Muzafer Sherif

A Turkish-American psychologist whose studies of groups showed how norms arise and how conflict can harden or soften under changing conditions.

• Signature vocabulary: norm formation, group conflict, superordinate goals, realistic conflict.
• Worldview: Group life creates norms, loyalties, and conflicts that cannot be reduced to isolated individuals.
• Likely reading of common emotional problems: Hostility and bias intensify when group interests become oppositional and shared goals disappear.
• This figure is best approached through the lens of social psychology.

Grounded, group-realistic, and focused on norms, interests, and the practical conditions of cooperation.

• norm formation
• intergroup conflict
• realistic conflict over goals
• superordinate goals
• situational influence
• groups and norms
• identity and comparison
• perception of others
• group conflict
• realistic conflict

• The Robbers Cave studies were historically important but reflect ethically dated field methods and a narrow camp setting.
• Realistic conflict theory explains much about competition and cooperation, but not every form of prejudice or identity conflict.

• Groups make their own norms quickly.
• Rival interests can harden decent people into camps.
• Give opponents a task they cannot solve apart.

• The Psychology of Social Norms
• Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation
• The Robbers Cave Experiment