Discuss explanations of group display in humans - essay plan

Discuss explanations of group display in humans 25 marks

Intro-

‘Group display’ refers here to displays of aggressive behaviour by groups which are sometimes described as three or more people gathered together for a common purpose.
Groups are either gathered together for an aggressive purpose or groups hat develop an aggressive purpose

What is it?

A lynch mob is a collection of people who intend to take a person. (Sometimes this is someone whom they suspect of committing an offence) and to kill that person without recourse to legal action.
Two different research traditions have been applied with regard to social explanations of lynching.

The Sociological Power-Threat Hypothesis

The Psychological Self-Attention theory

Research

Evaluation

Blalock (1967) suggests that as minority group membership grows, majority members will intensify their efforts to maintain dominance.
‘Power threat’ represents a fear of political power in the hands of the minority.
Blalock suggests that as the minority group percentage increases, so the majority group’s ...

The Psychological Self-Attention theory

Research

Evaluation

Blalock (1967) suggests that as minority group membership grows, majority members will intensify their efforts to maintain dominance.
‘Power threat’ represents a fear of political power in the hands of the minority.
Blalock suggests that as the minority group percentage increases, so the majority group’s discriminatory behaviour also increases.
E.g. The fear of ‘negro’ power meant that white mobs frequently turned to ‘lynch law’ as a means of social control. This was particularly the case in the period after the abolition of slavery, when the ensuing social transition left the white community feeling particularly at risk.

Research

Ridley (1997) – suggests that group displays of solidarity and discrimination against outsiders become more likely when groups feel at risk.

Evaluation

What is it?

Engaging in painful rituals signals commitment to a group and for what it stands and it has been suggested that the significant costs of rituals deter anyone who doesn’t believe the teachings but wants to take advantage of the benefits. The adaptive benefit of rituals is to promote and maintain religious cooperation.
Religious displays and cooperative gains – Irons (2001) by engaging in painful rituals such as self-flagellation, an individual is signalling their commitment to a group and all that it stands for. A committed group member is likely to be a cooperative group member.
Costly signalling to deter free riders- individuals who takes all the advantages of group membership but fails to cooperate and contribute. The significant costs (e.g. physical health) of many cultural and religious displays act as a deterrent for anyone who wants to join a group in order to take advantage. (refer to Zahavi (1975))

Real life evidence-

The Haka – Maori of New Zealand - Originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess in order to intimidate the opposition was performed before a in order to invoke the god of war and to discourage and frighten the enemy. It involved fierce facial expressions and grimaces, poking out of the tongue, eye bulging, grunts and cries, and the waving of weapons. If the haka was not performed in total unison, this was regarded as a bad omen for the battle.

Evaluation

Clear link between aggressive crowd behaviour and sports.
Deindividuation (small paragraph)
From the end of the 1980s extreme right-wing movements were led in Italy and this was most evident in the football terraces in Northern Italy. The chants and banners strengthened the cultural identity of the supporters by highlighting the differences between Northern and Southern Italians.