explaining social issues and cultural differences

• AO1: explaining social issues and cultural differences

  • society = a group of ppl living together in a community
  • social issues = a social probelm or conflict that affects a group of ppl
  • culture= a set of traditions, beliefs and values shared by a group of ppl
  • collectivistic culture= a culture that emphasised group membership, interdependence and cooperation
• AO2: explainging social issues: rioting

  • rioters may be displayting conformity- NSI- they may feel they need to fit in with friends and join in with them when they are being hostile/causing damage
  • rioters may be displaying obeidience - following order of a leader perceived to have legitimate authority. Ppl may experience agentic state believeing the leader is responsible for their actions, and they are acting as an "agent" for the leader
• AO2: explaining social issues: holocaust

  • german citizens may have failed to help jews cus they diffused responsibility onto others - milions of others weren't helping so why should they? Alternitavely they might of felt that the cost of helping was too high, fearing for their lives if they helped
  • german citizens might of experienced deindividuation, losing theur sense of personal identity and not feel responsible for helping or not helping
• AO3: research support ofr social issue explanation

  • asch's research supports the idea conformity may cause rioting. his participants were likely to change behaivour (even if they believed it was wrong) in order to fit in with the group
  • piliavin's study suggests bystander effect may of contributed to the Holocuast - finding that ppl are more likely to help others if they are the same race - most germans weren't jewish, maybe why they didnt help
  • milgram found that ppl are more likely to obey somoeone percieved as having legitamite authority, i.e. experimenter dressed in lab coat rather than casual clothes. German citiziens may have percieved the person giving orders as having legitimate authority, so didnt question them
• AO2 : how might culture lead to differences in obedience

  • ppl in individualistc cultures may be less likely to obey as they are less likely to lose theu sense of personal responisibility.
  • while ppl in collectivistic cultures may be more likely to obey, as by valuing group goals, they may be more likely to fall into line and follow instructions
• AO2: how might culture lead to differences in bystander effect?

  • individualistic cultures may be more likely to see the bystander effect cus there is less value placed on forming bonds with fellow citizens.
  • in collectivistic cultures , the sense of togertherness that ppl experience might cause them to feel greater similairty with others in emergencies , making them more likely to intervene and help other ppl in the group
• AO2: how might culture lead to differences in conformity?

  • ppl in individualistic cultures may be less likely to conform as they may have more personal sense of responsibility. so their actions may be more influenced by their personal sense of what they should or should'nt do, rather than based on wanting to fit in with a group.
  • while ppl in collectivistic cultures may be more likely to conform, with more emphasis on forming/maintaining group bonds. their behaivour may be motivated by what will benefit the 'group', so they may conform to fit in with group
• AO3: evalutating cultural differences

  • evidence supporting differences in obeidience comes from Shanab and Yahya who replicated MIlgram's experiment in Jordan (collectivisitc) finding 73% of participants gave the maximum shock, higher than the og 65% conductied in US (individualistic)
  • Smith and Bond discoverd cultural differences in conformity between western and eastern countries. ppl from indiv countries e.g. us/uk are more likely to be independent-minded and dont want to be seen as the same as everyone else
  • Piliavin et al provided evidence of an infulence of culture on bystander behaivour - bystanders were more likely to help same-race "victims". However, there are factors other than culture which could explain the rates of bystander intervention (e.g. cost of helping/mood)