What's the least you can do to turn people against each other?
Issue 59: Our new TED Education video unpacks the roots of discrimination and minimal groups; and we want to hear from you!
This week, we’re excited to present our video and lesson plan in collaboration with TedEd! Together, we produced an animated video about how people can get into conflicts based on social identities, based on what group they belong to (or what shoes one wears).
After reading the summary in the newsletter, view our animated video here with the complete lesson plan with quiz and discussion! The video opens with a story about the Town of Bent Necks which we use to open The Power of Us.
In the years before WWII, a pair of brothers worked together as shoemakers in a German town. During the war, the siblings had a terrible argument – a fight so explosive it split the family business in two. Two different brands—Puma and Adidas—were born out of this sibling rivalry in a small town.
Over the years, individuals’ loyalty to either brand divided the whole town. Local businesses chose sides and marriage across lines was discouraged. The town, Herzogenaurach eventually became known as “the town of bent necks” because its residents looked down to verify another person’s membership to either group. But could such a serious divide really be about shoes? Doesn’t it take more significant cultural differences to produce this degree of conflict?
Research on the minimal group paradigm shows that people can show preference and bias towards their own group, even if the group they belong to isn’t particularly meaningful. In the 70s, social psychologist Henri Tajfel and his collaborators at the University of Bristol developed the minimal group paradigm. It was designed to investigate the minimal conditions required to turn people against each other. They gathered participants without the usual factors that lead to hostility, such as religious, ethnic, gender or other cultural differences. They then split them into groups and ran through scenarios that added one variable at a time to see what stirred up conflict.
In one study, participants were randomly grouped to be either “underestimators” or “overestimators”. The researchers told them their group identify and made sure that no one interacted with each other. However, when asked whether they would be more willing to share resources with either group, participants showed bias for their own group, though the group membership to either Overestimators and Underestimators was not particularly meaningful outside of the study.
Later research reduced the meaning of group membership further, when participants were informed that the only thing what determined their group was a coin flip. Even so, participants continued to show bias towards their own group.
In the absence of stereotypes, resource conflicts, and status differences, people are still able to find and create groups and show preference for them. So it is up to us to expand our moral circles, find similarities and embrace differences of other groups, and turn towards community.
News and Updates
If you’re an educator who would like more resources similar to the TedEd video for teaching The Power of Us, please fill out this form and we’ll be in touch. We have a series of free videos, along with slides and exam questions for people who want to use “The Power of Us” in the classroom to educate people.
We want to hear from you!
We’re starting a new “Question of the week” section of our newsletter where we would like to hear from readers — we’ll ask a question and select responses to be included in next week’s newsletter!
This week’s question: What’s one ritual that your group does to help create a sense of connection?
To participate, reply to this email with your first name, what generation you were born in, and your response. We’re looking forward to hearing from you all!
Catch up on the last one…
For those who celebrate, Thanksgiving was last week and our newsletter featured an LA Times Op-Ed written by Jay and Dominic. Check out last week’s newsletter where they review what research suggests about navigating political tensions with your family and friends.
