Join TCCL and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities to discuss one of the bizarre stories of Oklahoma's past – the 1954 Robbers Cave experiment in Gina Perry's "The Lost Boys." For adults and teens.
In 1954, a group of boys attended a remote summer camp in Oklahoma. There they were split into two groups, and encouraged to bully, harass and demonize each other. The results would make history as one of social psychology's classic studies – the Robbers Cave experiment. Conducted at the height of the Cold War, the experiment officially had a happy ending – the boys reconciled, and psychologist Muzafer Sherif demonstrated that while hatred and violence are powerful forces, so too are cooperation and harmony. Today it is proffered as proof that under the right conditions warring groups can make peace. Yet the true story of the experiments is far more complex and more chilling. In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry explores the experiment and its consequences, tracing the story of Sherif, a troubled outsider who struggled to craft an experiment that would vanquish his personal demons.
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