A study which shows that people unite against a common enemy?

March 10, 2013 4:54 PM

Over on reddit, a commenter said that they once read a "social science study" which showed that people are more likely to rally in support of a cause when there's a common enemy to hate. It supposedly showed how when people were given the opportunity to unite and campaign for a positive cause, they showed little interest; but that the presence of a hostil opponent motivated the group to unite and rally against it. Can anyone think of a study along those lines?
posted by dontjumplarry to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

Googling "common enemy study" brings up a bunch of promising looking links.
posted by COD at 5:06 PM on March 10, 2013

They're probably referring to the Robbers Cave Experiment. It's a pretty famous social psych study that gets covered in introductory textbooks.
posted by nangar at 5:55 PM on March 10, 2013 [5 favorites]

another good search term: "negativity bonding"
posted by munyeca at 7:16 PM on March 10, 2013

Yep, came in to say Robbers Cave. If that doesn't convince them, try a double-feature viewing of "Ernest Goes To Camp" and "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo".
posted by dubold at 1:58 AM on March 11, 2013