In-group favoritism: the minimal group paradigm
Participants assigned to groups by a coin toss still give more rewards to members of their own group than to the other group. This finding shows:
Answer C: explanation for every choice
A
Favoritism appeared with no history between the groups.
B
Group polarization is discussion making a group's views more extreme.
C
Correct. Tajfel's minimal group studies show that simply being categorized is enough to produce in-group bias, a key idea of social identity theory.
D
The groups were assigned randomly and had no status difference.
TakeawayMere categorization → in-group favoritism.
Next question →
Reviewed 2026-11-05 by a medical student. Spot an error? Report it with question ID ps129.