ENDOGROUP: CHARACTERISTICS, ENDOGROUP BIAS, EXAMPLES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

A ingroup is any group of people whose members experience strong feelings of loyalty and belonging with each other. Due to the emotions that belonging to an in-group arouses, those who belong to it tend to discriminate against all the people outside the group (which is known as an out-group).

The study of endogroups is fundamental to social psychology. Because people are social animals, much of our personality will be formed based on the groups to which we belong. Thus, just by sharing a series of traits with other people, we will tend to discriminate against those who are not like us.

This discrimination has been proven in numerous experiments throughout history. Known as "in-group bias," it can be at the root of such serious problems as racism, hate crimes and sexism; but it is also based on daily life, without it being a problem most of the time.

In this article we will study exactly what the in-group consists of, and how this bias affects us in different areas of our lives.

characteristics

In its most basic expression, an endogroup is simply a set of people with whom we share a characteristic. The division between "us" and "outsiders" occurs even when the shared trait does not matter.

Thus, due to the so-called "minimal group paradigm", people can feel part of something for such trivial issues as sitting on one side of the classroom or another, living in one neighborhood or another, or having a different hair color.

However, in many cases the identification with the reference group itself is much deeper. The more attributes, values ​​and behaviors that are shared with the other members of the same, the more this will affect the way we behave.

Below we will see some of the most important characteristics and effects of belonging to an endogroup.

Sense of belonging

One of the basic human needs is affiliation. That is, people need to feel supported by others to be well.

An endogroup can help us in this regard, generating feelings of understanding and acceptance by people similar to ourselves.

This can have very powerful effects on people's self-esteem. In general, someone who belongs to a group with which they feel identified and in which they accept them will feel more justified to act on their beliefs. In contrast, someone without social support will tend to be more cautious with their actions.

Behavior modification

On the other hand, fully identifying with a group can be a double-edged sword. Once a person has invested a lot in a way of behaving, it can be very difficult for them to change the way they act even if they really want to.

In a study by Marques and Páez (1996), the so-called "Black Sheep Effect" was described. According to these researchers, we tend to judge in-group members who behave differently from us much more harshly.

For this reason, it can be difficult for us to contradict those who belong to our reference group. This can cause a lot of problems in the long run, as even though the members of an in-group may be very similar, they will never be exactly the same.

Code of conduct

In the most extreme cases, belonging to an endogroup can cause a person to stop thinking for themselves and simply begin to behave as the rules dictate.

This can occur in different areas, such as in the case of religions, political ideologies or social movements. In general, the blind adoption of a series of rules of behavior usually brings more problems than benefits to the person.

In-group bias

One of the most serious problems with fully identifying with an in-group is beginning to see everyone divided into two categories: "them" and "us."

This, also known as "social polarization," has all kinds of negative consequences for everyone involved.

Due to the effect of social polarization, we stop seeing a person based on their individual characteristics, their way of being and the way they behave.

On the contrary, we began to label him according to the groups to which he belongs, attributing their own characteristics.

For example, a person who belongs to the "skinhead" movement will see others not according to what they really are, but according to their race or ethnic group. This, in general, tends to lead to hatred, fear and violence.

Numerous studies have shown that in-group bias is much more pronounced in historical moments when resources are scarce.

Thus, an economic crisis or a war can cause us to feel more identified with our reference group and to hate those who are different.

Generally, this bias is the basis of problems such as discrimination, racism, sexism, and stereotypes.

Examples

Probably one of the clearest examples of in-group effects is the famous Stanford jail experiment. In it, 24 university students were recruited to study the effects of social roles on behavior.

The experiment consisted of the following. After being divided into two groups, the students were assigned to the role of "prisoners" and "guards" of an imaginary prison.

To give the situation more realism, the prisoners had to sleep in royal cells and wear only a robe and sandals; while the guards were in uniform and could return home at night.

The only instructions given to the guards, who had been randomly selected, were that they could not use physical violence.

However, after a few days in which they had fully assumed their role, they began to view the prisoners as their enemies.

Thus, they began to treat them in increasingly sadistic ways. For example, they were forbidden to go to the bathroom, made them sleep naked on the floor, denied food, and constantly humiliated and insulted. All this, because they began to see them as part of an outgroup.

Finally, the experiment had to be stopped a few days after starting due to the concern of some of the researchers for the mental and physical health of the participants.

References

1. "The perception of integroup similarity and identification with the endogroup: does it increase or decrease prejudice?" in: Psicothema. Retrieved on: June 14, 2018 from Psicothema: psicothema.com.
2. “Social identity and endogroup favoritism in the face of deviant behavior. A study with psychology students ”in: Acta Académica. Retrieved on: June 14, 2018 from the Academic Record: aacademica.org.
3. "The Jane Elliot experiment: endogroup favoritism and discrimination" in: Anthroporama. Retrieved on: June 14, 2018 from Antroporama: antroporama.net.
4. "Social polarization" in: Psychology and Behavior. Retrieved on: June 14, 2018 from Psychology and Behavior: psicologiayconducta.com.
5. "Stanford jail experiment" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: June 14, 2018 from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org.