Social Identity Theory

Social Identity Theory

1. - theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorisation, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of in-group defining properties

   • Social Identity and Personal Identity
     • Social identity is associated with group and intergroup behaviours such as ethnocentrism, ingroup bias, group solidarity, intergroup discrimination, conformity, normative behaviour, stereotyping and prejudice
     • Personal identity is associated with positive and negative close interpersonal relationships and with idiosyncratic personal behaviour
   • Process of Social Identity Salience
     • Our sense of self and associated perceptions rest on whether social or personal identity, and which is the psychologically salient basis of self-conception
       • Metacontrast principle - the prototype of a group is that position within the group that has the largest ratio of 'differences to ingroup positions' to 'differences to outgroup positions'
       • Structural Fit
         • If the categorisation fits in the sense that it accounts for similarities and differences between people satisfactorily
       • Normative Fit
         • If it makes good sense of why people are behaving in particular ways