boys rented the film with pooled money and spent an unusually con-
genial evening enjoying it together.
The consequences, though not instantaneous, were nonetheless
striking. Conjoint efforts toward common goals steadily bridged the
rancorous rift between the groups. Before long, the verbal baiting had
died, the jostling in lines had ended, and the boys had begun to intermix
at the meal tables. Further, when asked to list their best friends, signi-
ficant numbers changed from an earlier exclusive naming of in-group
chums to a listing that included boys in the other group. Some even
thanked the researchers for the opportunity to rate their friends again
because they realized they had changed their minds since the old days.
In one revealing episode, the boys were returning from a campfire on
a single bus—something that would have produced bedlam before but
was now specifically requested by the boys. When the bus stopped at
a refreshment stand, the boys of one group, with five dollars left in its
treasury, decided to treat their former bitter adversaries to milkshakes!
We can trace the roots of this surprising turnabout to those times
when the boys had to view one another as allies instead of opponents.
The crucial procedure was the experimenters’ imposition of common
goals on the groups. It was the cooperation required to achieve these
goals that finally allowed the rival group members to experience one
another as reasonable fellows, valued helpers, and friends. And when
success resulted from the mutual efforts, it became especially difficult
to maintain feelings of hostility toward those who had been teammates
in the triumph.^16
Back to school. In the welter of racial tensions that followed school
desegregation, certain educational psychologists began to see the relev-
ance to the classroom in Sherif’s findings. If only the learning experience
there could be modified to include at least occasional interethnic cooper-
ation toward mutual successes, perhaps cross-group friendships would
have a place to grow. Although similar projects have been under way
in various states, an especially interesting approach in this direc-
tion—termed the “jigsaw classroom”—was developed by Elliot Aronson
and his colleagues in Texas and California.
The essence of the jigsaw route to learning is to require that students
work together to master the material scheduled for an upcoming exam-
ination. This is accomplished by forming students into cooperating
teams and giving each student only one part of the information—one
piece of the puzzle—necessary to pass the test. Under this system the
students must take turns teaching and helping one another. Everyone
needs everyone else to do well. Like Sherif’s campers working on tasks
that could be successfully accomplished only conjointly, the students
became allies rather than enemies.
Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 137