The History of Social Psychology - Suggestion & Situation

Question 1

How did Franz Mesmer contribute to Psychology?

Answer 1

Mesmerism.

Later found to be a fraud.

Question 2

How did Hippolyte Bernheim contribute to Social Psychology?

Answer 2

Leader of the Nancy school.

Studied individual and group differences in suggestibility.

Question 3

Name some of the earliest theories of the ‘dangerous suggestible crowd’.

Answer 3

Eugenic influence - race suicide (E. A. Ross).
Crowd behaviour is an unconscious reaction to the leader as ‘father’ (Freud).
The Crowd by Gustave LeBon.
Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler) - later analysed for propaganda.

Question 4

What did Floyd & Gordon Allport develop together?

Answer 4

Developed individual measures of personality traits. Focussed more on the individual instead of the group aspect.
Floyd disagreed with group effects.
Idea of the social as the individual constructs it.

Question 5

Which school was Kurt Lewin a part of?

Answer 5

Gestalt school in Berlin.

Question 6

Briefly explain Lewin’s field theory.

Answer 6

This was the idea that behaviour is a function of a person in an environment B = f(P, E).
Behaviour is dynamic and emergent.
The environment that matters is the environment as the person perceives it.
The person behaves in the context of the ‘whole’ of the environment.

Question 7

Briefly explain Lewin’s influence on post-war Psychology.

Answer 7

Action research.
Applied research into ethnic housing discrimination.
Scientific Social Psychology view.
Believed in mathematical theories.

Question 8

Briefly explain the leadership experiment and its results.

Answer 8

Young boys were split into autocratic, democratic or laissez-faire conditions.
The democratic group was the happiest and most successful.
Important study as it showed us how groups can be manipulated experimentally.

Question 9

What was one of the primary areas of interest to study after WW2?

Answer 9

Prejudice.
Allport - The Contact Hypothesis.
Kenneth & Mamie Clark - precedent for amicus briefs on the nature of prejudice.

Question 10

Briefly explain the results of Sherif’s The Autokinetic Effect (1935) study.

Answer 10

Study of social norms.
A light was moving and participants had to judge its distance and direction.
Participants in the group condition vs the individual condition were influenced by others’ judgements.
Shows the importance of group influence and social norms.
Gestalt influence - the whole of the group shapes the individual parts.

Question 11

Which Psychologists did Sherif’s study contradict?

Answer 11

Floyd & Gordon Allport.

Question 12

Briefly explain the results of Asch’s study.

Answer 12

Conducted a study where participants had to say whether lines were the same length or different lengths.
Many participants were influenced by group effects but some individuals resisted the social effects.

Question 13

Which Psychologist conducted studies into Obedience?

Answer 13

Milgram. (Everyone should know this one pretty well so I won’t ask anymore on it!).

Question 14

Define Cognitive Dissonance.

Answer 14

This is an unpleasant state of arousal that causes attitude and behaviour chance.

Question 15

Briefly explain Festinger’s study into Cognitive Dissonance (1959).

Answer 15

The insufficient justification experiment.
Participants were asked to sell how good a study was. There was a 1 or 20 dollar reward (IV).
Results showed that participants liked the experiment more in the 1 dollar condition.

Question 16

What would a Behaviourist predict the results of the insufficient justification experiment to be?

Answer 16

A Behaviourist would say that due to greater reinforcement, participants in the 20 dollar condition would rate the study higher (this is wrong!).

Question 17

How would Festinger explain the results of the insufficient justification experiment?

Answer 17

Participants in the 1 dollar condition changed their attitudes to mitigate Cognitive Dissonance.

Question 18

What decade did the crisis of Social Psychology occur in?

Answer 18

1960s.

Question 19

Name some of the main issues in Social Psychology when the crisis occurred.

Answer 19

Ethical, political issues (deception, protection issues).
Validity of results (demand characteristics, experimenter effect issues).
Are experiments relevant?

Question 20

What happened to Social Psychology in the 1970s?

Answer 20

It regrouped under the influence of Cognitive Psychology.

Attributional bias studies in the USA, social identity studies in the UK.

Question 21

How did Henri Tajfel contribute to Social Psychology?

Answer 21

Minimal groups experiment - group identity needs to be preserved.

Question 22

The UK replicated classical situationist studies. What were the results of this?

Answer 22

It was found that the USA underestimates the importance of social identity.
For example, the Milgram study was found to be more about social identity than situationalism (Reicher & Haslam).