Super-Ordinate Goals
(Sherif, 1956, Scientific American,195, 5)
Muzafer Sherif ran the kind of research many of us would love to do. In three different summers, he ran a rural, summer camp for boys! The kids were carefully selected to make sure they were healthy, and they had no idea that they were subjects in an experiment. Sherif was interested in determining – in people who were of the same race, gender, religion, and class – what caused conflict and how such conflict might then be eliminated.

Sherif created conflict by having the boys – in different cabins – compete in sporting events. Kids who initially were friends were split up into different cabins. Soon the kids in each cabin had bonded with their roommates and had started to pull pranks and then aggressive actions against those in the other cabin.
Sherif then tried to reduce the conflict by having the kids all interact together in comfortable, pleasant circumstances. This failed! Clearly, once kids were hostile toward each other, having them eat together and talk together only exacerbated the unpleasantness.

So, Sherif created “emergencies” in which all the kids had to put aside their differences and work together to succeed. The water flow to the camp somehow stopped flowing. Catastrophe! The kids needed to immediately find the problem or they would all be sent home. Once that was accomplished, then the truck broke down, just when they were all going to an important event. All the kids worked together to pull the truck up the hill so it could be re-started by rolling down the hill.

Sherif called these goals that required the effort of all subjects “super-ordinate” goals. We believe that this is the best and sometimes the only way to reduce prejudices once they are firmly held. So – we put students in situations where a diverse group has to work together to make their school a better place for all. It is hard to get goals that are important enough that “enemies” truly put aside their differences, but when this is done the outcome is frequently fantastic!