Scientist famous for his social experiments: Who is Muzafer Sherif?

The world knows him as "Muzafer Sherif", one of the founders of social psychology. Actually, he is of Turkish origin. He was born into a wealthy family in the Aegean region of Turkey. He luckily escaped death during the occupation of Turkish territory by the Greeks after World War I.

He graduated from Izmir American College. He studied philosophy at Istanbul University. He won a scholarship and went to the USA/Harvard University, getting a master's degree in psychology. After…

He conducted academic research in France, Switzerland, and Germany.

He wrote his first work: “Hunger as a Learning Factor.”

Muzafer Sherif (born Muzaffer Şerif Başoğlu; July 29, 1906 – October 16, 1988) was a Turkish-American social psychologist. He helped develop social judgment theory and realistic conflict theory. Sherif was a founder of modern social psychology who developed several unique and powerful techniques for understanding social processes, particularly social norms and social conflict. 

After a one-year teaching career in Istanbul, he went back to the USA and got his Ph.D. in psychology at Columbia University. Next…

He returned to Turkey again. He was a member of the team that established the psychology department at the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography. The year was 1939.

He published anti-fascist magazines such as "Yurt ve Dünya" and "Adımlar" with his close academic friends from the same faculty.

The period was World War II; Fascist attacks were intense. Muzaffer Sharif was arrested in 1944; It was alleged that he was a member of the Communist Party. And:

Muzaffer Şerif could not accept the plots and insults; Turkey broke. He went to the USA in 1945 at the invitation of Princeton University. (Pertev Naili Boratav went to Stanford University in the USA and Niyasi Berkes went to McGill University in Canada.)

Muzaffer Sharif wanted to return to the country. However, he could not return to Turkey as he was not allowed to work as a civil servant because he was married to a foreign country (USA) citizen - academic Carolyn Wood.

Muzaffer Şerif's books and research programs are taught in world universities. He has written 24 books and 60 scientific articles.

The year is 1961. One of Muzaffer Şerif's revolutionary group works is as follows:

The experiment was conducted at a 200-acre campsite on the foothills of Oklahoma's San Bois Mountain in the summer of 1954. 12 boys aged 11 years were brought for a 3-week summer vacation to this camping area, where it is not possible to reach the nearest settlement on foot. In fact, children think so.

As soon as the kids arrive at the campsite, inspired by legendary outlaws Jesse James and Belle Starr, they engrave "Robbers Cave State Park" on a fallen tree stump and hang it at the entrance of the camp. Thus, they also determine the name of the experiment.

Children who do not know each other at all are divided into two groups.

And after a while, competitive activities lead to a “us versus them” feeling in groups. Because…

The winning group begins to celebrate their victory; First, they come and plant their flags in the middle. Then they sing victory songs and mock the opposing group!

The losing group calls the winner "cunning", "cheat", and "annoying". Then he secretly shreds their flag. Likewise… During the meal in the camp, scuffles begin; They cannot bear to see each other.

At this stage the second period of the experiment begins:

The groups will be reconciled! But how?

In order to eliminate the conflict between the groups, the experimenters organize social activities such as watching movies and having a picnic in the same environment. But…

All that fun leads to fights! All the efforts are in vain, the groups are not willing to reconcile in any way.

The third phase of the experiment begins: The experimenters create accidental situations where competition between groups will hurt everyone! Like this:

– The truck that brought food to the camp got stuck in the mud. The vehicle only survives when all the children push it!

– Someone destroyed the pipes that bring water to the camp. Children collaboratively find and solve the problem!

– When one group doesn't have enough money to watch their favorite movie, the two groups combine their money! Etc.

Well:

SOURCE OF IDEA

Children realize that the strength and cooperation of two groups is essential for the common good.

The result of this happens:

– Before long, the fights end in the camp.

– Dining tables begin to be shared together.

– In the “Rank your best friend” questionnaire, children from the opposite group also take part.

– Some children from the opposite group buy each other milk chocolate during breaks.

The reason for this surprising change is obvious; common goals!

Muzaffer Şerif and his friends do the same with high school and university students; The result is the same: It's hard to harbor enmity towards teammates when a common purpose comes out of the joint effort.

Do you know where Muzaffer Şerif was inspired to do this world-famous (robbers' cave experiment) experiment: from Turkey's War of Independence.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk provided the “sense of unity” that the Ottomans had shattered with a common ideal.

It can be considered an interesting coincidence of life that Sherif carried out this experiment and that Nobel Prize-winning British writer William Golding published his famous novel Lord of the Flies in the summer of 1954. I don't know if Sherif and Golding knew about each other.

However, it is obvious that television programmers and politicians are aware of the impact of this experiment. For example, this experiment is considered the source of inspiration for the Survivor competition program. On the other hand, Gina Pery, in her 2018 article for NewScientist magazine, stated that this experiment is directly related to the divisive-camping policies of US President Donald Trump.

Another experiment

Autokinetic effect and norm creation

Muzaffer Şerif benefited from a visual perception illusion known as the autokinetic effect in this experiment. The autokinetic effect can be defined as a visual illusion of perception in which a fixed light is perceived as moving in a dark or stimulus-free background. For example, if you look carefully at a point of light that remains motionless in a completely darkened room for a while, the light is perceived as moving even though it is actually in place.

Based on the illusion of the autokinetic effect, Muzaffer Şerif investigated how the norm is formed in individual and group perception and how the group norm affects the individual. He planned a two-stage experimental method.

In the first stage of the experiment, individuals taken to a dark room were asked to look carefully at a fixed light point at a certain distance and estimate how many centimeters the light moved. This practice was repeated many times for each individual. Although the light did not move at any stage of the experiment, the subjects made an estimation of the distance the light had traveled. In the first stage of the experiment, it was determined that individuals quickly determined a subjective distance range after a few repetitions and responded within this norm in subsequent applications.

In the second stage of the experiment, the group effect on norm formation was evaluated. The second stage was carried out with two separate groups. The subjects in the first group were first applied individually and the subjective norms of the light's movement were determined in centimeters, then groups were formed from the subjects whose subjective norms were determined, and they were asked to indicate aloud how much the light moved within the group. Thus, it is investigated whether the norms that individuals create when they are alone are affected by the group effect. The individuals in the other experimental group were first asked to form a norm together with the group, and then they were told to express their opinions on the movement of light individually. In this way, it was aimed to evaluate the power of the individually created norm and the effect of the group on this norm in the first group, and to evaluate the sustainability of a developed norm in the group in the individual process in the second group.

The results of the experiment are quite striking. It was determined that the individuals in the first group, that is, individually included in the experiment, quickly formed their own subjective ranges. When these individuals rejoined the experiment as a group, they soon developed a group norm by leaving their subjective reference ranges. Those who started with the group and formed the first norm within the group, when tested individually, remained loyal to the group norms and developed a subjective distance.

Both combinations in the second stage of the experiment showed that the group was more decisive in the formation of a norm, and the formed group norm developed more rapidly and decisively in the formation of individual norms. One of the interesting results of this phase of the experiment is that some of the participants state that they are affected by the group, while some are not even aware of this influence.

Another important interaction demonstrated in this experiment is the persistence of the group effect. When the data of the experiment were tested again one month later, it was shown that the subjects remained more loyal to the distance established as a group rather than to their individual norms.