either likable or unlikable behavior. The students were more negative to the unlikable ingroup (Belgian) students than to unlikable outgroup (North African) students, but more positive to the likable ingroup than to likable outgroup students. The more extreme derogation of an ingroup deviant (compared with ingroup normative members) than of an outgroup deviant (relative to outgroup normative members) is known as the black sheep effect.

Experiments investigating how people evaluate group members in intergroup situations (i.e., when their own and another group are being compared, are competing, or are in conflict) have repeatedly shown a black sheep effect. These experiments typically ask people to evaluate members of their own group or members of another group. Most of these members conform to the norm of their respective group, whereas one or a small minority deviates from the norm. The groups in these experiments are sometimes real groups, such as same-gender groups, psychology students, or people from a particular country or region. In other experiments the groups are minimal groups that the participants learn they belong to after taking a test.

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