AQA Psychology Paper 1 2024

AQA Psychology Paper 1 2024 Outline one ethical issue that has arisen in social influence research. Refer to one or more social influence studies in your answer (4 marks) - answer-Social influence research has issues with the deception of its participants which leads to a further issue of a lack of informed consent to take part. For example in Asch's study on majority influence participants were told they were taking part in a test of visual perception and in Milgram's research into obedience they were told it was a study into the effects of punishment on learning. However these levels of deception are necessary in social influence research as telling the participants that your will be studying their levels of conformity to a social group, or their levels of obedience would result in demand characteristics and invalidate the results obtained. Charlie has just started at a new school. He has become friendly with a group of boys in his year group. Charlie thinks they are 'cool'. One day, one of the more popular boys in the group suggests they all wear their school jumpers inside-out for a week, 'just to see what will happen'. Charlie worries about this all night but still goes to school the following day wearing his jumper inside-out. Use your knowledge of conformity to explain Charlie's behaviour (6 marks) - answer-Conformity refers to changing one's behaviour or beliefs to align with those of a group due to real or perceived group pressure. Several factors explain why Charlie conformed in this situation. One factor is Normative Social influence. Charlie likely conformed to avoid rejection or disapproval from his new group of friends, who he perceives as "cool" and more popular. He doesn't want to stand out or be ridiculed for not participating, so he follows the group's behaviour to fit in and be accepted. Another factor is identification, since Charlie admires the group and views them as "cool," he may want to be accepted by them. This admiration can lead him to identify with their behaviours, leading him to conform to what the group does, such as wearing the jumper inside-out. Informational Social Influence: There may also be an element of informational influence. Charlie may believe that because the popular boys are suggesting this, they know something he doesn't about the social dynamics of the school, and so he goes along with the behaviour thinking they might be right...