Contains summary notes for Unit-1 social psychology of edexcel As/ A level psychology and exam mark scheme points which clearly shows what AO1 and AO3 points to use when asked in exams. Has enough detail for an A*.
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1.1 Content
1.1.1 - Theories of Obedience, including agency theory & social impact theory:
What is obedience?
An individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is usually an authority figure.
What is agency theory?
The theory suggests that there are two states:
Agentic state: become an agent to someone else and give your responsibility to them.
Autonomous state: state of free will and take responsibility for their own actions.
—> Moral strain is where the individual may feel anxiety and uncomfortable but will still carry out the immoral act given as an order (they
will be in an agentic state).
What is social impact theory?
Bibb Latané (1981) proposed an alternative theory of obedience which focuses on the presence or actions of others.
Social impact theory is a model that explains how social forces can influence an individual. The theory proposes that the strength,
immediacy, and number of sources of social influence determine the amount of influence a person experiences in group settings
What are the three laws of behaviour?
1. Social forces
2. Psychosocial law
3. Divisions of impact
what are the three social forces?
Strength: determined by the status, authority or age of the source.
Immediacy: determined by the proximity or distance between the source and target as well as the presence of buffers that could be
barriers to the distance.
Numbers: refers to the number of sources exerting pressure on the target.
Latané suggests a mathematical equation to work out the Social Impact in any situation. This is i = f (SIN) where Strength (S),
Immediacy (I) and Numbers (N).
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, What is the psychosocial law?
The idea that the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people, and the rest of the sources generate less and less Social
Force.
The effect is like a lightbulb in a dark room. One lightbulb will have a dramatic effect, a second will improve the lighting conditions, but as
more lightbulbs are added, the effect will become less pronounced.
Berkowitz, Bickman and Milgram (1969) conducted a study that demonstrates this reduction in social impact. They got between 1 to 15
congregate on the street and crane their necks up. The video was analysed to find the number of passer-by s who stopped. They found that
although the increasing number of confederates craning their necks did increase, the number of passer-by imitating their actions was smaller
relative to the confederate group. The effect was levelled off.
What is the multiplication vs division of impact?
If all the force is directed at a single person, that puts a huge pressure on them to conform or obey but if the force is directed at two people,
they only experience half as much pressure each. If there are ten of them, they only feel one tenth of the pressure. This is known as diffusion
of responsibility - the more of you there are, the less personal responsibility each of you will feel.
This can also be known as the division effect - where the number of targets to be influenced divides the effect of the impact of the source.
Latane and Darley (1970) demonstrated the divisional effect in a number of studies on bystander behaviour. They found a lone person was
more likely to help someone in need compared to a group pf people.
What is the mathematical equation Latane suggested to work out the social impact in any situation?
This is i = f (SIN) where Strength (S), Immediacy (I) and Numbers (N).
What are the strengths of the social impact theory?
-The theory is reliable as it is set out so clearly and if the same measurements about groups and individuals are out into a formula, the same
predictions will emerge.
-The theory acknowledges the impact is affected by the number of people being influenced as much as by the number doing the influencing.
-The theory also acknowledges strength as a feature of groups, which includes their power of persuasion, as well as how much authority they
have, which suits the idea that people obey those in authority.
-The theory has useful predictive power using a mathematical formula, predictions can be made to help society control its members.
What are the weaknesses of the social impact theory?
-It is a static theory so it does not take into account the reciprocal effects of the individuals on thru social environment, alongside the effects
of others on them.
-The impact of others as so many factors like powers of persuasion, nearness, size of group so the such wealth of factors can not be reduced
to a mathematical formula.
-It can not explain why the change of setting affects obedience.
-Obedience is not about the influence of groups on behaviour and this theory only features of obedience that involves groups are addressed.
1.1.2 - Research into obedience, including Milgram’s research into obedience and three of his variation studies:
What is Milgram’s original study (1963)?
Aim: To see whether individuals would inflict harm on another innocent individual when given orders by an authority figure.
Procedure: He put out an advert looking for 40 males participants aged between 20-50 years who were paid $4.50 for just turning up. The
experiment took place in controlled Yale university setting. Through a rigged draw, the participant was always given the role of the teacher
and a confederate of Milgrams (Mr Wallace) was given the role of a learner. There was also another confederate (the experimenter) who was
dressed up in a grey lab coat (this was not milgram). The teacher (participant) witnesses the leaner being strapped to a chair with electrolytes.
The learner is given a list of word pairs to learn. The teacher asks the learner questions on them and if the learner gets them wrong, the
teacher has to administer shocks to the learner. The shocks go up from 15 volts to 450 volts in 45 volt intervals. A box recording of the
learner screaming in pain is played every time for each shock. When the teacher refused to administer shocks, the experimenter was to give a
series of verbal prods such as “the experiment requires you to continue.” …. “please continue”.
1.1 Content 2
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