Between 1949 and 1954, social psychologist Nusifar Sherif and Carolyn Wood Sherif collaborated with graduate students to hold a series of experiments to test one of Dr. Sherif's ideas, known as Realistic Conflict Theory. This having to do with intergroup conflict, stereotypes, and prejudices. The most famous and significant of his experiments took place in 1954 at Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma. Sheriff's main idea was that conflict arises between groups when they're competing for limited resources. This hypothesis had important implications as the Second World War had recently ended.
The experiments involved 22 children between the ages of 11 and 12. None of them knew each other previously and all came from similar backgrounds. middle class, white, and Protestant. The experiment had three stages, the first being a bonding stage.
Before the two groups were made aware of each other, they were encouraged to bond and create social norms by engaging in activities such as swimming and hiking. Here the groups took names, the Eagles and the Rattlers, and developed their own cultures and cultural norms. The next stage was the competition stage, lasting four to six days.
In this stage, there was to be friction between the groups, and as such, a series of competitions were arranged. These competitions included baseball, tug-of-war, and touch football, among others. The winners would receive a trophy, medals, and pocket knives. There was no alternative prize for the losers. The Rattlers, who had developed a norm of toughness and aggression, became emphatically confident in their success.
They put Rattlers flags on the baseball field. and made threats about bothering them. The researchers then manipulated situations where one group would gain at the cost of the other.
What started as verbal aggression between the groups soon escalated further. After one of the baseball games, the Eagles burned the Rattlers'flag. The next day, the Rattlers raided the Eagles'cabin, flipping beds and stealing personal items. Soon fistfights would break out, and the researchers had to physically separate the children.
After the end of the conflict period, where it was announced that the Eagles were the winners, there was a reducing friction period. The groups were asked to characterize the other group and it was found that there were profoundly negative characterizations, while holding their own group in high esteem. During this time, the two groups were brought together to engage in non-competitive activities. Sheriff believed that simple contact between the groups would not reduce friction, Instead, there would need to be common, superordinate goals to accomplish.
In one event, the boys were to watch a movie together, but had to chip in money of their own. They worked together to decide the splitting of the money. They also had to work to fix an issue with a water tank in the water supply at camp, which the researchers had arranged.
Likewise, one of the trucks delivering food became stuck, and had to be pulled out by the children working together. At this point the kids had come together, no longer as enemies, but as allies with a common goal. Muzaffar and Carolyn Sheriff had successfully demonstrated realistic conflict theory.
Normal boys became their own cultures and showed that conflict for limited resources can lead to prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behaviors. While simple coexistence did not eliminate these prejudices, working together towards something better for both groups did.