social context

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

yielding to real or imagined social pressure
eg wearing certain clothes to fit in with the group= yielding, wearing the clothes because you like them = non yielding to social pressure

Question 2

what are examples of conformity in healthcare ?

Answer 2

• not speaking out when there is a problem eg observing poor quality patient care

Question 3

why do people conform?

Answer 3

-fear of being ridiculed
-want to be liked by the group
-assumption that the group is better informed than they are

Question 4

what is whistle blowing?

Answer 4

publicising wrong doings or failures of colleagues or employers
- it is the opposite to conformity in professional settings

Question 5

what is obedience?

Answer 5

form of compliance (following rules etc) that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in direct authority

Question 6

what is the bystander effect?

Answer 6

people less likely to provide help to those in need when in groups than they are alone

Question 7

give an example of obedience in healthcare

Answer 7

-following orders which are incomplete, incorrect or inappropriate
-eg experiment delivering medicine against hospital advice (ie medication policy= no prescribing without written instruction)
-unknown doctor telephones word and asks nurses to dose the patient but says he will do paper work later… dose is very high however most nurses proceeded to follow order

Question 8

why does the bystander effect occur?

Answer 8

-diffusion of responsibility
-pluralistic ignorance

Question 9

what is the diffusion of responsibility?

Answer 9

social phenomenon where individuals feel less accountable for their actions or inaction when they are part of a group compared to when they are acting alone.

Question 10

what us pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 10

Pluralistic ignorance is when everyone in a group secretly disagrees with something but acts like they agree because they mistakenly think everyone else agrees.

Question 11

what can increase the bystander effect?

Answer 11

• situation perceived as non dangerous
  -strangers involved
  -stronger for women

Question 12

what is an example of pluralistic ignorance in healthcare?

Answer 12

-Health workers who work with people who inject drugs might think their colleagues don’t like providing health services to these individuals as much as they do.

Question 13

what decreases the bystander effect?

Answer 13

-situation perceived as dangerous
-friends involved
-less for men
-fewer observers

Question 14

describe the milligram experiment

Answer 14

• an example of a classic social psychology experiment
  -involved people administering what they thought were harmful electric shocks to a person (who was an actor) under the instructions of a person in authority

Question 15

describe 2 factors that explain why bystanders may not assist in an emergency. how could this be changed?

Answer 15

-diffusion of responsibility & pluralistic ignorance
-diffusion of responsibility = people feel less responsible for their action or inaction when they are in a group in comparison to when they are alone
-pluralistic ignorance = when individuals in a group disagree privately with a perceived group norm but they conform to it as they think everybody else is
-changes = educating people about diffusion of responsibility and the bystander effect may help to increase awareness, promote social norms of helping - praising individuals who help in a emergency situation