Social Psychology Practicle: social practical - does age affect obedience?

Question 1

what was your aim?

Answer 1

To investigate how age affects obedience

Alternative hypothesis - adult participants would demonstrate more obedient behaviour then the teens

Null hypothesis - adult participants would demonstrate less obedient behaviour then the teens

Question 2

what do was your procedure?

Answer 2

• 5 teens aged 16-19 (3 females, 2 males)
• 5 adults aged 35-50 (3 females, 2 males)
• opportunity sampling, I chose whoever was most convenient to me
• 2 closed questions, 3 open questions, 1 ranked scale question
• collected my data through a questionnaire that I handed out to specific people
• created the questionnaire and I made a list of the 5 teens and 5 adults I wanted to include in the experiment. I first sent the link to the questionnaire to the teens and recorded their data first then I sent to the link to the adults and then recorded their data

Question 3

what were the findings?

Answer 3

• mean is the most appropriate measure of central tendency as this data is more representative of all the data that is presented allowing for an easier understanding of the participants behaviour
• standard deviation is the most appropriate measure of dispersion to use with this data because takes into account all data values and is an easier number to work with when understanding human behaviour, it’s also more representative of the data
• bar charts are the most appropriate graph to use as it presents the data in a clearer and more understandable way where we are able to see if there is a similarity/differences between the teen/adults
• used thematic analysis as we can analyse qualitative data without losing its meaningfulness. Allows me to reduce large amounts of data into general patterns, trends and themes
• I found that many people follow with societal expectations while a very small amount of people follow what they believe and how they want to act instead of acting like everyone else

Question 4

what was the conclusion?

Answer 4

From my study we can conclude that age does affect obedience as the adults were seen to be much more obedient the the teens were

Question 5

Discussion

Answer 5

One strength of the study is the high level of mundane realism. The questionnaire included various mundane and regular tasks that participants would be included in such as being asked to give up their seat for an elderly person, which 80% of participants agreed to give up their seat while 20% of participants wouldn’t give their seat up. Therefore, this would allow us to identify peoples levels of obedience with more everyday tasks allowing for a more accurate view on obedience in terms of age.

However, one weakness of the study was the sampling bias. I had made a list of who I wanted my participants to be before handing out my questionnaire, I had selected 5 teens and 5 adults who I knew haven’t done psychology. Therefore, this would present less accurate data as I would have an idea as to how my participants would behave.

For the next time instead of me picking out my participant, I would use random sampling where I wouldn’t be the one choosing the participants, rather the participants being people I have no knowledge of so that my results are more valid

Question 6

Qualitative - conduct thematic analysis

First open question - why would/wouldn’t you agree to help you teacher/manager after work/school? (coding stage, categorising, key theme)

Answer 6

Would help:
- Coding = “they are my superior meaning I should listen to them, but also because I want to help them if its so important”
- Categorising = respecting authority
- Key theme = follow instructions based on the authority level

Wouldn’t help:
- Coding = “I have a very busy schedule and I don’t have much time after school”
- Categorising = lack of availability
- Key theme = not enough free time to help

Question 7

Qualitative - conduct thematic analysis

Second open question - what is the reason you are least likely or most likely to skip the event? (coding stage, categorising, key theme)

Answer 7

Least likely:
- Coding = “Don’t want to deal with the consequences of my actions”
- Categorising = fear of consequences
- Key theme = doesn’t want to face negative outcomes

Most likely:
- Coding = “If a lot of people aren’t going to do it, I might as well not do it”
- Categorising = social influence
- Key theme = actions bases of others

Question 8

Qualitative - conduct thematic analysis

First open question - why would you/wouldn’t you give up your seat for an elderly person? (coding stage, categorising, key theme)

Answer 8

Would:
- Coding = “They’re body would be in more pain then I would be in”
- Categorising = consideration for the elderly
- Key theme = Respecting the needs of an elderly person

Wouldn’t:
- Coding = “There would be more people to give up their seats, not just me”
- Categorising = shared responsibility
- Key theme = expecting others to also give up their seat

Question 9

Strengths and weakness of experiment

Answer 9

Strengths:
- Mundane realism
- e.g. giving up their seat for an elderly
person. (80% of participants agreed to
give up their seat, 20% of participants
did not want to give their seat up
- allowing to show levels of obedience on everyday tasks

Weakness:
- sampling bias
- made a list of who the participants were going to be
- selected the 5 teens and 5 adults by myself
- would cause for a less valid data set as I would know partially as to how participants would behave