The power of the situation and dehumanizing labels

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Who is the psychologist behind the theory?
Zimbardo
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What does the theory suggest is the root cause of aggression?
the situation that people find themselves in and institutional factors.
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What are two institutional factors that can lead to aggression?
peer pressure and external constraints.
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When are people more likely to be arggressive to others?
when they are labelled or dehumanised.
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What is an example of labelling within an institution?
having numbers in prisons instead of names
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What is a key IDA point for this theory?
Determinism
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Explain the key IDA point
it presumes that aggression will be caused solely by the situation the person is in. it ignores the free will of the individual and claims they are a victim of their environmental circumstances. this reduces the persons sense of responsibility/blame
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What did research by Zimbardo find?
ppts in the role of the guards became verbally aggressive and so abusive towards the prisoners that the study was cut short.
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How does the research by Zimbardo support the theory?
it shows that the behaviour of the guards was a result of the situational factors, the environment and peer pressure. also that where people are labelled or dehumanised they become a target of aggression.
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What was another piece of supporting research?
Bandura - students (milgram replication)
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What did research by Bandura find?
the ppts who were subjected to derogatory language shocked the confederate at a higher voltage than the control group.
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How does the research by Bandura support the theory?
it demonstrates that in situations when people are dehumanised the potential for aggressive behaviour increases. and supports the idea that aggression relies on situational factors and not peoples predispositions.
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What is one good thing about both of the studies? (AO3)
they are both lab-based and therefore carefully controlled and reliable.
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What are the good and bad things about Zimbardo's research? (AO3)
it lacks ecological validity as they are not realistic situations, lack mundane realism. however the ppts did believe in the set up of the experiment and so the study had experimental realism.
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What are some practical applications of the theory? (wider evalutaion)
it could help regards training prison guards and the deisign and layout of prisons/institutions. avoid over-crowding to reduce peer pressure and use prisoners names instead of number to reduce labelling.
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Card 2

Front

What does the theory suggest is the root cause of aggression?

Back

the situation that people find themselves in and institutional factors.

Card 3

Front

What are two institutional factors that can lead to aggression?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

When are people more likely to be arggressive to others?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is an example of labelling within an institution?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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