Two members of the same sex (intragroup) had a discussion about perceived differences between sexes and a group of two men and a group of two women (intergroup) had a discussion on the same topic. When the discussion was situated as intergroup (i.e. men v women), the participants ideentified more with the stereotypes of their sexes than when the discussion was intragroup (i.e. man v man).

Example of metacontrast and social context (Hogg and Turner 1987)

An answer to the question:
- When do people define themselves at the group or individual level?

Self-categorization becomes more inclusive when the comparative scope becomes larger than the original self identification (Haslam and Turner 1992). Social identity is more prevalent in intergroup contexts v personal identity in intragroup contexts (Hogg and Turner 1987).  


University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A collection of stimuli is more likely to be categorized as a group if the perceived average difference among them (intragroup difference) is less than the perceived average difference between them and the remaining reference stimuli (intergroup difference).

Comparative Fit of Self-Categories (Metacontrast)

Turner, J. C., Oakes, P. J., Haslam, S. A., & McGarty, C. (1994). Self and collective: Cognition and social context. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 20(5), 454-463.

 Self and collective: Cognition and social context (Turner 1994)

The salience of different self-categories depends on what group the self (in-group) is being compared to. In a study on how different countries were viewed in the gulf-war, (Haslem, Turner Oakes, McGartey and Hayes 1992)  found that the stereotype of Americans (and other countries) changed throughout the war and depending on who the group was compared to. For example, when Australians were judged on their own, they were reported to be categorized as happy-go-lucky, straightforward and sportsmanlike. When judged in the context of Americans they were considered more sportsmanlike, less happy-go-lucky than before. People also noted that they were pleasure loving (not recognized before the additional context).

Learn Before

Related

Learn After