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In Social Psychology, Social Identity Theory can influence individuals on a neural level, affecting their neural responses to both in-group members and out-group members. This implies that there is a underlying neurological bias which can explain an individual's bias towards those similar to the individual. Individuals may not be conscious of these distinguishing automatic neural responses. Social Identity Theory was first described by Tajfel and Turner (1979). According to Tajfel & Turner, humans naturally categorise people into relevant social groups based upon different social labels (e.g., ethnicity, gender, social class). . This categorisation also includes self-categorisation, which involves a process whereby individuals categorise themselves into similar groups. . This categorisation can lead to favouritism towards people perceived as belonging to the same social group as the individual at the expense of people being perceived as belonging to a different social group (In-group/ out-group). This is called the in-group/out-group effect.

Early Experiments
Tajfel (1970)

Social Identity Theory was first demonstrated experimentally by Tajfel (1970). In this study Tajfel random allocated 64 boys (aged 14-15) into separate groups of eight and asked the participants to give the other boys in the study a monetary reward or punishment based upon their performance on a visual task. This study demonstrated a significant in-group/out-group effect; each boy consistently rewarded boys within their assigned group and punished the boys assigned to a different group, regardless of task performance. This demonstrates both in-group favouritism and out-group discrimination.

The Robbers Cave Experiment

A second key early experiment regarding Social Identity theory is the Robber’s Cave experiment by Muzafer Sherif. In this study the researchers divided 24 boys into 2 groups at the Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma, the boys all belonged to similar social groups. The researchers found a large amount of inter-group conflict within the camp once the researchers set the two groups against each other in a sporting competition; this included verbal abuse, property damage and theft. Eventually the conflict between the two groups became too aggressive and the researchers were forced to end the study early and separate the two groups. The boys were then asked to list the main features of each group, the boys were much more likely to rate their own group in favourable terms and rate the other group using unfavourable terms.

Neurological Basis of Social Learning theory
The neurological basis of social identity theory has been explored using many different techniques. One technique implemented is Event-Related Potentials (ERP). ERPs directly measure neural activity within the brain, an electro-physiological response to a sensory, motor, cognitive event, task or stimulus. . The EEG recordings directly following a particular type of stimulus can be averaged together to produce ERPs. ERPs consist of a number of positive and negative peaks; these peaks can then be used to estimate the activation of underlying neural components. . Functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) is another method used to measure the neurological basis of social identity theory. This is an indirect measure of neural activity in the brain, estimating neural activity using changes in blood-flow; an increase in blood flow reflects an individual’s increased usage of regions in the brain following a specific stimulus.

Event-Related Potentials
Social Identity theory has been investigated using EEG/ERPs. Wiese (2012) found that individuals were more likely to correctly remember faces from individuals who were from both their own age-range and their own ethnic group. . This study investigated an own-race/own-age bias by presenting young Caucasian individuals with faces from elderly and young Caucasian and eastern Asian populations. Using ERPs, a significant Late Positive Component/ old/new effect (300-500ms) was detected. An old/new effect is the compared difference in response to previously seen stimuli and novel stimuli; this demonstrates how well participants recognise previously presented stimuli. The old/new effect can be used as a reasonable index of a participant’s memory of a presented stimulus. This demonstrates that the participants showed a memory preference towards in-group faces when compared to out-group faces, perhaps representing preferential processing of in-group stimuli. Wiese (2012) also provided ERP evidence for the underpinning neurological basis of the social identity theory. A larger N170 peak amplitude demonstrates a preferential processing of faces (in-group members); priority faces are processed earlier and quicker than faces that are perceived as less important (out-groups members). This amplitude reflected an automatic, unconscious attentional process in the brain. Scaringer, Monahan, and Idsardi (2011) investigated the in-group/out-group effect in response to a speaker’s accent using a Magnetoencephalography (MEG) based methodology. . In this study the researchers compared the difference in the amplitude and latency of the Negativity Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component in response to in-group and out-group accented deviants in an auditory oddball task. The researchers found a significant in-group/out-group effect in response to the deviant accent in terms of both MMN amplitude and latency. This has been posited to represent a pre-attentional bias to in-group accents; suggesting that the in-group/out-group effect can occur rapidly (within 200ms), without conscious awareness.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Using an fMRI, Cikara, Bruneau, and Saxe (2011) measured the empathetic response in individuals towards those from an out-group and those from an in-group. . The results suggested that there is a notable decreased empathetic response when an out-group member is suffering than when an in-group member exhibits suffering. The researchers explored alternative explanations of their findings, for example schadenfreude. Other researchers have stated that reduced empathetic resonance to an out-group’s suffering is positively correlated with implicit racial bias. .

Cikara, Botvinick, and Fiske (2011) investigated the effects of a rival groups pleasure or displeasure on an individual who was not categorised as part of that group on an neurological level. . They measured the extent to which the outcome of social competition in baseball directly affected the primary reward processing neural systems (e.g., the ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, and the insula). Participants viewed baseball plays which presented the favoured team winning and the rival team losing, and vice versa. The results revealed that participants who watched their favoured team winning while their rival lost as more pleasurable than seeing their favoured team losing. A follow-up study found that participants, who felt angered towards a rival team defeating their favoured team, rated themselves as more likely to approach rival team members in an aggressive manner, such as threatening and heckling. While viewing positive baseball plays (favoured team winning), there was an increased level of activation in the ventral striatum. (The left insula, bilateral caudate nucleus, left middle frontal, superior frontal gyrus and the supplementary motor area were also engaged during positive displays of baseball.) This activation was positively correlated with self-reports of pleasure. While watching subjectively negative baseball plays (favoured team losing/ rival team winning), the anterior cingulate cortex was activated and positively correlated with self-reports of pain. This demonstrates social identity theory on a neurological level; participants favoured in-group members in terms of their empathetic response at the expense of out-group members.

Cheon et al (2011) investigated whether or not there was a cultural variation with regards to the preference of a social hierarchical or an egalitarian relationship between individuals and groups. . The study investigated individuals of Caucasian and Korean descent, measuring indirect neural responses to acts of ethnic in-group and out-group members in expressive pain. The left temporal parietal junction (L-TP) was a region of interest, believed to play a role in mental state inference. Using an fMRI, the researchers found that there was greater activation in the L-TP for Korean participants than Caucasian participants when exposed to in-group rather than out-group members, and greater reported empathy. In addition, a preference for social hierarchical relationships was related to the activation of the L-TP, consistent to the greater levels of empathy towards in-group members. This research indicated that in-group bias and preferences are a result of the activation in neurological regions of interest.

Real-Life Applications
The ‘real-world’ implications of Social Identity theory can be seen in a number of different social groups, for example between ethnic groups, religious groups, and political groups. This means that charities may struggle to obtain donations from a group of people if the charities are working to help out-group members (e.g individuals with a upper-class status may experience reduced empathy towards individuals with a lower-class status). However, this effect can be reduced using a number of techniques, for example, a charity may choose to focus solely on one individual in order to increase empathy, or show the similarities shared between all groups of people.