Research methods for anti social behaviour
Research Methods There are various methods that psychologists can use to research non-conformist behaviour among young people. Some of these methods will be more valuable to the psychologists as they provide reliability and validity within this setting, however some carry methodological issues which may cause problems. Observational studies are when the researcher observes a situation, and records what happens without manipulating an independent variable. Therefore they tend to be high in ecological validity, as there is no intervention and if the observer remains undetected, it avoids problems with demand characteristics. This type of research would work well for non-conformist behaviour as the situations they arise in are hard to replicate with validity, and the researcher can accurately record the young people's behaviour. However, by only observing the behaviour it is a subjective experience for the researcher, and what they believe to see may not be correct. This can cause unreliable data if interrupted incorrectly. Another problem that arises from observational studies are hard to replicate. At a given moment and place in time there are so many different factors contributing to the environment, it's near impossible to replicate a valid representation of this. Yet again this causes problems with researcher bias as what they interrupt cannot be checked and therefore must
Discuss research into cultural differences in pro-social behaviour
Discuss research into cultural differences in pro-social behaviour Altruism is a form of pro-social behaviour in which a person will voluntarily help another person at some cost to himself or herself. Bystander intervention is also a form of pro-social behaviour, but at minimal cost to the helper. Hence the major problem for psychologists has been determining what is truly altruistic and what might better be explained in terms of egoism (self interest). Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson 1991) explains altruistic behaviour as a consequence of empathetic concern for another person who needs help. According to this model we experience empathy if we feel an emotional response that is consistent with another person's emotional state (e.g. feeling sad when they are sad). Batson believed that as a result of experiencing empathetic concern for another person, we are therefore motivated to help them when they are in distress. Empathy consists of a number of different components, including the ability to see things from another person's perspective, the experience of personal distress, and finally empathetic concern for the other person. Batson believed that seeing things from the perspective was crucial in the development of empathetic concern. If the perspective of the other person is not taken, we are more likely to experience distress without the empathetic concern that
Discuss Research Into Media Effects of Anti-Social Behaviour
Discuss Research Into Media Effects of Anti-Social Behaviour There is evidence that promotes the view that anti-social behaviour can be promoted by the media. Some of the effects are short lived and others will vary depending on whether the anti-social behaviour is shown on its own or not. Violent video games and TV are the main sources of media violence. On TV there is very little aggression overall. The Gerbner Studies (1970's and 1980's) found that in children's TV programmes 20 violent acts per hour occurred. Since 1967, the percentage of violent programmes has not increased but the number of violent acts per programme has increased. Halloran and Croll (1972) found that violence was a common feature on TV programmes but not as prevalent on British as it was on American TV programmes. Cumberbatch (1987) supported this, finding that 30% of programmes had violence in them but only 1% of TV is violent overall. Gunter and Harrison (1995) said that violence only occupies a tiny proportion of TV in few programmes. They found that 1% of terrestrial TV was violent and less that, 2% on satellite TV was violent. Altogether there is not very much violence on TV but what there is seems to be concentrated to a few programmes which if young children are exposed to could be damaging to them mentally especially in later life. The problem with these studies is that what some people
Explore how both sociology and social psychology can help us to understand anti-social behaviour
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Explore how both sociology and social psychology can help us to understand anti-social behaviour Anti-social behaviour can be defined differently by everybody, in order to understand what anti-social behaviour is you should understand the definition provided by the government; this definition is from the crime and disorder act “Acting in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as (the defendant)” (Crime and disorder act , 1998). The defining point of sociology is to look at social problems in relation to society and how society causes them and solves them whilst the defining point of social psychology is to look at how an individual reacts in a social situation or context and how they are influenced. Therefore by the same token, sociology would explain anti-social behaviour as being a social problem created by societal issues such as age, race, gender, class and so on, and social psychology would explain anti-social behaviour as being an individual reacting to the situation they are in within society, which again would fall under age, race, gender and class. So these are both very similar with only slightly differing focuses aiming to understand what anti-social behaviour is and why people commit it. This essay will mainly focus on understanding violent types
"Anti-Social Behaviour is caused by a person's family background"
"Anti-Social Behaviour is caused by a person's family background" Rationale Anti social behaviour has become increasingly common amongst youths in Britain, the Anti-Social Behaviour Order was introduced in April 1999 to reduce this problem. This stops the young person from going to particular places or doing particular things and can be applied for by the police or a local authority. The order can be used with anyone who is over 10 years of age who is behaving in a manner that causes distress or harassment to someone or some people who do not live in their own household. Juvenile delinquency has been researched and studied by many sociologists, however I wanted to look at a specific area of anti social behaviour which has, and is becoming a growing problem, this is something I personally have noticed in the area around me. My aim for this investigation is to find out whether the family in which a child grows up in is a major factor in someone engaging in anti social behaviour. In researching this I will be referring back to work studied in sociology, both Family and Crime and Deviance. This will include handing out questionnaires to assess whether somebody from a low social class, this may include a broken family, are more likely to commit anti social behaviour than someone from a higher economic background. My research is based on a study by Farrington and West (1990)
Safe Guarding, Anti Social Behaviour and Domestic Abuse assingments
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Safeguarding vulnerable groups act 2006 The safeguarding vulnerable group’s act 2006 was passed to ensure that service users in a health and social care setting are protected from individuals that are believed to be unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults and children. This is because these individuals may have abused people in the past or the future by physically, emotionally and sexually. This act restricts the contact between the perpetrators and vulnerable people, by putting these individuals on the barring system which identified people who go to apply for a job in the health and social care environment are not allowed to work in this type of environment. Sexual Offences Act 2003 The sexual offence act 2003 makes the sexual abuse a crime, the first part of the act covers sexual offences. The second part of the covers the intention to commit an sexual offence, this includes offences to voyeurism and administering substances with the intent to sexually assault that individual. This act covers rape this is when individuals do not give consent to this act. Child sex abuse under the age of 13 years are seen as sexual assault by causing a child to engage in sexual activities. Care standards act The care standards act which was established by the national care standards commission to regulate health and social care services. This is in
Outline and Evaluate explanations of media effects on anti-social behaviour
Outline and Evaluate explanations of Media effects on anti-social behaviour. One explanation of media effects on anti-social behaviour is called observational learning, which is described to be where we observe and identify with onscreen hero models. We will start to imitate their behaviour depending on the consequences and since we see that heroes are successful we wish to repeat the success. This is social learning theory since the reward of success increases the chances of imitating the behaviour. However, since heroes also use violence and can still gain success it means that observing an onscreen hero may lead an individual to repeat the violent behaviour and an explanation for anti-social behaviour. In support of this explanation Bandura set up an investigation using a bobo doll and children aged 3 to 5 years old. Bandura wanted to see whether children observing behaviour will imitate them, so split the children into groups were they either watched adults beat the bobo doll or act gently towards it. In a variation to the original study the violent group also used an action word such as ‘pow’. The findings show that the children who watched the violent adult when allowed to interact with the bobo doll also showed higher levels of violence compared to the children who watched the gentle adult. Although the gentle group showed violent behaviour it was shown that anti
What can social psychology tell us about the behaviour of 'bystanders'?
What can social psychology tell us about the behaviour of 'bystanders'? Since events such as the Kitty Genovase (1964) murder whereby 38 witnesses failed to intervene and others, social psychologists have attempted to explain human bystander intervention/non-intervention through relevant theories and research. Social psychology is according to Ibánez (1997) 'the activity of a working community who are paid wages by academic/scientific institutions, government departments and private corporations to produce valid knowledge on a certain range of social phenomena'. It is a contemporary discipline based around positivistic and empirical foundations. Key assumptions of the social approach are that other individuals influence us and we may imitate other bystanders (social learning theory) or conform to bystander group norms. 'Bystander behaviour (also known as the bystander effect) is referred to as other bystander's presence reduces the likelihood that victims will be helped in most situations due to the diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, etc. It is closely linked to altruism, which is placing other's needs first with potential cost to the altruist. Batson (1987) claims humans are pro-social animals which is shown in the willingness to give to charities, comfort friends, etc, which costs us time/money. This may seem beneficial but psychologists believe
To what extent do Social and Media factors influence Criminal Behaviour?
To what extent do Social and Media factors influence Criminal Behaviour? More recently the discussion into what the most likely cause of crime is has changed. From the 40's and onwards psychologists such as Sheldon and Lambroso have tried to prove the cause of crime as being genetic and down to the nature of the person committing them. Lambroso himself suggested that "Criminals are born not made" and tried to conduct research to prove this. However, whilst it is highly recognised that there is a general biological difference between those who commit common crimes and the 'average citizen', more recent research has examined closely the effect that outside causes have on people turning to crime. The discussion on criminality has changed from whether the 'Nature' side of a person is to blame for it or whether the 'Nurture' received by people is the primary reason. Since the 'Nature' of criminals has been looked at and respected conclusions have been drawn, more psychologists have been looking into how 'Nurture' has led to criminality. One aspect that the 'Nurture' side of studies looks into is the social influences that people are receiving at this point in history. In the time of Sheldon and others people only socialised within their town. Since towns used to be much smaller, this used to only give them access to people within a radius of about 2 miles. But, now that there
What Does Social Psychology Contribute to Our Understanding of Human Behaviour?
What Does Social Psychology Contribute to Our Understanding of Human Behaviour? Social psychology helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us. In contrast to other disciplines, the social psychological approach focuses on the individual rather than large scale societal processes. (Taylor, S. E., Peplau, L. A., & Sears, D. O., 2003). This essay will look at some specific areas of social psychology, including the concept of the self, impressions, attitudes and helping behaviours, and attempt to explain how it relates to our understanding of human behaviour. Social psychology is the scientific study of how people relate to others. It is, therefore, important to look at how impressions of others are formed and how it affects our behaviour. Impressions of people are usually formed quickly, on the basis of minimal information. We then go on to ad general traits to them. Processing information involves perception of meaning in their behaviour. We often use the context of one's behaviour to infer its meaning rather than interpreting their behaviour in isolation. The knowledge we have and the expectations we hold of someone are determined by the impressions we form of them. (Taylor, Peplau & Sears, 2003) When social interaction occurs, individuals take the roles of others toward themselves and so become objects to themselves and others. The various participants in a
