Social Psychology
What is the difference between primary and secondary socialisation?
Primary socialisation occurs through early influences such as family; secondary socialisation occurs through wider influences such as school, peers and media.
What is prosocial behaviour?
Behaviour intended to benefit another person, such as helping, sharing or comforting.
What is proximity as a factor in attraction?
Physical or social closeness that increases opportunities for people to interact and become familiar with each other.
What are the three components of an attitude in the tri-component model?
Cognitive (beliefs), affective (feelings) and behavioural (actions or behavioural intentions).
What is culture in a psychological context?
Shared behaviours, beliefs and values that influence how people think, feel and behave.
What is conformity, and which researcher is associated with the famous line-judgement experiments?
Conformity is changing behaviour or responses to align with a group. Solomon Asch investigated conformity in 1955.
What is diffusion of responsibility, and how can it affect helping behaviour?
People feel less personally responsible for helping when others are present, potentially reducing the likelihood that any one person intervenes.
What is the reciprocity principle in attraction?
People are more likely to feel attracted to someone when they believe that person likes or values them in return.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice is a preconceived attitude or judgement about a person based on their group membership. Discrimination is unfair or differential behaviour towards a person because of their group membership.
What is the difference between individualist and collectivist cultures?
Individualist cultures tend to emphasise personal autonomy and individual goals, whereas collectivist cultures tend to emphasise group membership, interdependence and shared goals. These are broad tendencies, not rules for every individual.
What is the difference between conformity and obedience?
Conformity involves aligning with group expectations, whereas obedience involves following a direct instruction or command from an authority figure.
Identify two personal characteristics that can increase prosocial behaviour.
Any two of empathy, positive mood, competence or altruism.
How does self-disclosure help develop relationships?
Sharing personal information can build trust, intimacy and understanding between people.
A student believes smoking is harmful but continues smoking. They feel uncomfortable about this contradiction. Which theory explains this discomfort?
Cognitive dissonance theory. The inconsistency between beliefs and behaviour creates psychological discomfort, motivating the person to reduce the inconsistency
According to McMillan and Chavis's (1986) sense-of-community theory, name two of the four elements that contribute to a sense of community.
Any two of: membership; influence; integration and fulfilment of needs; shared emotional connection.
In Milgram's obedience research, what did the experiment investigate, and what was a major ethical concern?
It investigated willingness to obey an authority figure by administering what participants believed were electric shocks. Ethical concerns included psychological distress, deception and the pressure placed on participants to continue.
According to the General Aggression Model, how could repeated provocation increase the likelihood of aggression?
Provocation can influence a person's internal state through thoughts, emotions and physiological arousal. These influence appraisal and decision-making, potentially increasing aggressive responses. Repeated episodes can affect later interactions.
Name two social or cognitive factors that can explain why two classmates develop a close friendship.
Any two of proximity, reciprocity, similarity and self-disclosure, with an explanation of how each factor contributes to attraction.
A student sees a classmate arrive late and concludes that the classmate is lazy, without considering that their bus may have broken down. Identify the attribution error.
Fundamental attribution error (FAE). The observer overemphasises a dispositional explanation, such as personality, and underestimates situational factors.
What is the difference between assimilation and marginalisation during acculturation?
Assimilation involves adopting the dominant culture while relinquishing much of one's heritage culture. Marginalisation involves limited connection to both the heritage culture and the wider dominant culture.
Explain how status, roles and power influenced behaviour in Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's 1973 Stanford Prison Experiment.
Participants assigned guard and prisoner roles displayed behaviours associated with their positions. The study illustrates how roles, perceived status and power can influence behaviour. Its findings must be considered alongside methodological and ethical criticisms, including demand characteristics and researchers' influence.
A student sees someone being bullied but does not intervene because several other students are watching. Apply two psychological concepts to explain this behaviour.
Diffusion of responsibility may reduce the student's sense of personal obligation. Audience inhibition may also cause the student to fear embarrassment or negative judgement if they intervene.
A person first privately questions their relationship, then discusses the problems with their partner, and later tells friends the relationship has ended. Identify the first three relevant phases of Rollie and Duck's model.
Intrapsychic — privately reflecting on relationship problems.
Dyadic — discussing the problems with the partner.
Social — communicating the breakdown to others.
A student believes their sports team is superior to other teams. They focus on their own team's successes and dismiss its failures, while remembering rival teams' mistakes. Apply social identity theory and one cognitive bias to explain this behaviour.
Social identity theory explains how categorisation into groups, identification with an in-group and comparison with out-groups can support a positive social identity. Self-serving bias may explain attributing the in-group's successes to positive qualities while excusing its failures. Confirmation bias may also apply if the student selectively notices evidence that supports their existing beliefs.
A school wants to reduce prejudice between students from different cultural groups. Describe two conditions that could make intergroup contact more effective.
Any two of the following, explained in context:
Equal status between groups during the interaction.
Cooperation towards a shared, superordinate goal.
Mutual interdependence, where groups need each other to succeed.
Sustained contact over time.