key question

Question 1

what is the social key question

Answer 1

why did the My Lai massacre occur

Question 2

what is the AO1

Answer 2

• march 16th 1968 during vietnam war
• charlie company
• order by captain medina
• 500 civilians dead
• calleys defence was follwing orders given by captain medina
• calley originally sentenced to life
• only served 4 and a half
• psychological intrest to explain why it occured
• implications for court proceedings and punishments
• measures put in place to prevent
• training new soldiers

Question 3

how does social identity theory explain the key question

Answer 3

social identification - take on norms and attitudes
social comparision - see ingroups better than outgroup

identification - uniform, rituals
comparison - vietnamese was enemy, enhances self esteem

Question 4

how does situation explain the key question

Answer 4

momentum of compliance - task start small but increase so you feel duty bound to continue

the requests from calley and medina increased so soldiers felt bound to continue, when not under authority thet played with children and treated the sick

Question 5

how does realistic conflict theory explain the key question

Answer 5

zero sum - one winner and one loser
negative interdepedence - one groups gain can only occur at another groups loss

competition od vietnam, believed every viatnamese was to blame, many vietcong didnt wear uniform

Question 6

how does milgrams original experiment explain they key question

Answer 6

65% obeyed an authority figure by giving electric shocks to an innocent man up to 450V
authority figures create high obedience rates

calley acted as an authority figure to soldiers, most people obeyed similar to the 65%, some didnt one shot himself in the foot

Question 7

how does social impact theory explain the key question

Answer 7

social forces
strength - power/authority
immediacy - proximity space and time
number - sources and targets

strength - captain medina and calley wore different uniforms to show status
immediacy - commanders were with them in close proximity, no social buffer

Question 8

how does agency theory explain the key question

Answer 8

agentic state - allow authority figure to direct behaviour and assume responsibility is placed on them

captain medina told calley to go into My Lai and kill everyone beacuse they were the enemy, following orders so assumes responsibility on medina