The effects of intergroup discrimination and social values on level of self‐esteem in the minimal group paradigm

Abstract

AbstractThe proposition that individuals engage in intergroup discrimination to increase or maintain positive social identity and a high level of self‐esteem has received some empirical support. An attempt was made to extend prior findings by evaluating whether intergroup allocation behaviour consistent with subjects' social values would lead to higher self‐esteem than inconsistent allocation behaviour. More specifically, it was predicted that competitive subjects' self‐esteem will be higher following discriminatory choices than fair choices and prosocial subjects' self‐esteem will be higher following fair choices than discriminatory choices. It was also predicted that after subjects were constrained to make discriminatory choices, competitors' self‐esteem would be higher than prosocials' self‐esteem and after subjects were constrained to make fair choices, prosocials' self‐esteem would be higher than competitors' self‐esteem. Experiment I supported the first of these predictions when a measure of personal self‐esteem was used as a dependent variable. Experiment 2 attempted to extend the generality of the findings of Experiment 1 by defining and measuring self‐esteem in collective terms. The expected prior pattern of results did not occur again. Constraining subjects to make discriminatory choices increased their collective self‐esteem regardless of their social values.