Effects of Social Categorization and Belief Similarity Upon Intergroup Behavior
Recent research has shown that intergroup discrimination occurs with little pretext (e.g., Billig and Tajfel, 1973). The mere categorization of subjects into groups on the basis of a trivial task is sufficient to elicit intergroup discrimination. In Tajfel’s procedure subjects were divided into two groups allegedly on the basis of their preferences for paintings. They were than given the opportunity to divide rewards between members of their own group (ingroup) and members of the other group (outgroup). Subjects displayed a significant tendency to bias their assignment of rewards to favor ingroup persons at the expense of outgroup per-