Sherif Flashcards
What is the aim of Sherif?
To test the development of in-group behaviour through competition and how this can be reduced (using a super-ordinate goal).
What is the sample of Sherif?
22 boys aged 11 from Protestant Oklahoma families, matched on IQ, sporting ability
What is phase 1 of Sherif?
In-group formation
Divided into two groups - the groups did not know about one another at this point and spent a week bonding as a group.
What is phase 2 of Sherif?
Friction phrase
Competitions were set
up between them
Introduced the ‘counting beans’ task, tug-of-war and scavenger hunting for attractive prizes, such as penknives.
What is phase 3 of Sherif?
Integration phase
Reduce the tension between the groups
Given several superordinate goals (fixing water supply, chipping in to pay for movie,
fixing broken down camp truck) where they had to work together to achieve a result
What was the result of phase 1 (in-group formation)?
Each group was given a name – Eagles and Rattlers
Maintained social control through ostracism and ridicule
What was the result of phase 2 (friction phrase)?
Called each other
terrible names like ‘cheat’, ‘stinker’ or ‘sneak’
Name-calling, scuffles and ‘raids’
(e.g. stealing the other team’s flag and setting fire to it), became commonplace.
What was the result of phase 3 (integration phase)?
‘Actively seeking opportunities to mingle, entertain
and treat each other’
Made far fewer negative ratings of the opposing group
What did Sherif conclude?
Superordinate goals can help relieve prejudice in competing groups
Prejudice occurs due to competition for scarce resources
How does Sherif have triangulation of data?
4 measures throughout- Observation, Sociometric data, experiments and audio
recording making the results about the source of prejudice more valid because the evidence supporting it comes from multiple sources
What is an issue with Sherif’s sample?
Small, androcentric and ethnocentric so results that we gain from this sample
about the cause of prejudice might not be representative of prejudice to a wider population
Why is it good that the boys did not know they were being studied in Sherif?
Low demand characteristics so
results about their interactions are more valid in explaining
prejudice because the boys don’t change their behaviour
What is an ethical issue with Sherif?
Protection from harm issues as the study created prejudice
between the boys so could lead to harm both psychologically and physically as the boys got
into fights with each other
How is Sherif’s study standardised?
Tasks (e.g. the bean counting task, tug-of-war they took
part in etc.) can be repeated meaning we can see if the results of competition causing prejudice can be tested for reliability
Why is it a weakness that Sherif used a field experiment?
Extraneous variables e.g.
what the counsellors said/how they interacted might influence their conflict so reduces the
validity of findings about prejudice because factors like their interactions with others could impact their conflict rather than just the competition between Rattlers and Eagles.
