social identity

Meaning: Social identity is the portion of your self-concept based on the groups you belong to and the value and emotional meaning you attach to that membership. It differs from personal identity, which rests on individual traits and history. In social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner), people categorize themselves and others into groups, identify with their ingroup, and compare it with outgroups. Because group status feeds self-esteem, people tend to see their ingroup favorably and outgroups less favorably.

On the MCAT: Expect a vignette in which people sort into groups (fans of rival teams, members of different departments, students assigned to arbitrary groups) and then show ingroup favoritism, outgroup derogation, stereotyping, or prejudice. You may be asked to name the process (categorization, identification, comparison) or to predict that a threat to the group raises ingroup loyalty. Minimal-group experiments show that even arbitrary assignment is enough to produce favoritism. Social identity also links to ingroup versus outgroup, group conformity, and intergroup conflict.

Common confusion: Social identity is not the same as self-esteem, personal identity, or social status. It is the self-concept drawn from group membership, and self-esteem is one motive that drives it. Also, social identity is not the same as role. A role is the set of expected behaviors tied to a position, while social identity is the sense of belonging to a group. A person can hold many social identities, and which one is active depends on context.