Sherif et al. Flashcards
When Was The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
1954 - 1961
What Were The Aims Of The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
- To use a Field Experiment, to produce group norms and measure the effects on the judgements of the participants.
- To see how in-group behaviour developed in comparison to out-group behaviour and see how friction could be reduced.
- Studied inter-group relations.
(Procedure) What Were The Participants Of The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
- 22 boys, ages 11 who didn’t know each other before the study.
- The boys were so split into 2 groups of 11.
- There was a matching process to allocate the boys into the groups. A part of this was, the boys teachers rated them.
- For ‘natural’ groups, the boys were unaware of the aims of the study.
- Parents were not allowed to visit.
(Procedure) What Was The Data Collection Process?
- Observation: An observer was observing 12 hours a day for each group.
- Sociometric Analysis: Issues such as friendship patterns were noted.
- Experiment.
- Tape Recordings: How the boys described members of their in-group and the out-group were examined.
(Procedure) What Camp Was Used?
200 Acre Boy Scouts of America Camp.
It was completely surrounded by Robbers Cave State Park.
The site was isolated.
The two groups of boys were easily separated because of the layout of the site.
(Procedure) What Were The Three Stages Of The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
STAGE 1-Two Groups were formed and both set up norms and hierarchies.
STAGE 2-The Two Groups were introduced, competition was set up in the form of a tournament.
STAGE 3-The Two Groups were set goals that they needed to achieve.
(Procedure)
STAGE ONE:
- The two groups were kept separate for one week.
- They had to work together to create common goals, requiring co-operation.
- The collection of data (by Sociometric Analysis, Rating of Emerging Relationships, Experimental Judgments) was see as valid and reliable because they all recorded similar results.
(Procedure)
STAGE 2
- After the first week the two groups were told about each other and a tournament was set up.
- Points could be earned for both groups and there were rewards.
- The aim of the competition was to make one group frustrated by the other, to see if negative attitudes developed.
- The ‘Collecting Beans’ Experiment, needed the boys to guess how many beans each boy was able to collect, this was to see if the boys overestimated their ‘in-group’ and vise versa.
(Procedure)
STAGE THREE
-After the competition the researchers wanted to create harmony between the two groups.
(Results) What Results Were Gathered From Stage 1?
- The Boys named their groups: The Rattlers and The Eagles.
- Both groups developed quickly and similarly, but both cabins were in different places, which influenced some decisions.
- Both groups had a recognised leader.
- The Rattlers acknowledged the other group, saying things such as, ‘they better not be in our swimming hole’.
- The Eagles did not mention refer to tbh Rattlers as much.
- Existence of the ‘Out-Group’ caused hostility.
(Results) What Results Were Gathered From Stage 2?
- As soon as both groups knew about one another they wanted to compete at baseball.
- The Rattlers discussed how they would protect their flag, whereas, the Eagles said things like ‘we will beat them!’.
- A new leader was allocated for stage 2.
- Name Calling was present between both groups and negative attitudes were clearly evident.
(Results) What Results Were Gathered From Stage 3?
- Initially hostility remained: comments such as ‘ladies first’.
- The boys had to fix a brocken water supply.
- All boys had to pay a slight amount towards the movie.
- The boys had to solve the transportation issue.
- With these superordinate goals, friction and hostility was clearly reduced.
What Were The Conclusions From The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
- Picking matched ppts ruled out home influences.
- Groups developed status hierarchies and group norms:but were not stable throughout.
- At the end of week 1 each group had a leadership structure.
- Leader-follower relations developed.
- Hostility was strongly evident in stage 2.
- Various methods of data collection lead to valid data.
- The boys overestimated the ability of their own group and vice versa.
(Evaluation) What Were The Strengths Of The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
- Careful Planning and Control: The ppts were matched carefully which rule four individual differences.
- High Validity: The ppts did not know hey were part of a study and had no idea. Several Methods of Data Collection, showed similar results when compared.
(Evaluation) What Were The Weaknesses Of The Sherif Robbers Cave Study?
- No Informed Consent: The Boys were unaware they were part of a study, this is deception, although the account does not show that the boys were unhappy or treated unethically, the ethics of this study is low.
- The Participants: It is not as generalisable because ppts were all 11 years of age and from the same area with similar backgrounds.
