The Robbers Cave Study
Read The Robbers Cave Study and check the IELTS Reading answers. Group self-centredness seems to occur the minute people are divided into groups. It doesn’t matter what the group is, or on what basis it was formed, we perceive the group we belong to as being superior to other groups and we develop…
Passage preview
Group self-centredness seems to occur the minute people are divided into groups. It doesn’t matter what the group is, or on what basis it was formed, we perceive the group we belong to as being superior to other groups and we develop an ‘in-group’ bias.
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- a common goal noun phrase
An aim that several people or groups share and work to achieve.
In the passage:
Q37 answer: non-competitive contact needs equal status and "a common goal to work towards".
Synonyms: a shared aim, a joint objective
Opposites: conflicting aims
- among their peers adverb phrase
Within a group of people of the same age or status.
In the passage:
The boys' "general popularity among their peers" was matched across the two groups (Q27).
Synonyms: in their age group, within their social group
- devised verb
Planned or invented a method or idea, usually through careful thought.
In the passage:
"The Eagles devised a new weapon in the conflict which consisted of 'rocks in socks'".
Synonyms: invented, came up with
- engineered verb
Deliberately arranged or caused something to happen, often cleverly.
In the passage:
"This was exactly what Sherif engineered": he set up the conditions, not built a machine.
Synonyms: arranged, brought about
- manipulated verb
Secretly changed or controlled so that a result is unfair.
In the passage:
Q40 says "secretly altered some of the results"; the passage says "these scores were manipulated by the experimenters".
Synonyms: secretly altered, tampered with
- needless to say adverb phrase
Used to introduce a fact that is obvious or expected, and often critical.
In the passage:
"Needless to say, these scores were manipulated by the experimenters": a hint that this was expected (Q40).
Synonyms: obviously, of course
- roughly matched adjective phrase
Made similar to each other in a particular quality or ability.
In the passage:
Q27 says "approximately the same number of friends"; the passage says groups were "roughly matched ... in general popularity among their peers".
Synonyms: approximately the same, comparable
Opposites: mismatched
- superior to adjective phrase
Better, higher or more important than something else.
In the passage:
"We perceive the group we belong to as being superior to other groups": the root of in-group bias.
Synonyms: better than, preferable to
Opposites: inferior to
- the latter noun phrase
The second of two things or people that have just been mentioned.
In the passage:
"The 'Eagles' and the 'Rattlers' (the latter being the tougher group)": the latter is the Rattlers (Q32).
Synonyms: the second one, the second-mentioned
Opposites: the former
Answers with explanations
- 27-28: AE
The first statement paraphrases **roughly matched** in **general popularity among their peers**: 'approximately the same number of friends'. The second matches the **caps and T-shirts** the groups were **given**, clothes that identified each group. Tents and litter appear in the text, but nothing says the boys brought tents or were criticised for litter.
- 29. sporting events
The summary's 'a range of ___ that each team would compete in' matches the Grand Tournament, which **involved ten different sporting events**. 'Range' becomes 'ten different', and the plural gap needs **sporting events**.
- 30. ["scoreboards","big scoreboards"]
Look for the dining hall: the text calls it **a joint hall where the two groups ate their meals together**. What the organisers put there was the scores, **displayed on big scoreboards**, to raise the competition. The gap is **scoreboards**.
- 31. equal
Look at what the boys were made to believe. They would **think they were on almost equal scores** in the time **leading up to the final event**, which the summary words as 'nearly ___ as the tournament neared its end'. 'Nearly' matches **almost**, and the gap needs **equal**.
- 32. Rattlers
The tougher group is named in brackets: **the latter being the tougher group**, and the latter is the **Rattlers**, because the Eagles come first. The group **thought to be less tough** lost the first game, so the Rattlers won it. The gap is **Rattlers**.
- 33. cheating
Look at the second game. The Eagles won it and **were said to be cheating** in the tug-of-war. The summary's **accusations of** is the text's 'were said to be', so the noun for the gap is **cheating**.
- 34. less tough
The Rattlers were the tougher group, so the Eagles are the other one. The text says the group **thought to be less tough** lost the first game and that **the Eagles won the tournament**. The summary's 'considered to be' matches **thought to be**, so the gap is **less tough**.
- 35. food fights
In the equal-status row, 'eating' matches **having meals together**. The result is stated straight away: **the meals resulted in food fights**. The gap is **food fights**.
- 36. watching films
The result column says 'enjoyed them but were not sitting together', which matches **the films were enjoyed by both groups sitting totally apart**. So the situation is the other equal-status activity listed beside meals: **watching films**.
- 37. common goal
The row with 'raising money' is about situations where the groups **had to work for common goals**. The table's 'A ___' needs a singular noun, and the text earlier calls the second condition **a common goal to work towards**. The gap is **common goal**.
- 38. ["solving problems","problem-solving"]
Look at the last row: 'e.g. stuck truck'. The text says **another problem-solving situation arose when one of the trucks became stuck**, and earlier lists **solving problems** as a common-goal activity. The gap needs the type of situation, **solving problems**.
- 39-40: CE
For the first answer, the 'rating exercise' is the **tasks** in which groups were **rating** their own members and the other group, set up to check **levels of group self-centredness**. For the second, 'secretly altered some of the results' matches **scores were manipulated by the experimenters**. Participant observers were not secret, and nothing says the experimenters encouraged 'them' and 'us'.