social area case studies

Question 1

where did the milgram experiment take place?

Answer 1

yale uni

Question 2

what was the sample of the milgram study?

Answer 2

self selected - 40 all male - ages 20-50

Question 3

in the milgram study, what aim were the participants told?

Answer 3

the study aimed to see how punishment affected learning - true aim withheld

Question 4

what was the true aim of the milgram study?

Answer 4

investigate the process of obedience
to demonstrate the power of legitimate authority even when a command requires destructive behaviour

Question 5

what hypothesis did milgram have?

Answer 5

issue of obedience relevant after the second world war - needed explanations for the inhumane obedience of Germans - milgram believed it could be explained by the fact that germans are much more obedient than people from other cultures/ countries

Question 6

what did milgram not expect?

Answer 6

for americans to have such high levels of obedience

Question 7

what was the procedure of the milgram study?

Answer 7

.true pps were introduced to the other undercover pps - pretended to be an accountant - this is the one that will be shocked
- they drew lots for the parts of teacher and learner- the true pps always got the part of teacher
- learner ad teacher taken to a lab - separated by a screen
-learner strapped into electric chair apparatus -
- electrodes attached to learners wrist and connected to shock generator in the next room
- experimenter was told by the scientist - another confederate - that there would be no tissue damage - but it would be painful
-teacher experienced a test shock of 45 volts
- if the learner got a question wrong the teacher would shock them - up to 450 v
- if the teacher wanted to stop giving shocks the experimenter had a set of prods

Question 8

what happened in the milgram experiment when the shock level reached 300 v?

Answer 8

the learner was told to pound on the wall - repeated again at 315 v - after that the learner stopped responding.

Question 9

in the milgram experiment, what were the prods?

Answer 9

“the experimenter requires you to continue” “you have no choice, you must continue”

Question 10

how did milgram collect his sample?

Answer 10

recruited via a newspaper advert and also a mailshot post

Question 11

what were the results from the milgram experiments?

Answer 11

all 40 pps - 100% - continued giving the shocks up to 300 v
five pps- 12.5%- stopped at 300v
nine more pps stopped between 315 and 375
obedience - 26/40 - 65%- continued to the end - 450-
disobedient - 14/40 were disobedient

Question 12

what are the conclusions from the milgrams experiment ?

Answer 12

people are surprisingly obedient to authority
study demonstrated the power of situation in obedience, rather than dispositional factors (that some cultures are different)
significant number were disobedient

Question 13

how does milgrams study relate to the social area?

Answer 13

results have shown that the social pressure of a situation encourages obedience - how pressure from another person could lead people to administer potentially fatal shocks to another individual and how they could be led to do this in spite of their discomfort
study emphasises situational factors/ legitimate authority rather than individual explanations for behahaviour

Question 14

evaluate the ethical consideration in milgram

Answer 14

. negative - deception was used
. pps told that the study was about learning and was told the electrical shocks were real
. menas pps were deprived right to give informed consent - important because that they were exposed to psychological harm
. despite the distressing experience - pps were debriefed and felt positive about the study

Question 15

evaluate the sample in milgram

Answer 15

positive - sample included men from a range of occupations - representative of target population
. wanted to investigate whether germans were more obedient than other cultures - so he used volunteer sampling - recruited 40 American men aged 20-50 - similar to German soldiers
. makes it more generalisable to target pop
. may be gender differences - limit generalisability to wider population - milgram the conducted the same experiment with women and found the same level of obedience

Question 16

evaluate the validity in milgram

Answer 16

not valid - pps may not have believed that they were delivering real shocks
. there was a confederate- also known as student - who was receiving the shocks - up to 450- had ro act in pain - maybe their acting was unbelievable so pps though it was fake
. maybe they didn’t believe that an experimenter would put them in a position to hurt a person / potentially kill

Question 17

how does milgrams study relate to the key theme of responses authority?

Answer 17

people are largely obedient as 65% of the sample gave shocks
even when aware of the damaging effects - people will continue to obey the orders as they see the responsibility of the act as not their own - agenic state

Question 18

what type of the experiment was pivillian?

Answer 18

field experiment
standardised procedure

Question 19

what were the independent variables in pivillian?

Answer 19

the type of victim - drunk or cane
race of victim - black or white
effect of model - if they came to help after 70 or 150 seconds , whether they came from the critical or adjacent area, or if there was no model at all
size of witnessing group - naturally occurring

Question 20

how many independent variables are there in pivillian?

Answer 20

4

Question 21

why wasnt the model used as much in pivillian ?

Answer 21

more help was given than expected before the model came

Question 22

who were the dependent variables recorded by in pivillian?

Answer 22

by two female observers seated in the adjacent area

Question 23

what were the dependent variables in pivillian?

Answer 23

frequency of help
speed of help
race of helper
sex of helper
movement out of critical area
verbal comments by bystanders

Question 24

what was the sample in pivillian?

Answer 24

opportunity - 4500 men and women

Question 25

where did the pivillian experiment taken place?

Answer 25

The A and D trains on 8th avenue New York subway

Question 26

how long did the train journey last in pivillian ?

Answer 26

7.5 minutes

Question 27

when did the pivillian experiment take place?

Answer 27

april to june 1969- weekday 11am to 3pm

Question 28

what was the cultural split on the train in pivillian?

Answer 28

45% black and 55% white -

Question 29

how many teams of observers were there in pivillian?

Answer 29

4 teams of 4 observers - two female and two males - one acting as a victim and one acting as a model

Question 30

what were the victims like in pivillian?

Question 31

what were the conditions of the victims in pivillian?

Answer 31

either smelled of liquor or presented sober with a cane

Question 32

what did the model do in pavilion?

Answer 32

helps raise victim in a seated position

Question 33

what did they find after the models help in pavilion?

Answer 33

if one person helps other people will help

Question 34

what did observer 1 record in pavilion?

Answer 34

race, sex and location in critical area
recorded time it took for people to help

Question 35

what did observer 2 record in pavilion ?

Answer 35

was in the adjacent area -
recorded how many people helped before and after the model

Question 36

what type of data did they get in pavilion ?

Answer 36

quantitative - recorded time - race and sex
qualitative - comments made by pps

Question 37

what were the ethical issues in pavilion?

Answer 37

covert observation = no informed consent - cant withdraw - cant really debrief due to mass of people

Question 38

what was the procedure in pavilion ?

Answer 38

victim stood in critical area - after 70 seconds collapsed - - remained on the floor - if no one helped after 70 sec or 150 model would come and help

Question 39

what were the results in pavilion?

Answer 39

cane victim received help without the model - 95% of the time - 62/65
drunk - 50% without model 19/38
cane overall - 100%
drunk overall 81%

Question 40

who was help offered more to in pavilion ?

Answer 40

cane victim

Question 41

what was the delay in time in pavilion?

Answer 41

5 sec delay compared to 109 sec delay for drunk

Question 42

how likely were people to help if there was a group in pavilion?

Answer 42

60% - felt more comfortable in a group

Question 43

what were 90% of first helpers in pavilion>

Answer 43

male

Question 44

what was the factor of race in pavilion?

Answer 44

more likely to help the victim if they were the same race

Question 45

when were more comments made in pavilion?

Answer 45

the drunk

Question 46

when were the most comments made in pavilion?

Answer 46

in the first 70 sec

Question 47

was there diffusion of responsibility in pavilion?

Answer 47

no

Question 48

how does piliavin link to the social area?

Answer 48

interested in helping behaviour- in an emergency situation - measuring diffusion of responsibility- if there was more people would there be less help as responsibility is diffused among the group - piliavin found no evidence of this - perhaps to it being field experiment

Question 49

how does piliavin relate to the theme of helping ?

Answer 49

suggest that the likelihood of being helped during an emergency doesnt depend on how many witnesses present - contrasts with the theory of diffusion - but people go through a cost benefit to analysis whether to help
example - found victims were more likely to help if they needed help due to factors beyond their control - if they appeared ill they recieved hekp 100 time compared to 81 drunk - perception of the pps impacted chance of help

Question 50

from Piliavin: explain one reason why diffusion of responsibility was not found in this study?

Answer 50

pps were trapped on the A- D train in a new York subway train for a 7.5 minute journey - they felt obliged to help and didnt feel that the responsibility was on someone else- irrelevant to how many other people were present.

Question 51

briefly describe an event that prompted psychologists, such a piliavin, to investigate factors that influence helping behaviour.

Answer 51

the murder of kitty Genovese, a woman stabbed to death over 30 mins in front of a reported 38 witnesses.

Question 52

evaluate the research and method in piliavin

Answer 52

.field experiment - conducted in a natural environment
. pps were observed in a new york subway- 4500 males and females- on the A and D train.
. means pps were unaware that thye were being observed - covert operation - limits demand characteristics.
. However- not a controlled environment - extraneous variables difficult to control in a field experiment
. means factors factors other than the ivs could have influenced the pps helping the victim - pps could be stressed from the environment and only focus on themselves or they could be wearing headphones, looking at their phones

Question 53

evaluate the reliability in piliavin

Answer 53

. high in reliability - standardised procedure
. victims were always dressed identically depending on the condition
. models always helped after 70 or 150 seconds
. made the study reliable and reproducible as another experimenter could follow the procedure and get similar results
. however - reliability of observers may be low - only one person made each set of observations - one person could have missed things that needed to be recorded - if more than one observer was looking out for the same thing in the same area they could have spotted more

Question 54

evaluate the sample in piliavin

Answer 54

positive- very large sample collected over a period of several months - contains a wide cross section of people
. opportunity sample - 4450 passengers on new york subway - weekdays 11am to 3pm from 15 April to 26 june
. large and diverse sample - makes it generalisable to wider population
. however - despite having large sample - pps could have had characteristics that makes them unrepresentative to average pop- living in a city - probably accustomed to being faced with emergency situations - people in cities might be overstimulated - have to block all info that doesn’t focus on them - the victim

Question 55

evaluate the data in piliavin

Answer 55

. positive - both quantitative and qualitative data
. observers recorded the time taken for a passenger to help , the race and sex of the helper and if it influenced any other passengers to help(quantitative)
. also recorded any comments made by passengers or whether they moved out of the critical area (qualitative)
. quantitative data - useful for comparing speed and frequency of helping people in different trials
. qualitative data helps us understand reasons for helping or not helping

Question 56

evaluate the ethical consideration in piliavin

Answer 56

negative - there was no informed consent or debriefing - field experiment
. could potentially be distressing for pps to witness the victim collapsing after 70 or 150 seconds - especially for the pps that didn’t help but felt bad afterward
. causes risk for psychological harm - experimenter has a duty to protect the pps from- risks their reputation
. pps may have been upset by what they have witnessed - no debriefing - pps may have been left wondering if the pps was okay
. however- people in big cities- like new york- will be used to witnessing distressing events so thye wont be shocked or upset - cities move fast - have to focus on themselves - dont have time to worry about the victim

Question 57

evaluate whether piliavin could be considered an ethnocentric study.

Answer 57

. social responses like human behaviour aren’t universally the same - can differ due to cultural differences - research could be ethnocentric
. study in new york 1969 - America is an individualistic culture - characterised by people being more concerned with individual gains than the common good.
people living in collectivist cultures might show greater willingness to hep in an emergency situation - greater simpatico- greater concern about the cost of helping
.however- new york is a diverse place - so many different cultures and ethnicities - differences in cultural beliefs could have been represented.

Question 58

what does validity mean?

Answer 58

Validity refers to whether a measure actually measures what it claims to be measuring. whether they successfully explored their aim.

Question 59

what does reliability mean?

Answer 59

Reliability is a measure of whether something stays the same, i.e. is consistent. The results of psychological investigations are said to be reliable if they are similar each time they are carried out using the same design, procedures and measurements.
whether there is standardised procedure - if another experimenter did the same experiment, they would get similar results