Minimal group paradigm

Hey there! Do you know what groups are? They are when a few people come together and do things together. It can be your family, your class at school, or even a group of friends that you play with.

Now imagine that you are in a group with some of your friends. You all have different names, different clothes, and different things you like to do. But did you know that even if you don't know each other very well, you are still connected because you are part of the same group?

This is where the minimal group paradigm comes in. It's a way to study how people behave when they are put into groups, even if those groups are made up of complete strangers or based on the smallest things.

For example, if we wanted to do a study on how people behave in groups, we might split everyone into two groups based on their favorite color. We might say, "Everyone who likes blue, go over here, and everyone who likes red, go over there."

Then we might ask everyone to do a simple task, like picking out which of two shapes is the most similar. Even though the groups were divided based on something as trivial as a favorite color, people might start to feel like their group is better or more important.

They might even start to show favoritism towards their own group and treat the other group poorly. This is called "ingroup bias." It means that we tend to favor people who are in our own group over those who are not.

So, even though the groups were randomly selected and the differences were very small, people still acted differently because they were part of different groups. The minimal group paradigm helps us understand how and why people behave differently in groups.

I hope that explains it well enough, little one!