Social Identity Theory: The Psychology of Group Identity and Everyday Life
Social Identity Theory shows that who we are is deeply tied to the groups we belong to. (📷:empowervmedia) A t its core, Social Identity Theory says that people define themselves by the social groups they belong to . Whether it’s a family, team, club, or nation, these group memberships become part of our “self.” In the 1970s, psychologist Henri Tajfel and colleagues gave this idea rigorous form by showing that even arbitrary group labels can powerfully affect behaviour. In classic experiments, strangers were placed into random teams and then treated teammates kindly but competitors poorly (simply because of their group label). From these findings, Tajfel and Turner built a theory of how we think of ourselves as “us” or “them”. They argued that “social identity” emerges when we categorise ourselves as part of a group and compare it to other groups . In other words, social identity theory specifies when we see ourselves as individuals versus as members of groups. These ideas help...