social psychology Flashcards
(30 cards)
milgram AO1
describes agentic shift - shift from autonomous state to agentic state - triggered by an authority figure
when an authority figure issues an order that goes against an individual’s morals, they experience moral strain which is the conflict of obeying authority and their own consciences
binding factors are aspects of the situation that allow individuals to minimise the damage of their behavior
legitimate authority allows individuals to punish others as their authority is deemed legitimate on by society
milgram strengths
supported by hoflings nurses - 21/22 nurses would obey the instructions of a authoritative doctor to administer a lethal dose of medication to patients even though they knew it could cause serious harm to the patient - evidences the idea of the agentic shift as they switched from autonomous state to agentic state to follow the instructions
supported by the clear hierarchy in society which provides a backdrop for an Agentic shift - eg: hitler as an authority figure giving commands to subordinate guards during WW2 to commit war crimes - can provide explanation of behavior
milgram weakness
latane social impact theory - idea of immediacy, number and source being the main factors that contribute to obedience rather than the actual authority figure - provides alternate explanation that is supported by empirical research
ethical implications as it can remove an individual’s responsibility over their behavior and can excuse crimes - negative implications if there is misuse
social impact theory AO1
obedience and influence increase when the source is more immediate and there are no barriers
source is defined as an authority figure exerting influence often symbolized by status like rank or uniform, number refers to how many sources are present in a group exerting influence which increase the influence significantly up to 5-6, past that it has diminishing effects
target is defined as the group or individual being influenced which are typically non authoritarian figures
immediacy is the proximity between the source and target which can be physical, temporal and social
social impact theory strengths
supported by basset and latanes study - participants were told to assign fictitious each event column space in a newspaper, and the results demonstrate a strong correlation between events that were described as happening nearby and having more column space - these findings imply that people are more obedient and responsive to authority figures/social influences that are closer in proximity
the idea of the mathematical formula used for the formula is useful (i=f/sin) you can then predict whether laws will be followed, riots will break out and whether students will do homework - this means that the theory can be applied to many situations
social impact theory weaknesses
reductionist - doesn’t pay attention to characteristics of the person receiving orders and personality types that are more compliant and rebellious
milgrams agency theory has an explanation for moral strain unlike social impact theory which views people as either obeying or disobeying with no consideration for binding factors and going against their own beliefs
social identity theory AO1
social identity is part of an individual’s self concept derived from their percieved membership in a social group
social categorisation is the natural classification of people into different social groups based on their attributes like hobbies or beliefs, creating a division between us and them (in group out group) which leads to in ground favoritism and negative bias against the out group
social identification is the idea of individuals adopting the norms values and behaviors of the in group which strengthens their personal identity
social comparison is the idea of individuals comparing their in group to their out group percieving themselves as superior which could lead to prejudice and discrimination towards the out group
this is the reinforcement of the divide between groups which further entrenches in group bias and out group discrimination
social identity theory strengths
supported by jane elliot who conducted the class divided, blue and brown eyes study - students were shown to display prejudice and discrimination towards their classmates just because they were categorised into in groups and out groups depending on their eye color, reinforcing the notion of in group favoritism described by the theory
the theory can be applied to a range of real life scenarios to explain the development of prejudice - football hooliganism is the idea of fans self-esteem being linked to the success of the team and this causes people to behave in a hostile and aggressive manner towards the opposing teams
social identity theory weaknesses
realistic conflict theory is an alernative explanation which processes the role of competition between the in group and out group by introducing the idea of superordinate goals, where both groups will work together and cooperate if they have mutual goals that benefits both, which social identity theory does not consider
social identity theory could be manipulated and used by governing bodies and organisations to try to create in groups and out groups within society to create prejudice and discrimination as form of social control
realistic conflict theory AO1
describes inter group conflict as prejudice and discrimination between groups due to competition of limited resources
superordinate goals require cooperation of the two groups to achieve goals, which usually results in rewards for both the groups giving them incentive to work together, reducing prejudice and intergroup conflict
interpersonal competition arising leads to hostility and negative attitudes which can result in prejudice and discrimination towards the out group
negative interdependence is when 1 group can reach the goal and creates a conflict of interest, which creates strong hostility between the groups whereas zero sum situation describes the resource being finite and only 1 group has the ability to win
realistic conflict theory strengths
supported by robbers cave study which demonstrated that competition between in and out groups is required - contact alone is not sufficient for groups to reduce hostility, but instead cooperation is the form of working together strengthening the idea of superordinate goals being required to overcome inter group conflict
sherif has carried out empirical research to support RCT as the field experiment used quantitative objective measures like sociometric tests to show the % change in boys friendship patterns which is falsifiable and scientific, making the theory more credible
realistic conflict theory weaknesses
RCT has wider ethical implications as the theory could be manipulated and used by governing bodies and organisations to try and create in groups and out groups in society to create prejudice and discrimination as form of social control
reductionist - ignores biological factors like brain structure or genetic causes of hostility and prejudiced behavior against out groups
milgrams shock experiment AO1
aim: to investigate the extent to which people obey an authoritative figure - interested in researching how far people would go to obey an instruction that involved harming another person
men aged 20-50, unskilled to professional, volunteer sampling, new haven USA Yale uni, signed consent form - paid 44$ per hour
lab experiment, structured observation
participants drew straws to determine their role as either learner or teacher but this was rigged and the confederate was always the learner
there was an experimentor dressed in a lab coat played by an actor
participant told the experimenter was investigating effects of punishment on learning - learner strapped to a chair with electrodes and was told to learn a list of word pairs
the teacher tested them by naming a word and the learner had to name the matching word - told to administer an electric shock every time the learner made a mistake with the voltage increasing by 15v each time - 30 switches on the generator which went up to 450 which was lethal
at 300 the learner pounded on the wall and gave no response
no participants stopped below 300 volts
65% went to 450
milgram shock experiment strengths
one strength was that it was in a controlled environment as it was a lab experiment giving the experiment high internal validity as this reduced the effects of extraneous variables impacting results
replicable standardised procedure - pre scripted prods used by the experimenter, tape recorded responses, teacher cannot see confederate which limits the differences in his appearance.
milgram shock experiment weaknesses
low ecological validity due to the artificial task - teachers are not asked to deliver electric shocks to learners in real life - and this means that the behavior does not represent the actual behavior participants would display in real life context, limiting the validity of the findings
participants wellbeing was ingored as they were decieved about the shocks and did not give full consent as they were told they were doing a memory test, rather than an obedience test - if they tried to withdraw, the prods made this difficult for them and this treatment drags science into disrepute and harder to recruit for future research
milgram variations #10 AO1
aim: to investigate the effects of an environment’s prestige on the participants obedience of an authority figure
procedure: same procedure as original experiment yet the location was a rundown office block rather than yale university
results: obedience decreased to 47.5% for 450V
conclusion: easier for participants to dissent because they are not convinced by the credibility of the experiment or the study being for the benefit of the scientific community
milgram variations #10 strengths
standardised procedure - high reliability, can be replicated
high internal validity - only one variable has changed yet it is still a lab setting
milgram variations #10 weaknesses
low mundane realism - scenario would never be reflective of real life, validity is low
ethics - participants were told it was a test into memory rather than obedience, could not give full informed consent as there was deception
milgram variations #7 AO1
aim: to investigate the effects of an authority figures presence on the decisions made
procedure: telephonic instructions were given to the participants to issue the electric shocks rather than the authority figure being in the room
results: obedience dropped to 22.5% for 450V
milgram variations $7 strengths
high internal validity - lab setting was controlled environment
standardised procedure - makes it replicable (prods, visibility, reactions from learner)
milgram variations #7 weaknesses
low mundane realism - does not mimic any kind of task you would do in real life, cannot emulate their authentic reaction
ethics - decieved as they were told it was a memory test not an obedience test, cannot give full informed consent as they were decieved
milgram variations #13 AO1
aim: to investigate the effects of a persons authority based on appearance on a participants obedience
procedure: mr williams (experimenter) introduces procedure but then leaves without instructing the teacher and a second confederate, posing as another pariticpants, remains and suggests increasing the voltage by 15V for each mistake
results: only 20% obeyed to 450V
milgram variations #13 strengths
lab experiment - controlled environment limits extraneous variables
standardised procedure -reactions from the learner, prods, visibility)
milgram variations #13 weaknesses
ethics - deception
low mundane realism
