key question social

Question 1

what is the social key question

Answer 1

how can social psychology explain cult behaviour

Question 2

AO1-what is a cult

Answer 2

A cult is a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practice who follow a
strong, living leader and make absolute claims about the leader’s abilities, character,
or knowledge
This can be important as they make others believe fringe/dangerous
beliefs

Question 3

AO1-how cults exploit

Answer 3

Members of a cult are often financially dependent on it. They usually break off ties
with everyone outside the cult, which means they are even more dependent on the
group, making it easier to manipulate and exploit them so it is important to
understand how/why these things happen to stop it occurring in society

Question 4

AO1-extreme results of cults

Answer 4

There have been some high-profile cases in which the members of a cult have
committed collective suicide or made a similar pact. An extreme example was the
People’s Temple of San Francisco, a cult whose members committed mass suicide in
Guyana. The Manson family killed people on behalf of their leader Charles Manson.
So, it is important as they can lead to serious real world events.

Question 5

AO1-number of active cults

Answer 5

there are over 500 active cults within the UK. We need to be aware of what causes individuals to join and remain in cults in order to prevent the horrors that have occurred in cults previously.

Question 6

Cult AO2-agency theory

Answer 6

the cult members are in the agentic state and obey the leader as they
view him as an authority member and give up their free-will to avoid moral strain of
going against their conscience.

Question 7

cult AO2-social impact theory

Answer 7

Strength can be seen because they view the cult leader as being
an authority figure (often with divine links). Immediacy can be seen as an issue
because they all live together and thus have an impact. Number is important because
they end up surrounded by believers which means they have a high impact…this again
explains the obedience we see. For example, in the Manson Family they all lived
together on a ranch, isolated from others, and saw Charles Manson as a strong
authority figure.

Question 8

cult AO2- social identity theory

Answer 8

The cult categorise themselves as an in-group and cut ties with everyone else (like family) who they see as out-group. They may show identification by dressing the same as each other and having the same fringe beliefs which become part of their identity. Social comparison can occur when the cult behaves negatively towards outsiders, e.g. the Chinese cult who murdered a woman in McDonalds
because they said she was a ‘devil’.