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clubs. A Texas teacher who coaches her school’s Academic Decathlon team told me that one of her team members is a gangsta (at that school a term for students who “are generally defiant and consistently make poor choices; they gain credibility by wreaking havoc”). The gangsta, she said, “is also a math nerd. His safe place to be himself is in Academic Decathlon. I have seen him go foul in the hallway to another teacher and couldn’t believe it was my José. It was like watching a beloved pet become rabid. He is the sweetest, kindest, and most considerate kid in my class.” Approach all students with the attitude that they, too, will show their best side once they find a comfortable space in which to express themselves.

Create superordinate goals

Before a football game between the University of Delaware and Westchester State University, researchers conducted a field experiment outside the stadium. Students wearing either Delaware or Westchester hats approached white adults who were obviously affiliated with one of the two schools and asked to interview them about their food preferences. When black students wearing a hat from the opposing school made the inquiry, 38 percent of adults agreed to the interview. When the students wore a hat from the same school, however, 60 percent of adults agreed to help them.

What happened here? By manipulating the adults to believe that they shared the same university affiliation as some of the students, researchers created a cohort in which in-group bias outweighed racial differences. Similarly, the Robbers Cave boys were able to reconcile because Sherif shifted their focus to joint goals that transcended group boundaries. School personnel can also use this strategy by grouping students from different backgrounds on teams, group projects, community-service events, interschool competitions, and other collaborative endeavors. Higher levels of generality can minimize lower-level differences. As one maxim in psychology goes, “The best way to achieve peace on Earth is [to have] an invasion from Mars.”

Monitor for both kinds of aggression

Schools need to be just as vigilant about preventing and curbing alternative aggressions as they are about physical aggression. This charge does not lie on teachers’ shoulders alone. It is up to administrators to enforce strict policies against these behaviors in class, on school grounds (including the cafeteria), and at school-sponsored events, and to enforce them fairly. In between classes, school personnel, perhaps assisted by parents, can patrol the hallways and common areas to watch for instances of aggression. Adult supervision will not eliminate alternative aggressions entirely, but it may cause some students to think twice before being cruel. If a teacher had been stationed in the populars’ hallway in Whitney’s school, the prep boys might not have heckled so many non-preps.

Employ social norms strategies

A proven method to reduce the drinking divide among students is to use a survey-based program that shows students that they overestimate both the amount and the frequency with which their classmates drink. These social norms programs can significantly reduce alcohol, drug, and cigarette use, as well as drunk driving.

Programs utilizing social norms can be much more effective than programs using scare tactics. Social psychologist Robert Cialdini, who has conducted many social norms studies, explained the distinction: “Informational campaigns stress that alcohol and drug use is intolerably high, that adolescent suicide rates are alarming, and that rampant polluters are spoiling the environment. Although these claims may be both true and well-intentioned, the campaigns’ creators have missed something critically important: Within the statement ‘Look at all the people who are doing this undesirable thing’ lurks the powerful and undercutting normative message ‘Look at all the people who are doing it.’ It is conceivable, then, that in trying to alert the public to the widespread nature of a problem, public service communicators can make it worse.”

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