Minimal group paradigm (MGP) is a concept used in social psychology (e.g. Tajfel, 1970) to identify the minimal requirements needed for intergroup discrimination. In these experiments^[1] it was discovered that arbitrary and virtually meaningless allocation into groups would result in individuals favouring of their in-group.

This is done via mechanism explained in social identity theory and self-categorization theory, where in-group members seek for collective-esteem building social comparisons with other groups.

For example, in-group members may attribute the achievements of out-groups to luck, or contextual circumstances; additionally, in-group members will attribute their own achievements to the success of the group and the benefits of their aims and ethos. In-group members will also make biased comparisons with less-fortunate out-groups to support the validity and legitimacy of their beliefs, values and behaviours. This fact of attributing your own group's achievements to internal causes, and the out-group's achievements to external causes, is known as the fundamental attribution error.

By doing such, in-group members are able to enhance the boundaries between groups, allowing their group to be distinct from others. Threat to distinction in minimal groups is often overcome by making more biased social comparison, by expelling black sheep (anti-norm deviants), and re-categorizing the in-group to exclude members that share out-group values.

[edit] Bibliography

Tajfel, H. (1970). Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American, 223, 96-102.

[edit] References

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