Edexcel: Social Psychology - Content AJW



406082592583000TEACUP: Evaluating Social Impact TheoryIs the theory Testable…Think about the theory carefully, what hypotheses can we make based on this theory that we could test? Can you design a study where you manipulate an IV and test a DV to see whether the theory successfully predicts outcomes?What would the outcome of your study have to be for the theory to be supported?If you got a different outcome, could the theory still be right?If this is the case then the theory is not falsifiable; it is not impossible to demonstrate that it is incorrect and therefore cannot be considered scientific…. Is there any Evidence for…Milgram (1963): In our example of obedience, the strength or credibility of the authority figure can be altered in a variety of ways, taking the lab coat on and off, moving to a more rundown area etc. The immediacy was also altered in some of Milgram’s variations , i.e. having the teacher and learner in the same room, having the learner hold the learners hand down on the shock plate, giving orders by phone. Also he altered the number of confederate teachers who were involved and whether they were in agreement with the researcher or not to see how this affected obedience levels. Think, what does social impact theory claim?Do Milgram’s experiments support/refute any/all of these claims of “Social Impact Theory”Hofling (1966): Think about the doctor’s request to the nurses, how does this link with strength and immediacy?Sedikides and Jackson (1990): What does this study say regarding strength, immediacy and numbers of targets? Does it support Social impact theory?Alternative theories When you use another theory as part of an evaluation, it is ESSENTIAL that you don’t simply describe the other theory, you need to say how it is better or worse than the one you are evaluating. If alternative theories are not as successful for example at predicting research outcomes or explaining events in real life, then the theory being evaluated is strengthened! If other theories seem better than the one you are focusing, on this weakens the theory and you must state that in your evaluation. I have done a separate sheet to help you compare Agency theory and Social Impact Theory as you might be asked a bigger question on this. However, in this section I would like us to consider another theory that supposedly explains what people do when given a direct request/order by an authority figure:“One strength of social impact theory is that it accurately predicts research findings that other theories have failed to explain. For example, in Sedikides and Jackson (1990) the high-strength source elicited more compliance than the low-strength source. This is in direct contrast with the theory of Psychological Reactance (Brehm, 1966) which states that when people sense that their freedom of choice is threatened, restricted, or eliminated, they will be compelled to engage in behaviours that restore freedom. This theory suggests that, high-strength messages especially when made by high strength authority figures will lead to less compliance than low-strength messages, due to the apparent restriction of personal liberty and although it may explain some experimental findings, such as those presented by Pennebaker and Sanders (1976) who investigated compliance with anti-graffiti signs in public toilets, it seems that reactance theory does not explain behaviour in all situations, especially those where the authority figure is physically present or where there is a probability of his/her imminent return. The addition of immediacy in social impact theory is therefore a strength over reactance theory, which may predict behaviour well but only in some circumstances, and particularly, possibly for only certain individuals, with particular dispositions/personalities, e.g. high need for personal control.”Conflicting evidenceSedikes and Jackson (1990): Although this study seems to support some aspects of the theory which aspects are not well supported?Did any of Milgram or Hofling’s Pps buck the trend; does Social Impact Theory always predict outcomes?Unbiased…Does the theory explains the behaviour of all different groups in society, is it for example androcentric or ethnocentric?There is quite a lot of research evidence to support this theory but most of it has been conducted in the USA and often the older studies only used male Pps? Why is this a problem for a theory? What do we call it in psychology when a theorist assumes that their theory explains behaviour of wide swathes of society without bothering to test it and find out? B……………. B……………...Practical applicationsDoes this theory provide suggestions about how to help in real life situations, for example, how to get your message across most successfully or indeed how to avoid be influenced?Does the theory explain any real world events? Does it apply to every-day situations?Think, can the behaviour of death camp soldiers be explained by this theory, what about the behaviour of the Rwandans during the genocide? What about the people who killed themselves about Jonestown? ................
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