Discriminating against out-groups directly raises self-esteem

Evidence

A study by Oakes and Turner (1982) also deserves mention here since it seems to provide some direct evidence for the social competition interpretation of the minimal group experiments. They simply compared the self-esteem of subjects categorized as in Tajfel et al. (1971) but who were not asked to complete the decision booklets with subjects who were categorized and also discriminated in the normal manner. The latter subjects were found to have higher self-esteem than the former—in line with the idea that discrimination serves to achieve a positive social identity. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2734

Categorization

• QUESTION: The study only compared discriminators vs. non-discriminators; work ‘in progress’ to replicate. Worth chasing how this finding held up in replications and meta-analyses.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2734
• XREF: connects to: Mere group membership suffices to trigger self-esteem-linked favoritism. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 126; Basking in reflected glory and downward comparison are complementary affiliation strategies for self-esteem. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 161; Self-esteem rises from joining the positively valued and distancing from the negatively valued. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 157 (+1 more)