Assignment topic: You are responsible for dictating how a group of post-apocalyptic survivors will endure after a global cataclysmic event, with respect to common and expected social and environmental problems.
The task is to help describe a likely and reasonable set of psychological solutions to common problems that would be encountered by a group of people in this setting. In each case, the following conditions are present:
The group is between 1000 – 1500 people strong, and includes families and people from multiple generations.
This group cannot communicate with any outgroups.
This group is diverse, and includes people from different faiths, ethnicities, and nationalities. You may assume that they all share a common language.
Natural resources are unreliable or seasonal. The group must anticipate periods of both abundance and scarcity.
The group must survive for at least 200 years, and as such, it can be expected that those who are present after 200 years will have had no direct contact with those who first arrived. That is, social learning is important, as will be social structures associated with families.
The group must be prepared for new individuals arriving who wish to enter into the group. They may also have to be prepared for individuals in the group defecting and leaving the group.
The student must address several key factors:
How the group will bond and subsequently form and maintain a shared social identity.
How the group will address issues of cooperation, defection, norms, and/or morality.
How formal or informal institutions within the group will facilitate social learning and transmission of important information with minimal loss or error.
How family units are structured, and a justification for this decision
What the social hierarchy will look like.
How the group will integrate new members (if at all).
