CodeBPS/GB/02
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NameTajfel; Henri (1919-1982); Professor; FBPsS
TitleProfessor
ForenamesHenri
SurnameTajfel
Dates1919-1982
EpithetFBPsS
Parallel NameHersz Mordche
Other NamesHenri Tajfel
GenderMale
NationalityBritish
DatesAndPlacesBorn Wloclawek, Poland 22 June 1919 died Oxford U.K. 3 May 1982
Poland 1919-1937
Toulouse, France 1937-1940
?Saltzburg 1940-1945
France & Belgium 1945-1949
London 1949-1954
Durham 1954-1956
Oxford 1956-1958
Harvard, Mass 1958-1959
Oxford 1959-1966
California 1966-1967
Bristol 1967-1982/
Oxford /1982
AddressBristol
RelationshipsFormerly Hersz Mordche
Elder son of Icek Henye Tajfel (nd), businessman and his wife Ruchla
Married Anna-Sophie Eber (nd) 6 October 1948 they had 2 sons Michael (nd) and Paul (nd)
Tajfel's parents, brother (names unknown) and other family members were exterminated in the holocaust
ActivityAfter completing his secondary schooling at the Gymnasium in 1937 Tajfel was sent by his parents to study chemistry at the University of Toulouse France. Having failed the exam Tajfel lingered in Paris before the outbreak of war in 1939.

He joined the French army, was captured in 1940, and was incarcerated as a prisoner of war until 1945.
At the end of the war he went to work with international relief agencies for war victims, first in France and Belgium, and later in the British Zone of West Germany.
These experiences led him to turn to Psychology, which he began to study part-time at the University of Paris during 1946-1947, continuing at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, where he qualified in 1949.

On 6 October 1948 Tajfel married Anna-Sophie Eber [nd] and moved to Britain. Tajfel won a state scholarship with an essay on prejudice and continued his studies at Birkbeck College London graduating [age 35] in 1954.

After two years as a research assistant at the University of Durham he completed a PhD at London and moved to Oxford to become lecturer in social psychology and Fellow of Linacre College Oxford where he remained for 10 years.

In 1957 Tajfel acquired British citizenship.

During his period at Oxford Tajfel spent a year at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard (1958-1959) and another at the center for advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford (1966-1967). On his return to England he was appointed to the first Chair of social psychology at Bristol where he stayed until retiring in 1982.

Tajfel was a fellow of the British Psychological Society, Chairman of the South West of England Branch 1968 and Chair of the Social Psychology Section in 1971 and President of the European Association for Experimental Social Psychology 1967 to 1972.

During the early 1960's Tajfel was prominent in helping to bring together a group of social psychologists from several European countries, which led to the foundation of the European Association of Experimental Psychology.

Sources: Gustav Jahoda; Tajfel, Henri (1919-1982) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 15 Dec 2004: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58393
Henri Tajfel's obituary (by Hilde T. Himmelweit) published in BPS Bulletin, Vol.35, July 1982, pp.287-288.
Henri Tajfel Explorer of Identity and Difference by Rupert Brown. European Monographs in Social Psychology. Routledge. 2020

Compiled by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist for the History of Psychology Centre.
OtherInfoNot long after his arrival in Bristol Tajfel hit upon the minimal group paradigm. It formed the basis of Tajfel's social identity theory. The theory was extremely influential and gave rise to much debate as well as to a large volume of research on inter-group attitudes and behaviour.
Related NameBPS/GB/91
BPS/GB/306
PublishedWorksThough Henri Tajfel wrote and edited several books, his main contributions are in journal articles and book chapters.

Selected bibliography.

Books:

Disappointed Guests: Essays By African, Asian and West Indian Students
Tajfel & Dawson, John L. (London): Oxford University Press, 1965
Human Groups and Social Categories, studies in social psychology (Cambridge) 1981
Introducing Social Psychology Henri Tajfel and Colin Fraser (eds) (Middlesex) Penguin 1978
Introducing Psychology: An Analysis of Individual Reaction and Response
Penguin Books (Middlesex) 1978
The Social Dimension: European Developments in Social Psychology: Volumes 1 & 2
Tajfel & Dawson, John L, (Cambridge University Press)1984
European Monographs in Social Psychology Series (London) Academic Press
Editor Henri Tajfel
Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (1978) (New York) Academic Press
The Context of Social Psychology: A Critical Assessment (1972) Israel & Tajfel (eds) (London) Academic Press

Paper read at BPS Annual Conference 1956
The Role of "Value" in the Formation of a Scale of Judgements

Selected Articles

Hobbes and Hull: Metaphysicians of behaviour, Tajfel & Peters, R.S. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (1957), 8 pp.30-44

Value and the perceptual judgement of magnitude Psychol.Rev.(1957) 64, pp. 192-204

Quantitative judgement in social perception Brit.J.Psychol (1959a), 50, pp.16-29

The anchoring effects of value in a scale of judgements Brit.J.Psychol (1959b), 50 pp.294-304

Value and the accentuation of judged differences: A confirmation. (1959) J.Abnorm. Soc.Psychol. 59, 436-39

The Anchoring Effects of Value in a Scale of Judgements Brit. J. Psychol. (1959), 50, 4. pp. 294-304

A note on Lambert's "Evaluational reactions to spoken languages", Canadian Journal of Psychology, (1959) 13, pp.86-92

Cognitive risk and environmental change Tajfel & Bruner, J.S. J.Abnorm. Soc.Psychol. (1961) 62, pp.231-41

Classification and Quantitative Judgement. Tajfel & Wilkes, A.L. Brit. J. Psychol. (1963), 54, 2. pp. 101-114

Salience of attributes and commitment to extreme judgements in the perception of people, Tajfel & Wilkes, A.L. Br.J.soc.clin.Psychol (1963), 3 (1) pp. 40-49

The interdependence of size, number and value in young children's estimates of magnitude, Tajfel & Winter, D.G. Journal of Genetic Psychology (1963), 102 (1) pp.115-124

Content of stereotypes and the inference of similarity between members of stereotyped groups, Tajfel, Sheikh, A.A., Gardner, R.C. Acta-Psychologica (1964), 22 (3) pp.191-201
Individual judgement consistencies in conditions of risk taking, Tajfel, Richardson, A., Everstine, l., Journal of Personality (1964) 32 (4) pp.550-565

Individual consistencies in categorizing: A study of judgemental behaviour, Tajfel, Richardson, A., Everstine, l., Journal of Personality (1964) 32 (1) pp.90-108

A rejoinder, Tajfel & Bruner, J.S., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1965) 2 (2), pp.267-268

Width of category and concept differentation: A note on some comments by Gardner and Schoen, Tajfel & Bruner, J.S. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1965) 2 (2) pp.261-264

International Cooperation in social psychology: Some problems and possibilities, Bulletin of the British Psychological Society (1966) 19 (62) pp.29-36

Types of classification and importance of relative contrast, Tajfel & Wilkes A.L., Bulletin du Centre d'Etudes et recherches Psychotechniques (1966), 15 (1) pp.71-81

The relation between breadth of category and descision time, Tajfel & Bruner, J., British Journal of Psychology, (1966), 57 (1-2) pp.71-75

An investigation of prejudice in Vienna, Tajfel, Simon, M.D., Johnson, N., Koelner Zeitschrift fuer Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (1967), 19 (3) pp.511-537

Children's development of concepts and attitudes about their own and other nations: A cross-national study, Tajfel & Jahoda, G. Ceskoslovenska Psychologie (1967), 11 (5) pp.437-444

Second Thoughts about Cross-Cultural research and International relations, ACTA Psychologia: International Journal of Psychology (1968), Vol. 3, No.3, pp.213-219

Cognitive aspects of prejudice, Journal of Social Issues (1969) Vol.25 (4) pp.79-97

Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Children's National Attitudes, Middleton, Margaret R, Tajfel & Johnson N.B. Br.J.soc.clin.Psychol (1970), 9 pp.122-134

The development of children's preference for their own country: A cross-national study, Tajfel, Nemeth, C., Jahoda, G., Campbell, J.D., International Journal of Psychology (1970), Vol.5 (4) pp.245-253

The relationship between children's preferences for and knowledge about other nations, Tajfel, Johnson, N.B., Middleton, M.R., Br.J.soc.clin.Psychol (1970), 9 (3) pp. 232-240

Social categorization and intergroup behaviour, Tajfel, Billig,M.,Bundy, R.P., Flament, C., European Journal of Social Psychology (1971), Vol. 1 (2) pp.149-178

Acquisition of information in dyadic interaction, Tajfel & Eiser, R.J., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1972) Vol.23 (3) pp.340-345

On the development of national attitudes in children, Tajfel, Jaspers, J.M., Van-de-Geer, John. P., Johnson, N., European Journal of Social Psychology (1972) Vol.2 (4) pp.347-369

The Devaluation by Children of their Own national and ethnic Group: Two Case studies, Tajfel, Jahoda.G. Nemeth,C. Rim,Y. and Johnson N.B. Br.J.soc.clin.Psychol (1972), II pp.235-243

Some Developments in European social psychology, Eur. J. soc. Psychol. (1972) 2 (3), pp. 307-321
SourceSources: Gustav Jahoda; Tajfel, Henri (1919-1982) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 15 Dec 2004: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58393
Tajfel's obituary (by Hilde T. Himmelweit) is published in BPS Bulletin, Vol.35, July 1982, pp.287-288
ConventionsInternational Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN ISBN 0-9696035-3-3
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997

Show related catalogue records.

Catalogue
RefNoTitleDates
TAJ/01/04/08BPS Conference Oxford 19801980
TAJ/01/04/24Institute of Jewish Affairs, Symposiums 1975-1980
TAJ/01/04/18E.A.E.S.P. Conference Sussex (II)1980
TAJ/01/04/30I.S.S.C. Frascati (2nd Cannes) Meeting1971-1972
TAJ/01/04/33L.E.P.S. Colloquium Paris, Oct. 19771977
TAJ/01/04/41Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo Santander Conference, August 19811981
TAJ/01/03/05Embassy of the USA Conference1973
TAJ/01/04/40UNESCO Seminar: Madrid, December 19761975-1977
TAJ/01/04/36L.E.P.S. International Symposium1979-1980
TAJ/01/04/04Bristol Intergroup Meeting (I)1978
TAJ/01/04/39UNESCO Conferences (Various)1965-1968
TAJ/01/03/07International Society of Political Psychology Conferences1978-1982
TAJ/01/04/21F.P.A. Meeting (la formation par la recherche)1979
TAJ/01/04/09Carleton University (I)1974
TAJ/01/04/26International Congress of Psychology of the Child 1978-1979
TAJ/01/04/16E.A.E.S.P. Conference, East-West Meeting ,Bologna1980
TAJ/01/04/19European Science Foundation Seminar, Nice1981
TAJ/01/04/31I.S.S.C. UNESCO Seminar1979
TAJ/01/03/08Schools Council (Race Relations)1969
TAJ/01/04/12C.C.C. Conference Co-operation in Europe since 1945 (I)1979
TAJ/01/04/43Werner-Reimers-Stiftung : Bad Homburg Conference (Human Ethology Symposium)1976-1978
TAJ/01/04/02B.A.A.S. Symposium [British Association for the Advancement of Science]1972
TAJ/01/04/05Bristol Intergroup Meeting (II)1978
TAJ/01/04/01The Acton Society1979
TAJ/01/04/32L.E.P.S. Colloquium Paris, May 19771976-1977
TAJ/01/04/22Honda Foundation: Discoveries Symposium Paris1977-1978
TAJ/01/03/06IACCP International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology1971-1976
TAJ/01/03/01Association de Psychologie Scientifque de langue Francais (APSLF) Symposia1964-1981
TAJ/01/03/02BPS Conferences (General)1973-1977
TAJ/01/04/06BPS International Conference on Social Psychology and Language1979
TAJ/01/04/17E.A.E.S.P. Conference Sussex (I)1980-1981
TAJ/01/04/42University of Oxford: Seminar Workshop, Oxoford, June 19791979
TAJ/01/04/35L.E.P.S. Conference (Organisation of Human Action)1978-1979
TAJ/01/04/27XXIst International Congress of Psychology, Paris (I)1974-1976
TAJ/01/04/07BPS Annual Conference, Aberdeen 19801980
TAJ/01/01Publishing1962-1982
TAJ/01/06Associations, Organisations , Institutions & Societies.1964-1982
TAJ/01/04/11C.C.C. Conference Co-operation in Europe since 1945 (I)1979
TAJ/01/07Miscellaneous incl. Correspondence1963-1982
TAJ/01/04/37L.E.P.S. Conferences (Various)1979-1982
TAJ/01/04/14E.A.E.S.P. Conferences (Various) (II)1976-1978
TAJ/01/04/20European Science Foundation, London1982
TAJ/01/04/34L.E.P.S. Identity Colloquium1977-1979
TAJ/01/04/15E.A.E.S.P. Small Group Meeting on Experimental Studies of Intergroup Relations (Bristol)1971-1972
TAJ/01/04/23Honda Foundation: Discoveries Symposium Stockholm1979
TAJ/01/04/25Institute for Social Research (Univ.of Michigan) Katz-Newcomb Lectures1964-1980
TAJ/01/03/03BPS Social Psychology Section (General) Conferences1973-1979
TAJ/01/04/28XXIst International Congress of Psychology, Paris (II)1975-1976
TAJ/01/01/02Publishers1967-1982
TAJ/01/03Conferences & Symposia (I)1964-1968
TAJ/01/05Committees1968-1982
TAJ/01/04/29XXIInd International Congress of Psychology, Leipzig1979-1980
TAJ/01/04/13E.A.E.S.P. Conferences (Various) (I)1970-1972
TAJ/01/04/03BPS Social Psychology Section1978
TAJ/01/02Lectures & Postgrad Seminars1959-1980
TAJ/01/04Conferences & Symposia (II) 1968-1980
TAJ/01/04/38Penguin Books Ltd: Conference on Educational Values, Farnham Castle, November 19781978
TAJ/01Tajfel, Henri (1919-1982) papers1959-1982
TAJ/01/03/04Conflict Research Society (General)1965-1977
TAJ/01/04/10Carleton University (II)1968-1974
TAJ/01/02/01Lectures & Seminars1959-1980
TAJ/01/01/03Books (I)1967-1982
TAJ/01/01/01European Monographs in Social Psychology [I-Z]1962-1981
TAJ/01/01/05Journals, Newspapers & Offprints1969-1982
TAJ/01/01/04Books (II)1969-1982
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