Lecture 8- Intergroup conflict Flashcards
What is Intergroup behaviour?
Any perception, cognition or behavior that is influenced by people’s recognition that they and others are members of distinct social groups is intergroup behavior
What is relative deprivation?
A sense of having less than we feel entitled to. Crucial precondition for intergroup agg
What did Berkowitz (1962) say about intergroup prej?
Suggested intergroup prej and discriminatory behaviors are the function of aversive events and agg associations
What is the process of collective violence?
Relative deprivation > frustration > Aversive environ conditions > individual acts of agg > acts of agg exacerbated by agg stimuli > agg becomes widespread and dominant response > agg spreads through social facilitation
What does Runciman (1966) say are the 2 types of relative deprivation?
Egoistic
Fraternalistic
What is egoistic deprivation?
Feeling of having less than we feel we are entitled to relative to our personal aspirations or to other individuals
What is fraternalistic deprivation?
Sense that our group has less than it is entitled to relative to the collective aspirations or other groups. Associated with social unrest
What is the theory of realistic conflict (Sherif,1966)?
-Where groups compete over scarce resources, intergroup relations become marked by conflict & ethnocentrism arises.
What is ethnocentrism?
Evaluative preference for all aspects of own group relative to other groups.
What are the 4 phases of Sherif’s study and what happened in them?
1)Spontaneous friendship= Arrived at camp and formed friendships
2) In group formation= Camp divided into 2, developed norms and status
3) Intergroup competition= Introduction to competitive games and found ethnocentrism attitudes and behavior amplified towards other group. Majority of intergroup encounters degenerated into intergroup hostility
4) Intergroup cooperation= Groups given superordinate goals and cooperation between groups led to reduction in intergroup conflict
How did Brewer & Campbell (1976) support Sherif’s theory?
Found greater derogation of more proximal tribal groups due to direct competition for scarce resources
How did Fisher (1990) support sherif’s theory?
found establishing superordinate goals can reduce IG conflict between communities and nations.
What idea criticises Realistic conflict theory?
Competitive IG behaviour also found under conditions of explicitly non-competitive and cooperative intergroup relations.
What is the minimal group paradigm (Tajfel, 1971)?
Experimental methodology to investigate effect of social categorisation alone on behaviour.
What happened in the Tajfel (1971) minimal group paradigm experiment?
-Assigned ppts to 2 groups (arbitrary selection) -Ppts only knew of own group membership -Identity of recipients unknown but asked to allocate money to others
Found mere allocation to a group produced in-group favoritism, and competitive intergroup behavior.
What is social identity theory?
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’ so a part of self-concept derived from membership of social groups eg self enhancement.
What are the 2 ways of improving intergroup relations?
Realistic conflict theory
Contact hypothesis
How does RCT improve intergroup relations?
Existence of superordinate goals reduce intergroup hostility and conflict.
How does RCT fail to improve intergroup relations?
Superordinate goals are problem if they fail to achieve, and unsuccessful intergroup cooperation may worsen IG relations if failure is attributed to out group.
What is the Contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954)?
Suggests bringing members of opposing groups will improve intergroup relations and reduce prejudice and discrimination.
What are the 3 conditions for contact in the Contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954)?
-Prolonged and involve cooperative activity -Contact between people/groups of equal social status
-Occur within framework of official support for integration.
