Contemporary Study

Question 1

What was the contemporary study for social psychology

Answer 1

Reicher and Haslam (2006)

Question 2

What was the aim of reicher and haslam (2006)

Answer 2

To see how two groups of different power and status would behave towards each other

To see if the dominant group would display strong group identity quicker than the subordinate group and if the subordinate group only displays strong group identity once the group has become impermeable

Also to show meaningful data could be found using the ethical guidelines

Question 3

What type of experiment did reicher and haslam use

Answer 3

Laboratory experiment

Question 4

What type of sample did reicher and haslam (2006) use?

Answer 4

Volunteer sample

Question 5

How did they gather the participants and how many were selected?

Answer 5

15 males were selected from 332 applicants via an advertisement

Question 6

How were the groups split?

Answer 6

5 were randomly selected to be guards,

10 were randomly selected to be prisoners

Question 7

Where was the study conducted

Answer 7

In a prison environment

Question 8

What did the guards have to do and what were they told

Answer 8

They had to enforce rules on the prisoners and were told they were more trustworthy

Question 9

What was the procedure? In reicher and haslams experiment

Answer 9

• on day 1 prisoners were told there was an opportunity to be promoted to a guard on day 3

3 days later they were told there was no difference between the prisoners and guards to introduce low fairness

Everyday pp rated how they felt to the in group and out group

Question 10

What were reicher and haslams results?

Answer 10

Dominant group displayed strong group identity quicker than the subordinate group

But when the subordinate group became impermeable they displayed a stronger group identity than the dominant group

Originally the prisoners were dissatisfied but stayed quiet due to the opportunity to be promoted to a guard

On day 4 the prisoners defied the guards and asked for better food

On day 6 several prisoners broke out of their cells and confronted the guards and a new regime had to be introduced

The experiment had to be abandoned early as someone aimed to introduce a new regime that was too harsh

Question 11

What did reicher and haslam conclude from their study?

Answer 11

Collective action will follow when a subordinate group becomes impermeable

Question 12

What is the generalisability of reicher and haslams study like

Answer 12

Low,

Only 15pp, all male so androcentric

High,

Did use a range of ethnicities

Question 13

Reliability of reicher and haslam

Answer 13

High, 
standardised procedure 
Easily repeatable 
Improving reliability
As it was done in a controlled environment, lots of control over the IV so a cause and effect relationship could be identified

Question 14

Applicability of reicher and haslam

Answer 14

High,

Can be used to show us how groups in society that feel marginalised may behave, so highlighting even further the idea that marginalisation is a serious issue

Question 15

Validity of reicher and haslam

Answer 15

Low,

PP were all aware that were in a study as all of the ethical guidelines were followed so the participant was not deceived to the aim, therefore the participants behaviour may not have elicited natural behaviour in relation to prejudice due to Social desirability

Question 16

Ethics of Reicher and Haslam

Answer 16

Very ethical study and it was done in partnership with the BBC and so the pp were protected from harm etc PICWD