Agency Theory of Obedience - Unit 1

Obedience is following orders from an authoritive figure.

Says there are two states:

Agentic State – Where we give up our free will to follow the orders of others. In this state we are working to benefit society. (Believes we are socialised into an agentic state from a young age such as children obeying their parents)

Autonomous State – Where we are free thinking and are able to make our own decisions.

Being in the agentic state doing things we would normally not choose to do can create moral strain which is the unpleasant feeling that we experience when we are pressurized to obey orders to commit an immoral act.

Unit 2 - Learning Approach Studies

Studies will vary due to teacher preferences so sorry if these studies are not helpful for you.

Watson and Raynor (1920) ‘Little Albert’

Aims:

-          To demonstrate that classical conditioning could be used to create a fear response in a child to an harmless stimulus

-          To prove that classical conditioning can be used to account for human behaviour

Procedure:

-          Lab experiment

-          One participant, male infant, nine months of age, Albert Little, known as being emotionally stable

-          Was assessed on responses to many objects such as a white rate (neutral stimulus) in which he displayed not fear

-          He was presented with the rat again two months later and when he reached for it the researchers struck a four foot metal bar (unconditioned stimulus) right behind his ear, which frightened him, this was repeated twice a week and twice more 17 days later.

Results:

-          Throughout the trials Albert went from being suspicious of the rat to having a fear of the rat

Conclusion:

-          Shows that it is possible to artificially induce emotional responses through classical conditioning

-          Little Albert was to be deconditioned but was later adopted and his adoptive mother refused.

Remember when evaluating this study to talk about how Watson and Raynor break ethical guidelines such as Protection of Participants and Informed Consent.

If you need any more help please leave a comment below.

Bandura (1961) ‘Imitation of Aggressive Models’

Aims:

-          To see whether aggression could be acquired through modelling

-          Whether children were more likely to imitate same sex role models

Procedure:

-         72 Children, 36 boys and 36 Girls

-         Two conditions 1= aggressive adult model 2= Non aggressive adult model (there was also a control group with no model)

-          Each child spent ten minutes with the model

-          Other toys were in the room other than the bobo doll

-          Matched pairs were used, children were matched for aggression (this was asked by nurses rather than parents to reduce bias)

-          Observation was used with a one way mirror

-          Qualative data was collected (Use this when evaluating)

Results:

-          Children observed in the aggressive model condition were significantly more aggressive and mimicked exactly the model’s behaviour.

-          The effect was greater in boys; however girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression.

Conclusion:

-          Observers had a greater tendency to imitate same sex models

-          Observation and imitation can account for the learning of specific acts  without reinforcement of either the model or observer.

Aversion Therapy - Learning Approach Unit 2

In the Unit 2 exam you may be asked to describe or evaluate aversion therapy in whether it is a good treatment method or not for addictive behaviours.

Aversion therapy uses classical conditioning to remove abnormal or undesirable behaviours through classical conditioning.

It does this by making people associate undesirable behaviours with something unpleasant.

Aversion Therapy is often used with alcoholics and drug addicts. Where an addict is given an injection of emetic (vomit inducting drugs) so that addicts will vomit when they drink for example alcohol so that they associate drinking alcohol with vomiting.

Evidence for aversion therapy comes from the Howard study where 82 alcoholics were given a 10 day aversion therapy treatment program. Most patients felt that they could now resist alcohol even in a high risk situation, however those who had a longer alcohol addiction history had a lessened affect of being able to resist alcohol (when using as evidence could suggest another treatment alongside to erase any other issues that may be causing the addiction such as depression).

Unit 2 - Theory Time

I’m kick starting my unit two resources (little late I know) with the learning Approach.

There are three theories in this approach so here we go.

1.      Social Learning Theory

This Theory is all about learning through modelling and reinforcement.

Modelling – is behaviour learnt through observing others, can lead to imitation of observed behaviour if it leads to desirable consequences.

There are four processed in observational learning (remember at least three for the exam)

1.       Attentional Process – Paying attention to a model’s actions

2.       Retentional Process – Retaining what we have observed

3.       Motor Reproduction process – Translating memories into actions

4.       Motivational Processes – If we receive a desirable consequence from copying a model we repeat it.

2.      Operant Conditioning Theory

This theory states that learning occurs through the consequences of our actions

Reinforcers (rewards) are used to learn new behaviours

Primary Reinforcers are things needed for survival such as food

Secondary Reinforcers are things we want/get us primary reinforcers such as money

Reinforcement – is a reward used to make you repeat a desirable behaviour

Punishment – makes you stop behaviour

Positive – Something that is given

Negative – something that is taken away (reinforcement can either be positive or negative)

Vicarious Reinforcement is when someone else is receiving reinforcement which influences your behaviour

Behaviour Shaping – Skinner believed that complex behaviour can be learnt through this process where any behaviour that is related to what the person is looking for is reinforced. As the process goes on the reinforcements become more selective towards the exact behaviour the person is looking for.

This seems like a lot to remember but remember in the exam you’ll be asked to make six points at the most when describing a theory and in unit 2 you will not be asked to evaluate theories!

3.      Classical Conditioning

This is the idea that we learn through association

                         Stimulus (environment) > Response (behaviour shown)

Conditioned = learnt

Unconditioned = Not learnt (environment)

Neutral = No effect

Extinction – If the conditioned stimulus is presented several times without the unconditioned stimulus the effects of conditioning fade

Spontaneous Recovery – When extinction has happened the conditioned response can still occur if the conditioned stimulus returns

Generalisation – When the effects of the conditioned stimulus can be generalised to similar objects.

If you’re struggling to understand this theory let me know below and I will make another resource for it.

Social Approach - Key Components

This is all the knowledge you need to know for this exam:

Note that case studies etc will vary depending on your teacher's preference.

Define Social Psychology	The social approach is about aspects of human behaviour that involve the individual’s relationships to other persons, groups and society, including cultural influences on behaviour.
Theories of Obedience	Agency Theory of Obedience
Theories of Prejudice	Social Identity Theory
Studies in detail	Milgram’s ‘original’ study of obedience Milgram’s ‘variation’ study of obedience Meeus and Raaijmaker’s study of destructive obedience in a job interview   Hofling’s study of obedience in nurses Sherif’s Robbers Cave study of prejudice
Key Issue	Why do football supporters become violent?
How Science Works	Survey Method (Questionnaire & Interviews) Qualitative & Quantitative data Ethical Guidelines Sampling Techniques

Hypotheses - The low down

Let’s talk about hypotheses!

A hypothesis is simply a prediction that is made by a psychologist which states what you believe will happen. The hypothesis is a precise statement that can be tested to show the relationship between the two variables (whether the independent variable is affecting the dependent variable thus making the experiment significant).

An experimental hypothesis can either be directional or non directional.

1.       A directional hypothesis predicts the type of difference we want to see in the results. (shows the direction of the difference in results)

For example – The results will show that men are better at driving around obstacles than women

2.       A non directional hypothesis predicts that there will be a difference in the results but does not specify where the difference will be.

For example – The results will show a difference in the driving abilities of men and women around obstacles.

3.       A Null hypothesis is a prediction that states there will be no differences in the results (as in some cases the results of a study will not prove any differences between condition’s results)

For example – There will be no difference in the results between men and women in their ability to be able to go round obstacles. Any differences found will be due to chance.

This should help you when making your hypotheses for your practicals.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below x

Practical Write up Help

For your exam you need to know how to write up a practical investigation for each practical you carry out for the approaches.

Here is a step by step guide for every section of your practical write up you need to have completed and know how to do for each approaches’ practical:

1.       The title of your investigation

2.       The aim of your practical

3.       Your independent variable and dependent variable (make sure that these are both operationalised)

4.       Hypotheses

a.       Directional

b.      Non directional

c.       Null

5.       Procedure – this should be a step by step account of how you carried out your investigation (like a recipe)

The procedure should include:

-          How does your practical meet ethical guidelines

-          Research method used

-          Sampling technique used and why you chose it

-          Participants used (who and why)

-          Where you completed the investigation

6.       Results – whether they are qualative or quantative (are the results significant)  

7.       Which hypotheses you will accept and why

8.       Evaluation use generalisability, validity, reliability, ecological validity, ethics etc to look at the strengths and weaknesses of you practical

9.       Any problems and solutions

Example questions:

Outline the aim of your learning approach practical? (2 marks)

Out two problems you came across when planning or carrying out your cognitive approach practical? (4 marks)

How did you ensure that you followed ethical guidelines in your observation? (5 marks)

If you have any questions please leave a comment below x