{"id":1845,"date":"2017-02-16T07:01:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T07:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibpsych.themantic-education.com\/?p=1845"},"modified":"2021-03-04T11:29:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T02:29:18","slug":"social-identity-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/16\/social-identity-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Tajfel and Turner\u2019s Social Identity Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why does my blog have three different posts explaining social identity theory? Because for the first few years teaching this theory I had to write it out for myself to fully comprehend it. It’s difficult to understand at first. My best advice is to always remember that its’ a\u00a0theory of intergroup conflict (e.g. prejudice and discrimination)<\/em>, so think of real life examples of this and try to apply it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Background Information<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Tajfel was a Polish Jew and fought in the French Army against the Nazis in WWII. His war-time experiences inspired his research on intergroup conflict.<\/p><\/div>\n

Henri Tajfel and John Turner devised their <\/span>Social Identity Theory (SIT)<\/span><\/i> in the 1970s to \u201csupplement\u201d Sherif\u2019s <\/span>Realistic Conflict Theory<\/span><\/i> (RCT), <\/span><\/i>which was developed in the 1950s and \u201860s. Both of these theories attempt to explain <\/span>intergroup behaviour,<\/b> and in particular <\/span>conflict<\/b> between groups. Intergroup behaviour is between two or more individuals and their \u201c\u2026interactions\u2026are fully determined by their respective memberships in various social groups\u2026\u201d<\/span> This is opposed to <\/span>interpersonal behaviour<\/b>, whereby one\u2019s interactions with others are determined by personal traits and qualities.<\/span><\/p>\n

To use an extreme example of intergroup <\/span>conflict<\/span><\/i>, during the holocaust a Nazi officer might have behaved horrendously towards a Jewish person, not because of who that Jewish person was, but simply because they were Jewish (i.e. they belonged to the \u201cout-group\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the main claims of Sherif\u2019s RCT is that conflict between groups exists when there is <\/span>direct<\/span><\/i> competition for resources. SIT does not contradict this, but goes further to explain how conflict can exist even when there is no direct competition for resources. Through the four interrelated concepts of <\/span>social categorization, social identity, social comparison and positive distinctiveness, <\/b>SIT attempts to explain why intergroup conflicts can exist even in circumstances with no direct conflict and\/or competition between groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

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