GCSE Psychology Paper 2 Social context and behaviour, Study notes of Psychology

Download GCSE Psychology Paper 2 Social context and behaviour and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity!

GCSE Psychology

Paper 2

Social context and behaviour

Revision guide

NAME: ___________________________________________________________

EXAM DATES

FRIDAY 24TH^ MAY 2019 MONDAY 3RD^ JUNE 2019

GOLDEN RULE

ANSWER EVERY QUESTION ON THE PAPER!

YOU CAN ONLY GAIN MARKS IF YOU WRITE SOMETHING!

EXAM TIPS

Use a template like the one below to help structure your 9 mark answers

AIM: What did the researcher want to find out? METHOD : How was the study carried out? RESULTS : What did the researcher find? CONCLUSION : What can the researchers now say about people in general? EVALUATION PEE #1: EVALUATION PEE #2:

EXAM TIPS

If you struggle to remember evaluation, use the prompts below to help!

LESSON #1 – A STUDY OF CONFORMITY – ASCH (1955)

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of Asch’s study into conformity. [ marks]
2. Evaluate Asch’s study into conformity. [ marks]
3. Describe and evaluate Asch’s study into conformity [9 marks]

ASCH (1955) - CONFORMITY

AO1 DESCRIPTION AO3 EVALUATION

A To investigate how people respond to group pressure. Asch’s research only used males. This is a weakness because the research doesn’t represent how females would have responded. We can’t generalise the results to females. M Asch used 123 American male students in his research who believed they were taking part in a different experiment. The participant was sat in a room with 6-8 confederates. The group were then shown two cards. One had a ‘standard’ line and the other had three ‘comparison’ lines. On each trial, the men were asked to say whether line A, B or C was the same as the standard line. The confederates were told to give the wrong answer, even their answers were clearly wrong (unambiguous). Asch’s research only used Americans. This is a weakness because the research doesn’t represent how other nationalities would have responded. We can’t generalise the results to the wider population just because Americans behave in a certain way. Perrin & Spencer (1980) found just one act of conformity among 396 trials. This is a weakness because their research shows that people don’t conform as much as Asch thought, suggesting he is wrong in his theory. R The participants gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time. 75% of participants conformed at least once. C People are influenced by group pressure, even when the task involves giving a wrong answer. People can resist conformity though.

CONFORMITY

When someone’s behaviour or thinking changes

because of group pressure. The pressure might be

real or imagined.

Confederates = white circles Participant = red circle

LESSON #2 – A STUDY OF CONFORMITY – ASCH (1955) – AO

KEY STUDY - IMPORTANT KEY STUDY - IMPORTANT

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Identity three social factors that can affect conformity. [3 marks]
2. Simon is a confident young man who is doing well at school and is very talented at geography. He has recently started to hang around with some boys who often get into trouble. Simon has a geography exam in a few weeks which is worth 50% of his overall exam grade. One of the boys has stolen the exam paper from the exams officer without him looking. The boys decide they are going to cheat and look at the exam paper. Explain one aspect of Simon’s disposition which would explain why he is unlikely to conform and look at the paper. [3 marks] 3) Explain the difference between a social and dispositional factor in relation to explaining conformity. [3 marks]

WHAT MAKES US CONFORM?

SOCIAL FACTORS (You conform because of the characteristics of the environment ) DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS (You conform because of your own characteristics, i.e. personality) GROUP SIZE The more people there are in a group, the greater the pressure to conform to their opinion. PERSONALITY Someone with an external locus of control believes that they do not influence the things that happen to them. Someone with an internal locus of control believes that they do influence the things that happen to them. In terms of conformity, people with external LOCs were more likely to agree with the group pressure whereas internal LOCs are more likely to resist the group pressure and stick to their own answer. ANONYMITY When Asch give his participants anonymity (i.e. write down your answer instead of saying out loud), conformity rates decreased because you don’t feel the pressure to conform from the group. EXPERTISE Your intelligence increases your confidence in your opinions and knowledge so people with greater expertise are less likely to conform to group pressure. One researcher found that if someone felt good at maths, they would be less likely to agree with incorrect answers. TASK DIFFICULTY As the task difficulty increases, the answer becomes less obvious and people feel less confident about their answer so they look to others for the right answer.

LESSON #3 – EXPLAINING CONFORMITY – SOCIAL AND DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS

“People will listen to an

authority figure if

they believe they

aren’t responsible for

the consequences.”

WHAT MAKES US OBEY?

LESSON #5 – EXPLAINING OBEDIENCE – MILGRAM’S AGENCY THEORY (SOCIAL FACTOR)

AGENCY THEORY

We obey because we are acting as an

agent for an authority figure.

AGENTIC STATE

Agentic state is where people act on behalf of someone else and therefore follow their orders. They don’t feel responsible for their actions. YOUNG CHILDREN OLDER CHILDREN PARENTS COURT

GOVERN

MENT

AUTONOMOUS STATE

Autonomous state is when people behave according to their own principles and feels responsible for their actions. We act as ‘agents’ because we don’t feel responsible for our actions

PROXIMITY

When the learner sat in the same room as the teacher, obedience rates dropped from 65% to 40%, suggesting that proximity increases the ‘moral strain’, i.e. we feel sorry for them and responsible for our actions. AO3 EVALUATION The agency theory explains why atrocities such as the Holocaust happened. This is a strength because the theory has real life application, it helps us explain society. Hofling found that nurses would administer double the maximum dose of a drug because of orders from a doctor on the phone. This is a strength because it shows how people obey to authority like the theory states. The agency theory can give people who follow destructive orders an excuse for their behaviour. This is a weakness because it allows people to think they aren’t responsible for their actions.

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Identify three features of Milgram’s agency theory. [3 marks]
2. Explain the role of authority in Milgram’s agency theory. [3 marks ]
3. Describe what Milgram’s agency theory shows about obedience. [ marks]
4. Milgram’s agency theory has been criticised. Use your knowledge of psychology to evaluate this theory. [ marks]

How do people with an authoritarian personality think? They think in ‘black and white’ – something is either good or bad. They don’t see that people can be different. They believe in rigid stereotypes that all men are bullies and all women are emotional. What is meant by displacement or scapegoating? They need to displace their anger onto something else to relieve anxiety and hostility. For example, they might have a bad day at school and when you come home you take it out on something/someone else (i.e. shouting at your sibling). People with an authoritarian personality displace their feelings onto those socially inferior to them.

WHAT MAKES US OBEY?

LESSON #6 – EXPLAINING OBEDIENCE – ADORNO’S AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY (DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS)

AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

A person who is easily influenced by authority.

They follow people above them but are hostile

to people below them. They may have

experienced harsh parenting as a child.

What do authoritarian people experience in childhood? The authoritarian personality is developed when a child experiences strict parenting and extremely high standards of achievement. They offer conditional love (the child only receives love if they behave correctly). The child internalises these values and expects everyone to behave like this and develops hostility towards their parents. AO3 EVALUATION The authoritarian theory can give people who follow destructive orders an excuse for their behaviour. This is a weakness because it allows people to think they aren’t responsible for their actions Adorno believed that the authoritarian personality is caused by strict parents but other researchers say that it is caused by lack of education. This is a weakness because there are researchers who disagree with Adorno.

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Identify three personality characteristics of the authoritarian personality. [3 marks]
2. Explain one criticism of Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality. [4 marks]
3. Describe one dispositional factor affecting obedience. [3 marks]
4. What is meant by a ‘dispositional factor’ in relation to obedience? [2 marks]

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Explain what is meant by the term ‘bystander behaviour’. [2 marks]
2. A study was conducted by a psychologist to investigate dispositional factors in bystander behaviour. The psychologist recruited football fans and asked them individually to walk across the college campus to another room. On the way they saw a runner who had fallen over and appeared to have hurt himself. Sometimes the runner was dressed as a football fan and sometimes he was dressed in ordinary clothes. Use your knowledge of bystander behaviour to explain the results the psychologist is likely to find. [3 marks]
3. Explain how the cost of helping can be used to explain bystander behaviour. [3 marks] CPAGETT 18/

WHAT MAKES US HELP?

LESSON #8 – EXPLAINING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR – SOCIAL AND DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS

SOCIAL FACTORS (You help because of the characteristics of the environment) DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS (You help because of your own characteristics, i.e. personality) PRESENCE OF OTHERS The more people there are, the less likely we are going to help. We believe that someone else is going to help so we should just ignore the situation. EVALUATION One weakness of this explanation is that research (such as Piliavin) has found that the amount of people present doesn’t impact whether we help or not.

SIMILARITY TO VICTIM

We are more likely to help people who share similar characteristics to us (i.e. same gender, same race, same religion…) EVALUATION One strength of this explanation is that there is research supporting it. It was found that Manchester United fans were more likely to help someone if they were wearing a Manchester United shirt than a Liverpool shirt. COST OF HELPING The cost of helping includes possible danger to yourself (i.e. helping a drunk person) and the effort/time it takes to help someone. On the other hand, not helping might make you feel guilty. All of these influence whether we are likely to help. We also think about the rewards of helping (such as feeling good about it or money). EVALUATION One weakness of this explanation is that it ignores other factors such as whether the situation is an emergency.

EXPERTISE

Someone with special knowledge (i.e. medical) will be more likely to help in an emergency as they know what to do and feel more confident in helping. EVALUATION One weakness of this explanation is that several people still offer help even if they don’t know what to do.

LESSON #9 – A STUDY OF CROWD BEHAVIOUR – ZIMBARDO (1969)

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of Zimbardo’s study of crowd behaviour. [4 marks]
2. Evaluate Zimbardo’s study of crowd behaviour. [4 marks]
3. Describe and evaluate Zimbardo’s study of crowd behaviour. [9 marks]
4. Describe what participants were asked to do in a study investigating the effect of deindividuation on antisocial behaviour. [2 marks]

ZIMBARDO (1969) – CROWD BEHAVIOUR

AO1 DESCRIPTION AO3 EVALUATION

A To see whether deindividuation impacts whether someone hurts someone. A weakness of Zimbardo’s research is that the participants were volunteers. This is a weakness because Zimbardo would have ended up with extroverts who are willing to take part in research. We can’t say for certain that other personality types would react in the same way. M Zimbardo copied Milgram’s electric shock study but changed a few parts: All the participants were female. Group 1 – participants wore their own clothes and had large name tags on. Group 2 – participants wore a large coat and a hood that hid their face. R Participants in group 2 were more likely to give the learner a shock because they didn’t feel responsible for their actions. A weakness of Zimbardo’s research is that it only used female participants. This is a weakness because we cannot generalise the findings to males. We cannot say that males would have reacted in the same way. The study is gynocentric. A weakness of Zimbardo’s research is that some participants might have realised it was fake. This is a weakness because if the participants realised the study was fake, they would show demand characteristics (impressing the researcher by changing behaviour). C Anonymity and deindividuation increases the likelihood that people will act antisocially.

DEINDIVIDUATION/CROWD BEHAVIOUR

An individual loses their identity and takes on the identity of a group. This makes them more likely to be antisocial as they are at less risk of being identified and ‘everyone else’ is doing it!

KEYWORD DEFINITION CONFORMITY SOCIAL FACTORS DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS LOCUS OF CONTROL OBEDIENCE AGENCY THEORY AGENTIC STATE AUTONOMOUS STATE AUTHORITY CULTURE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY COGNITIVE STYLE DISPLACEMENT

KEYWORD DEFINITION BYSTANDER BEHAVIOUR PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR EXPERTISE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR CROWD BEHAVIOUR PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR SOCIAL LOAFING

LANGUAGE

The method of human

communication, either

spoken or written, consisting

of the use of words in a

structured way.

THOUGHT

An idea or opinion

produced by thinking

or occurring suddenly

in the mind.

LESSON #1 – LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT – PIAGET’S THEORY

HOW DOES THOUGHT LEAD TO LANGUAGE? A schema is a mental structure containing info we have about one aspect of the world. For example, a child might develop a schema for a thing that barks and has four legs. It is only after sometime that the child learns the schema has a name (a dog). Children develop language by matching words to their existing knowledge. The child understands the concept first and then they learn the words. CAN CHILDREN UNDERSTAND ALL WORDS? Piaget said children can only understand words when they are ready. They need to be at the right stage of cognitive development. If they learn a word they are not ready for, they are just like a parrot – repeating words they don’t understand. HOW DOES LANGUAGE DEVELOP? Children only begin to speak towards the end of their first year (sensorimotor stage). Before this time, they are developing schema. In the second stage (pre-operational), language makes rapid progress. They talk about things such as their future and their feelings. In the third stage (concrete operational), language becomes mature and logical. They can consider the views of others and they question, criticise and come up with new ideas. AO3 EVALUATION Children show understanding of the words they use as their talk is not at random (i.e. they might say “Mommy sock” to show the sock is owned by their mom. This shows language is used when schema are there. It is really difficult to prove Piaget’s theory as we can’t know for certain whether someone has a schema or not. Sapir & Whorf would suggest the opposite and would say that language comes before thought – we only think about language available to us. This is a weakness of the theory as it’s conflicting evidence.

EXAM PRACTICE

1. Identify two features of Piaget’s views on language. [2 marks]
2. Young children only start to speak after the age of one. Explain what kind of thinking takes place without language. [2 marks]
3. Outline in what way, according to Piaget, language depends on thought. [3 marks]
4. Piaget said that children could be taught new words before they know what the words represent but they wouldn’t really understand the words. Explain what this tells us about language and thought. [2 marks]

LESSON #2 – LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT – SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS

AO3 EVALUATION

Differences between cultures may have been exaggerated. There are really only two words for snow in Inuit culture and actually English has other words for different types of snow. This shows that the differences aren’t that big and challenges the conclusion that language may determine thought. Piaget would suggest the opposite and would say that thought comes before language. This is a weakness of the theory as it’s conflicting evidence.

EXAM PRACTICE

1) Outline the Sapir–Whorf

hypothesis. [3 marks]

2) Use your knowledge of the Sapir–

Whorf hypothesis to explain the way

language develops. [6 marks]

3) Identify three features of the

Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. [3 marks]

4) Explain one criticism of the Sapir–

Whorf hypothesis. [3 marks]

WORDS INFLUENCE OUR THOUGHTS (WEAK EFFECT) Language influences the way in which people think about things but it doesn’t completely determine what they think. Sapir and Whorf said it was impossible to think about something without having the words for it. They suggest we only start to think about things that we have the words to think about them. However, there is an argument as to whether words influence our thoughts or words determine our thoughts.

WORDS DETERMINE OUR

THOUGHTS (STRONG EFFECT)

If a language has no words for a certain

thought/object/idea, people who speak

that language will have no way of thinking

about it.

This is why it can be very difficult to

translate some words and ideas from one

language to another.

It was found that one Inuit (Eskimo)

language had 27 words for snow! This

shows they are able to think about snow

in many different ways but English

speakers just see snow as snow.