1. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
ASSUMPTIONS of the SOCIAL approach …
1 All human behaviour occurs within a social context, this means that …
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Give an example from real life …
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2 Our relationships with others affects our behaviour, this means that …
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Give an example from real life …
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3 The situation we are in has an effect on our behaviour; we do not always act
according to our own free will, this means that …
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Give an example from real life …
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2. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
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Is obedience always or ever a good thing?
Milgram’s Aim …
Public Announcement
WE WILL PAY YOU $4.00 FOR
ONE HOUR OF YOUR TIME
Persons needed for a study of memory
We will pay five hundred New Haven men to help us complete a scientific study of memory and learning. This
study is being done at Yale University.
Each person who participates will be paid $4.00 (plus 50c carfare) for approximately 1 hours time. We need
you for only one hour; there are no further obligations. You may choose the time you would like to come
(evenings weekends or weekdays).
No special training, education or experience is needed. We want:
Factory workers Businessmen Construction workers
City employees Clerks Salespeople
Labourers Professionals White collar workers
Barbers Telephone workers Others
All persons must be between the ages of 20-50. High school and college students cannot be used.
If you meet these requirements, fill in the coupon below and mail it to Professor Stanley Milgram, Department
of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven. You will be notified later of the specific time and place of the
study. We reserve the right to decline any application.
You will be paid $4.00 (plus 50c carfare) as soon as you arrive at the laboratory.
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3. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
1. What sampling method did Milgram use? Give one advantage and one disadvantage of this method? (4)
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2. Is Milgram’s sample representative of the general population? Explain your answer. (2)
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3. What problems might there be in paying participants? What steps did Milgram take to try to reduce this
problem? (2)
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4. What was the real and stated purpose of this study? Which ethical consideration does this raise? Why
was it necessary to be unethical in this way? (4)
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4. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
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Procedure …
Summarise Milgram’s procedure in your own
words …
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Experimenter Prods …
‘the experiment ‘although the shocks may
requires you to be painful, there is no
continue’ permanent, tissue
‘Please continue.’ damage
Please go on’. ‘It is absolutely
‘You have no choice, you must essential that you
go on continue’
What was the effect of these prods on the participant?
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5. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Label the shock
generator …
0 volts 450volts
…and finally try to sort out some findings and conclusions from Milgram’s famous study
Finding Conclusion (Explain the finding …)
65% of participants shocked
learners right to the end
100% went to 300 volts (intense
shock)
List 5 reasons which could explain why people obeyed in this experiment …
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6. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
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7. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
...so how would you evaluate Milgram’s research? You could colour strengths in red and
weaknesses in blue
Milgram’s study Participants were
seriously deceived -
The sample was not
challenged the
existing view of
many were caused a representative
great deal of stress –
human nature –
the ethical issues – because it was self
it has high were too great
political impact selecting
The study was a The study acts as
laboratory experiment a warning to
Milgram’s theory is
therefore it was well society about its
releases people
controlled potential for evil –
from responsibility
for their actions it is useful
ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
the study only
– WHAT IS IT AND
used American HOW DOES IT APPLY
male participants TO MILGRAM?
– therefore we
cannot generalise
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8. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Short Answer Questions – Core Studies 1
1) In the Milgram study, participants were observed to experience a lot of tension, give one example of the kind of
behaviour exhibited by the participants. (2)
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2) Milgram suggested that the tension was caused by the conflicts caused by the study. Outline one of these conflicts.(2)
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3) In the study by Milgram, how were the subjects recruited? (2)
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4 Outline one advantage of recruiting subjects in this way? (2)
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5) Milgram’s study was criticised for being unethical, although Milgram himself put up a strong defence of it. Outline two
examples of how the ethics of this study could be defended. (4)
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6) The findings were a surprise to the researchers. Give four factors which were thought to contribute to these high levels
of obedience. (4)
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9. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Background to Piliavin ’ s Study
Read the following extract from the New York Times and answer the following questions.
1 Do you think you would have reacted in a different way if you were in a similar situation?
2 Try to identify at least three explanations for the onlookers lack of action in this article. These
are called costs
3 Try to identify at least three explanations for helping Kitty. These are called benefits.
THE MURDER OF KITTY GENOVESE-
At approximately 3:20 on the morning of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-
year-old Ms Catherine (Kitty) Genovese was returning to her home in a
nice middle-class area of Queens, NY, from her job as a bar manager. She
parked her red Fiat in a nearby parking lot, turned-off the lights and
started the walk to her second floor apartment some 35 yards away. She
got as far as a streetlight when a man grabbed her. She screamed.
Lights went on in the 10-floor apartment building nearby. She yelled, "Oh, my God, he stabbed me!
Please help me!" Windows opened in the apartment building and a man's voice shouted, "Let that girl
alone." The attacker looked up, shrugged and walked-off down the street. Ms Genovese struggled to get
to her feet. Lights went back off in the apartments. The attacker came back and stabbed her again. She
again cried out, "I'm dying! I'm dying!" And again the lights came on and windows opened in many of the
nearby apartments. The assailant again left and got into his car and drove away. Ms Genovese staggered
to her feet as a city bus drove by. It was now 3:35 a.m. The attacker returned once again. He found her
in a doorway at the foot of the stairs and he stabbed her a third time -- this time with a fatal
consequence. It was 3:50 when the police received the first call. They responded quickly and within two
minutes were at the scene. Ms Genovese was already dead. The only person to call, a neighbour of Ms
Genovese, revealed that he had phoned only after much thought and an earlier phone call to a friend. He
said, "I didn't want to get involved."
THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 27, 1964, p. 38.
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10. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Three explanations for lack of action - costs Three explanations for helping - benefits
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Key idea to remember: What is the Social Approach to
Psychology? What do social psychologists study? How
does this study fit with this approach?
Darley & Latane (1968) conducted a lab experiment in which participants
were asked to converse with a fellow participants (really a confederate)
across and intercom. Whilst having their conversation, the confederate
faked an epileptic fit and the participants’ reactions were observed. The
researchers found that when participants thought that others had
witnessed the fir, they acted to seek help for him far less readily.
Latane & Rodin (1969) conducted a follow up study which seemingly
confirmed this finding. In this experiment, a participant was placed
in a waiting room, sometimes alone and sometimes with others. Whilst
waiting they would hear the noise of a woman fall and cry out in the
adjoining room. The researchers found that participants were much
slower in offering assistance when others were present than when
they were alone.
Both of these are lab experiments, what are the strengths and weaknesses of
this method?
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11. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
…so previous research into altruism had been conducted in the lab and had suggested that there
was a tendency for helping behaviour to drop when more people were present and there two main
reasons for this …
Diffusion of responsibility Pluralistic
ignorance
Key Term Give an example of how this might work in the real world
Diffusion of responsibility
occurs in a crowd setting
when people believe that the
responsibility for
intervention is shared
between everyone present –
and this is less weighted on
the individual themselves.
Pluralistic ignorance
describes how people delude
one another into remaining
calm and inactive eg people
may perceive an emergency
as a non emergency, because
everyone around them is
calm and inactive.
Describe Piliavin’s sample …
How many were there?
Who were they?
What kind of sampling method is this
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12. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Using your text book to help you, label the diagram with of the study …
What happens in the adjacent area? What happens in the critical area?
Describe the victim …
Describe the observers …
Make a note here of Piliavin ’s findings &n conclusions, use page 116 of you text book to
help you …
Finding Conclusion
Cane victim received help 95% of the time, the drunk
victim got help 50% of the time …
90% of the helpers were …
There was tendency for same race
helping especially in the condition
There was diffusion of responsibility, this was
from previous research in labs
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13. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Piliavin: Core Studies – Section A Short Answer Questions
1 Outline how one ethical guideline was broken by Piliavin. (2)
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2 Outline one way in which ethical guidelines were upheld by Piliavin. (2)
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3 Identify two details that were recorded by the observers in the subway Samaritan study. (2)
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4 Give one finding from the subway Samaritan study. (2)
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5 The study by Piliavin et al took social psychology out of the laboratory and into the field.
a) Give one reason why diffusion of responsibility was found in laboratory studies but not in the Piliavin field
study. (2)
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6) Piliavin’s study refers to “diffusion of responsibility”. What does this term mean? (2)
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14. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Rethinking the psychology of tyranny; the BBC prison study
Context , Background to the Study …
What kind of behaviour would you expect from each of these people?
Psychologists call expectations of behaviour social roles – make sure you have a good definition of social
roles here …
Social roles are …
… but our social roles change according to the situation we find ourselves in. Can you think of any
examples?
What has happened to the social roles for these people?
When we lose our own identity and become part of the group, psychologists call this deindividuation,
that means we take on the roles of the group, our behaviour changes. Can you think of any other
examples?
Deindividuation means …
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15. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
It is very easy to get us to feel that we belong to a group. Make a list here of some of the groups you
have belonged to in the past or belong to now …
Guides, scouts, football team, netball team, friendship group …
We like to be part of a group and we identify ourselves with them, the team we support, the band we
like etc. Psychologists call this Social Identity Theory … which was investigated by Tajfel in a famous
experiment …
and also in another famous experiment blue eyes, brown eyes…
But perhaps the most famous of all of these experiments is by Zimbardo, it is called the Stanford Prison
Experiment … Zimbardo believed that our behaviour can be explained by the situation we find ourselves
in and by the social roles we play … he thought this was very dangerous and could lead to very cruel
behaviour towards others.
Watch the video clip and make a note here of any examples you can of the following:-
Taking on a social role …
Wearing a uniform …
Social identity theory (identifying with a group)
Deindividuation (becoming part of the crowd)
Homework …
Make sure you understand the three key terms:- social roles, deindividuation, Social
Identity Theory – these are the background to Reicher & Haslam’s study.
Using these key terms, describe the background to Reicher & Haslam’s study for 6 marks
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16. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Reicher & Haslam’s Aims
• To repeat Zimbardo in an ethical way.
• To analyse conditions that lead individuals to identify with their group
• To analyse conditions that lead individuals to criticise their roles within their group
• To analyse the importance of power in group behaviour
Participants
• 15 males selected from 332 who replied to advertisements in the press, chosen after screening, there
were only 14 participants, the 15th came later, randomly allocated to the role of either guard or
prisoner – 5 guards and 10 prisoners. The set had lockable 3 person cells.
• psychometric tests to make sure they were well-balanced and mentally healthy
• a full weekend assessment by clincal psychologists.
• medical and character references and police checks.
• The final 15 were chosen from a short-list of 27 to ensure diversity of age, class and ethnicity.
Ethics
• submitted for scrutiny by BPS ethics committee
• participants clinical, medical & background screened and all gave INFORMED consent
• monitored by clinical psychologists throughout
• paramedic on duty throughout
• security guards present to intervene if needed
• monitored by 5 person ethics committee who were able to terminate the study at any time
Procedure
A mock prison was created by the BBC in a television studio, with 3 lockable cells. The plan was that it would last
for 10 days and would be recorded on TV. However, it was not ‘reality TV’ – it would only be broadcast in 4 one
hour programmes.
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17. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Guard Induction – what happened? What were they told? What rules and sanctions were to
be used?
Prisoner induction – what were they wearing? What happened to them when they arrived?
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18. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Independent
Variables What do each of these key terms mean and how were they tested?
Permeability of
roles
Legitimacy of roles
Cognitive
alternatives
Dependent
What do each of these key terms mean and how were they tested?
Variables
Social variables: social
identification,
awareness of
alternatives,
authoritarian
attitudes
Organisational
variables:
compliance
with the rules
Clinical variables:
depression, stress
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19. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Findings& Conclusions – what do the following graphs tell us about the outcomes of the study?
1 Group identity – social identification
2 Compliance
3. Authoritarianism
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20. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Reicher & Haslam (2006) Rethinking the psychology of tyranny; the BBC prison experiment
Background / Context (6 marks)
• Previous research had suggested that we take on social roles; sometimes when we are part of a group we
lose our individual identity and become deindividuated
• Social Identity Theory suggests that we take on the behaviour of the group we belong to and sometimes
this behaviour can be cruel depending on the situation we find ourselves in
• SIT was investigated by Tajfel in his ingroup/outgroup experiments but most famous was Zimbardo’s
Stanford Prison Experiment which showed how we conform to social roles and can become cruel to others
What was the aim of Reicher & Haslam’ study? (2 marks)
Describe the research method used in Reicher & Haslam’s study. (6 marks)
Describe the sample used and outline one strength & one limitation of it. (6 marks)
Describe the design and outline one strength and one limitation of it. (6 marks)
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21. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Describe the procedure. (8 marks)
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22. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Outline the main findings of Reicher & Haslam’s study. (8 marks)
What conclusions did Reicher & Haslam come to? (8 marks)
Strengths Weaknesses
How does this study relate to the social approach?
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23. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Personalised Learning & Revision
Tips for Reicher & Haslam
1. Read the study really carefully in your text book pages 104 – 119. You will need to read it
more than once.
2. Make a note of any key terms or words you do not understand. Make a set of matching
card like this …
Social roles Behaviours expected of a
person occupying a certain
position in a group
Use these cards to test yourself on the key terms. You should include:-
social roles tyranny deindividuation social identity
theory
permeability legitimacy cognitive alternatives compliance
psychometrics self efficacy situational hypothesis repeated
measures
time series approach commune
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24. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
3 Make a set of revision cards with the details of the study on them.
4 Try making a cartoon version of the study with captions underneath to explain what is
happening in each picture or write a poem or song about the study, anything to help you to
remember …
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25. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Ch … ch … ch … changes …
You could be asked to make changes or improvements to the studies and to say what effect these changes might have on the result. Try to
complete the following table about the 3 studies in the social approach
Study What change would you make What would be the effect of the change?
MILGRAM
PILIAVIN
REICHER & HASLAM
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26. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Section B Style Exam Questions
In the Core Studies exam, you could be asked a whole question on any of these studies in
Section B. These are the sort of questions in this section …
Choose one of the following studies and answer the questions below …
Milgram
Piliavin
Reicher & Haslam
1. What was the aim of the study? (2 marks)
2. Describe the sample used and outline one limitation of it. (6 marks)
3. Describe the controls used in this study and explain why they were used. (6 marks)
4. Describe how observational data was used in this study. (6 marks)
5. Describe another way Piliavin et al could have investigated their aim and outline how this
could have affected their results. (8 marks)
6. Outline the results of this study. (8 marks)
(36 marks)
Section C Style Exam Qustions
In the Core Studies exam, you could be asked a question on the Social Approach in Psychology.
The question could look something like this:-
a) Outline one assumption of the social approach in psychology. (2)
b) Describe how the developmental approach could explain obedience. (4)
c) Describe one similarity and one difference between any two social studies. (6)
d) Discuss strengths and weaknesses of the social approach using any examples from the
social approach studies. (12)
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27. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
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28. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
Make a note here of how you are going to revise for the social approach. You should try to
list 3 different ways of revising for each of the different section of the exam …
Section A – Short Answer Questions
Section B – Detailed Questions on One of the studies
Section C – Question on the Whole Approach …
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29. AS Social Psychology Workbook 2009-2010
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