Studies for Paper 3 Flashcards
Tyerman and Spencer - Sherif (1961)
argue that as the scouts were familiar with one another, their findings represent a more plausible outcome of competition, thus is more valid and generalisable than the Robber’s Cave experiment. However, the Tyerman and Spencer study did differ from Sherif in several important respects: the competition did not involve direct contact between the scout patrols, nor were trophies offered, which may explain the lack of competitive hostility between the groups.
Galton - socially sensitive research
their work in inheritance and IQ suggested that people are born either intelligent or not and that unintelligent people should have fewer children
Raine et al (1997) - socially sensitive research
has proven to be controversial as it went against the prevailing view at the time that crime was the result of social and environmental factors imposed upon the person, such as poor nurturing in childhood, rather than the result of individual differences in biology. The implications of this are that no amount of spending on improving social factors will change the behaviour of some individuals. However, although the brain scans of some of the participants in Raine’s study did show differences in areas of the brain associated with impulse control, these same participants also often had traumatic, dysfunctional childhoods, suggesting that biological and environmental factors are inextricably linked. Their dysfunctional, abusive nurturing may have affected how their brains developed
Signorielli (1989) - socially sensitive research
found that 72% of characters with a mental illness depicted in prime-time TV were violent. Other studies found them to be unemployable, or if employed, failing at work
Malgady et al (1987) - socially sensitive research
looked at cultural and language biases in the diagnosis of Hispanics. In Puerto Rican culture, believing that evil spirits can possess a person does not mean the person with that belief is schizophrenic, because there is a general belief in that culture that people are surrounded by invisible spirits. This is an alien and strange concept for many Western Europeans
Guardia et al (2012) - socially sensitive research
studied anorexia and asked patients to compare their body size to that of another person. As a common symptom of anorexia is low self-esteem, asking participants to compare their body size to others may have further harmed their vision of themselves having a negative impact on self-esteem
Bradbury and Williams (2013) - socially sensitive research
Diversity within the jury pool, or lack of it, is likely to have an impact on jury decision making – this clearly has implications for the voir dire process in US. Black defendants are more likely to be convicted if the percentage of other ethnicity jurors is higher than the percentage of black jurors – the selection process for jurors is therefore critical for black defendants; the selection process for jurors can bias the decision of a jury – the judiciary needs to be aware of this to try & mitigate this. The findings that black defendants are more likely to convicted of drug crimes than of violence or property crimes, irrespective of the racial characteristics of the jury, is important for the criminal justice system.
Skinner - socially sensitive research
believed that human behaviour could be manipulated through conditioning and reinforcement mechanisms to create a better society, i.e., as people are largely governed by environmental forces and are malleable, the right kind of conditioning and reinforcement could produce behaviours that are more pro-social. This is quite a deterministic, paternalistic attitude and implies denying people free will, even if it is for ‘good’ intentions.
Karlins et al (1969) - socially sensitive research
Americans were mostly seen as materialistic whereas Germans were typically regarded as hardworking. West Indians were seen as musical and Chinese as loyal to family
Adorno - socially sensitive research
argued that the Authoritarian personality personality possessed specific traits or characteristics that meant they were more likely to be hostile towards people of a different ethnicity, social class or group, age, sexuality or other minority category
Altemeyer (1981) - socially sensitive research
refined the concept of authoritarian personality, instead referring to right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). According to Altemeyer, people with high RWA scores have 3 important personality traits that predispose them to obedience: conventionalism - an adherence to conventional norms and values, authoritarian aggression - aggressive feelings towards people who violate these norms, and authoritarian submission - uncritical submission to perceived legitimate authority
