social psychology -key q Flashcards
what is your social key q
how can social psychology explain cult behaviour
what is a cult
social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs who follow a strong,living leader and make absolute claims about the leaders ability,character or knowledge
no money,manipulative
what usually happens to cult members
members of a cult are often finacially dependent on it.they usually break off ties with everyone else not in the cult ,this makes members isolated and fully dependent on the cult making them easier to manipulate and exploit
why is this a problem
emotionally harmful to cult members who may be being abused but have no way to leave or ask for help.We must understand cult behavior to stop and prevent it
Some cults have also carried out mass suicides and murders so this is important as cults can lead to serious real world events
give an example of a cult
manson family is thought to be responsible for 35 murders after following in charles mansons belief a race war was starting
can be made up figure
how many active cults are in the uk today
500
a02
how can agency theory be applied to cults
the cult members are in an agentic state and obey the leader as they see them as a legitatmate authority figure and give up their free will to avoid moral strain of going against their conscience
a02
how can social identity theory be applied to cults
-strength can be seen as cult leader is seen as legitimate authority figure
-immediacy can also be seen as they all live together therefore are always in close proximity
-number can be seen because cult believers end up surrounded by only other members as they cut off family and friends so they have a high impact e.g manson family moved to isolated ranch
how can social identity theory be applied to cults
the cult categorise themselves as the in-group and cut ties with everyone else like family who they see as an outgroup .They may show identification by dressing the same and having the same beliefs which become part of their identity.Social comparison can occur when the cult behaves negatively towards outsiders e.g manson family murders
bromley,milgram,sherif,salbia
evaluate if cults are a key issue
-milgram supports agency theory and social impact
-sherif supports social identity theory
-otoh of these points use grave to evaluate milgram and sherif
-Bromely studied the unification church and found only 5%were still working there after a year
-Salbia reported 90% of unification recruits dropped out before the end of the training programme.These studies both show cults arent really an issue
