AS psychology

social approach 

assumption-looks at social interation and the phenomena of social behaviour. it looks at the behaviour of an ondividual in a social context. 

strengths 

• it tells us that others effect our behaviour. how we think and how we feel. 
• shows us that others and situations can effect us differently. according to certain factor such as, whether a person is an authority figure. 

weaknesses 

• ignores the role of free-will in behaviours, thoughts and feelings.
• ignores the role of biology in shaping our behaviour. 

Milgram 

Participants

• recruited by newspaper advert and direct mail. were told it was a study of memory. 
• 40 males between 20 and 50. from the new haven area. range of professions.
• were given a payment $4.50 for participation-told would be given it for coming regardless of what happened. 

Preparation 

• created a fake generator: had 30 switches- marked from 15v to 450v.
• participant drew paper from hat - rigged so always teacher.
• victim played by accountant , experimenter played by biology teacher stern n emotionless.
• participant given 45v shock to show it was real. then seen the learner strapped into 'electric chair'. then teacher told it was impossible to escape and paste applied to stop burns n blisters. 
• participant tests the learner-  teacher reads out a word then 4 other words and the learner has to give the one in the 4 that matches the first word. if answer was wrong they were shocked. of answer correct the teacher would move on to next question. 

Milgram - part 2 

Procedure 

• told if they didn't answer within 5-10 seconds it would be considered wrong and they got a shock.
• prods were used to get a participant to carry on-always in sequence ... e.g. we require you to carry on. 
• the experiment ended when they walked out or got to 450v.
• remote victim response- no vocal response till 300v. after this the learner pounded on the wall. 
• after a while learners answers no longer appeared on the panel and most turned to experimenter for guidance. 

Results 

• 65% of participants went all the way to 450v.
• only 9 stopped at 315v.
• participants showed signs of extreme tension; sweating, trembling, biting their lips, laughing nervously and smiling weirdly. some had full on seizures. 

Piliavin 

Aim- to find if diffusion of responsibility does apply in all situations and other factors that might influence helping behavior.

Participants

• passengers that happened to be on the train in the 2 months it was carried out between 59th and 125th street on weekdays between 11 and 3. these were nearly 4500 men and women.

Procedure 

• each trial lasted 7 and a half minutes. 
• team consisted of four students: 2 girls observers, 1 boy confederate(role-model) and 1 boy victim.
• 2 experimental conditions- cane condition and drunk condition.
• 70 seconds after train started the victim would stumble and fall.
• if no help is offered confederate would help either after 70 or 150 seconds- to see if this affected the behavior of the other passengers. 
• observer recorded time taken for passengers to help and their comments they made.

Piliavin -part 2

Results

• 'cane' victim received spontaneous help 95% of the time compared to 50% for the 'drunk' victim. 
• 24% of 'drunk' victims were helped before the confederate came compared to 91% of 'cane' victims helped before confederate.
• helping shown above was the same for white and black victims.
• 90% of spontaneous helpers were males.
• evidence of same-race helping. 
• no evidence of diffusion of responsibility

Conclusion

• two factor model: factor 1- emergency situation created arousal in bystander that reduced by helping; factor 2- cost-reward calculation people weigh up if the cost of helping has a big enough reward.
• model suggests that the situation of victim determines whether we help.  

Reicher and Haslam 

Aims

• to gain data on the interactions between groups with unequal power
• to look at what conditions make individuals .. 1) identify with their group 2) accept or challenge inequalities between groups
• to examine the role of social, organisational and clinical factors (e.g. mood) in group behaviour
• to develop practical and ethical guidelines for examining social psychological issues such as conformity in large-scale studies 

Participants 

• initially 332 applied but reduced to 15 after a screening process 
• psychometric tests: social variables racism etc. , clinical variables such as depression. 
• clinical psychological analysis -clinical psychologists spent a weekend with applicants.
• medical and character references- police check, not people that had authority in their normal jobs.

unsuitable candidates were withdrawn at this stage.

Reicher and haslam- part

Procedure