In-group bias and social identification: a lab-in-the-field experiment

ABSTRACT

We recruit naturally-existing groups of people living in a slum and experimentally test whether they contribute more in favour of their group as compared to another group (‘in-group bias’). We find that the in-group bias decreases the higher the heterogeneity among group members, and when a more inclusive identity is activated.

KEYWORDS:

• Social identity
• ingroup bias
• cooperation
• experiment
• cross-categorization

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C91
• C92
• Z13

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UNU-WIDER [Project ‘Disadvantaged Groups and Social Mobility].