Search results for "Outgroup Discrimination"

Choosing Who You Are: The Structure and Behavioral Effects of Revealed Identification Preferences

2017

Differences in individuals’ social identity have recently been shown to explain differences in behavior. But where do differences in social identity come from? Theory claims that identification allows people to affect their social identity by choosing who they are. Accordingly, this paper treats social identity as a choice and analyzes its behavioral effects. We find identification to be systematically related to behavioral heterogeneity in group-specific social preferences. In a first step, we measure identification preferences using a revealed preference approach in a laboratory experiment. Confirming social identity theory, participants reveal a stronger identification preference for gro…