Researchers reproduce Sherif's Robbers Cave study. At a summer camp, 22 boys are divided into two groups that bond independently for a week. After they meet in tournaments with prizes for only one team, hostility, name-calling, and raids escalate quickly. Counselors then arrange for both groups to push a stuck water-supply truck together.
The cooperative water-truck task is intended to function as:
- A
A demonstration of social loafing
- B
A test of group polarization
- C
An example of deindividuation
- Dcheck_circle
A superordinate goal that reduces intergroup hostility
Explanation
Sherif found that goals requiring cooperation between groups (superordinate goals) reduced prejudice more effectively than mere contact.