Social Identity Theory

Social Identity Theory argues that a person has not just one “personal self”, but rather several _______ selves that correspond to group membership.

According to the theory, we need to understand who we are and know our value in social contexts. This is why we categorize ourselves in terms of _______ membership.

The original theory of social Identity proposed by _____ & Turner in 1979 identified four psychological mechanisms.

1. Social ___________is the process by which we identify which groups we belong to and which groups we do not.

Social identification is the process of adopting the norms and taking on the __________ of the group.

Social ______________ is a means of justifying your group membership.

Positive distinctiveness is achieved by positively comparing our “in-group” to an "out-group" in order to boost our __________.

According to McDoom (2012), the first step toward group polarization is "_______ activation." This means that as a threat grows, there is an increased need to distinguish between members of one's in-group and the outgroup.

According to McDoom (2012), the second step toward group polarization is "out-group ______." In other words, the greater the threat, the greater the references that criticize the out-group.

According to McDoom (2012), the third step toward group polarization is "out-group homogenization." This means that as the threat continues, all members of the out-group are seen as having the same ________ characteristics.