Lucy Bloomfield 29.03.19
Evaluate the use of psychological knowledge in society. 20 marks.
Psychological findings have been useful in society for decades. It has helped the reform of
mental health hospitals, improvement in how parents and teachers treat children, significance
of word choice in criminal interviews and illustrated how obedient we all are.
Social psychology is significantly useful for authority figures such as the police and teachers.
Milgram’s agency theory and study into obedience has led to us understanding that
individuals obey authority when the authority figure is near or of high prestige in comparison
to us. This was illustrated in the 65% obedience rate for people to administer shocks to
another human being, clearly demonstrating how obedient we are as a species. This has
helped teachers understand how to treat pupils and how to ensure disobedient studies become
obedient. For example, if as child was misbehaving and ignoring a teacher’s instruction, if the
teacher was to move closer and repeat the instruction, the child is more likely to comply. This
understanding has become apparent due to Milgram’s findings. The results of Sherif’s
Robbers cave experiment were extremely beneficial to the police in situations such as
protests and riots. Sherif’s research found that prejudice can be reduced through a
superordinate goal, meaning in the case of a riot or protest, if the police were to offer a goal
for both sides of the protest which benefitted them both, the prejudice would be reduced. For
example, in the London student riots in 2011, the superordinate goal was the government
announcing they were capping the increase at £9,000 for several years, it was a goal
beneficial to both them, the police and the protesters. However, the application of Sherif’s
and Milgram’s studies is limited as they were both highly controlled environments where
variables like gender were controlled to ensure a cause and effect could be concluded.
Overall, social psychological knowledge has allowed for advances in how teachers treat
pupils and how police settle wrongdoings, meanings its useful in terms of authority, but the
evidence restricts its usefulness slightly due to the element of control.
Criminal psychology is useful for police officers, interviewers, lawyers and suspects in crime.
Loftus and Palmer discovered that leading questions and words can influence an individual’s
memory of an event. When they question participants upon the same video using the word
‘smashed’ to ask about the speed of the vehicle, the average speed responded was 40.5 mph
yet when the word ‘contacted’ was used, the average speed was 31.8mph. This significant
difference supports the reconstructive hypothesis, that the human memory is largely
influential. The findings from this study led to leading questions being removed in the
courtroom, Loftus and Palmer concluded that word choice needs to be monitored when
asking eye witnesses about criminal events to ensure accuracy. This has been largely
powerful in the police force. Valentine and Mesout’s research concluded that stress reduces
the accuracy of eyewitness identification in a line-up. This illustrates to the police that an eye
witness must be calm when trying to find the culprit otherwise their identification may be
incorrect, massively affecting the wrong persons life. It taught police officers to take the
emotional state of the witnesses into account. Although these studies were significantly
influential in changing policy and the way the police work, both studies didn’t have the same
emotional impact of a real eye witness to a crime due t the environment being artificially
created, limiting the validity. However, overall, criminal psychology has been hugely
influential in its application to modern society.
Evaluate the use of psychological knowledge in society. 20 marks.
Psychological findings have been useful in society for decades. It has helped the reform of
mental health hospitals, improvement in how parents and teachers treat children, significance
of word choice in criminal interviews and illustrated how obedient we all are.
Social psychology is significantly useful for authority figures such as the police and teachers.
Milgram’s agency theory and study into obedience has led to us understanding that
individuals obey authority when the authority figure is near or of high prestige in comparison
to us. This was illustrated in the 65% obedience rate for people to administer shocks to
another human being, clearly demonstrating how obedient we are as a species. This has
helped teachers understand how to treat pupils and how to ensure disobedient studies become
obedient. For example, if as child was misbehaving and ignoring a teacher’s instruction, if the
teacher was to move closer and repeat the instruction, the child is more likely to comply. This
understanding has become apparent due to Milgram’s findings. The results of Sherif’s
Robbers cave experiment were extremely beneficial to the police in situations such as
protests and riots. Sherif’s research found that prejudice can be reduced through a
superordinate goal, meaning in the case of a riot or protest, if the police were to offer a goal
for both sides of the protest which benefitted them both, the prejudice would be reduced. For
example, in the London student riots in 2011, the superordinate goal was the government
announcing they were capping the increase at £9,000 for several years, it was a goal
beneficial to both them, the police and the protesters. However, the application of Sherif’s
and Milgram’s studies is limited as they were both highly controlled environments where
variables like gender were controlled to ensure a cause and effect could be concluded.
Overall, social psychological knowledge has allowed for advances in how teachers treat
pupils and how police settle wrongdoings, meanings its useful in terms of authority, but the
evidence restricts its usefulness slightly due to the element of control.
Criminal psychology is useful for police officers, interviewers, lawyers and suspects in crime.
Loftus and Palmer discovered that leading questions and words can influence an individual’s
memory of an event. When they question participants upon the same video using the word
‘smashed’ to ask about the speed of the vehicle, the average speed responded was 40.5 mph
yet when the word ‘contacted’ was used, the average speed was 31.8mph. This significant
difference supports the reconstructive hypothesis, that the human memory is largely
influential. The findings from this study led to leading questions being removed in the
courtroom, Loftus and Palmer concluded that word choice needs to be monitored when
asking eye witnesses about criminal events to ensure accuracy. This has been largely
powerful in the police force. Valentine and Mesout’s research concluded that stress reduces
the accuracy of eyewitness identification in a line-up. This illustrates to the police that an eye
witness must be calm when trying to find the culprit otherwise their identification may be
incorrect, massively affecting the wrong persons life. It taught police officers to take the
emotional state of the witnesses into account. Although these studies were significantly
influential in changing policy and the way the police work, both studies didn’t have the same
emotional impact of a real eye witness to a crime due t the environment being artificially
created, limiting the validity. However, overall, criminal psychology has been hugely
influential in its application to modern society.
