At a summer camp in Pune, children who have never met before are split into two teams only by the colour of the cap each one picked, red or blue. The teams will not meet again after the camp. Later, each child shares reward points between campers known only by a code number and team, and most children give more points to their own team.
Consider the following statements about this situation:
(A) The teams were formed on a flimsy criterion that had no past history or future.
(B) Even such minimal conditions were enough to make the campers favour their own team.
(C) The campers would use the word 'they' for their own team and 'we' for the other team.
(D) The campers would see members of the other team as similar to themselves and as having desirable traits.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Only two
(A) The teams were formed on a flimsy criterion that had no past history or future. — Correct. The teams rest only on the colour of a cap, and the children have no shared past or future. This is a flimsy criterion, like the preference for paintings in the minimal group experiments.
(B) Even such minimal conditions were enough to make the campers favour their own team. — Correct. Even on so weak a basis, the campers gave more points to their own team. Tajfel's studies looked for the minimal conditions for intergroup behaviour, and found that children favoured their own group all the same.
(C) The campers would use the word 'they' for their own team and 'we' for the other team. — Incorrect. The words are reversed. People use 'we' for their own group (ingroup) and 'they' for another group (outgroup).
(D) The campers would see members of the other team as similar to themselves and as having desirable traits. — Incorrect. Being seen as similar, viewed favourably and having desirable traits is how the ingroup is seen. The other team is the outgroup, which is viewed differently and often perceived negatively.
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.” |