Futility Closet

In 1954 a social psychologist started a war between two teams of fifth graders at an Oklahoma summer camp. He wanted to investigate the sources of human conflict and how people might overcome them. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review the Robbers Cave Experiment and examine its evolving reputation. We'll also dredge up a Dalek and puzzle over a hazardous job. Intro: Butler University mathematician Jerry Farrell can control coin flips. Nashville attorney Edwin H. Tenney gave a baffling Independence Day speech in 1858. Sources for our feature on the Robbers Cave experiment: Muzafer Sherif et al., Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment, 1961. Gina Perry, The Lost Boys: Inside Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment, 2018. Ayfer Dost-Gozkan and Doga Sonmez Keith, Norms, Groups, Conflict, and Social Change: Rediscovering Muzafer Sherif's Psychology, 2015. Paul Bloom, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, 2013. Gina Perry, "The View From the Boys," Psyc