In-group and Out-group
Examples of ingroup and outgroup ranges from genders to football teams. Our ability to form in-groups and out-groups happens from childhood. Bullying is an example of an in-group undermining an out-group. The concept of in-group and out-group is centered on the work of Tajfel and his team carried out in the 1970s. They emphasized not only the idea that in-groups try to make themselves superior to others, but also that they will work together to raise their status if they feel undermined. There are multitude of groups that an individual can belong.
Punit started having negative thoughts about Sumit because Sumit did not belong to his religion. Punit felt that the community Sumit belongs is considered to be lazy by most of the people without knowing the correct facts. This outgroup bias is a result of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Stereotype
Option (1) Negative comparison — Incorrect. Punit does not compare his own group with Sumit’s on any facts; he takes over a label about Sumit’s community without knowing the facts.
Option (2) Stereotype — Correct. A stereotype is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group, and all members of the group are assumed to possess them. Often stereotypes consist of undesirable characteristics and lead to negative attitudes or prejudice. Punit assumes Sumit is lazy only because his community is said to be lazy.
Option (3) Personal experience — Incorrect. Attitudes, prejudices included, can be learnt through one’s own experiences. Punit has had no such experience of Sumit; he goes by what ‘most of the people’ say.
Option (4) Scapegoating — Incorrect. In scapegoating the majority blames a minority outgroup for its own problems. Punit does not blame Sumit’s community for any problem; he only believes a label about it.
Note: The case study is taken from the chapter ‘Social Influence and Group Processes’, but this question is based on the chapter ‘Attitudes and Social Cognition’. However, since it is a case-study based question, all the questions on this case study are tagged to the chapter the case study is taken from.
NCERT (2025-26): “Prejudice and Discrimination … Prejudices are examples of attitudes towards a particular group. They are usually negative, and in many cases, may be based on stereotypes (the cognitive component) about the specific group. As will be discussed below in the section on social cognition, a stereotype is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific group. All members belonging to this group are assumed to possess these characteristics. Often, stereotypes consist of undesirable characteristics about the target group, and they lead to negative attitudes or prejudices towards members of specific groups.…” |