Psychologyspeaking topic
Realistic conflict theory: how does hostility arise when two groups compete for a scarce resource, and how can a shared goal melt that hostility away?
— Muzafer Sherif, realistic conflict theory (Robbers Cave)
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- A person who wrongs someone often ends up hating their victim even more; it's the perpetrator who nurses the grudge, not the victim. To quiet the conscience, they have to decide 'he deserved it anyway'. Why does the harm we do make the victim look guiltier in our eyes?
- Do someone a small favor and you start liking them; logic would predict the reverse. The brain talks itself into 'I helped this person, so I must like them'. Do our feelings drive our actions, or do our actions invent our feelings?
- Tell someone 'don't think of a pink elephant' and a pink elephant is all they can think of. Why does forcing the mind away from a thought drag it straight into the center? Why does what we try to control end up controlling us?
- If a language lacks a word for blue, people still see blue, just a beat slower; the word doesn't create perception, it accelerates it. Now carry that over to emotions: does learning the name of a feeling make you feel it more sharply? Are unnamed feelings blurry and named ones crisp?
- What do you do with feelings of inferiority when you believe they are accurate?