Component 2: Psychological themes through core studies

Areas to explain behaviour Social Psychology Cognitive Psychology Developmental Psychology Biological Psychology Individual Differences Each area will have two core studies each in year 1 (one classical and one contemporary)

What is social psychology? The Social Area looks at understanding human behaviour in a social context; that is looking at the factors that lead to us to behave in a given way due to the presence of others. Social psychologists state that our behaviour is influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.

What is social psychology? The key assumptions are: Other people and the environment influence our behaviour and thought processes. All human behaviour occurs in a social context (even in the absence of others). Our relationships with others influence our behaviour and thought processes.

Does our environment really influence us??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onKVeZaDzWg

Milgram (1963) ‘Obedience’ Social Psychology Milgram (1963) ‘Obedience’

What is Obedience? ‘To follow an order given by a person with recognised authority over you.’ Obedience has often been blamed for ordinary people committing horrible acts

Background ‘From 1939 to 1945 millions of innocent persons were slaughtered on command’ (Milgram, 1963). What are the causes of such behaviour? Destructive obedience is when you are ordered to cause harm to another

Background One of the key features of the Nazi atrocities was the extent to which people displayed destructive obedience. Many ordinary people obeyed destructive obedience which led to the mass murder or minority groups

Background Early psychological research into the Holocaust focused on the idea that something distinct about German culture or personality led to high levels of conformity and obedience necessary for genocide. This is known as the dispositional hypothesis

Background When Milgram was interested in this idea, he was also interested in the social process that takes place between individuals and groups. The idea that we can explkain events such as the Holocaust by reference to social processes operating in the situation, rather than the individual, is called the situational hypothesis

Activity 1 Read scenario on page 7 and answer questions 1 and 2

Is it in the person or is the situation that they find themselves in? Aim (What did the researcher want to find out)? In simple terms, Milgram wanted to see how obedient people would be to orders from an authority figure that would result in pain and harm to another person

Is it in the person or is the situation that they find themselves in? Aim (What did the researcher want to find out)? More specifically, Milgram wanted to see if volunteer participants would obey orders to give electric shocks to someone they thought was just another participant He wanted to answer the question ‘How far would they go?’.

Method Design Considered a ‘pre-experiment’ as it only has one condition (and so, IV) DV was the obedience of participants These were operationalised as the maximum voltage given in response to orders

Method Participants Recruited via newspaper advertisement Sample was mostly volunteer or self-selected 40 men aged between 20 and 50 Expenses and a fee paid ($4.00) Wide variety of backgrounds Ppts informed study was about memory and learning and effects of punishment on learning

Method Procedure Took place at Yale university Each ppt meets ‘other participant’ Both are briefed on purpose of experiment (effect of punishment on learning) Ppt (naïve participant) and ‘other participant’ (confederate) drew slips of paper taken from hat to determine who would be teacher and who would be learner – fixed lottery - both slips “teacher”

Procedure Learner strapped into ‘electric chair’ Teacher given ‘sample shock’ (45v) The teacher was to ask the learner questions relating to word-pairs –teacher told that every mistake the learner made, the voltage must be increased                                                                                                                                           

Procedure (cont.) If participants asked about the shocks: “Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage” Teacher reads out pairs of words Student must respond to stimulus correctly to avoid punishment. Learner deliberately gets them wrong Teacher administers shock with each wrong response

Voltage with each wrong answer Slight shock: 15, 30, 45, 60 Moderate shock: 75,90, 105, 120 Strong shock: 135, 150, 165, 180 Very strong shock: 195, 210, 225, 240 Intense shock: 255, 270, 285, 300 Extreme intensity shock: 315, 330, 345, 360 Danger : severe shock: 375, 390, 405, 420 XXX: 435, 450

Procedure (cont.) If teacher hesitated the experimenter used the following 4 ‘prods’ in this precise order: “Please continue” “The experiment requires that you continue” “It’s absolutely essential that you continue” “You have no other choice, you must go on” White coat effect

Results – quantitative No of Participants and far they went 5 4 2 1 Shock level 15 - 285 volts 300 volts 315 330 345 360 375

Results - quantitative 390 volts 405 420 435 450 SEVERE 26 !!!!! Approximately 65% gave the MAXIMUM shock!!

Results - qualitative Qualitative data was gathered in the form of comments and protests ppts made about procedure and in the form of observations of body language Most ppts showed signs of tension during procedure eg sweating, biting lip, stuttering, groaning. 14 giggled nervously

Results - qualitative One had a severe seizure and the procedure was stopped. One observer noted “I observed a mature and initially poised business man enter the lab smiling and confident. Within 20 minutes he was reduced to a twitching, stuttering wreck, who was rapidly approaching the point of a nervous collapse ”

Conclusion Two main conclusions People are much more obedient to destructive orders than we might expect and considerably more than psychology students suggested in their estimates (they thought only 1.2% would go to full voltage, not 65%) People find the experience and obeying destructive orders highly stressful. They obey in spite of emotional responses. The situation triggers conflict between to deeply ingrained tendencies: to obey those in authority and not harm people

Explaining the conclusion Milgram identified the following as possible factors for why there were such high levels of obedience Top university Aim of study appeared worth while Felt obligated to continue as they volunteered Teacher has volunteered too Payment incentive Feels lucky to not have been ‘picked’ as teacher Right to withdraw not obvious Ppts assured shocks aren’t dangerous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GxIuljT3w

Let’s evaluate Research method Quantitative data Qualitative data Ethical considerations Validity Reliability Sampling bias Practical applications