Assessment 1

1. Assessment 1 Social Psychology

2. AO1 knowledge and understanding Summarise the aims and context of Milgram's (1963) research 'Behavioural study of obedience'. [12]

3. Markscheme AO1 • Discussion of the importance of obedience in real life e.g. need for law and order; communal living. • Discussion of atrocities between 1933-1945 - the large number of people who 'obeyed orders' to meet quotas at death camps. • Aim to investigate the tendency to obey other people who are in a position of authority over them. Would people obey an authority figure to the extent that they would cause physical pain and harm to a victim if ordered to do so, violating codes of moral and ethical behaviour?

4. AO2 Analysis and Evaluation Evaluate the methodology of Asch's (1955) research 'Opinions and Social Pressure'. [12]

5. Markscheme AO2 • Biases in sample (age, gender, culture), e.g. all participants male college students. • Validity issues (internal and external validity), e.g. research set up lacks credibility; participants did not believe set up; does not relate to conformity in real life. • Ethical Issues, e.g. the use of active and passive deception; the failure to protect participants from psychological harm. • Reliability issues, e.g. replications of Asch's research have not always suggested reliability.

6. Assessment 1 Research terms

7. What do these terms mean? • Naive participant • Confederate • Repeated measures design • Control group • Laboratory experiment • Participant • Volunteer sample • Reliability

8. What do these terms mean? • Naive participant – person who is tricked • Confederate – people who know what is happening • Repeated measures design – tried out a number of times • Control group – not experimented on • Laboratory experiment – takes place in a lab • Participant – people who are experimented on • Volunteer sample – people choose to join • Reliability – dependability of results