When considering this issue, sociologists should also consider that participants should also be offered the right to refuse. This is an important ethical issue for sociologists to consider throughout their studies as refusal to participate in parts of the study could also alter the data. Another ethical problem sociologists may face is vulnerable groups. Special care should be taken when the participants are particularly vulnerable due to their age, disabilities, physical health or mental health. For example, children being studied in
Psychophysiology notes that “Self-serving attributions occur when negative personal outcomes are ascribed to external circumstances and when positive outcomes are ascribed to internal factors. Individuals strategically employ the self-serving bias to maintain and protect positive self-views. “(Page 511) Stereo Typing Brown, Rupert (2010). Prejudice: Its Social Psychology (2nd ed.). Stereotypes lead people to expect certain actions from members of social groups.
This type of conformity occurs due to pressure and wanting to not deviate from the group and therefore individuals “comply” with the group norm. The person would behave differently when not in the group setting in other incidences. Informational social influence occurs because when individuals are unsure themselves they turn to the group believing the majority to be genuinely correct in their assertions and behaviour. This is a form of internalisation because the individual would come to accept the groups view as their own and it would likely be repeated even without the influence of the group. This type of conformity is more likely to occur when the situation is ambiguous, there is a crisis or individuals believe other people to be “experts” and know more.
When a person suffers with psychological distress the way in which they interpret situations can become skewed, which in turn has a negative impact on the actions they take. He named these cognitions "automatic thoughts" because he believed that people were not necessarily aware that the cognitions existed, but that they could identify these types of thoughts when questioned closely. Beck believed that pushing his clients to identify these automatic thoughts was integral to overcoming a particular difficulty (Westbrook et al, 2007). Beck was later influenced by Ellis in his work around Behavioural Therapy and the idea that people can overcome psychological issues by altering the way they perceive an experience and in turn use this to change their attitude and behaviour towards experiences which enable the person to have positive feelings instead of negative. Becks studies found that patients’ automatic thoughts fell into three categories, the patients had negative ideas about themselves, the world and/or the future and these thoughts could lead to anxiety and depression.
The Milgram experiment and the Stanford prison experiment both show proof of what power and obligation to please authority can do to a person. Power and obedience may be at the opposite ends of the spectrum but they both bring out certain traits in human beings that are ethically and morally wrong. To have power over an individual can cause a person to display cruel behavior, while being solely obedient to authority can cause a person to act in a cowardly fashion The major divisions in today’s society make people want power, and when they receive it, they tend to abuse it for fear of losing it. Zimbardo’s prison experiment shows that even in hypothetical circumstances power people receive over individuals can be disastrous. His experiment portrays the different ways certain roles put on individuals can affect them.
Nikhita Sagar AS Psychology Miss Mahmoud “Describe and evaluate explanations of conformity” 12 marks Normative social influence is the need to be liked and accepted by others in the group. Other people are usually looked to in a group to identify behavior that leads to group acceptance – this may result in the person publicly changing their behavior/views but privately disagreeing/having their own opinions. This is because humans are social creatures and have a fundamental need for social companionship and a fear of rejection. The majority may also control other group members by making it difficult to deviate from majority point of view, therefore exerting pressure on them to conform. This type of social influence is also known as compliance and has been demonstrated in research by Asch, where participants clearly felt uncomfortable deviating from the majority position.
Our differences/diversities can lead to growth as a society or it can lead to violence and hatred. We must value our diversity in order to work together for the common good. 1.2 Q. Describe how to treat other people in a way that is sensitive to their needs A. You can treat other people well by being empathetic and relating to the way they feel about certain issues.
They suggest that a happy person tends to pay less attention to details and information for fear that over-analysing the information may affect their happy state (Ottati and Isbell, 68). However, a sad person tends to deeply analyse information in the hope of enhancing or repairing their unhappy situation (Ibid.). Another important point made by the two authors is that people interpret their negative feelings as results of defects in their environment (Ibid. ), which then motivates them to scrutinize everything around them. The population’s state of fear is an example of a negative mood which then leads to the population believing that there’s a defect in their environment.
A affects B, B’s repercussions from A affect C, C affects D and so on and so forth. These repercussions can cause out bursts of emotion such as anger, lust, fear, happiness, or it can teach valuable lessons such as acceptance, patience and trust. Communication is also a key feature in keeping a good relationship with peers. If there is a break down of communication then unexpected actions can have a more detrimental affect. Some evoke the buddas teachings of karma, what goes around comes around others are not so patient and take fate into their own hands.
Some people use scapegoats to escape fear. Lastly, people use scapegoats because they may have low self-esteem. They may need to feel better about themselves because of certain problems that can occur. Societies use scapegoats for a variety of reasons, but it all comes down to the manner in which