A researcher examines whether group identity affects how people judge a minor rule breach. University students read a vignette in which a cyclist rides thro...
Question 1 Report
A researcher examines whether group identity affects how people judge a minor rule breach. University students read a vignette in which a cyclist rides through a closed campus gate. For half the students, the cyclist wears their university hoodie; for the others, the cyclist wears a rival university hoodie. Students rate how serious the behaviour was.
(a) Name the group wearing the participant's own university hoodie. [1]
(b) Describe the likely difference in ratings predicted by social identity theory. [2]
(c) Explain how social categorisation could produce this difference. [2]
(d) Evaluate one weakness of using a written vignette to study social judgement. [1]
Answer Details
(a) In-group [1] (b) The in-group cyclist is likely to be rated as less serious / judged more favourably [1]; the rival, out-group cyclist is likely to be rated as more serious / judged more harshly [1]. (c) Students classify people as “us” and “them” [1], which can lead to in-group favouritism and negative evaluation of an out-group [1]. (d) Reading about a cyclist may not produce the same emotions or behaviour as encountering one in real life / low ecological validity [1].
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