People allocate more to their own group even when the grouping is arbitrary and meaningless.
Tajfel's minimal group experiments assigned boys to groups by a coin flip described as a painting preference, and they still allocated more to their own group. No history, no contact, no interest at stake.
In practice
- A team allocates a shared budget more generously to the sub-team it was randomly assigned to in a workshop that morning.
- Two departments split by a reorganisation develop rivalry within a quarter over a boundary neither of them chose.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind