Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Understanding Prejudice473Creating Conflict Between GroupsPsychologist Muzafer Sherif and his colleaguesdemonstrated how easily hostilityand distrust could be created between twogroups. Competitive situations, like thistug-of-war, increased tension between theRattlers and the Eagles.The rivalry became increasingly bitter. The Eagles burned the Rattlers’ flag. Inresponse, the Rattlers trashed the Eagles’ cabin. Somewhat alarmed, the researcherstried to diminish the hostility by bringing the two groups together under peacefulcircumstances and on an equal basis—having them go to the movies together, eatin the same dining hall, and so forth. But contact alone did not mitigate the hostility.If anything, these situations only served as opportunities for the rival groupsto berate and attack each other. For example, when the Rattlers and Eagles atetogether in the same dining hall, a massive food fight erupted!How could harmony between the groups be established? Sherif and his fellowresearchers created a series of situations in which the two groups would need tocooperate to achieve a common goal. For example, the researchers secretly sabotagedthe water supply. Working together, the Eagles and the Rattlers managed to fix it.On another occasion, the researchers sabotaged a truck that was to bring food tothe campers. The hungry campers overcame their differences to join forces andrestart the truck. After a series of such joint efforts, the rivalry diminished and thegroups became good friends (Sherif, 1956; Sherif & others, 1961).Sherif successfully demonstrated how hostility between groups could be createdand, more important, how that hostility could be overcome. However, other researchersquestioned whether these results would apply to other intergroup situations.After all, these boys were very homogeneous: white, middle class, Protestant,and carefully selected for being healthy and well-adjusted (Fiske & Ruscher, 1993;Sherif, 1966). In other words, there were no intrinsic differences between theRattlers and the Eagles; there was only the artificial distinction created by theresearchers.Overcoming Group Conflict To decreasehostility between the Rattlers and theEagles at Robbers Cave, the researcherscreated situations that required the jointefforts of both groups to achieve a commongoal, such as fixing the water supply.These cooperative tasks helped the boysrecognize their common interests andbecome friends.The Jigsaw ClassroomPromoting CooperationSocial psychologist Elliot Aronson (1990, 1992) tried adapting the results of theRobbers Cave experiments to a very different group situation—a newly integratedelementary school. Realizing that mere contact between black and white childrenwas not dissipating tension and prejudice, Aronson reasoned that perhaps the competitiveschoolroom atmosphere was partly at fault. Perhaps tension between racialgroups might decrease if cooperation replaced competition.Aronson and his colleagues tried a teaching technique that stressed cooperative,rather than competitive, learning situations (see Aronson, 1990; Aronson & Bridgeman,1979). Dubbed the jigsaw classroom technique, this approach brought togetherstudents in small, ethnically diverse groups to work on a mutual project. Like thepieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each student had a unique contribution to make towardthe success of the group. Each student became an expert on one aspect of the overallproject and had to teach it to the other members of the group. Thus, interdependenceand cooperation replaced competition.