case study -Lord of the Flies - Robbers Cave Experiment

case study -Lord of the Flies - Robbers Cave Experiment - Did you read Lord of the Flies in middle school or high school? Even if you just skimmed over the book, you might remember what it’s about: a group of boys finds themselves stranded on a desert island without adult supervision. As they try to establish a society, they turn on each other in desperation, and things get brutal.

The book has become a staple of young adult fiction and is known for being a reflection of society. It warns that anyone has the potential to get violent if they are desperate enough for scarce resources.

Lord of the Flies came out in 1954, the year before the Rockefeller Foundation gave psychologist Muzafer Sherif $38,000 to conduct a fascinating research experiment. Tired of working with lab rats, Sherif set out to do something unusual—an experiment that, one could say, mirrored Lord of the Flies. He ended up putting together the Robbers Cave experiment.

The Robbers Cave experiment was part of a series of studies conducted by social psychologist Muzafer Sherif and his colleagues in the 1940s and 1950s. In these studies, Sherif looked at how groups of boys at summer camps interacted with a rival group. He hypothesized that, quote, “when two groups have conflicting aims, their members will become hostile to each other even though the groups are composed of normal, well-adjusted individuals,” end quote.

The participants in the study—boys who were approximately 11 to 12 years old—thought that they were participating in a typical summer camp, which took place at Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma in 1954. However, the campers’ parents knew that their children were actually participating in a research study, as Sherif and his colleagues had gathered extensive information on the participants.

There are three phases of the experiment:

In-group formation. This phase involves the experimental creation of in-groups through activities that promote group identification. The boys arrived at camp in two separate groups. For the first part of the study, they spent time with members of their own group without knowing that the other group existed. The groups chose names: the Eagles and the Rattlers. Each group developed its own group norms and group hierarchies.

Friction phase. After a short period, the boys became aware that there was another group at camp. Upon learning of the other group, the campus groups spoke negatively about each other. At this point, the researchers began the next phase—a competitive tournament between the groups, designed to create conflict and tension.

Integration phase. This phase involved bringing the two previously conflicting groups into cooperation through the attainment of superordinate goals.

The Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that simply bringing hostile groups together is not enough to reduce in-group prejudice. Rather, the experiment confirmed that groups must cooperate and have common goals to truly build peace. Thus, although contact is vital to reducing tensions between groups, interdependence is essential for establishing lasting intergroup harmony.

This experiment is a classic in social psychology and is important because it has implications for reducing conflict between real social groups. In addition, this study has implications for a number of prominent social psychological theories, including realistic conflict theory and social identity theory.