Trivial and Important Criteria for Social Categorization in the Minimal Group Paradigm

• Published in: The Journal of social psychology Vol. 126; no. 3; pp. 345 - 354
• Main Authors: Moghaddam, Fathali M., Stringer, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Taylor & Francis Group 01.06.1986; Heldref; Clark University Press
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child development; Developmental psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Indexing in process; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Human; Context; Social perception; Criterion; Group dynamics; Categorization; Child; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0022-4545; 1940-1183
• DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1986.9713595

The study examined how the importance of a criterion for social categorization can vary with the social context. The main hypothesis was that there would be no difference between the influence of two criteria of differing real-world importance when each is used independently as the only criterion for social categorization in the same minimal group setting. The subsidiary hypothesis was that social categorization on both a trivial and an important basis would lead to positive in-group bias. The subjects were 66 schoolboys. Social categorization was on the basis of either a minimal criterion or subjects' school house-system. Both the main and the subsidiary hypotheses were confirmed.