Download Advance Preparation for Final Exam

Social Psychology
Psychology 335
Dr. Roseman
Spring 2012
Advance Preparation for Final Exam
The final exam will have 40 multiple choice questions on the lectures and readings from unit
III, and one essay question. The essay question will count for 20% of your course grade. The
essay question is given in advance, and you can use the textbook and lecture notes (from any
portion of the semester) to prepare an answer. You do not need to do any additional research
beyond what is in the textbook and the lecture notes.
You must know your answer well enough to write it without notes for the exam. No notes will
be allowed during the exam. The text of the essay follows, along with a sample answer.
Essay to be Written as part of Final Exam
Discuss how a social psychological theory could be used to solve a social problem. Include
separate sections in your answer, numbered 1, 2, 3a, 3b, and 3c, as indicated below.
1) Pick a social problem (e.g., bullying in schools; alcohol abuse among college students; unsafe
sexual behavior that can cause AIDS; prejudice based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
age, or physical appearance (if you choose prejudice, pick one of these); teen pregnancy; drug
abuse; vandalism by flash mobs; or any other social problem of your choosing). Give the name
of the problem you have selected.
2) Pick a theory from the readings or lectures that you think could be applied to help solve
that problem (for example, attachment theory, attribution theory, cognitive dissonance theory,
cooperative learning theory, empathy-altruism theory, evolutionary theory,
frustration-aggression theory, groupthink, reactance theory, realistic group conflict theory,
reward theory of attraction, self-perception theory, social exchange theory, social learning
theory). Give the name of the theory you are using to help solve the problem.
3) Explain how your solution would work, by:
a) describing in detail the relevant portions of the theory.
b) discussing how you would apply the theory to help solve the problem you have selected.
c) discussing why the theory should work to help solve the problem, and any difficulties
you think might arise in trying to solve the problem in this way
Sample Answer to Essay Question
Here is an example of a problem
for writing your essay, and you
you cannot use police brutality
another problem in writing your
with a detailed answer. You can use this example to prepare
will be given a copy of this example in the exam. However,
as your problem or deindividuation theory as the solution to
final exam essay.
1)
Problem: police brutality
2)
Theory: deindividuation theory (Festinger, Pepitone, & Newcomb, 1952):
3)
How the solution would work:
a) According to deindividuation theory, people are more likely to lose normal restraints
when they are in large groups, and groups in which individuals are anonymous, aroused
and distracted, and not self-conscious.
b) Solution: reduce deindividuation by
Avoid having unnecessarily large groups of police officers responding to small
problems (as in the many officers who responded in Rodney King incident).
Have individual officers wear name tags on their uniforms that are large enough
to be clearly visible.
Train officers to avoid arousing and distracting activities such as taunting
suspects, or listening to music in patrol cars.
Assign each officer to work in a particular community. Structure the work so that
the officer gets to know people in the community and be known by them. For example,
have officers walking through the community on foot patrols, instead of riding
through in patrol cars. Have officers meet monthly with citizens and leaders from
the community. Encourage officers to participate in community activities, such
as police athletic leagues.
c) These solutions should work because they will decrease the deindividuation that fosters
police brutality.
People feel more like individuals in small groups.
People have been shown to avoid deindividuation if they wear large name tags that
everyone can see (as in Zimbardo's experiment where women who wore large name tags
gave fewer shocks than women who wore hoods that hid their faces).
People who do not engage in group taunting and do not listen to music on the job,
will be less aroused and less distracted, and thus less likely to become
deindividuated.
Officers will be more likely to remember who they are and act according to their
values if they are known personally and by name. Officers become known personally
by working in the same community over time. Officers on foot patrol have more chances
for personal interaction than officers in patrol cars. Participating in meetings
and in community activities provides other opportunities for individual
relationships to develop.
A potential problem with this solution is that working too long in the same community
can lead to corruption. The likelihood of corruption can be reduced by having
supervisory officers serving limited terms in particular precincts, and by raising
the salaries of police officers.