The Eagles versus the Rattlers Experiment

The podcast discusses an experiment conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a social psychologist named Musifur Sharif. The experiment involved 22 11-year-old boys who were split into two teams, the Eagles and the Rattlers. At first, they didn't know each other and engaged in cooperative activities. However, when the teams were brought together for competitive games, prejudice and conflicts emerged. The researchers found that the best way to reduce conflict and unify the groups was to give them a superordinate goal.