You all know about Stanley Milgram and his obedience studies. You all know about Philip Zimbardo and his Stanford Prison experiment. But how much do you know about Muzafer Sherif and his boys’ summer camp studies? We suspect that — even if you know something — the answer is ‘less than the other two’. The reason is because Sherif is generally less known both within and beyond psychology. This is surprising, and certainly unjust. For Sherif made not just one, but two key contributions that changed the face of social psychology. And not only did he reveal remarkable phenomena, he also provided theoretical explanations of these phenomena which endure to this day and which have influence across the social sciences. His work was also rooted in a broad vision of psychology in society.
ingroup, outgroup, Robber’s Cave study, realistic conflict theory, prejudice
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