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Robbers Cave Study (Sheriff) - Coggle Diagram
Robbers Cave Study (Sheriff)
Aim:
To investigate whether in-group and out-group conflict can be produced in groups wit no prior relationships.
Procedure:
Ingroup formation where each group had task to accomplish, created own group names and discovered existance of other group (1)
Friction phase involved sports tournament between two groups + experimental tasks with a trophy being promised to winners. (2)
Integration phase where boys had mere contact like fixing a blocked water pipe and pull a broken down truck. (3)
Sample:
24, 11 year old boys selected through opportunity sampling
Examples of intergroup conflict
Rattlers invaded eagles camp bringing bats and flipping beds.
Eagles and rattlers both burned each others flags
Results:
Friction phase: 93% friends ingroup Integration phase: 30% outgroup
Sheriffs conclusion
although intergroup conflict is inevitable when competition is present it can be reduced through superordinate goals
Strength in terms of validity:
High ecological validity as it is representative of real life situation. Used a boy scout camp in America which was realistic for the boys in the study
Weakness in terms of validity:
Lacked a control group of a normal summer camp to compare to therefore food fights may have been common and exaggerated how much boys behavior was due to intergroup factors.
Strength: ethics
2 boys were permitted home showing they could withdraw from the study
Weakness: ethics
risk of physical and psychological harm top patients because of camp raids.
Strength: Reliability
High inter-observer reliability as multiple observers were used in the camp
Weakness: Reliability
Sheriff had to intervene to prevent a fight, might happen differently if the study was replicated