The role of self-esteem in intergroup behaviour

The aim of this thesis was to explore ways of testing social identity theory’s (Tajfel & Turner 1979) “self-esteem hypothesis”. Abrams and Hogg (1988) identified two corollaries of the self-­esteem hypothesis. The first is that successful intergroup discrimination enhances social identity and thus elevates self-esteem. The second suggests that, because of a motivational need for positive self-esteem, low self-esteem will motivate intergroup discrimination. The self-esteem hypothesis is one the most controversial issues of social identity theory in terms of the diverse findings obtained from studies conducted in this area. The empirical evidence remains equivocal for either corollary. In this thesis it was argued that the lack of firm empirical support for the self-esteem hypothesis may be due to misunderstandings related to design, measurement of self-esteem, and type of groups employed. This thesis examined these issues and studies were conducted to address them. Laboratory and real group studies were conducted. It was found that even when issues related to design, measurement, and type of groups were taken into consideration, there were additional factors which play an important role in testing the self­-esteem hypothesis. There was support for corollary two of the self-esteem hypothesis when real groups were employed and intergroup discrimination was operationalised as outgroup derogation and not as ingroup bias. Corollary one was supported when intergroup evaluations had an important outcome for the group and when the attributes of intergroup evaluations were positive. The implications of the findings of this thesis are discussed in the context of social identity theory and avenues for future research are suggested.