Minimum Group Theory

Explanations > Theories > Minimum Group Theory

Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References 

Description

Even when a people are arbitrarily assigned to unimportant group categories, they will still act in classic ways towards in-group and out-group people.

Research

Tajfel (1970) randomly allocated to schoolboys to groups who ‘preferred’ paintings by Klee or Kandinsky. When asked to allocate points, they were biased toward their own group.

Example

People in a crowded elevator will silently act together to dissuade additional people from trying to get in. 

So what?

Using it

Find a minor point of similarity with the other person and put yourself and the other person in it, with rivals in outside. Talk about ‘us and them.’

Defending

Decide on who your friends are by substantial and sustained evidence, not sudden chumminess and belonging to a common and unimportant category.

See also

In-Group Bias

References

Tajfel (1970)

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