<P> Continued study into the relationship between social categorization and ingroup favoritism has explored the relative prevalences of the ingroup favoritism vs. outgroup discrimination, explored different manifestations of ingroup favoritism, and has explored the relationship between ingroup favoritism and other psychological constraints (e.g., existential threat). </P> <P> Social identities are a valued aspect of the self, and people will sacrifice their pecuniary self - interest to maintain the self - perception that they belong to a given social group . Political partisans and fans of sports teams (e.g., Republicans and Democrats, or MLB, NFL, NCAA fans) are reluctant to bet against the success of their party or team because of the diagnostic cost such a bet would incur to their identification with it . As a result, partisans and fans will reject even very favorable bets against identity - relevant desired outcomes . More than 45% of N.C.A.A. basketball and hockey fans, for example, turned down a free, real chance to earn $5 if their team lost its upcoming game . </P> <P> Social identity theory proposes that people are motivated to achieve and maintain positive concepts of themselves . Some researchers, including Michael Hogg and Dominic Abrams, thus propose a fairly direct relationship between positive social identity and self - esteem . In what has become known as the "self - esteem hypothesis", self - esteem is predicted to relate to in - group bias in two ways . Firstly, successful intergroup discrimination elevates self - esteem . Secondly, depressed or threatened self - esteem promotes intergroup discrimination . Empirical support for these predictions has been mixed . </P> <P> Some social identity theorists, including John Turner, consider the self - esteem hypothesis as not canonical to social identity theory . In fact, the self - esteem hypothesis is argued to be conflictual with the tenets of the theory . It is argued that the self - esteem hypothesis misunderstands the distinction between a social identity and a personal identity . Along those lines, John Turner and Penny Oakes argue against an interpretation of positive distinctiveness as a straightforward need for self - esteem or "quasi-biological drive toward prejudice". They instead favour a somewhat more complex conception of positive self - concept as a reflection of the ideologies and social values of the perceiver . Additionally, it is argued that the self - esteem hypothesis neglects the alternative strategies to maintaining a positive self - concept that are articulated in social identity theory (i.e., individual mobility and social creativity). </P>

We have the ability to not be in any in group if we reject in-group / out-group dynamics