integroup relations and conflict

Question 1

what is intergroup behaviour?

Answer 1

any perception/cognition/behaviour that is influenced by people’s recognition that they/others are members of distinct social groups

Question 2

what is relative deprivation?

Answer 2

sense of having less than we are entitled to

gap between our expectations and attainments

deprivation is not absolute, but relative to other conditions

crucial precondition for intergroup aggression

Question 3

what did Berkowitz (1962) find out about relative deprivation?

Answer 3

intergroup prejudice and discriminatory behaviour is a function of aversive events and aggressive associations

Question 4

what are the two types of relative deprivation?

Answer 4

egoistic
fraternalistic

Question 5

who proposed the types of relative depression?

Answer 5

Runciman

Question 6

what is egoistic relative depression?

Answer 6

feeling of having less than we feel we are entitled to
relative to our personal aspirations or other individuals

Question 7

what is fraternalistic relative depression?

Answer 7

sense that our group has less than it is entitled to
relative to the collective aspirations of other groups
associated with social unrest

Question 8

how does collective violence occur?

Answer 8

relative deprivation

frustration

aversive environmental conditions

individual acts of aggression made worse by aggressive stimuli

aggression becomes more widespread and is the dominant response

aggression rapidly spreads through social facilitation

leads to collective violence

Question 9

what is realistic conflict theory (Sherif, 1966)?

Answer 9

groups compete over scarce resources

intergroup relations have conflict

ethnocentrism arises

preference for own group

Question 10

what is ethnocentrism?

Answer 10

own group is the centre of everything

others are scaled and rated with reference to it

Question 11

what were the 4 phases of Sherif’s Summer Camp Studies?

Answer 11

spontaneous friendship formation
in group and norm formation
intergroup competition
intergroup co operation

Question 12

what happened in spontaneous friendship formation?

Answer 12

arrived at camp

engaged in activities

friendships formed

Question 13

what happened in in-group and norm formation?

Answer 13

camp divided into two groups

friendships split

groups isolated with different living areas and did different activities

led to norms and status differences

Question 14

what happened in intergroup competition?

Answer 14

introduced competitive games between the groups

led to competition and intergroup hostility, ethnocentric attitudes and behaviour amplified, intergroup hostility

Question 15

what happened in intergroup cooperation?

Answer 15

groups given superordinate goals

groups had to work together

this cooperation lead to a reduction in intergroup conflict

Question 16

what are superordinate goals?

Answer 16

goals which are worth completing, but need 2+ social groups to cooperatively achieve

Question 17

how can realistic conflict theory support Sherif’s Summer Camp Studies?

Answer 17

the nature of the goals determines the relationships
-mutually exclusive goals led to realistic intergroup conflict and ethnocentrism
-superordinate goals led to cooperation and a reduction in conflict

Question 18

how does Brewer and Campbell (1976) support the behaviour in Sherif’s Summer Camp Studies?

Answer 18

more hostility between proximally closer tribal groups
leads to direct competition for scarce resources

Question 19

how does Fisher (1990) support the behaviour in Sherif’s Summer Camp Studies?

Answer 19

establishing superordinate goals can reduce intergroup conflict between communities

Question 20

what evidence goes against realistic conflict theory?

Answer 20

competitive intergroup behaviour under conditions of explicitly non-competitive or cooperative intergroup conditions

Question 21

what happened in the minimal group paradigm (Tajfel et al, 1971)?

Answer 21

investigated the effect of social categorisation on behaviour
participants split into 2 groups
only knew their own group membership
identity of recipients was unknown
asked to allocate money to others
in group favouritism

Question 22

what happened in Billig and Tajfel’s study?

Answer 22

random allocation to X/Y depending on a tossed coin

eliminates the possibility that participants may suspect they are in groups with similar people

merely allocating participants to a group produced in group favouristism and competitive intergroup behaviour

Question 23

what is social identity theory?

Answer 23

theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self categorisation, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of in-group defining properties

social categories provide members with a social identity- part of self-concept derived from membership of social groups

positive distinctiveness and self enhancement

Question 24

which two theories suggest how we could improve intergroup relations?

Answer 24

realistic conflict theory
contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954)

Question 25

what is realistic conflict theory?

Answer 25

existence of super-ordinate goals gradually reduces intergroup hostility and conflict
BUT
superordinate goals are a problem if we fail to achieve them, unsuccessful cooperation may worsen relations

Question 26

what is contact hypothesis?

Answer 26

bringing members of opposing social groups together will improve intergroup relations, and reduce prejudice and discrimination

Question 27

what are the conditions for contact in the contact hypothesis?

Answer 27

should be prolonged and involve cooperative activity

contact between people or groups of equal social status

should occur within the framework of official and institutional support for integration