Social Identification, Interdependence and Discrimination

For Social Identity Theory (SIT), identification with the ingroup category is a necessary condition for discrimination. In contrast, the Behavioral Interaction Model (BIM) proposes that self-interest and interdependence are at the root of discrimination. Using the minimal group paradigm, 96 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. In the `interdependent' condition, participants received money depending on allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. In both the positively and negatively autonomous conditions, participants' personal self-gain was independent of the allocations made by ingroup and outgroup others in the experiment. Contrary to the BIM, autonomous individuals discriminated as much as interdependent respondents, and discrimination was unrelated to expectations of ingroup reciprocity. In line with SIT, correlational analyses indicated that only degree of ingroup identification measured prior to discrimination was associated with discriminatory behavior. Results also showed that both degree of social identification and quality of social identity measured after the resource allocation task were positively linked to discrimination.