Tajfel and his colleagues were interested in knowing the minimal conditions for intergroup behaviour. 'Minimal group paradigm' was developed to answer this question. British schoolboys expressed their preference for paintings by two artists - Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Children were told that it was an experiment on decision-making. They knew the groups in which they were grouped (Kandinsky group and Klee group). The identity of other group members was hidden using code numbers. The children then distributed money between recipients only by code number and group membership. 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.
What did the results of these experiments show?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Children favoured their own group when distributing the money
Option (1) Children divided the money equally, as the groups had no past history or future — Incorrect. Equal sharing is what one might expect from groups made on such a flimsy criterion. The result went the other way: even these groups produced bias.
Option (2) Children gave more money to members of the other group — Incorrect. This reverses the direction of the result. The other group did not gain; each child's own group did.
Option (3) Children favoured their own group when distributing the money — Correct. The groups rested only on a liking for paintings, with no past or future. Yet the children favoured their own group. Being placed in a group, even this slight one, was enough for intergroup behaviour.
Option (4) Children favoured the group whose painter most of them preferred — Incorrect. The money was given only by code number and group membership. The bias followed each child's own group, whether Kandinsky or Klee.
NCERT (2026-27): “Ingroup and Outgroup … “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.” |