Assessment 1
Social Psychology
AO1 knowledge and understanding
Summarise the aims and context of
Milgram's (1963) research
'Behavioural study of obedience'.
[12]
Markscheme AO1
• Discussion of the importance of obedience in real
life e.g. need for law and order; communal living.
• Discussion of atrocities between 1933-1945 - the
large number of people who 'obeyed orders' to
meet quotas at death camps.
• Aim to investigate the tendency to obey other
people who are in a position of authority over
them. Would people obey an authority figure to
the extent that they would cause physical pain
and harm to a victim if ordered to do so, violating
codes of moral and ethical behaviour?
AO2 Analysis and Evaluation
Evaluate the methodology of
Asch's (1955) research 'Opinions
and Social Pressure'.
[12]
Markscheme AO2
• Biases in sample (age, gender, culture), e.g. all
participants male college students.
• Validity issues (internal and external validity), e.g.
research set up lacks credibility; participants did
not believe set up; does not relate to conformity
in real life.
• Ethical Issues, e.g. the use of active and passive
deception; the failure to protect participants
from psychological harm.
• Reliability issues, e.g. replications of Asch's
research have not always suggested reliability.
Assessment 1
Research terms
What do these terms mean?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Naive participant
Confederate
Repeated measures design
Control group
Laboratory experiment
Participant
Volunteer sample
Reliability
What do these terms mean?
1. Naive participant – person who is tricked
2. Confederate – people who know what is
happening
3. Repeated measures design – tried out a number
of times
4. Control group – not experimented on
5. Laboratory experiment – takes place in a lab
6. Participant – people who are experimented on
7. Volunteer sample – people choose to join
8. Reliability – dependability of results