The Individual & the Group (DP IB Psychology)

To investigate the minimal groups paradigm and how it is relevant to social identity theory (SIT).

The boys were randomly assigned to groups and asked to assign money (virtual, not real) to members of either their ingroup or outgroup.

The boys tended to favour the ingroup members, choosing to go for a higher reward and to penalise the outgroup, thus maximising the profit/loss difference between the ingroup and the outgroup.

Ingroup favouritism can be manipulated via the minimal groups paradigm, suggesting that simply knowing that another (rival) group exists is enough to suggest the idea of 'us' and 'them'.

To investigate the ways in which prejudice and discrimination affect social identity.

Focus group interviews are group discussions where participants discuss a topic with the researcher recording the session.

The researcher conducted focus group interviews with teenagers from Brixton and interviews with head teachers to gain insights into the cultural backgrounds of the students.

The researcher collected qualitative data under three main headings:

• Constructing social identities through representations

• The psychological violence of stigmatising representations

• Social relationships and institutional cultures in empowerment.

Social identity can be hugely affected by the prejudiced attitudes of individuals and of society as a whole.

False.

Howarth's (2002) study used focus group interviews and interviews with head teachers.

SCT stands for social cognitive theory.

Social cognitive theory (SCT) was developed by Bandura (1986) as a broader explanation of social learning theory (SLT), which is based on observational learning.

Observational learning is learning that takes place in a social context, where individuals learn by observing others.

ARRM stands for Attention-Retention-Reproduction-Motivation, which are the constituent parts of observational learning.

Self-efficacy is the belief that an individual has autonomy over their actions and that a person's destiny is not wholly dependent on their environment.

Reciprocal determinism is the concept that interactions between the individual, their social environment, and the behaviour itself work together holistically to determine behavioural outcomes.

b.

An example of vicarious reinforcement is a child who observes another child being rewarded for tidying the classroom, and copying the same behaviour.

False.

Social cognitive theory and social identity theory are completely separate theories and are not interchangeable.

True.

Self-efficacy will work more successfully if the environmental conditions are in place to aid it. Favourable environmental conditions allow for more successful self-efficacy.

Role models are the key individuals, particularly parents and other significant people, whose behaviours are observed and learned by individuals, especially children.

To investigate observational learning in children when confronted with an aggressive adult role model.

Children observed either an aggressive or a non-aggressive adult model or no adult at all. They were then allowed to play with toys, including a Bobo doll, and their aggressive behaviour was measured.

Children in the aggressive condition produced more directly imitative acts of aggression towards the Bobo doll, and there was more same-sex imitation of aggressive behaviour. Boys showed more physical aggression than girls.

Aggression can be the result of observational learning experienced in one setting and carried over to a different setting.

To investigate self-efficacy (a key component of social cognitive theory) as a factor in quitting smoking.

Participants were randomly allocated to receive information on the negative outcomes of smoking (condition 1); self-efficacy-enhancing information (condition 2), or to both 1 and 2 (the control condition).

The self-efficacy-enhancing information condition had the highest number of participants who had been 'clean' for 7 days and who had attempted to quit in the last 12 weeks.

Self-efficacy may be a key factor in helping people to quit smoking; simply warning people of the dangers of smoking does not appear to be as effective.

c) The researchers are unable to control all extraneous variables in a field experiment.

A stereotype comprises a set of characteristics attributed to social and cultural groups based on broad, often biased information about that group.

Illusory Correlation is a cognitive bias which assumes a relationship between two variables that does not exist or is based on stereotypical assumptions lacking evidence.

a) hair colour and IQ is the illusory correlation

True.

Stereotyping can lead to associations between groups and often negative characteristics, leading to prejudice and discrimination.

False.

Only illusory correlations which potentially lead to prejudice and discrimination are harmful.

The cognitive miser explanation suggests that in a complex world individuals use shortcuts like illusory correlation to understand it, saving cognitive energy.

Illusory correlation directly influences stereotype formation by ascribing negative characteristics to specific groups based on fixed and untested ideas about them.

Stereotype formation concerns the theories (e.g. illusory correlation) that explain how stereotypes develop; the effects of stereotyping concerns how the individual is affected by pre-existing stereotypes about them.

Stereotype threat occurs when an individual’s performance on a task is impaired due to the fear that preexisting stereotypes influence the way that other people judge them.

One possible effect of stereotype threat is that an individual may believe that their performance on a task will confirm negative stereotypes i.e. it acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

False.

Stereotype threat is when someone's performance is affected by the fear of being judged based on existing stereotypes, even if others are not actively stereotyping them at the time.

An example of stereotype threat is:

c) A woman parks her car badly when she has 3 male passengers - this is a stereotype threat as the woman is aware of the stereotype that 'women can't park' and this affects her performance.

Illusory correlation, which is the perception of a relationship between two variables when no such relationship exists.

True.

Hamilton & Gifford (1976) found that participants attributed more positive characteristics to the larger group.

A strength of quantitative data is:

c) Quantitative data is easy to compare and analyse.

False.

The participants were asked to perform an artificial task in controlled, lab conditions

Stereotype threat involves anxiety in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social group.

Spencer et al. (1999) investigated stereotype threat in relation to:

a) impaired maths performance in women

True.

Spencer et al. (1999) concluded that this was a result of stereotype threat.

One limitation of Spencer et al. (1999) is:

b) performance on the maths test could have been due to the participants succumbing to demand characteristics.

Ecological validity refers to the extent to which the findings of a research study are able to be generalised to real-life settings/behaviours.