Core studies

Social area:

Assumptions:

• Group behaviour or the presence of others can influence individual behaviour, thought processes, and information.
• The social context of the surrounding environment can influence individual behaviour thought processes and emotions - behaviour will change depending on the social context of the situation.
• Looks for the explanations of behaviour involving social communication, social relationships and the influence of other people or the environment/situation of the individual.

Methods used: 

• Field experiments (mainly)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity
• Practical applications - useful in understanding human behaviour and thought processes
• Deception - deceives participants so that true data can be collected
• Low ethnocentrism - collects data from a variety of different cultures

Weaknesses:

• Unscientific - use field experiments - true cause and effect cannot be established
• Reductionist - Looks at only the situation participants are in
• Deterministic - situation outside of the individual's control
• Socially sensitive

Milgram:

Milgram's aim was to investigate the level of obedience to an authority figure even if the authority is unjust. The sample he collected was through a self-selected sample through newspaper ads, 40 men between the ages of 20-50 from New Haven were used and paid $4.50. The participant entered Yale University (a prestigious University in America) and was asked to draw straws with the "learner". The "experimenter" (an actor in…