topic 5 - Issues and Debates : Social and cultural issues in psych Flashcards
what is a social issue?
a social problem or conflict which affects a community of people
what does “society” mean?
refers to a group of people in a community
what is the most widely researched social issue?
the Nazi regime in Germany during WW2, anti-semitism was a social issue that involved prejudice, discrimination and persecution of the Jewish population.
what is a modern day social issue?
rioting is seen as a social issue because it involves members of a social group.
how does obedience help us understand social issues?
Milgrams research into obedience helps us understand the atrocities committed against Jews because their behaviour could partly be explained by high levels of obedience towards authority figures. Milgram helped us understand that the German soldiers were no different to anyone else but that the situation which they found themselves in determined their behaviour.
how does conformity help us understand social issues?
in august 2011, riots occurred in London as a reaction to a police shooting of Mark Duggan. It quickly escalated into other parts of England. Informational social influence helps us understand how people were unsure how to respond to the shooting and looked to others for information on how to behave. In a crowd, they would observe other members being hostile, causing damage and looting and that in turn internalises the norms of the group.
Normative social influence can also explain that members of the crowd may have felt the need to fit in so they joined in with the rioting.
how does the bystander effect help us understand social issues?
It helps to explain how german citizens could have failed to help Jewish people being persecuted during the Second World War because many other German people were not helping, which means that they wouldn’t help either
Another example could be that they may have decided not to intervene because they diffused the responsibility onto others. There was a large german population during that time and people may have believed that other people could do it so they didn’t have to.
Pluralistic ignorance could have also occurred during this time. Many german people may have not been able to comprehend the level of persecution which the Jews experienced. Also it is possible that they were not given the proper information as the Jews were taken to concentration camps to be exterminated but the population may have been given the information that they were prisoners and that was their prison.
Cost of helping could have also been a factor when helping the Jews. German citizens may have regarded the situation at too high of a cost or risk to themselves to help the Jews and they could possibly receive punishment such as imprisonment or execution for helping the Jews.
how does deindividuation help us understand social issues?
Zimbardo et al’s prison experiment helped explained and showed that our behaviour can change when we lose our personal identity (deindividuation). Deindividuation can help explain the behaviours of the german soldiers during WW2 as they wore uniforms which made them anonymised as individuals. Research demonstrated that we become more aggressive and hostile when we loose our personal identity which may explain the soldiers’ aggression towards Jews.
We also know that larger groups are more likely to become deindividuated and therefore more aggressive if the group norms are anti-social.
what does culture refer to?
this refers to a set of traditions, beliefs and values shared by a group of people.
what does ‘individualistic culture’ mean or refer to ?
this is a typically Western culture which emphasizes independence and individuality
what does ‘collectivistic cultures’ mean or refer to ?
this is a typically Eastern culture which emphasizes cooperation and group membership
how can obedience be explained through cultures?
individualistic cultures are less likely to be obedient as this cultures stresses the role of independence and individuality, therefore, they are less likely to follow orders from an authority figure.
collectivistic cultures are more likely to be obedient as this culture stresses the importance of respect for authority, cooperation and membership in a group.
Shanab and Yahya (1977) replicated Milgrams experiment in Jordan which is a collectivistic culture and found that 73% of participants gave the maximum level os shock. This evidence suggests that collectivistic cultures are more obedient, however, the participants were aged 6 to 16 years old so it may suggest that children are more obedient. Counter argument to this may be that children are taught and brought up by values which their parents teach them, therefore, it would be a hypocrisy for parents to go against their own values which they make their children abide by.
how can deindividuation be explained through cultures?
deindividuation is likely to occur across all cultures equally and the outcome of deindividuation whether peaceful or aggressive are dependent on the norms that are established within a group.
An example, warriors in a tribal culture use face paint to disguise themselves and as preparation for warfare. The face paint deindividuated them to be more aggressive.
how can bystander effect be explained through cultures?
culture differences in bystander behaviour are likely.
Individualistic cultures do not form close social bonds within groups as there is no need to cooperate or work with others, this may result in an indifference towards others suffering and more self-protecting behaviour.
Collectivistic cultures have a strong group membership and cooperation, therefore, people in that type of culture are strongly motivated to help members of their groups such as their family, peers or people that they know, however, they are less likely to help those they do not see as belonging to their group.
This in group favouritism was demonstrated in Piliavin et al’s (1969) subway study, where it was found that there was a higher incidence of same-race helping particularly when the victim was perceived as drunk, meaning the cost of helping was at its highest.
