Editing Granfalloon (section)

==Granfalloon technique==
[[File:Sport Festival 2014 HN-Ams DSC02164.JPG|thumb|For a sport festival, participants are randomly split into color groups.]]
The '''granfalloon technique''' is a method of persuasion in which individuals are encouraged to identify with a particular granfalloon or social group.<ref name="Alison Carpenter">[http://www.utc.edu/Faculty/Joe-Wilferth/courses/Pratkanis.pdf Book Review of ''Age of Propaganda'' by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson]{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Alison Carpenter</ref> The pressure to identify with a group is meant as a method of securing the individual's loyalty and commitment through adoption of the group's symbols, rituals, and beliefs.

In social psychology, the concept stems from research by the Polish social psychologist [[Henri Tajfel]], whose findings have come to be known as the [[minimal group paradigm]]. In his research, Tajfel found that strangers would form groups on the basis of completely inconsequential criteria.

In one study, Tajfel subjects were asked to watch a coin toss. They were then designated to a particular group based on whether the coin landed on heads or tails. The subjects placed in groups based on such meaningless associations between them have consistently been found to "act as if those sharing the meaningless labels were kin or close friends."<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Michael |last1=Billig |first2=Henri |last2=Tajfel |year=1973 |title=Social categorization and similarity in intergroup behaviour |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=27–52 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420030103}}</ref>

Researchers since Tajfel have made strides into unraveling the mystery behind this phenomenon. Today it is broken down into two basic psychological processes, one cognitive and one motivational.

First, knowing that one is a part of this group is used to make sense of the world. When one associates with a particular group, those in the group focus on the similarities between the members. However, for people not in the group, or "outsiders," differences are focused upon and often exaggerated. A problem with the granfalloon is that it often leads to [[Ingroups and outgroups|in-group, out-group]] [[bias]].

Second, [[social group]]s provide a source of self-esteem and pride, a form of reverse [[Groucho Marxism]] as in his famous remark "I don't care to belong to any club that would have me as a member."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pratkanis |first1=Anthony R. |first2=Elliot |last2=Aronson |title=Age of Propaganda |edition=Rev. |location=New York |publisher=Owl Book |year=1992 |pages=214–223 }}</ref>

The [[imagined communities]] of [[Benedict Anderson]] form a similar concept. Therapist Grant Devilly considers that granfalloons are one explanation for how [[pseudoscientific]] topics are promoted.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01601.x |title=Power Therapies and possible threats to the science of psychology and psychiatry |year=2005 |last1=Devilly |first1=Grant J. |journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=437–45 |pmid=15943644|s2cid=208627667 }}</ref>