Only emotional attachment to one’s group, not categorization or self-esteem, drives in-group favoritism

Evidence

Working from Tajfel’s (1978) definition, Ellemers, Kortekaas, and Ouwerkerk (1999) identified three separate components of social identity: (1) a derivation of self-concept, in part, from the groups to which one belongs (social categorization), (2) an emotional attachment to one’s group (affective commitment), and (3) an evaluative component in which one favors one’s own group over others (group self-esteem). … Yet, these three components were identified as separate dimensions in a principal components analysis (PCA). They were also differentially affected by group characteristics such as size and status. Ultimately, only group commitment mediated the effects of group characteristics on in-group favoritism. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1748

Since Marilynn Brewer’s seminal experimental work on social identity in social dilemmas (Brewer & Kramer, 1986; Kramer & Brewer, 1984), social identity theorists have hypothesized that individuals make difficult decisions on behalf of the group dependent on the salience of group membership in the situation (Brewer & Schneider, 1990, 1999). … Working from Tajfel’s (1978) definition, Ellemers, Kortekaas, and Ouwerkerk (1999) identified three separate components of social identity: (1) a derivation of self-concept, in part, from the groups to which one belongs (social categorization), (2) an emotional attachment to one’s group (affective commitment), and (3) an evaluative component in which one favors one’s own group over others (group self-esteem). … Yet, these three components were identified as separate dimensions in a principal components analysis (PCA). They were also differentially affected by group characteristics such as size and status. Ultimately, only group commitment mediated the effects of group characteristics on in-group favoritism. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1748

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s knowledge of social identity theory in sociology and organizational behavior; echoes the identity-formation material in other organizational theory sources. — connects to: Merely categorizing people into us and them generates in-group favoritism and out-group devaluation; Mere group membership suffices to trigger self-esteem-linked favoritism. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 126
• QUESTION: If only affective commitment mediates in-group favoritism, what exactly produces that commitment, and can it be engineered (or engineered against) in real-world prejudice settings?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1748