Social Psychology - Prejudice

Question 1

Robbers Cave

Answer 1

• Study done on boys in a summer camp
• Seeing behaviours of hostility and aggression between boys and what types of actions alleviate these behaviours

Method:

• Two groups of guys form and they don’t know that they exist and each group creates a name and flag
• Then, they’re introduced to the other group, at the start you see that segregation but not hostility
• Introduction of competition between the teams (e.g. sports)
• Introduction of limited resources (following competition), signs of hostility and aggression develop (boys interact with an aggressive manner)
• Hostility doesn’t occur until competition over limited resources Is produced
• Marginilation occurs as well because people are holding prejudice against each other
• Changing the prejudice attitude:
• Confronting and talking is not productive because you hate them
• Not forcing them to engage but allowing a friendly social setting is also not productive because fights break out
• Set up a catastrophe (an environmental problem) that the boys had to address that neither boy had to do alone (teamwork by mutual threat). An introduction by an outside group that is a threat. [forcing mutual interdependence alleviates prejudice go away]. Formation of meaningful friendship bonds
• Prejudice arise when there’s competition for limited resources [so does hostility]

Cooperatively alleviates prejudice attitudes

Question 2

6 Ways to Reduce Prejudice

Answer 2

Prejudice can be reduced between two groups when six conditions are met:

1. Mutual interdependence
2. A common goal to achieve together
3. Equal status
4. Informal contact –> seeing each other not as formally [casual-ness]
5. Multiple contacts –> you need to see the same people who help and work with you so that you don’t think that it’s a one time thing
6. Social expectation that both groups should be treated as equal.

Question 3

The Jigsaw Classroom

Answer 3

• Applied during situations where there’s discrimination to individuals of ethnic minorities (to kids in a classroom)

Motivation: going from segregation to non-segregated classrooms … school has competitive environments (i.e. school grades…etc..)… therefore there’s strong racist and prejudice attitudes developing

Method:

• Changed format of classroom, made it a child interaction with child, you would interact with a group of 4-5 individuals, on a weekly basis the group will be given project that they would complete individually but had to depend on their group in order to get the information, therefore forcing them to interact in order to come up with their projects. Groups were made equally representative of ethnic groups

Result:

prejudice attitudes dropped compared to kids in a typical classroom environment, little violence, little verbal hostility, lots of cooperation. School performance increases individually for a jigsaw style classroom, affects their interest in educational environments and increases self-esteem. This works because its setting up the 6 conditions to reduce prejudice.