Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
"The Robbers Cave" (1954) Muzafer Sherif highlights intergroup…
"The Robbers Cave" (1954) Muzafer Sherif highlights intergroup conflict and co-operation
Experiment and Design
This experiment was conducted in three stages which were about 1 week apart. (1) group formation (2) intergroup competition (3) intergroup cooperation. The IV is the two groups of boys. The DV would be the amount of conflict occurring between them.
The purpose of stage 1 was encourage the development of unique ingroup identities. Stage 2 was to introduce to direct competition with another group. Stage 3 was designed to reduce the severe hostility.
Researchers would send two groups of young boys to a Boy Scouts wilderness summer camp in Oklahoma, Robbers Cave State Park, so they could manipulate the boys environment with intergroup conflict. This occured in the
Sample
Two groups of random 11 year old boys who were all from white middle class environments.
Each child had come from a two parent household and did not know this was an experiment.
Each boy had above average IQs and had done above average schoolwork.
Procedure
The boys were split into two groups where they spent time bonding over outdoor activities in order to increase intergroup identity. They had come up with roles, leaders, and norms. Even coming up with their own group names.
Next, the groups of boys were placed in direct competition with each other. They played contest games of tug o war etc and the winning groups were rewarded. This resulted in the boys name calling, stealing, and burning each others flags.
Finally, the boys were forced to try and resolve the issues. They would watch movies together eat together but this only resulted in more conflict. When they had to cooperate on tasks which require teamwork and communication is when friendships started to form between the boys. It was an alternate strategy and proved succesful.
Aim
The goal of this experiment was to create hostility and conflict between two groups and then deploying methods to try and reduce it
Hypothesis
That intergroup conflicts occurs when two groups are in competition for limited resources.
Results
This study showed that the intergroup hostility only reduces when the group has to cooperate.
This confirmed the hypothesis was true that group conflict can result from competition over resources.
It also shows that intergroup relations become prejudice and discriminatory due to the competition arising between members, not at all due to background of individual characteristics.