Key Q - Social Flashcards
What is Terrorism?
The use or threat of action to influence the government or intimidate the public for a potential or religious cause
What are the Most Common Types of Terrorism?
- Bombings
- Hostage taking
- Hi-jacking
Why is Terrorism an Important Topic in Today’s Society?
- According to the MI5 - threat from terrorism has increased significantly from the 1960s
- Terrorism affects our public safety, our quality, enjoyment of life + economics of our country
Does more recent research argue that terrorism occurs because of a persons personality or is it due to situational factors?
- The causes of terrorism are not rooted in the individual, but in the wider situation in which terrorists live + act
- There are many environmental factors which affect someone - due to their childhood + what they’ve experienced in life
In the 1960s what was believed about terrorists?
- They had a disposition as a psychopath or had some psychological abnormality
- So, it’s part of a persons personality that may influence whether they become a terrorist or not
What are Examples of Terrorism?
- Attacks on the World Trade Centres in USA in September 2001 - 9/11
- London bombings in July 2005 - 7/7 bombings
What is the Social Identity Theory by Tajfel?
- Looks at group membership to explain prejudice
- Have in-groups and out-groups
- Being in a group is enough to cause conflict with other groups
- There are 3 processes involved to be prejudiced: social categorisation, social identification, social comparison
What are In-groups?
Any group which a person has membership
What are Out-groups?
Any group which a person doesn’t have membership
What is Social Categorisation?
Categorise ourselves + others as part of a group
What is Social Identification?
People take on norms of their group
What is Social Comparison?
Self-esteem bound up with group membership - done by in group favouritism and out group bias
What is the Realistic Conflict Theory by Sheriff?
- Prejudice is the result of conflict between two groups
- Conflict arises due to competition between groups
- When 2 different social groups compete for the same valued resource they start to become hostile towards each other
How do you Reduce Hostility Between Groups according to the Realistic Conflict Theory by Sherif?
They need to work towards shared goals - superordinate goals
What is Milgrim is Agentic State of Obedience?
- Allows someone else to direct their behaviour
- Assume other person is responsible for the consequences of their behaviour
- Act against their own moral code
Where does the Existence of the Agentic State come from according to Milgrams Agentic State of Obedience?
- Explain through evolution - survival strategy - following leaders increases the chance of survival
- Learned in childhood from school and reinforcing an adulthood from legal system
How was Prejudice Reduced in Roberts Cave Study by Sherif?
- Superordinate goals by taking part in joint problem-solving activities
- 2 groups work together to free a truck stuck in the mud
- 2 groups work together to remove the water blockage
How does Social Identity Theory Explain Terrorism?
- Terrorists believe they’re the in-group + the anti-terrorists are the out-group
- Identifying w/ 1 group involves developing group norms (dressing in a certain way, developing common beliefs, etc)
- In-group favouritism boosts their self esteem + leads to discrimination against out-groups
How does Realistic Conflict Theory Explain Terrorism?
- There’s conflict between terrorists + anti-terrorist groups due to competition
- This could be a form of social or political - could lead to discrimination
How does Milgram’s Agentic State of Obedience Explain Terrorism?
- Terrorists may be following orders from a leader in authority who make them obey
- So, they’re in the agentic state as they’re obeying an authority figure
- They believe the responsibility for their actions lay with someone else
What was the research done by Deutsch + Collins (1951) for Social Identity Theory?
- They looked at mixing different races
- Found: white households held black housewives in higher regard than segregated housewives, who held stereotypes of blacks being dangerous + inferior
What does Deutsch + Collins (1951) research about Social Identity Theory tell us about Reducing Terrorism?
- Reduce out-group bias by - mix the different terrorist groups + anti terrorist groups to be able to reduce terrorism
- Would result in a better understanding of their out-group
- Don’t have segregated schools
- Don’t have segregated communities
What did Aronson et al (1978) argue helped Reduce Prejudice using Realistic Conflict Theory?
- Removal of competition in classroom + working towards a shared goal to reduce conflict
- Using jigsaw technique - group of students work together to ensure success of a class project
What does Aronson (1978) research about Realistic Conflict Theory tell us about Reducing Terrorism?
- Get 2 sides (terrorist + anti terrorist) to work towards a shared goal - superordinate goal
- Get communities working on making a communal grounds
- Aronson showed that removal of competition reduces conflict - Male each group understand each other + make them equally as powerful
- In school encourage different cultures to work towards a shared goal
What is a Strength of Social Identity Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- Show how people identify with their group and start seeing in- group as better than out-group in order to maintain own self esteem
- Tajfel (1970) - produced a lab experiment that showed boys favourite their in group and would actively discriminate against the out-group
What is a Weakness of Social Identity Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- Tajfels results can’t be generalised beyond young boys in a lab setting
- The sample of Tajfels study was 14-15 year old Bristol schoolboys
- So, can’t be applied to complex factors involved in terrorist activities
What is a Strength of Milgram’s Agency Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- Explains people obey authority figures + can commit atrocious acts on other humans
- Suggests the terrorist goes into an Agentic state - don’t act from their own free will but place responsibility on the authority figure
- Milgram (1963) showed that 65% of Ps would administer electric shocks to another person under the orders of an authority figure
What is a Weakness of Milgram’s Agency Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- Milgrams studies lacked ecological validity
- They were lab experiments at Yale university
- The results wouldn’t apply to people in the real life with many other factors acting on them
What is a Strength of Realistic Conflict Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- Shows that there needs to be competition for conflict arise between between 2 groups
- When 2 different social groups compete for the same resource they become hostile towards each other
- Evidence from Sheriff Robbers cave experiment
What is a Weakness of Realistic Conflict Theory in Explaining Terrorism?
- The theory ignores individual differences - doesn’t explain why some boys in Sherifs study displayed more prejudiced
- Can’t apply to why some terrorist do bigger attacks than others, etc
