In-group bias
Also known as In-group favoritism
In-group bias is favoring members of your own group over outsiders in trust, help, rewards and judgment. Even groups formed on a trivial basis, such as a random assignment, can trigger it.
In everyday life
A manager keeps giving the best assignments to people who went to the same university, without noticing the pattern.
At summer camp, kids randomly split into Blue and Green teams start sharing snacks only with their own color and complaining that the other side cheats.
Why your mind does this
Trusting people and things we know is usually safe, because familiarity means we have dealt with them before without harm. Favoring our own group helped our ancestors cooperate with the people they depended on. Liking what is close and known also saves the effort of judging everything from scratch.
Its family, in 30 seconds: Familiar is better
How to spot it
Ask whether you would offer the same help or trust to someone outside your circle who did the same thing.
How to counter it
Use the same written criteria for everyone when handing out rewards, jobs or favors.
Habits that catch it
- Borrow other eyes
Ask someone with different incentives or a different background to find the hole. Your own blind spots are hard to see from the inside.
Same family: Familiar is better
SourcesTajfel et al. (1971)·Wikipedia