HOW CAN KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BE USED TO REDUCE PREJUDICE IN SITUATIONS SUCH AS CROWD BEHAVIOUR OR RIOTING?”

Remember it’s a Key QUESTION. If the Examiner asks you what it is, don’t write “Prejudice”. “Prejudice” isn’t a question. Questions have question marks at the end and start with a word like “how”.
The exam may ask you to “summarise” your Key Question. This means giving some of the information below.

THE FEATURES OF CROWD BEHAVIOUR AND RIOTS

“Features” means facts about your Key Issue – what forms does it takes, what types are there? (You’re not talking any Psychology here. It’s general knowledge really.) Later you can explain the social psychology behind the formation of ingroups and outgroups.

Crowd behaviour means how people behave differently when in large groups. It is also known as “mob mentality” or “herd mentality”. It is believed to occur because people feel anonymous in crowds and lose their sense of identity.

Riots are when crowd behaviour involves lashing out at other people or property. Riots often express protest or a sense of grievance. The common types of riots include:

• Police riot: when the authorities use disproportionate force on civilians; this includes when the police attack peaceful protestors, causing them to fight back
• Prison riot: a concerted uprising by prisoners, either to express grievances or escape
• Race riot: a riot involving violence between two ethnic groups, usually a majority group attacking a minority
• Sports riot: a riot between fans of two teams, usually after a close defeat and almost always in the winning team’s city
• Urban riot: a riot in an inner city area, triggered by poor living conditions or unemployment

Rioters often hide their identity with masks or scarves, but as more and more people join the riot, the risk of being identified goes down. This creates a “vicious circle” and the riot spreads. Riots are often contained when the police are present in enough numbers to increase the risk of being arrested again.

RACIST CHELSEA FANS?

In February 2015, Chelsea fans attended a match in Paris against the French team Paris Saint-Germain. Before the match, there was a racist incident on the Paris Métro. Souleymane Sylla was repeatedly and violently pushed off the carriage as he tried to board the train.

The fans on the train blocked the door, made aggressive and insulting hand gestures and chanted, “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it” and “John Terry is racist and that’s the way we like it.” Chelsea captain John Terry had been cleared of racially abusing another player in 2013. The incident was filmed on a mobile phone by a passerby and also captured on CCTV.

Four fans were later identified, arrested and banned from attending football matches for 5 years. One of them lost his job as an accountant because of his involvement.

Back in England, Chelsea fans raised money for Mr Sylla to come to London and watch a match. Chelsea FC stated: “We certainly hope he’ll take us up on it so he can meet real Chelsea fans and experience the true spirit of the club.”

Describing this incident would be good if you can go on to explain the social psychology behind the fans' behaviour and the Club’s response.

THE FERGUSON UNREST

In August 2014, an African-American youth, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Although Brown had allegedly been involved in a robbery, many people felt that the US police were too willing to use force against African American suspects.

A shrine of flowers was set up and a peaceful protest gathered. Tensions increased when a police dog urinated on the fowers and a police vehicle crushed the shrine. 150 riot police arrived with tear gas but the rioters destroyed a dozen businesses and set two on fire.

Riots continued for the rest of the week. Many people complained that the police used military-style tactics against the crowds, some of whom claimed to be using their right to protest against police brutality. Eventually, an African-American police chief Ron Johnson was put in charge. Johnson surprised people by  marching alongside protesters in a peaceful gathering.

At the funeral of Michael Brown, the family called for calm. Violence started up again when the prison officer who shot Brown was acquitted by a court and again on the anniversary of the shooting.

According to The Washington Post, Ferguson is a community where two-thirds of the population are black, but in the Ferguson Police Department 48 of the 53 officers are white. It was reported in court that Ferguson police were “twice as likely to arrest African Americans during traffic stops as they were whites” and this had created suspicion and hostility towards the police.

APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO THE KEY QUESTION
AO2

Any question on your Key Question will be assessing you on AO2 (Application of Concepts and Ideas) so as well as telling the Examiner about prejudice and how it can be tackled, you need to explain the psychology behind these ideas.

• You might get a question in two parts: one part asking you to summarise your Key Question and then another part asking you to use your psychological knowledge (the “apply” command from AO2).
• Or you might get one question which asks you to explain and apply psychology to your Key Question: in this case, it’s a good idea to write the answer in two “halves”, getting all the explanation out of the way then dealing with the AO2 application.

THE FEATURES OF CROWD BEHAVIOUR & RIOTS

“Mob mentality” can be explained by Social Identity Theory. When people join a large crowd, they change their social identity because they start to see the crowd as their new ingroup and everyone else as an outgroup. This makes them less respectful of property and the law, because these are viewed as outgroup products.

A different explanation might be Realistic Conflict Theory, because the crowd might really be in competition of scarce resources with another group. This is more likely in a race riot or an urban riot.

Another explanation might be Agency Theory, because their may be authority figures organising the crowd. There might be symbols of authority, like placards and slogans. The crowd might feel moral strain about using violence, but by entering an Agentic State, they feel the organisers are responsible, not them.

Social Impact Theory would explain why the police lose control over a riot when the numbers get too large because of division of impact. If the police increase their presence, this restores their social impact.

RACIST CHELSEA FANS?

The Chelsea fans saw themselves as an ingroup. Social identification meant they all joined in the chanting. Social comparison meant they saw Mr Sylla as an outgroup member, partly because he was French and their team was playing a French team but also because he was black and they were all white.

Agency Theory might also explain the racist behaviour, because Chelsea captain John Terry was perceived (by these fans) to have racist views. If the fans were in an Agentic State, they might have behaved in a racist way in obedience to John Terry.

Four fans were singled out a ringleaders and arrested. Social Impact Theory would explain how these men might have influenced the rest. In a crowded subway train, they would have been very close to each other and had a lot of social impact on the fans surrounding them. As fellow fans, they would have had what French & Raven call “referent authority”.

By inviting Mr Sylla to a Chelsea match, home fans are trying to bring him into their ingroup. This will make Mr Sylla feel less hurt and angry, because he will no longer see Chelsea fans or the English as an outgroup. It may also lessen racism in future, because the fans will see Black French people like Mr Sylla as “Chelsea fans” too and part of their ingroup. It is also an example of working together towards what Sherif calls a "superordinate goal".

THE FERGUSON UNREST

This was both a police riot and a race riot. The black community of Ferguson sees the white Ferguson PD as an outgroup and the police officers see the black community the same way. Social comparison means they will interpret each other’s behaviour in the worst way: the crowds will see the destruction of the shrine as a deliberate insult (it may have been accidental) and the police will see the protesting as criminal behaviour (it may have been peaceful).

There is also an explanation from Realistic Conflict Theory, because the black community is poor but numerous, whereas the white community is wealthy but has the police on its side. The two groups are in competition for control of Ferguson.

Duckitt’s theory of “domination of the outgroup by the ingroup” applies here, because many commentators (including President Obama) criticised the police. This justified the protesters in what they were doing and explains why a new police officer was put in charge.

When Ron Johnson marched alongside the protesters, he was joining their ingroup and making his police seem less of an outgroup. This made him more of an authority figure for the crowds, giving him what French & Raven call referent power as well as legitimate power and coercive power. The family of Michael Brown also had referent power when they called for peace at the funeral.

If the Ferguson PD can recruit more African American officers, the black community may see them as less of an outgroup with more referent power. However, Realistic Conflict Theory would say this unrest won’t stop until the competition between different ethnic groups in America is reduced.

EXEMPLAR ESSAY
How to write a 8-mark answer

Summarise the key question you have studied from Social Psychology and apply psycology to explain it. (8 marks)

• A 8-mark “apply” question awards 4 marks for summarising and 4 marks for AO2 (Apply). You need a conclusion to get a mark in the top band (7-8 marks)
  

The Key Question
My Key Question was “How can Social Psychology be used to reduce prejudice in situations such as crowd behaviour or rioting?”

Summary
Crowd behaviour or “mob mentality” occurs when people behave differently in large groups. It can lead to violence and vandalism. This is called rioting.
One example of crowd behaviour is the racist incident involving Chelsea fans in the Paris subway in 2015. The fans refused to let Mr Sylla board a train and chanted racist chants.
Chelsea FC apologised to Mr Sylla. Other fans raised money for him to come to London and see “the true spirit of the club.” The four ringleaders were banned from matches.
An example of rioting would be the Ferguson riots of 2014. When Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer, there was a protest about racist police tactics that turned into a riot that lasted for days.

Application
Social Identity Theory explains crowd behaviour because the people see the crowd as their ingroup but anyone else is viewed as an outgroup and shown less respect, which may lead to vandalism or violence.
The Chelsea fans saw Mr Sylla as an outgroup because he was French and black. Social Identification meant they joined in chanting together and Social Comparison meant they pushed him off the train.
By inviting Mr Sylla to London, Chelsea fans are including him in their ingroup. This might make him feel better about tem and reduce racist incidents in future.
The Ferguson riots might be because of the racial composition of the Ferguson PD, which is mostly white, whereas Ferguson is mostly black. This leads each group to treat the other badly, which is why the police overreacted and the crowd turned violent.

Conclusion
SIT suggests we can reduce prejudice by encouraging people to view others as members of their ingroup. However, Realistic Conflict Theory would say the Ferguson unrest won’t stop so long as African Americans have less access to resources like wealth or jobs or protection by the law.

• Notice that for a 8-mark answer you don’t have to include everything about crowd behaviour. I haven’t mentioned the other types of riots or the precise details of the Ferguson unrest. I haven’t mentioned the examples of Chelsea chanting. I haven’t described any theories of obedience. But it is a balanced answer - half description, half application.