Starting with psychology k163 TMA02

Japanese mealtimes had expectations from females in the family.  The head of the family was to be served first and the role is demanding and expected.  She describes how she felt obligated to take on daily chores, like shopping and cleaning. This could be viewed as a negative influence.

By the end of her stay with this family, she not only felt like an American woman but a Japanese woman also.  She had several identities such as a guest, a student, and a daughter role to play in this family, all with different expectations.

Being part of this family made her understand more of her Japanese roots and the traditions and etiquette that are part of their everyday life. Taking on board how people behave around you can have a positive effect on your own behaviour and reactions.  

The course book gives a relatively large amount of coverage to Kondo’s story and you have too – I suggest rather too much.  You have drawn out a number of themes which are relevant to the essay question I feel that the significance of some of them is not developed as fully as it might be. In part this is because you’ve chosen to start the main body of your essay with Kondo before some of the groundwork is established. Note that she makes an appearance quite near the end of Ch 5 and I think there’s a good reason why that’s so.  You do well to maintain the positive/negative theme but note that the interpretation of these terms is highly relative, and especially so in this case. What you may consider negative consequences for what is expected of women’s behaviour, for example, would not necessarily be regarded in that way by Japanese women.

Muzafer Sherif et al (1961, cited in Spoors et al (2007) carried out a number of experiments that involved young boys at a summer camp.  The boys were divided into two groups.  Both groups became cohesive involving norms of behaviour, ‘the beliefs and expectations and standards of behaviour shared by group members’ cited in (Spoors et al, 2007, p.99) referring to jokes and secret codes.  During a competitive tournament that was set up, this changed and some aggression was noticed, such as name calling and prejudice, however other good traits were also noticed such as group loyalty, solidarity and co operation. Activities that required the groups to actively work together were introduced and proved positive behaviour.  

This experiment demonstrated that group influence can be a positive one, leaving the boys in the end, in question with a sense of belonging and pride for their group.

The Sherif study is also relevant to the question. The description of the Robbers Cave experiment on p.99 of the course book is rather short and, in my view, not detailed enough to make the point, so it’s not surprising that your version of it here is limited in places. Initially there were two groups of boys (11 in each group) and for the first week of the experiment neither group was aware of the existence of the other.  Each group engaged in co-operative activities aimed at creating in-groups e.g. hiking, making meals, a treasure hunt.  The two groups developed their own distinct norms; one group was ‘tough’ and engaged in a lot of swearing.  Then they were allowed to become aware of each other’s existence and a tournament was arranged between them (ten sports including football, baseball, tug of war).  Counsellors awarded points for other activities – neatness, performance at songs etc – and the points led to prizes.  That prompted competition – a flag was burned, there were fights and night raids of each other’s camp sites.  Ratings by the boys showed strong preferences for the in-group, with stereotyping of positive traits like ‘brave, tough and friendly’ for their own group and ‘sneaky, smart alecs’ for the out-group.

 

Next I will look at groups of people that can cause negative behaviour.  Cited in Spoors et al (2007) is an experiment carried out in America by Phillip Zimbardo in 1971.  A fake prison situation was created by Zimbardo and his colleagues with men playing the roles of ‘guards’ and ‘prisoners’.  The experiment was cut short to six days instead of the intended two weeks as the guards became brutal and abusive, causing the prisoners to be passive and showing signs of emotional disturbance.  The roles had been taken too seriously by the men who had been completely normal and never been violent in the past, and the prisoners were quite content before they took on their roles.  This shows us how our behaviour and our reactions can change under certain circumstances, and how serious group pressure and group influences can have on our characteristics and how we treat people.

My final piece of evidence will refer to Solomon Asch’s study carried out in the 1950’s, cited in Spoors et al (2007). You need to imagine you are seated at a table with six other participants of the experiment.  After being shown a picture of a straight vertical line, another picture of three more different length straight vertical lines are shown labeled 1,2 and 3.  You need to decide which one of the three lines is the same length as the first line shown, verbally and individually so all the group can hear.  Your choice is last.  The others are in on the experiment, except you, and give the wrong answer.  Would you agree with them or give the correct answer?  Out of fifty participants, 75% of them involved in this experiment, which was carried out many times, feeling group pressure gave the wrong answer too, although the correct answer was obvious.  This shows how easily led we can be in groups, and although in this case, nothing was serious, in the real world, following a group decision in a bad situation, knowing full well it is wrong, could be.  

It was shown that when the participants were allowed to write their answers down on paper, they would be more likely not to conform to group pressure and give the right answer, as it was not so public.

The Asch studies and the subsequent variations are also relevant and you bring out some of the implications for the essay question. But note the different experiences in differing cultures (p.103) and the observation towards the bottom of that same page about differing interpretations about conformity which argue against hard and fast uses of terms like positive and negative.

Summarizing the evidence I have given, it concludes that some groups can influence positive behaviour and negative behaviour in people.  Some groups can provide us with stability, friendship and the feeling of belonging, and loyalty, shown in Kondo’s story, however they can also be damaging and harmful to us when group pressure is put upon us, demonstrated in the Zimbardo experiment.  

Every day life will provide us all with many choices and decisions, and the choices we make build the person that we are.  We can feel pressured to conform and become competitive with in groups, but the choices we make are ours, good or bad, and so are the consequences, good or bad.

A nice couple of concluding paragraphs which bring in your own perspective on some of the themes addressed in your essay.

Word count  1,065

Reference:

Spoors, P, Dyer, E.W, and Finlay, L. (2007) Starting with psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Task 2    150 words.

1. Briefly write down two or three pieces of feedback from your tutor on TMA01.
2. How have you used that feedback in preparing for TMA02?

1. My tutor pointed out that learning outcome 7 was just achieved on TMA01, and suggested looking back at the Assignment Booklet and his other notes, to see how to completely conform to the course style when using references.  Learning outcome 3 suggests adding more detail to my research for example some figures would have been helpful in the experiments I wrote about.  My tutor asked me to look at chapter 3’s introduction as a good example of how to set out the agenda for the chapter and how it sets out the stall, to help me improve on my introductions.
2. I have taken on board how to reference accurately, and only used surnames not Christian names.  With learning outcome 3, I have been careful to add figures if relevant, and add more detail to my research.  I looked at chapter 3’s introduction, and could see the difference in mine, and how to improve my introductions.

Word count 157