1.3.1 sherif Flashcards
what is the aim of sherif’s study?
to explore how competition and frustration of a group’s goals can lead to unfavourable stereotyping and prejudiced attitudes towards an outgroup, and encourage ingroup solidarity and cooperation
what is the sample in sherif’s study?
22 boys aged 11, protestant from oklahoma, usa
matched as far as possible on background, IQ, sporting ability etc
what type of experiment was used in sherif’s study?
field experiment
procedure of sherif
- group formation - boys took part in non-competitive activities so they would bond with their group (R or E). activities included - canoeing, tent pitching and building campfires
- friction - each group learned of eachother’s existence. researchers created a tournament with a prize of a medal and trophy. contests included tug of war, baseball and tent pitching
- reducing friction - initial tasks involved increased social contact e.g. eating or watching movie together. later superordinate goals were introduced - mending a broken water supply and starting a broken down truck
what are sherif’s findings in the first stage?
- groups called themselves the ‘rattlers’ and ‘eagles’
- leaders were established and differing social norms became apparent - the rattlers were tough and swore a lot whereas the eagles cried more when injured and were anti-swearing
what are sherif’s findings in the second stage?
- the Eagles burned the Rattlers’ flag
- boys called eachother names
- only 6.4% of Rattler’s friends were Eagles, 7.5% of Eagle’s friends were Rattlers
what are sherif’s findings in the third stage?
social contact and superordinate goals initially did little to reduce friction
outgroup friendships had increased
- 36.4% of rattler’s friends were now eagles
- 23.2% of eagles’ friends were rattlers
what are the conclusions of sherif’s study?
- intergroup competition leads to increased ingroup favouritism and solidarity but also to outgroup hostility
- increased social contact is not enough to reduce prejudice but a series of superordinate goals can reduce prejudice effectively
sherif ao3 - generalisability
P - A weakness is that it lacks generalisability
E - small sample as it consisted of 22 white 11 year old protestant boys from oklahoma, usa with similar characteristics, socially and mentally well adjusted
T - therefore findings are not representative of the target population as it is ethnocentric and androcentric, so cannot be generalised to girls or other cultures
sherif ao3 - reliability
P - A weakness is that it has low reliability
E - It was a field experiment at a summer camp which meant that they could not control all extraneous variables that may impact on the conflict between the Rattlers and Eagles
T - This reduces the reliability of the findings about negative attitudes towards an out-group as the study cannot be fully replicated to check the results for consistency
sherif ao3 - appliaction
P - Can be applied to reducing prejudice in society, using the idea of superordinate goals
E - It shows how competition and frustration created hostility towards outgroups. In society, this suggests that discrimination/violence could be reduced if jobs, housing, education etc. were shared more fairly between different ethnic groups and social classes.
T - useful to society to reduce prejudice
sherif ao3 - ecological validity
P - A strength is that it has high ecological validity
E - The study was a field experiment where there were boys at a real summer camp, doing real activities. Even the specially created tasks (fixing the broken water pipe, pulling the truck) seemed real to the boys.
T - therefore observations of prejudice behaviour are true to real life and are valid
sherif ao3 - ethics
P - ethical issues
E - for example, the ppts were deceived as even though parents had been told, the boys thought it was a real summer camp. additionally, arguments broke out and they called each other names which could have caused psychological harm
however, had right to withdraw - justified by 2 of the pps leaving
