Past Paper Exam Questions Flashcards
Outline what is meant by ‘agentic state’ as an explanation for obedience (2m)
When a person acts on behalf of an authority figure
Person feels no responsibility for their actions
Opposite to autonomous state where people act on their own principles
Jenny is a psychology teacher who works with six other teachers in the department.
Jenny believes strongly that homework should not be graded as it distracts students from
reading verbal feedback on their work. She would like her colleagues to stop grading
work. The other members of the department do not agree but have told Jenny they are
willing to have a meeting about it.
Using your knowledge of minority influence, explain how Jenny might be able to persuade
the rest of the department to accept her view. (6m)
- Jenny needs to demonstrate consistency. She must not deviate from her view that grading work is not a good idea despite social pressure.
- Jenny should demonstrate commitment by placing herself at some risk /inconvenience - may volunteer to field criticism from students, parents etc.
- Jenny should demonstrate flexibility. - she should adapt her view and acknowledge other counter arguments ( some pieces of work can be graded not all of them have to
Outline two explanations of resistance to social influence.
One explanation is locus of control. People with internal locus of control are more likely to resist pressure to conform, less likely to obey and resist social influence than those with external locus of control
Another explanation is social support. Non - conformity is more likely if others are seen to resist influence seeing others not conform gives those that observe confidence to do so.
Informational social influence?
It is more likely to lead to a permanent, rather than temporary,
change in attitude.
In a sixth form debating society, Samina is the only student in a group of six who does not
believe that drugs should be legalised.
Using your knowledge of minority influence processes, explain two ways in which Samina
could convince the other students in the debating society to agree with her. (4m)
- samina could demonstrate consistency by not deviating from her view that drugs her view that drugs should not be legalized- she could point out that that she’s had this view for ages.
- she could demonstrate commitment on her view- by speaking in assembly on her view that drugs should not be legalized and the dangers of it.
- samina could also be flexible with her view. She should make sure she listens to counter arguments - maybe there is softer drugs that are actually life saving.
Researchers have identified different features of science, including:
• replicability
• theory construction
• hypothesis testing.
Explain how Asch’s conformity research illustrates one of these features of science. (3m)
Replicability - aschs studies contained standardized procedures (e.g. number of confederates, length of lines). This meant study could be repeated in order to assist consistency and reliability of findings. This increases validity of findings.
Theory construction - aschs findings led to development of explanations of conformity. E.g. - that people will conform to group pressure to avoid ridicule (NSI)
Hypothesis testing- aschs research tested the assumption that naive participants would conform to an obviously wrong answer when placed under group pressure. This was achieved by manipulating an IV (fake answer) to measure the effect on the DV and keeping other (possible confounding) variables constant
Describe how Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles.
- set up a mock prison in basement of standford university
Observational study - controlled, participant, overt - emotionally stable volunteers were either assigned to roles of prisoners or guards.
- prisoners arrested, blindfolded, stripped and searched
- guards were given night stick, dark glasses and uniform,
- prisoners routines was heavily controlled by guards working on shifts.
- study was supposed to sun for tow weeks but stopped after 6 days.
Fewer and fewer people use single-use plastic items, such as water bottles and plastic
straws.
Using your knowledge of social influence processes in social change, explain why fewer
and fewer people are using single-use plastic items.
Minority influence processes:
• examples of the influence of environmental campaign groups and how they may convince
the majority through consistency, commitment (augmentation principle), flexibility
• the snowball effect – how behaviour use of plastic change gradually over time.
Conformity processes:
• normative social influence/compliance – the group norm among young people particularly is to care
about the environment; people who go against this norm (by ignoring the costs to the planet) risk
rejection from the group/are less likely to fit in
• informational social influence/internalisation – more is now known about the harmful effects of
single-use plastic items on the environment/climate change, people may have become convinced by
such evidence
Obedience processes:
• rules on single-use plastic items have changed, eg charges for plastic shopping bags, etc.
A researcher wanted to investigate whether there was a relationship between locus of
control and resistance to social influence. Before the investigation began, he devised a
questionnaire to measure locus of control.
Why would the researcher’s questionnaire produce primary data? Suggest one limitation
of primary data.
The questionnaire will be used to collect data specifically for the purpose of the investigation
the questionnaire data will be gathered first-hand from the participants themselves.
requires time and effort on the part of the researcher (to develop resources, etc)
may be costly compared to secondary data which can be easily accessed.
To assess the questionnaire’s validity, the researcher gave it to 30 participants and
recorded the results. He then gave the same 30 participants an established questionnaire
measuring locus of control. The researcher found a weak positive correlation between the
two sets of results, suggesting that his questionnaire had low validity.
Explain how the validity of the researcher’s questionnaire could be improved.
• the researcher could compare the two questionnaires and note any differences
• the researcher could (identify and) remove/deselect any items on his questionnaire that are
problematic
• items might be problematic because they are leading, ambiguous, too complex, double-barrelled etc
• the researcher could incorporate a lie scale, so respondents are less aware that locus of control is
being tested.
Members of a religious group give up their Saturday mornings to distribute leaflets
about the importance of worship. - which minority influence factor
Commitment
An environmental group acknowledges that recycling can be time-consuming while
emphasising its importance for the future of the planet - which minority influence factor is this
Flexibility
All of the members of the ‘Flat Earth Society’ agree that the Earth is flat and not round. - which minority influence factor is this
Consistency
Name one explanation of resistance to social influence.
Locus of control
A teacher was absent and left work for students to complete during the lesson. Some
students in the class did not do the work their teacher had left for them.
Use one possible explanation of resistance to social influence to explain why this
happened. (4m)
Social support - disobedience is more likely to occur in the presence of others who are disobedient role models. some students’ suggests there was more than one who did not complete the work. this would have given others more confidence to ignore the teacher’s instructions
The more people who disobey the less
severe the consequences are likely to be – the students may have reasoned that the more of them who disobey, the less likely they are to be in trouble.
Which two of the following best describe Zimbardo’s prison study?
A – Controlled observation
E – Participant observation
Students Natasha and Tanya are buying food in the supermarket on their way home from
school. As they are paying, they notice their psychology teacher, Mr Boat, at the far end of
the queue. They both smile and wave.
Mr Boat shouts, “Hey, you two! I think you owe me homework. Wait there so we can have
a quick chat.”
Natasha and Tanya finish paying, glance at each other giggling and hurry out of the
supermarket.
Using your knowledge of obedience research, explain possible reasons why the students
failed to obey their teacher.
- Tanya and Natasha have support
from each other which gives them the confidence to disobey their teacher - social support. - proximity of the authority figure – Mr Boat is at the far end of a queue- disobedience is more likely.
- Mr Boat and the students are not at school and so the order lacks legitimacy in this setting (the supermarket), Mr Boat is not wearing his work clothes, making disobedience more likely - Natasha and Tanya are in an autonomous,
rather than agentic, state.
Natasha and/or Tanya have an internal locus of control so disobey Mr Boat
Publically changing behaviour whilst maintaining a different private view.
Compliance
Group pressure leading to a desire to fit in with the group.
Normative social influence
When a person lacks knowledge of how to behave and looks to the group for guidance.
Informational social influence
Conforming to the behaviour of a role model.
Identification
Briefly outline and evaluate the findings of any one study of social influence.
- aschs line study. Wanted to see if people would conform to the confederates even tho the answer was obvious.
- real pp conformed to incorrect answers on 32% of the critical trials and 26% never conformed.
- he found(after interviewing PPs) that people only conformed because they wanted to go along with the group and fit in(NSI). They already knew the right answer.
Outline two explanations for obedience.
- authoritarian personality - collection of traits developed from strict parenting. - obedient towards those of higher status.
- Agentic shift/state - person carries out orders or performs a behaviour without hesitation.
Outline the procedures and findings of Zimbardo`s research into conformity to
social roles.
Procedure: details of the sample, the basic set-up, how participants were recruited,
processes used to deindividuate/establish roles, etc.
Findings: increased passivity of the prisoners in the face of increased brutality of theguards; study abandoned after 5 days; pathological reactions of the prisoners,
