1 2 3 4 5 6

Describe
each
characters
in 2 – 3 7 8 9 10 11 12
words.

13 18
14 15 16 17
Social Identity Theory
and Stereotyping
Attribution Theory
Henri Tajfel created the Social Identity
Theory in 1979 – he proposed that groups,
such as social class football teams and
family, which people belonged to, were an
important source of pride and self-esteem.
These groups give us a sense of identity
and a sense of belonging in the social
world.
As a Social group members:
 Subscribe to the beliefs of the social group.
 Favor our own group.
 Take an interest in advancing our own group.
• Identify with differences between our group
and other groups.
The Goals of the Group
According to Tajfel and Turner
(1979)
The individual in the social groups
operates in the goal of enhancement.
This is based on the esteem of the
group.
There are two belief systems to achieve
enhancement. One is connected to 2
additional beliefs.
 
1.Social mobility belief system- beliefs that
intergroup boundaries are permeable. Thus, it
is possible for someone to pass from a lower
status into a higher status group to improve
social identity.
2. Social change belief system – belief
that intergroup boundaries are
impermeable. Therefore, a lower-status
individual can improve social identity
only by challenging the legitimacy of the
higher-status group’s position.
 Cognitive alternatives – belief that the status
quo is unstable and illegitimate, and that
social competition with the dominant group
is the appropriate strategy to improve social
identity.
 Social creativity – group-based behavioral
strategies that improve social identity, but
do not directly attack the dominant group’s
position.
The Social Communication
 Each of us experience communication as social
identity every day. We each have multiple social
identities. Based on the groups we associate
with.
 As individuals, we place importance on what
makes us unique. Similarly, as groups, we place
importance on what makes the group unique.
Groups pride themselves on the beliefs or traits
that set the group apart.
 Social Identity is experience in range of groups. Hardwood offers
several examples including:

Demographic Groups Cultural Groups

Family Groups Peer Groups
The groups we identify with impact on our
behavior
 Social identity salience is based on the
features of individuals and situations.
 Communication and interaction with
others are based on salient identity.
 Communication contributes to the
understanding we have of groups.
Different Perspective (Social ID vs Personal ID)

 Hogg and Tindale (2005) differentiate

between personal identity and social identity
by explaining that personal identity is “a
definition and evaluation of oneself in terms
of idiosyncratic personal attributes, or one’s
relationships with specific other people.
 On the other hand, social identity is
“a definition and evaluation of oneself
in terms of shared attributes that
define membership of the specific
group one belong to.
PROTOTYPES
 Prototypes are traits that are shared among
group members; however, prototypes often
capture the ideals of what a group member
should be.
 “‘Prototypes rarely describe average or typical
in-group members-rather, they are polarized
away from out –group features and describe
ideal, often hypothetical, in-group members,”
Prototypes are defined by Hogg and
Tindale (2005) as sets of interrelated
attributes (e.g. perceptions, beliefs,
attitudes, values, feelings, behaviors)
that simultaneously captures similarities
within groups and differences between
groups.
STEREOTYPE
 Prototyping can lead to stereotyping, especially
when looking at groups other our own, or “out-
groups”.
 “When you categorize someone, rather than
viewing that person at an idiosyncratic
individual, you view them through a lens of the
prototype-they became depersonalized,”
Stereotype is a generalization that is made
about the group and then applied to
individual members of that group. They can
be either positive or negative. It is explained
as a result of schema processing.
S
T
E
R
E
O
T
Y
P
I
N
G
There are three mental processes involved in evaluating the
“in-group” and the “out-group

1.Social Categorization (Tajfel)

Based on his Social Identity Theory, Tajfel argues that
humans use Social Categorization to categorize humans
based on shared characteristics (race, age, gender,
religion, sexual orientation). This creates In-Groups and
Out-Groups. Tajfel would argue that stereotypes would
form because people associate negative traits to the In-
Groups. This helps us maintain positive image.
2. Grain of Truth Hypothesis (Campbell,1967)
Campbell argues that stereotypes have some basis in reality.
Specifically, Campbell believes that there are two sources of
stereotypes:
 Our personal experiences and interactions with members of the
particular group.
 Gatekeepers: the media, parents, and other members of our
culture.
From these experiences, Campbell created the Grain of Truth
Hypothesis, which argues that observations about a group will be
generalized to the group because observers feel that even one
confirmation is enough.
3. Illusionary Correlations (Hamilton and Gifford, 1976)
Hamilton and Gifford argue that stereotypes are the result
of Illusionary Correlations. This means that humans see
relationships between two variables (women and poor
mathematics) even if there is none. Furthermore,
Hamilton and Gifford argue that humans use
Confirmation Bias to defend their stereotypes. This
means that humans look for evidence and examples that
defend their beliefs and ignore the evidence and examples
that do not fit.
 ATTRIBUTION THEORY
 Introduced by Fritz Heider In 1958.
 Attribution refers to the process of explaining one’s own
behavior and the behavior of others.
 The Attribution Theory discusses how people describe
events and experiences in their lives and how they adapt to
the results of those actions.
 The theory is a great method to use to create a sense of
motivation for a person or a group of people.
 People tend to interpret their environment that will create a
positive self-image.
 Causes issues with judgment of self and others.
Types of Attribution
 Internal vs External
 In an internal or dispositional attribution
people that an event or a person’s behavior
is due to personal factors such as traits,
abilities or feelings.
 In an external or situational attribution
people infer that a person’s behavior is due
to situational factors.
 Stable vs Unstable
 When people make stable attribution, they
infer that an event or behavior is due to
stable, unchanging factors.
 When making unstable attribution, they
infer that an event or behavior is due to
unstable or temporary factors.
 Conrollable vs Uncontrollable

If something is controllable, we

can alter it if we wish to do so.
If something is uncontrollable, it
is outside our sphere of influence.
Attribution Bias
 When people make an attribution, they are
guessing about the causes of events or behaviors.
These guesses are often wrong. People have
systematic biases, which led them to make
incorrect attributions.
These biases include the fundamental attribution
error and and the self-serving bias.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
 The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to
attribute other people’s behavior to internal factors such
as personality traits, abilities and feelings.
 The fundamental attribution error is also called the
correspondence bias, because it is assumed that other
people’s behavior corresponds to their personal
attributes.
 When explaining their own behavior, on the other hand,
people tend to attribute it to situational factors.
The Self-Serving Bias
 The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute
successes to internal factors and failures to
situational factors.
 This bias tends to increase as time passes after an
event.
 Therefore, the further in the past the event is, the
more likely people are to congratulate themselves for
successes and to blame the situation for failures.
Selective Perception – happens when a person
selectively interprets what he sees in the basis of his
interests, background, experience, and attitudes. It is
impossible for a person to assimilate everything he
sees, hears, smell, touches or tastes. Only a limited
number of stimuli can be taken in. as a result, people
engage in a selective perception, but the process is
affected by personal interests, background,
experience and attitude of the perceiver.
Halo Effect– occurs when one attribute
of a person or situation is used to
develop an overall impression of the
person or situation. In short, this occurs
when we draw a general impression on
the basis of a single characteristics.
Contrast Effects – evaluation of a person’s
characteristics that are affected by
comparisons with other people recently
encountered who rank higher or lower on
the same characteristics. Here, we do not
evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction
to one person is influenced by other persons
we have recently encountered.
Contrast Effects – evaluation of a person’s
characteristics that are affected by
comparisons with other people recently
encountered who rank higher or lower on the
same characteristics. Here, we do not
evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to
one person is influenced by other persons we
have recently encountered.
Stereotyping – judging someone on the basis
of ones perception of the group to which that
person belongs. Generalization is not without
advantages. It is a means of simplifying a
complex world, and it permits us to maintain
consistency. The problem ofcourse, is when
we inaccurately stereotype.
Performance Expectation
–self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion
effect). The lower or higher
performance of employees reflects
preconceived leader expectations
about employee capabilities.
Employee Interview
–during the interview, the interviewers
make a perceptual judgment and draw
early impressions. As a result information
elicited early in the interview
carriesgreater weight than does
information elicited later.
Performance Evaluation
–appraisals are ofen the
subjective (judgmental) perceptions
of appraisers of another employee’s
job performance.
Employee Effort
– assessment of individual
effort is a subjective judgment
subject to perceptual distortion
and bias.
Ethnic Profiling
-a form of stereotyping in which a
group of individual is singled out-
typically on the basis of race or
ethnicity- for intensive inquiry,
scrutinizing, or investigation.