Psychology : For the article A2 coursework.

victim, despite his shouting, could be because he has a poorly functioning Violence Inhibiting Mechanism. ‘Mr Bevan then heard shouting. When he went to see what was going on he found his partner being repeatedly stabbed. As he tried to help he too was attacked and suffered serious wounds’ A VIM is what Blair (1997) believes controls our violence when distress cues are seen. Evidence that looks into the first assumption is from Tajfel’s study on discrimination (1970).  He aimed to show that it occurs due to in-group favouritism, and that the out-group would be different to them, e.g. in terms of lifestyle choices. In his study, participants were divided into groups randomly, but were made to believe that they had a difference of opinion about which artist they preferred. They were given matrices, where they would have to choose a box with two numbers in it; one number would become a reward for the in-group, and the other for the out-group. Participants mainly chose the combination which had the highest difference between rewards, so that the in-group got more than the out-group. This would be chosen over an option which gives them both a higher reward. This, in Tajfel’s opinion, shows clear discrimination due to the presence of out-groups and conflicting opinions, which could explain the reason the attacker might have been acting discriminatively towards homosexuals.Evidence that looks into the second assumption is found from the case of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death with plenty of witnesses, none of which responded. When asked, neighbours stated that they were afraid to intervene. There was also a study conducted by Latane and Darley(1970), who wanted to investigate why help is only offered sometimes, and came up with a six stage thought process model on how to interpret the situation. In their study, groups of different sizes were put into rooms and discussed their problems. A confederate then staged an epileptic attack and it was recorded how long it took for participants to intervene. It was found that the larger the group size, the less likely they were to intervene. This could be related to the article in the sense that witnesses assumed somebody else would report. Evidence that looks into the third assumption is Blair’s theory of the Violence Inhibiting Mechanism. He states that a Violence Inhibiting Mechanism (VIM) exists, and when distress signals from the victim are seen, the person feels guilt and stops their behaviour towards them. Blair’s theory states that in violent offenders, their VIM isn’t functioning properly, and do not feel guilty for their attacks. His study tested the skin conductance activity of his participants whilst they watched a series of slides, 5 of which were distress cues. The offenders did not show much of a response to the distress cues, therefore proving Blair’s theory. This could relate to the article, as the victim was shouting, but the attacker did not feel guilty and stop.A suggestion that relates to the first assumption is to reduce discrimination. A lot of people are discriminative towards different races, or people of a different sexuality. To reduce prejudices towards each other, it could be taught in schools at early ages, to love the people around us, and help to give them a better understanding. For example, in Hraba and Grants study, ‘Black is Beautiful’ (1970), it was seen that young children were not even aware of what race they were. Classes to improve awareness about differences in race and other areas, may make children grow up without prejudices towards out-groups when they realise they are not that different from their in-group. If the attacker had no prejudices against homosexuals, he probably would not have acted towards them in the way he did.A suggestion that relates to the second assumption is to get more witnesses to come forward. This could be done by offering rewards to witnesses. In Piliavin et als study ‘Good samaritanism’ (1969), the researcher’s state that the response of a witness depends on their cost-reward analysis, they weigh up the pros and cons of intervening or reporting. If rewards were offered for witnesses, there will be more of a reason for them to come forward, and relating to this article, evidence could be given to identify the attacker.A suggestion that relates to the third assumption, is to reduce aggressive outbursts in people whose VIM isn’t functioning properly, which could prevent violent attacks. This could be done with a technique such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which is a treatment that includes …… and helps with their ability to cope with stress. A study by Clark et al (1999)  tested the effectiveness of CBT, which showed that CBT is effective and also a briefer treatment than …… .  , and could have helped the attacker to control his aggressive behaviour. ReferencesFresco, A. (2009). Man stabbed to death in possible homophobic attack in Bromley. Available: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5854189.ece. Last accessed 8 March 2009.Tajfel (1970) Cited in: Lintern, F (2003). Heinemann Psychology AS for OCR. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 118-121.Latane and Darley (1970) Cited in: Cardwell, M , Flanagan, C (2004). Psychology A2 , the complete companion. London: Nelson Thornes. 62.Blair (1997) Cited in: Harari, P , Legge, K (2005). Heinemann Psychology A2 for OCR . Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 304-305.Piliavin et al (1969) Cited in: Oliver, K , Ellerby-Jones, L (2008). OCR Psychology for AS. Italy: Hodder education. 41.Clarke et al (1999)  Cited in: Harari, P , Legge, K (2005). Heinemann Psychology A2 for OCR . Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 127.Hraba and Grant (1970) Cited in: Lintern, F (2003). Heinemann Psychology AS for OCR. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 134- 135