intergroup relations and conflict

Question 1

what is intergroup behaviour?

Answer 1

“any perception, cognition or behaviour that is influenced by people’s recognition that they and others are members of distinct social groups is intergroup behaviour”

Question 2

what is relative deprivation?

Answer 2

a sense of having less than we feel entitled to

perceived gap between expectations of entitlements (“what ought to be”) and attainments (“what is”)

deprivation is not absolute but relative to other conditions

crucial precondition for intergroup aggression

Question 3

who suggested the different types of relative deprivation and when?

Answer 3

Runciman

1966

Question 4

what are the different types of relative deprivation?

Answer 4

egoistic relative deprivation

fraternalistic relative deprivation

Question 5

what is egoistic relative deprivation?

Answer 5

feeling to having less that we feel we are entitled to

relative to our personal aspirations or to other individuals

Question 6

what is fraternalistic relative deprivation?

Answer 6

sense that our group has less than it is entitled to

relative to the collective aspirations or other groups

associated with social unrest

Question 7

who investigated relative deprivation and when?

Answer 7

Berkowitz

1962

Question 8

what was Berkowitz’s (1962) study into relative deprivation?

Answer 8

intergroup prejudice and discriminatory behaviour function of

aversive events

aggressive associations (e.g. situational cues, past associations)

Question 9

what is collective violence?

Answer 9

relative deprivation ->

frustration ->

aversive environmental conditions (e.g. heatwave) amplifies frustration ->

individual acts of aggression ->

individual acts of aggression exacerbated by aggressive stimuli (e.g. armed police) ->

aggression becomes more widespread and assumes role of dominant response ->

aggression spreads rapidly through social facilitation process ->

collective violence

Question 10

who suggested the realistic conflict theory and when?

Answer 10

Sherif

1966

Question 11

what is the realistic conflict theory?

Answer 11

where groups compete over scare resources, intergroup relations become marked by conflict and ethnocentrism arises

Question 12

what is ethnocentrism?

Answer 12

“view of things in which one’s own group is at the centre of everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (Sumner et al, 1906)

evaluative preference for all aspects of own group relative to other groups

Question 13

what are resources?

Answer 13

can be anything (e.g. conceptual)

power, money

Question 14

what were the four phases of Sherif’s summer camp studies?

Answer 14

spontaneous friendship formative

ingroup and norm formation

intergroup competition

intergroup cooperation

Question 15

what happened in phase 1 (spontaneous friendship formation) of Sherif’s summer camp studies?

Answer 15

arrived at camp

engaged in various activities

friendships formed

Question 16

what happened in phase 2 (ingroup and norm formation) of Sherif’s summer camp studies?

Answer 16

camp divided into two groups, friendships split

groups isolated, separate living quarters and daily activities

developed norms and status differences

Question 17

what happened in phase 3 (intergroup competition) of Sherif’s summer camp studies?

Answer 17

introduction of competitive games between the groups - competition and intergroup hostility

ethnocentric attitudes and behaviour amplified

majority of intergroup encounters degenerated into intergroup hostility

intergroup relations deteriorated - two of the experiments concluded at this stage

Question 18

what happened in phase 4 (intergroup cooperation) of Sherif’s summer camp studies?

Answer 18

groups provided with superordinate goals (everyone needed to help with broken down truck)

groups had to work together in cooperation

cooperation between the groups to achieve superordinate goal led to a reduction in intergroup conflict

Question 19

how does the nature of goals determine relations?

Answer 19

mutually exclusive goals between groups - realistic intergroup conflict and ethnocentrism

shared (superordinate) goals - cooperation, reduction in conflict

Question 20

what did Brewer and Campbell (1976) find about realistic conflict theory?

Answer 20

greater derogation of more proximal tribal groups

direct competition for scarce resources

Question 21

what did Fisher (1990, 2005) find about realistic conflict theory?

Answer 21

establishing superordinate goals can reduce intergroup conflict between communities and nations

Question 22

in what conditions can competitive intergroup behaviour also come out?

Answer 22

under conditions of explicitly non-competitive or cooperation intergroup relations?

Question 23

who suggested the minimal group paradigm and when?

Answer 23

Tajfel et al

1971

Question 24

what is the minimal group paradigm?

Answer 24

experimental methodology to investigate effect of social categorisation alone based on behaviour

Question 25

what was the minimal group paradigm experiment conducted?

Answer 25

assigned participants to two groups (arbitrary selection) participants only knew their own group membership identity of recipients was unknown asked to allocate money to others ingroup favouritism - despite no history, no self-interest, identity of other members of each group unknown

Question 26

who investigated the minimal group paradigm and when?

Answer 26

Billig and Tajfel 1973

Question 27

what was Billig and Tajfel's (1973) study on minimal group paradigm?

Answer 27

random allocation to X/Y - toss of coin (more arbitrary) to eliminate possibility that participants may infer that people in same group interpersonally similar to one another because of artist preference mere allocation to a group produced ingroup favouritism and competitive intergroup behaviour

Question 28

what is the social identity theory?

Answer 28

"theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorisation, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of ingroup defining properities" social categories provide members with a "social identity" - part of self-concept derived from membership of social groups positive distinctiveness and self-enhancement

Question 29

how does the realistic conflict theory suggest intergroup relations can be improved?

Answer 29

existence of superordinate goals gradually reduces intergroup hostility and conflict BUT unsuccessful intergroup cooperation may worsen intergroup relations if failure attributed to outgroup

Question 30

who suggested the contact hypothesis and when?

Answer 30

Allport 1954

Question 31

what is the contact hypothesis?

Answer 31

"bringing members of opposing social groups together will improve intergroup relations and reduce prejudice and discrimination"

Question 32

what are the conditions for contact (Allport, 1954)?

Answer 32

should be prolonger and involve cooperative activity contact between people or groups of equal social status should occur within a framework of official and institutional support for integration