Superordinate goals bring opposing groups together to achieve a common goal, as seen in Muzafer Sherif’s landmark study on summer camp boys. While the study had flaws, it showed that external pressures and biases can influence group behavior. The idea of overarching goals remains valid, as seen in examples like the US and Russia teaming up in World War II.
Superordinate goals are goals that people who normally work in opposition to each other can join together to achieve because cooperation is necessary for each other’s survival. The idea that antagonists can become cooperative in some situations plays a key role in some organizational thinking and interventions to make groups work with each other instead of against each other. Landmark research in this field occurred in the 1950s under the supervision of psychologist Muzafer Sherif, who conducted a series of studies involving young boys at a summer camp.
Sherif’s article on higher goals focused on the findings of one of three studies in which researchers took teens to summer camp, divided them into two groups, and built antipathy between the two groups. Then, the researchers changed the variables to enable the kids to work together on tasks like restoring their water supply after ‘vandals’ damaged it. The sheriff concluded in this famous study “Cave of the Thief” that it was possible for the boys to work together when the need to achieve higher goals outweighed their conflicted relationship.
The truth behind Sherif’s study is a bit more complicated than originally reported, and this plays a large part in understanding how overarching goals actually work. Sherif actually did three studies, but only one was successful, where the guys worked together to solve a problem. In one study, subjects actually turned to researchers to express their frustration, a situation not uncommon in social psychology experiments.
Sherif’s studies have shown that external pressures can influence how groups approach overarching goals. The researchers themselves were a variable in the study and changed the outcome. The studies also illustrate the role that bias can play in a study. Researchers obviously want to achieve a specific goal and may subconsciously change variables in a study to get there. This is one reason why many experiments use blinding and double-blinding in their design whenever possible to limit the influence of observers.
While Sherif’s studies may have been flawed, the underlying ideas about overarching goals appear to be valid. Research on intergroup conflict supports the idea that groups, as well as individual members influenced by groupthink, can unite in a common goal. The United States and Russia, for example, joined in World War II despite delicate diplomatic relations. Both nations decided that their personal conflicts were less important than the goal of defeating the Axis powers.
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