A teacher wants to repeat Tajfel's minimal group experiment faithfully in her class. Which of the following steps of her design match the original study?
(A) She tells the pupils that the study is about decision-making.
(B) She groups the pupils by their preference for paintings by Kandinsky or Klee.
(C) She shows every pupil the names of the members of his or her group.
(D) She asks the pupils to divide money among recipients known only by code number and group.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A, B and D only
(A) She tells the pupils that the study is about decision-making. — Correct. The children in the original study were told that it was an experiment on decision-making.
(B) She groups the pupils by their preference for paintings by Kandinsky or Klee. — Correct. The boys were grouped by their preference for paintings by Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee.
(C) She shows every pupil the names of the members of his or her group. — Incorrect. This does not match. The identity of other group members was hidden using code numbers.
(D) She asks the pupils to divide money among recipients known only by code number and group. — Correct. The children distributed money between recipients only by code number and group membership.
NCERT (2026-27): “Ingroup and Outgroup … “groups in which they were grouped ( group members was hidden using code numbers. The children then distributed money between recipients only by code number and group membership.” “7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 You will agree that these groups were created on a flimsy criterion (i.e. preference for paintings by two artists) which had no past history or future. Yet, results showed that children favoured their own group.” |