prejudice: Sherif - Classic Study Flashcards
state the aims
- produce group norms
- investigate the development of ingroup behaviour including out group hostility
- investigate how friction can be reduced
describe the sample
- 22 12 year old boys
- white, middle class
- protestant
- 2 parent background
- matched on IQ and sporting ability
- screened for problems at home and difficult behaviour
- parents could not visit
describe the procedure
- robbers cave state park in oklahoma
- first week = two groups kept separate and developed group norms through activities such as hiking and swimming. They encouraged in group identities to be formed through the formation of flags and group names such as the rattlers and the eagles. Following the 1st hearing of the other group, they became prejudiced, the rattlers became derogatory, saying the eagles better not swim in our watering hole, and the eagles became competitive, spontaneously challenging them to a baseball competition.
- competition stage = stereotypes emerged after the groups were introduced. Games such as baseball, tug of war increased friction as they competed for prizes such as pen knives, and one of the groups arrived late to a picnic so was left with little food (so food was a scarce resource). Also competed in tasks such as the bean collecting task, in which the groups had to estimate the amount of beans they had collected and the out group had collected. It was found that the in group over estimated their own ability but under estimated the out groups ability.
- superordinate goals = fixing a broken truck, work together to earn resources (had to pool together money to watch a film). Initially tried increasing contact by placing the groups together to eat lunch together, however this lead to more friction and caused a food fight, as well as one group commenting “ladies first”. Sherif tried 3 superordinate goals.
how was data collected?
- observation
- sociometric analysis (eg friendship patterns)
- tape recordings of phrases used to refer to groups or games for 12 hours a day byan assigned researcher.
what was the conclusion?
- competition between 2 groups for resources can cause prejudice
- working towards a superordinate goal can reduce the friction, and increased contact did not reduce prejudice.
weakness
- generalisability
a weakness of the study is that it lacks generalisability. for example, the sample was limited as it was androcentric (only boys) and only consisted of one age group with similar characteristics of liking sport and of similar IQ’s. therefore, the findings cannot represent a population outside of this sample of females or of a wider age range, which reduces their usefulness.
strength and CA
- reliability
a strength of the study is that it has high reliability.For example, a standardised procedure was used of three distinct stages- in group formation, friction phase and integration with procedures such as hiking and swimming which can be replicated on any group. This means that the procedure can easily be replicated by other researchers to test for consistency in results, increasing reliability. However, there is a lack of a standardised procedure in the first phase- as the eagles spontaneously challenged the rattlers to a baseball tournament. This degree of spontaneity cannot be repeated by another researcher, and so it is difficult to distinguish of the cause of the prejudice between the groups in stage two was simply due to manipulation by the researcher/scarce resources or simply due to inconsistent methodology. This could explain why Tyerman and Spencer, when conducting a replication of the study on British boys did not find the same results, lowering reliability.
Strength and IA
- validity
A strength of the study is that it has high levels of internal validity. This is because quantitative data was collected from sociometric analysis of the boys friendship patterns, (6.4% in stage two, 36.4% in stage three for the rattlers). This is a strength as it means that these results are objective as they can be statistically analysed by researchers to say if they are significant or not, reducing the possibility of researcher bias or misinterpretation of results. Additionally, the study has high levels of internal validity as there was triangulation of data. Data was collected from numerous places- such as qualitative observation from researchers who observed the boys for 12 hours a day, as well as tape recordings of the boys conversations. This ensures that there is rich, detailed data which can be triangulated across the data sets, meaning cause and effect can more easily be established.
strength
- validity
a strength of the study is that it has good task validity. this is because the camp was a natural setting with real activities such as hiking and swimming. therefore, this reduces demand characteristics and demonstrates how the ppts would behave without the study taking place.
strength
- application
a strength of the study is that it has applications. The study highlights how superordinate goals were the only way in which prejudice could be reduced, whereby groups worked together to achieve a goal which could not be completed by themselves. This has led to solutions to reduce prejudice and hostility, for example, the jigsaw teaching technique. this is where students are divided into groups of 4-6 and individuals of each group work together, and then return as an instructor. this allows groups to co operate and reduce friction.
weakness and CA
- ethical issue
a weakness of the study is the ethical issues. 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. The boys privacy was invaded when the rattlers invaded the eagles camp and also burnt their flags, which could have caused them lasting psychological distress and harm. however, there was a right to withdraw which is justified by 2 of the participants leaving.
What were the results of the experiment?
Sherif found that increased contact did not work (so reduces credibility of contact hypothesis).
It was only after the 3rd superordinate goal that prejudice was reduced.
Sociometric analysis of out group friendship patterns found that at the end of stage two, the rattlers had a % of 6.4%, and by the end of stage three, this had increased to 36.4%.
Stage 1= boys were already prejudiced which reduces credibility of sherif’s theory of RCT as they had not yet competed over scarce resources.
Stage 2= friction and prejudice, the rattlers raided the eagles cabin and each group burnt flags of the other.
Stage 3= after the third superordinate goal, only then was prejudice reduce. Boys wanted to sit with each other on the ride back home.
