PSYCHOLOGY WIZARD
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INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

The Social Approach in Psychology became influential in the 1950s and ‘60s. Social researchers began studying the situations people act in rather than dispositional factors like personality. To do this, they developed ingenious observations and carried out lab experiments to identify and manipulate social situations.

In the post-WWII years, obedience and prejudice were high on the agenda. This is because social researchers wanted to answer the questions, Why had the Holocaust happened? and, Could the Holocaust happen again?

Earlier notions that there was something inherently callous or servile in the German national character (an idea popularly known as the “The-Germans-Are-Different” Hypothesis) were unsatisfactory. The growing Civil Rights Movement drew attention to ongoing racism and discrimination in America and Europe too. Mindless obedience to orders and hostility to people seen as outsiders were increasingly viewed as symptoms of a ‘Fascist’ mentality and this mentality was seen as responsible for the rise of Nazism in Europe.

A different view was that situations, not personalities, created Fascistic behaviour.
Many Social Psychologists believed that if the causes of obedience and prejudice could be understood, their effects could be reduced. One day, fascism, racism and sexism might be abolished by psychology.

The Edexcel Specification expects you to be able to (AO1) know and understand, (AO2) apply, (AO3) analyse and evaluate the following:

SOCIAL THEORIES

  • Theories of obedience including Agency Theory and Social Impact Theory
  • Research into prejudice including Social Identity Theory and Realistic Conflict Theory
  • Individual differences in obedience and prejudice

SOCIAL KEY QUESTION

One key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than an as academic argument.
  • Suitable example: How can knowledge of Social Psychology be used to reduce prejudice in situations such as crowd behaviour and rioting?

SOCIAL STUDIES

  • Research into obedience including Milgram’s research and three of his variations (#7, #10 and #13)
  • Classic study: Sherif (1954/1961) Intergroup conflict and cooperation: the Robbers Cave Experiment.
  • One contemporary study: Burger (2009) Replicating Milgram: would people still obey today?

SOCIAL METHODS

The Specification also expects you to study self reports and quantitative/qualitative data as methodological issues but these will be detailed elsewhere

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PSYCHOLOGYWIZARD.NET
  • Home
  • Unit 1 FOUNDATIONS
    • Biological >
      • Adoption & Twin Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Gottesman & Shields AO1 AO3
        • Kety AO1 AO3
      • Aggression AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Evolutionary Psychology AO1 AO2 AO3
      • The Brain AO1 AO2 >
        • Drugs & the Brain AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Brendgen AO1 AO3
      • Development (Maturation) AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Freud's Psychodynamic Theory AO1 AO3 >
        • Aggression & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Development & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Individual Differences & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Raine AO1 AO3
      • Biological Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Cognitive >
      • Baddeley AO1 AO3
      • Multi Store Model AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Reconstructive Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Schmolck AO1 AO3
      • Tulving's Long Term Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Working Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Cognitive Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Learning >
      • Bandura AO1 >
        • Bandura AO3
      • Becker AO1 AO3
      • Classical Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Operant Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Pavlov AO1 AO3
      • Social Learning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Therapies for Phobias >
        • Flooding
        • Systematic Desensitisation
      • Watson & Rayner AO1 AO3
      • Learning Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Social >
      • Agency Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Burger AO1 AO3
      • Situational Factors AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Milgram AO1 >
        • Milgram AO3
      • Realistic Conflict Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Sherif AO1 >
        • Sherif AO3
      • Social Impact Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Identity Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Key Question AO1 AO2
  • Unit 2 APPLICATIONS
    • Clinical >
      • Depression AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatment AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Diagnosing Abnormality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Diagnostic Manuals AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Carlsson AO1 AO3
      • Kroenke AO1 AO3
      • HCPC Guidelines AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Rosenhan AO1 AO3
      • Schizophrenia AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatments AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Clinical Key Question AO1 AO2
      • Issues & Debates >
        • Social Control AO2 AO3
  • Evaluation
    • Ethics AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Individual Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brain Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Personality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Mental Health Differences AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Differences in Obedience & Prejudice AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Memory Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Loftus study AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Nature vs Nurture AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Scientific Status AO1 AO2
  • Methods
    • Animal Studies AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Case Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Bradshaw AO1 AO3
      • Scoville & Milner AO1 AO3
    • Content Analyses AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Method AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Variables AO1 AO2
    • Hypotheses AO1 AO2
    • Inferential Statistics AO1 AO2 >
      • Chi-Squared Test AO1 AO2
      • Mann-Whitney U Test AO1 AO2
      • Spearman's Rho AO1 AO2
      • Wilcoxon Test AO1 AO2
    • Longitudinal Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Quantitative Data & Analysis AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Research Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Sampling AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Self Report Method AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brown et al. AO1 AO3
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Resources