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@corbden @clive @pluralistic There are a number of things about Robbers Cave that are just awesome. One way I've heard this recounted is

1. We made prejudice out of nothing but camp songs, uniforms, and flags

2. Now let's reverse it through the Contact Hypothesis

3. Oh shit. It's not reversing

4. Oh shit oh shit oh shit

5. Whew! Cooperation on critical common tasks! That was close.

This forms part of the long and checkered history of the Contact Hypothesis, which suggests that all you need is meaningful contact between groups to eliminate prejudice (as it turns out, it's complicated, and we still don't know how to do it all the time).

And Muzafer Sherif was just kind of amazing. Not perfect, but a fascinating, field-defining guy whose work was unrecognized in the west for many years before he came to the US and began collaborating.