Henri Tajfel, Groups, and Social Identity Henri Tajfel was born in Poland and grew up to be a famous British social psychologist. He was studying at the Sorbonne in France when World War II started. He joined the French Army and was captured by the Germans in 1940. After the war, he spent six years helping refugees and war victims. His work formed the basis of his later studies of groups, which gave him insight into discrimination, classification of people, and social groups.

Tajfel is best known for his theory of social identity. He and another British social psychologist, John Turner, developed this theory in 1979. They determined that a person’s sense of who they are is based upon the groups to which they belong. The two psychologists said that groups such as family, scout troops, or sports teams give people a sense of self-esteem, pride, and belonging.

Tajfel and Turner came up with the terms “in-groups” and “out-groups.” In-groups are the groups that a person is a part of. Groups to which a person does not belong are out-groups. Examples of such groups can include race, religions, ethnic groups, and professions. People develop rivalries between their in-groups and out-groups. This is sometimes referred to as an “us versus them mentality.” Three processes create the in-group/out-group way of thinking:

Social Categorization – People are grouped into different categories. This is done to better understand and identify them. Examples of social categories can include: black, white, doctor, patient, Democrat, Republican. People understand things about themselves by knowing the groups to which they belong. They also decide what behavior is acceptable based on their group membership. One person can be a member of multiple groups simultaneously. For instance, someone who is a University of Delaware student will consider him- or herself a part of the U of D student community. That is one of the person’s groups. The person may also be part of a band, a member of a club, a teammate, and a member of a faith—these are four additional in-groups.

Social Identification – People identify themselves by their groups. They act the way they think the other group members do. Their self-esteem and understanding of themselves is closely tied to their group memberships. Group membership becomes very important emotionally. For example, if people identify as Republican, they may vote along party lines and act the way they believe other Republicans act.

Social Comparison – Once a person considers him- or herself a part of a specific group, that person will compare the group (in-group) to others in the same type of category (out-group). For example, if someone is a fan of the Washington Capitals hockey team, he or she may compare him- or herself to fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Other Capitals fans are that person’s in-group, while Penguins fans are an out-group. To increase its self-esteem, the in-group will see itself as better than the out-group. This helps explain discrimination and prejudice, because members of the in-group will see the out-group negatively to build their own self-esteem.

In other studies, Tajfel used his findings on in-groups and out-groups to investigate prejudice and discrimination. He determined that stereotyping, or putting people into categories, was a cognitive process. It sprang from a person’s membership in an in-group. Simply being a member of a certain group gives people the push to discriminate against anyone not in their group. It also allows them to form stereotypes of those who are not in their group. Just being in an out-group makes someone different enough that he or she can be categorized by an in-group. For example, students on the school newspaper decide that the students on the yearbook are not as intelligent. Members of the school newspaper boost their own self-esteem by deciding that they are smarter than the out-group.

According to Henri Tajfel, what are in-groups and out-groups?