Issues of Social Control Flashcards

1
Q

What is social control?

A

Refers to the extent to whcih we can regulate people’s behaviour for social purposes i.e a method of enforcing conformity and compliance to established norms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What issues do techniques of social control raise?

A

Issues over freedom and choice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

How is drug treatment a form of social control?

A

Drugs make everyone conform through medication to stop “abnormal” behaviours.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are the benefits of exerting social control through drug treatment?

A
  • Improves patient’s quality of life
  • Can prevent someone beign a danger to themselves or society
  • Can help them be well enought to undertake other treatments
  • Affordable
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the issues with exerting social control through drug treatment?

A
  • May prescribe without listing side effects
  • Lack of free will, people may be against drugs
  • Consequences of relapse
  • Should use CBT first
  • Addiction
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

How is CBT a form of social control?

A
  • Changes the way people think to how the clinician thinks they should think
  • Alters the way an individual views the world, their future and themselves
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

How is it beneficial to exert social control through CBT?

A
  • No side effects like drugs. No distress
  • Client can decide what they wish to focus on so they don’t have to cover topics that are too distressing
  • Most effective treatment for moderate and severe depression
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What implications around the power of the therapist surround drugs?

A
  • Those administering the drug have the power
  • Society can take power if a court has ordered
  • People can stop taking the treatment so have power
  • Multiagency so more ethical
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

How does social psychology exert social control?

A
  • Momentum of Compliance - shows how you can manipulate people to obey
  • Agency theory - people will obey if they don’t think they are responsible
  • RCT - Can reduce prejudice with superordinate goals
  • SIT - can create obedience through number, immediacy and strength
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How does cognitive psychology exert social control?

A
  • EWT - can make it more reliable
  • Reconstructive memory - can tell people they have remembered incorrectly
  • Loftus and Palmer - can use leading questions to influence memory
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

How does learning psychology exert social control?

A
  • Systematic dessensitisation/flooding
  • Prosocial role models - mediating aggression
  • Aversion therapy for alcoholism
  • Operant Conditioning to reinforce certain behaviours. Reward cards
  • Token economy - prison/school
  • Classical conditioning - advertising
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How does biological psychology exert social control?

A
  • Alter functioning of brain through chemicals

- Drugs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

How does child psychology exert social control?

A
  • Daycare - Li suggests HQ is better
  • Bowlby tried to discourage people from putting their child in daycare
  • Ainsworth suggests that parents should be sensitive and responsive to their child
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What are the drawbacks of exercising social control through a token economy?

A
  • Rights are infringed, others decide what behaviours are desirable
  • If a reward is a basic need rights are infringed
  • Difficult to apply in real life where there is no TEP so may be no long term benefits
  • Staff may misues power
  • Usually in an institution where individuals can’t really withdraw
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are the benefits of exercising social control through a token economy?

A
  • Helps an institution run more smoothly
  • Can be run with minimum training, easy to implement
  • Works when it is consistent
  • Rewards are better when tailored
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are the benefits of using classical conditioning as a method of social control?

A
  • In SD, client is in charge of the process so ethical
  • Usually a good relationship is built up with consellor
  • Little equipment needed, low cost and time efficient
  • Client controls the speed and progression of their therapy so power of therapist is minimised
  • Client can withdraw so they have power
17
Q

What are the drawbacks of using classical conditioning as a method of social control?

A
  • Might feel pressure to move up the heirachy in SD
  • Aversion therapy used on homosexuals - can be abused
  • Aversion therapy difficult to apply in real life
  • SD only works if client can learn to relax
  • SD has little value for disorders like anorexia
  • Practitioner has most power as they carry out therapy
18
Q

What are the key issues in social control regarding treatment or therapies?

A
  • Power of the therapist - unethical if too much
  • Who decides whether a person needs trreatment or therapy
  • Issues of individual freedom
19
Q

How has Bandura’s research been used to control society?

A

Found children were likely to imiatate aggressive role models on TV and in real life. 9pm watershed created and age certificate for films.Controlling the level of aggression children are exposed to so they reduce their imiatation.

20
Q

Strengths of the 9pm watershed?

A
  • Reducing aggression levels in society is ethical

- Parents can still show their children this content if they want to

21
Q

Weaknesses of the 9pm watershed?

A
  • Bandura’s research criticised for lacking ecological validity and mundane realism
  • Restricting content may not reduce aggression
  • Element of choice taken away from children
  • Ultimately up to the parents
22
Q

What is a token economy?

A

This is a system whre tokens are given (either physical or some sort of points system) when an individual displays behaviour that is seen as desirable to the institution, the points can be exchanged for a prize or goods

23
Q

How can punishment be incorporated into a token economy?

A

By taking priviliges away if undesirable behaviour is shown.

24
Q

How can RCT be used as a form of social control?

A

It suggests that prejudice is less severe when there isn’t a zero sum so resources should be shared so there isn’t one winner and one loser

25
Q

Evaluation of the use of techiques to reduce prejudice?

A
  • Unfair to manipulate two groups to get along if they have reasons not to
  • Sherif’s boys were competitive - competition may not create hostility for others
  • Beneficial for society as more peace
  • Not always possible to impose superordinate goals
26
Q

How can understanding obedience lead to social control?

A
  • Can be used to help educate and prevent bind destructive obedience
  • Helps us understand historical events
  • Can be used to manipulate obedience
  • Uniform used by police to create obedience
27
Q

Evaluation of understanding obedience leading to social control?

A
  • Preventing blind destructive obedience may save lives
  • Obedience may be created for the wrong reasons
  • Allowes for safety in society
  • Researcher supports it e.g Milgram and Burger
  • Individual difference - some more or less influenced
28
Q

How can improving EWT be a form of social control?

A
  • Legal policy and police practice has changed to improve reliability
  • EWT is not the only form of evidence now
  • It has dictated who can testify and under what conditionins they can give an accurate testimony
29
Q

Evaluation of improving EWT as a form of social control?

A
  • Loftus and Palmer supports through leading questions
  • It may be that certain people to not get to give evidence or sit on a jury which takes away their element of choice
  • Research based on mock juries or lab experiments so may not accurately reflect factors that influence EWT
30
Q

How can brain scanning be used to idenfity factors that contribute to aggressive behaviour?

A
  • Can investigate levels of testosterone and cortisol and try to them to regulate aggression
  • Can investigate brain damage and help an individal learn to cope with aggressive urges if temporal lobes damaged
  • Can see if certain individuals are vulnerable and help them cope
31
Q

Evaluation of using brain scanning to identify factors that contribute to aggression?

A
  • Research on animals
  • Unethical to lesion brains of animals
  • Raine (1997) and Blair, College and Mitchell used PET scans reliably
32
Q

What unethical treatments take place as a result of biological psychology?

A
  • Prefrontal lobotomies - 20,000 took place in 40s and 50s in USA.
  • Chemical castration of males - given to male sex offenders, reduces sex drive
  • Seretonin levels could be boosted to help someone control aggression