Sherif (1954) Robbers Cave Experiment

SHERIF (1954) AO1

• The goal was to understand the development of positive and negative attitudes within groups,as well as how these attitudes changed due to alterations in conditions.
• Twenty-two 11-year-old boys from middle-class Oklahoma backgrounds formed the sample after 300 hours of matching.
• The boys were taken to a summer camp in Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma.
• The boys were randomly divided into two groups of eleven, unaware of each other's existence during the experiment's first phase.
• Observation, experiment, sociometric analysis, and tape recordings were methods to collect data at the isolated camp
• The study consisted of three stages.

STAGE 1 (IN-GROUP FORMATION)

• During the first week, groups were unaware of each other to allow for the formation of group norms and relations.
• Bonding activities included hiking or swimming.
• Each group chose a name, stenciling it on flags and shirts; one group was ‘The Rattlers’, the other 'The Eagles'.
• Data collection involved observations of the boys such as emerging friendships, sociometric techniques assessing interaction time, and study of status and roles.
• Due to homesickness, two boys from ‘The Eagles’ left the camp.

STAGE 2 (FRICTION PHASE)

• The two groups discovered the existence of each other which led to hostility.
• They wanted to play each other at baseball, effectively creating their own tournament.
• Cumulative scores were achieved for the tournament series to win the top prize of a trophy.
• Prizes like penknives and food were also awarded

STAGE 3 (INTEGRATION PHASE)

• Initial attempts to reduce prejudice involved increasing contact, encouraging film-watching together, proved unsuccessful after seven activities
• A superordinate goal was a desire or challenge that both parties in a conflict needed to get resolved, and that neither party could resolve alone
• Sherif created challenges such as a water shortage, a "broken down" camp truck.
• Challenges needed enough "man" power to be pulled back to camp and contributing enough money to pay for a movie to be shown.
• Boys formed strong group identities during Stage 1; status positions were stable, with clear leadership.
• The Rattlers were tough, swearing, whereas the Eagles cried more, and were anti-swearing.
• Name-calling occurred in Stage 2 when groups first met, indicating negative attitudes towards out-group members
• Antagonism increased significantly with the introduction of the tournament
• The Rattlers won the trophy, planting their flag in the playfield, later burned by the Eagles
• Food fights and ransacked living quarters damaged property, resulting in the observation of name-calling, offending songs
• In-group friendship choices were high; Rattlers: 63.3%, Eagles: 76.8%.
• Hostility remained evident in Stage 3; contact alone was insufficient to reduce tension.
• The superordinate goals caused a breakdown of in-groups, creating a new in-group inclusive of all boys
• At the experiment's end, the groups bonded and insisted on riding the same bus home.
• Researchers concluded that groups develop status hierarchies and norms, although these were unstable
• When groups meet in competition and frustrating situations, in-group solidarity grew but inter-group hostility remained strong.
• While contact was insufficient in reducing hostility, superordinate goals were required to facilitate cooperation and shared responsibility.

ISSUES AND DEBATES AO3

• Nature refers to innate traits caused by biological make-up. Genes passed down are responsible for our characteristics and behaviors.
• Nurture refers to environmental factors. Behaviors are learned and determined after we are born.
• Factors like parenting styles, education, interactions with peers, and the media influence behavior

DEBATE POINTS (NATURE)

• Results from Sherif's study could be a result of nature, the boys may have evolved to be prejudiced
• Evolutionary theory suggests those who are most adaptive will survive to pass on their genes
• Despite controls and random allocation, toughness and swearing among the Rattlers, with crying and anti-swearing attitudes among the Eagles, suggest nature
• The personalities of group members can underpin a group's engagement in competition, prejudice, and universal behavior are emphasized by the study.
• Studying prejudice, emphasizing nature suggest prejudice is a universal behavior, suggesting a stronger emphasis on nature.
• In the Sheriff study nurture is reflected in that prejudice levels were impacted by competition and cooperation, thus suggesting prejudice is a result of the enviroment
• From cooperation to competition, social environments shape behaviour, furthering the argument that nurture (social influences) plays a significant role in shaping attitudes and actions.
• Introduction of goals demonstrated the power of nurture since hostility dropped when boys were able to overcome hostility so they could collaborate for a common cause.

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

• Science is the systematic study of behaviour based on observation, experiment and measurement
• A discipline is scientific given that it is possible to falsify theories, collect data using empirical methods, implement controls.

DEBATE POINTS (SCIENCE)

• Participant variables were controlled since Sherif matched 2 groups by intelligence, religious backgrounds, etc, which increased internal validity.
• Several empirical methods, sociometric techniques, observations, and experiments, were used to collect quantitative data and check concurrent validity which raised scientific status.
• By creating an isolated setting and manipulating social environment Sherif was able to draw causal inferences as well as control boy's behaviors

DEBATE POINTS (NOT SCIENCE)

• Qualitative data, based on the researchers' observations of the boy's behaviour, is objective
• Field experiments did not use a standardized procedure possible to be replicated since the weather may have influenced mood/ behavior of participants.
• Findings consistent and reliability lowered
• While the setting was naturalistic, concerns about applying the study's artificial manipulation of group dynamics and controlled setting to real-world situations challenge limited ecological validity.

ISSUES OF SOCIAL CONTROL

• Conforming to society’s predominant values and norms.
• Someone such as a doctor has the power of legitimate power to influence a patient's conduct to that is considered appropriate

DEBATE POINTS

• Expert power of manipulating prejudice during Sherif's study to research how to reduce this
• Positive ways to regulate behaving in society.
• Findings explain the use of leaders/authority to influence new behaviours.
• How can escalate when groups are set against is a negative of competitive phase.
• Using goals makes society more peaceful but can still be considered manipulating.
• Government leaders/authority may manipulate situations in society that leads to conflict as a negative.

REDUCTIONISM

• Reductionism simplifies complex phenomena into basic parts whereas holism acknowledges how multiple factors contribute to how we fully under human behavior
• Specific variables - group identity, manipulation, competition, and cooperation while not being deeply involving intergroup relations means it was not fully explained reducing complexity of behavior
• By isolating variables, a relationship was made between prejudice and scarce resources, leading to scientific advances that benefit psychology.
• By using reductionist approach in negative attitudes would be scientific which improves credibility.
• Holisitic approach such as social influences, complexity, individual difference can be used to study prejudice.
• It might have contributed to negative attitudes/ behaviors

ISSUES RELATED TO SOCIALLY SENSITIVE RESEARCH

• Socially Sensitive Research (SSR) studies social implications or potential consequences that influence how groups of people are represented.

DEBATE POINTS (SSR)

• Positive implications of SSR show how understanding prejudices can help implement social policies so it demonstrates the power of his study being able to address sensitive issues
• Sherif was justified because explaining independent values such as the competition/ individualistic being raised in an environment such as the boys being competitive
• Ethnic conflicts lead to promote superordinate goals to promote race/ethnic unity leading to broader implications of racial/ ethnic conflicts.
• Negatives include possibly negatively labeling the boys to be more competitive and how manipulation of group dynamics challenges ethical and scientific explorations.
• Researches addresses conflict such as the sensitive impact in the potential to separate among diverse groups.

CULTURAL AND GENDER ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

• Culture regards behaviour of society with the same customs
• Gender regards social differences, not genetics
• Cultural bias such as generalizing from a specific background or by using an emic approach can affect conclusion validity
• Gender was also studied in terms of how boys would react given gendered stereotypes, but may not be true for all due to beta bias.

UNDERSTANDING HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE HAS DEVELOPED OVER TIME.

• There has been advancements over time in understanding this
• Superordinate goals have led ro modern society and reduce prejudice.
• Due to criticisms, developed ethical guidelines to protect standards for research
• Group harmony within culture has increased over time, despite there being less diversity leading to change.

ETHICS (HUMAN)

Is ethical by ensuring boys had a chance to leave, no detail about the conversations boys had that could potentially harm their psychological well being. Was unethical that friction was created, people were unaware that the adults there were actually camp leaders, and all details on ethical considerations were not divulged.

THE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE WITHIN SOCIETY

• There are benefits of people with positive application within the goals in society
• How can also be misused in negative applications to limit people
• Prejudice within society that is created by some outside source within the world.

PRACTICAL ISSUES IN THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH

• Some factors influenced internal validity including if participants were selected and designed in a certain group
• Was more concurrent since quantitative and qualitative data was gathered
• Replicable procedure was not possible to account for homesickness
• Was impossible to gather every possible extraneous variable, but data to be collected needed interpretation which influenced it

BADDELEY (1966b) AO1

• A series of 3 experiments with the goal to investigate differences

EXPERIMENT INFO

• 1 attempted to test LTM in the use of list words/tape recording
• 2 introduced the interference task to cancel out effects of STM meaning that participants were using their LTM to perform the recall tasks but was still tweaked as slides for those who couldn't hear as well.
• 3 aimed to see if LTM is impaired in ways that will not be impaired by what sounds the same

SAMPLING

• Obtaining 72 volunteers from the Applied Psychology Research Unit in university
• Panel was filled with typically housewives so there needed to be timing for the school.
• A = acoustically similar words
• B = acoustically dissimilar words that matched a frequency of daily use.
• C = semantically different words
• D = semantically dissimilar words
• Tests given for order every 3 seconds then to allow for digit copying which caused impairment among the LTM with retesting to also display test cards after the trail.
• Results = no difference found with the variables but semantically dissimilar words recalled best.

ISSUES AND DEBATES AO3/NATURE

• Nature reflects what has been inherited and given to the genes
• Nurture reflects ones that are being learned
• Had both short term and long term memory roles to test both at the same time
• Used hypothetico deductive method where he would go from one end to testing all factors which improved validity
• All words used were high frequency everyday which increased internal validity as well