Social Psychology Contents

1. Social Psychology Contents • What is Social Psychology? • Assumptions • Methods of Investigation • Core Studies from Social Psychology: Milgram. (1963) and Zimbardo et al (1973) . • Contributions to Psychology • Advantages and Disadvantages • Summary

2. Social Psychology • “ The scientific investigation of how thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined or implied presence of others. “ Allport (1935) • This area of Psychology focuses research on our social behaviours. These areas include helping, obedience, conformity, prejudice, aggression and attraction. Social Psychology looks at the influence of the individual, the group, the society and the culture on individual’s behaviour.

3. Assumptions 1) All behaviour occurs within a social context. 2) A major influence on people’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings are other people and society.

4. Methods of Investigation • Experimentation. Social Psychologists carry out experiments both in the laboratory and on the field. Both methods involve the manipulation of an independent variable and the measurement of a dependent variable. • Surveys Social Psychologists carry out questionnaires. Questionnaires are a useful tool in researching people’s attitudes. • Observations Social Psychologists carry out observations of real life social settings.

5. Milgram. (1963) Study of Obedience. • Aim: To investigate how far people will go in obeying an authority figure. • Design: Laboratory Experiment using observation to collect data • Participants: 40 males aged between 20 and 50 from a range of occupations recruited by a newspaper advertisement offering payment to take part in an experiment on learning punishment. • Procedure: Participants believed that they were playing the teacher and another participant was playing the learner. Participants were told by an authority figure to administer fake electric shocks to another the learner (who was actually an actor) in another room. Each time the Learner got a question wrong the teacher (the real participant) was required to administer an electric shock to the learner. An authority figure stood over the participant insisting that he had to administer electric shocks. The electric shocks and recorded responses of discomfort from the “learner” increased in intensity as the task progressed. • Results: 65% of participants administered electric shocks to the highest level of 450 volts. All participants administered shocks of up to 300 volts. Participants were observed sweating, trembling, groaning and three participants had uncontrollable seizures. Clearly participants found the task very stressful but continued to obey because of the presence of an authority figure.

6. Zimbardo et al (1973) A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated prison • Aim: To demonstrate that situational factors (the environment) rather than dispositional factors (personality) cause negative behaviour in prison settings. This was achieved by conducting a prison simulation with normal participants allocated the roles of either prisoner or guard. • Participants: 22 males were selected from a large group of volunteers. All were considered to be stable, mature and without any anti-social tendencies. • Procedure: The participants were split into prisoners or guards. The prisoners were taken by surprise by being arrested at home and charged with a crime at a real police station. They were given a prisoner’s uniform and a number. The guards wore a military style uniform and worked shifts in the prison. They were told to maintain a reasonable degree of order. They were prohibited from using physical violence.

7. Results: The experiment had to be called off after 6 days because of the abnormal reactions shown by prisoners and guards. • The Guards- Participants showed the “pathology of power.” They enjoyed the power at their disposal and abused the prisoners’ rights. For example they withdrew privileges. They treated going to the toilet and eating as a reward and they verbally abused the prisoners. • The Prisoners- They showed “ Pathological Prisoner Syndrome.” This included disbelief followed by rebellion. They became excessively obedient and half showed signs of depression. This experiment demonstrates that normal people’s behaviour can quickly be affected by the environment and by conformity to roles.

8. Contributions to Psychology This area of Psychology has led to a greater understanding of how our behaviour is influenced by other people. It has been applied to the following areas: 1) Criminology. Social Psychology has revealed how juries can be swayed by a powerful juror. 2) Education. Social Psychology has warned teachers about the dangers of labelling people. 3) Industry. Social Psychology has helped people in industry to identify potential leaders. 4) Sport. We now know more about how an audience affects an athletes performance. 5) The Environment. Social Psychology has revealed that a crowd can change people’s behaviour.

9. The approach has demonstrated the strong effect of social influences on people’s behaviour. The approach has explained many phenomena. For example Why the Nazis obeyed Hitler. Wide applications Scientific Methodology Reductionism. This area fails to acknowledge the role of individual differences within a social setting. Unethical. It has been argued that some research has been unethical Strengths and Weaknesses

10. Summary • Social Psychologists explain behaviour through the influence of other people. • They carry out research using the experimental method, observations and surveys. • Social Psychology has contributed to many areas such as criminology, education and industry. • It is scientific and very useful, but it can be unethical.