18 Facts About Henri Tajfel

Henri Tajfel faced a dilemma: whether or not to admit to the Germans that he was a Polish Jew.

Henri Tajfel claimed to be a French citizen but did not deny his Jewish identity.

Henri Tajfel reasoned that if he denied being Jewish and if the Germans found out later that he was Jewish, he would certainly have been killed.

Henri Tajfel was to write later about the profound effect that this had on him and how it led to his later work on the psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations.

Henri Tajfel worked for the United Nations International Refugee Organization.

In 1951 Henri Tajfel began studying psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Henri Tajfel won a competitive scholarship for mature students with an essay on the subject of prejudice.

Henri Tajfel retired from Bristol and moved back to Oxford shortly before his death from cancer in 1982.

Henri Tajfel believed that the cognitive processes of categorization contributed strongly to the psychological dimensions of prejudice, which went against the prevailing views of the time.

Henri Tajfel sought to discover whether the roots of prejudice might be found in "ordinary" processes of thinking, rather than in "extraordinary" personality types.

Henri Tajfel conducted a series of experiments, investigating the role of categorization.

Henri Tajfel found that the imposition of a category directly affected judgements.

Henri Tajfel viewed these investigations into social judgement as being directly related to the issue of prejudice.

Henri Tajfel argued that if the categories were of value to the perceiver, then these processes of exaggeration were likely to be enhanced.

Henri Tajfel outlined these ideas in his article, "Cognitive Aspects of Prejudice", which was first published in 1969 and has been republished subsequently.

Henri Tajfel's influence has reached beyond his particular views on social identity and social judgement, as he had a wide vision of creating a social psychology that was genuinely social and was engaged with broader issues.

Henri Tajfel thought that social psychologists should seek to address serious social problems by examining how psychological dimensions interact with historical, ideological, and cultural factors.

In 2019, evidence emerged documenting that Henri Tajfel displayed inappropriate conduct toward female members of his lab.