1 Psychology and human development1.10 Social psychology
1.10.3 Intergroup behaviour
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
Groups and identity
Intergroup behaviour responds to a person's group membership rather than their individual qualities.
Social identity, in Tajfel and Turner's theory, is the self-concept derived from group membership and its emotional value.
In Tajfel's minimal group experiments, arbitrary membership alone was enough for people to favour anonymous in-group members.
Term | Component | Definition |
|---|---|---|
Stereotype | Cognitive | A generalised belief about a group's attributes |
Prejudice | Affective | A negative emotional orientation towards the group |
Discrimination | Behavioural | Unfavourable treatment because of membership |
Sources of hostility
Realistic conflict theory attributes intergroup hostility to competition for scarce resources.
It comes from Sherif's Robbers Cave field study of intergroup conflict and cooperation at a camp.
Scapegoating is misplaced blame, often with punishment, directed at a person or group for a misfortune that other causes mainly produced.
Scapegoats tend to be available, less powerful groups onto whom frustration is displaced.
Reducing hostility
At Robbers Cave, simple contact made the conflict worse, while shared tasks that needed both groups, such as restoring water, reduced it.
The intergroup contact hypothesis holds that cooperative contact with an out-group, on equal terms and under the right conditions, reduces prejudice towards it.
Allport identified the conditions under which contact reduces prejudice:
The groups have equal status within the interaction.
The contact is sustained and close.
The groups cooperate towards shared goals.
Authorities and social norms support the contact.
Members form personal acquaintances and cross-group friendships.