Discrimination: Revisiting Tajfel’s minimal group studies.

In this chapter we first outline the minimal group paradigm and the phenomenon of minimal ingroup bias together with the motivations that inspired them – as presented in Tajfel’s original classic studies (Tajfel et al., 1971). We then examine early attempts to explain the study’s findings, which spawned (after a false start) the development of a major new theory
of social behaviour: social identity theory. This symbiotic relationship between data and theory contributed to the impact of the original studies, which has been enormous. As we will see, in part, this reflects the controversy surrounding the results of Tajfel’s studies. The phenomenon these reveal is not in dispute but the studies have evoked a range of
explanations, and many that have involved a critique of the social identity account. As a result, finding the best explanation for minimal ingroup bias has proved a bit like solving an Agatha Christie ‘whodunit’, with many twists and turns along the way.