Social Psychology Key Question

Question 1

what is the social psychology key question?

Answer 1

How can knowledge of social psychology be used to understand gang violence?

Question 2

why is gang violence an issue for society? (statistics)

Answer 2

• There were 210,000 drug offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2020/21
• In 2022/23 there were 50,500 recorded knife crimes
• The ONS reported 1,507,000 incidents of violent crimes in the year ending March 2022
• 710 homicides in the year ending March 2022
• 42,027 incidents involving knives or other sharp instruments in the same time period
• 60,000 children may self-identify as a gang member
• 309,866 burglaries in the year ending March 2018
• Responsible for 60% of shootings and 29% of reported child sexual exploitation

Question 3

Problems caused for society

Answer 3

• Gang related crimes lead to high cost in policing
• Gang related crimes lead to loss of life
• Gang related crimes lead to a lack of care for education within children
• Gang related crimes causes for a strain on the NHS
• Gang related crimes cause an increase in PTSD for children
• Gang related crimes cause for a strain on prisons
• Level of unemployment increases

Question 4

Applying your knowledge of prejudice theories to explain the existence of gang violence - Social identity theory

Answer 4

• Social comparison: can compare yourself to different groups. More in group favouritism and out group prejudice
• Identification: when your part of the gang you’d start acting like the way the gang acts causing for prejudice to develop
• The formation of different gangs leads to the person behaving like the rest of the group. This will then lead to social comparison as they notice their groups good characteristics (positive distinctiveness) and the other groups flaws (negative out group bias)

Question 5

Applying your knowledge of prejudice theories to explain the existence of gang violence - realistic conflict theory

Answer 5

• The two gangs might be in competition over who has the best reputation in the neighbourhood and this competition leads to the violence
• Multiple gangs could have negative interdependence as each would compete to see who obtains the most amount of money and who is able to sell more for a better profit
• There would be limited resources available such as bragging rights and the accessibility of drugs as the gangs would want to be the best and have a reputation within the gang community so each gang would cause violence to gain access of these rights and that they are able to access large quantities of drugs

Question 6

Exam question structure

Answer 6

• 50% AO1: describe why gang violence is an issue, support with statistics
• 50% AO2: apply 2 psychological theories to explain why this issue exists
• AO1: explain the situation, describe what has happened. Remember to link it to a real-life situation (cite news articles, give statistics)
• AO1: describe the problem and explain why that is an issue for society
• AO2: link it to a psychological theory and how it explains the situations
• AO2: link it to a psychological theory and how it explains the situation