Section c

9 characteristics of a group

A group’s members share common motivations and objectives. The group members either work toward
accomplishing a certain goal or remove the risks that the group is facing.

1) Reciprocal Relations: The members of a group are inter-related to each other. Simply, a
gathering of persons cannot form a group. Mutual relations are considered essential for the
formation of a social group

A system of norms or roles governs how members of a group interact. Norms describe how
members of a group are expected to behave.

Stability: Groups are permanent or temporary in nature, some groups like the crowd, mob, etc. are
temporary and unstable. But group like family , religious gropus etc. relatively permanent and stable in
nature.

11In psychology, a schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret
information. People use schemata (the plural of schema) to categorize objects and events based on
common elements and characteristics and thus interpret and predict the world. We use schemas
because they allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of information that is available
in our environment.

Schemas are essentially built from our memories of our unique experiences . Schemas can contribute to
stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new information that does not conform to our established
ideas about the world.

Person social event self schemas.

12. Ethics are a key part of psychological investigation, as researchers have the responsibility to ensure
that their practice is morally correct; ill practice could lead to banning from further practice as a
psychologist.

There are a number of important issues that researchers should be mindful of when undertaking
investigations, with regards to the selection and subsequent treatment of their participants:

Confidentiality
Participants should remain anonymous so that data cannot be identified as theirs (e.g. their names
should be withheld when data is reported).

Informed consent

Participants must be briefed on objectives of the investigation and what will be required of them should
they take part. In turn they must accept these conditions to proceed, and be put under no pressure to
do so.

Right to withdraw

As part of their briefing prior to giving consent to partake, participants must be informed that they can
leave the study at any point if they wish, and are under no obligation to disclose a reason why if they do.

Protection of participants

It is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure that participants are not caused any long-term
physical or mental damage.

Deception

This is where participants are misled or wrongly informed about the aims of the research.This is
sometimes necessary in order to avoid demand characteristics. However. The true nature of the
research should be revealed during debriefing at the end.

Ans 13

Obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an
authority figure.Obedience involves a hierarchy of power/status. Therefore, the person giving the order
has a higher status than the person receiving the order.

In order to obey authority, the obeying person has to accept that it is legitimate (i.e., rightful, legal) for
the command to be made of them.

Ans 14psychological research, altruism is conceptualized as a motivational state that a person possesses
with the goal of increasing the welfare of another person.2 Altruism is, therefore, opposed by egoism,
which is the motivation to increase one’s own welfare

IT involves acting out of concern for the well-being of other people. These acts of altruism lead people to
jeopardize themselves to help others. Such behaviors are often performed unselfishly and without any
expectations of reward.
While prosocial acts benefit others, research suggests that individuals engaged in altruistic behaviors
also benefit. Several studies report physical and psychological benefits associated with altruistic
behavior. For example, volunteerism is positively correlated with self-reported happiness, health, and
well-being.

In humans, there is evidence that infants exhibit altruistic behavior beginning at a young age. For
example, infants as young as 14–18 months of age assist others in obtaining out-of-reach objects and
help to open cabinets for others.7 Infants engage in these behaviors without reward or encouragement
from an adult and expectedly without knowledge of concepts such as reciprocation and reputation.

Ans 16

In social psychology, a stereotype is a fixed, over-generalized belief about a particular group or class of
people.

By stereotyping, we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume
all members of that group have

Stereotypes are sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information, but can
sometimes be accurate.[3]

Stereotypes lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudiced attitudes (i.e.,
“them” and “us” mentality), which leads to in-groups and out-groups.

According to a study conducted in 30 countries, certain adjectives are typically associated with women
and men: women are mainly described as sentimental, submissive and superstitious, while men are said
to be strong, dominant, energetic, independent and adventurous.

Even though the following behaviours seem normal, they come from our brains, which unconsciously
categorize people in terms of gender, under the influence of stereotypes.

Books and toys for girls generally suggest roles associated with family responsibilities and appearance,
while those given to boys usually have to do with conquest, exploration and professional work. Simply
by the toys they choose, parents unwittingly steer girls toward household tasks, tidying up and caring for
others, while encouraging boys to excel and carve out a place for themselves in society.

Ans 17

Overt conflict occurs when people openly disagree and choose to confront (address) an issue with the
other person. This occurs as a result of different perspectives, expectations, beliefs, values, and
sometimes just information. When one decides to confront an issue with another, that decision should
be made with full knowledge of the possible, and even probable, types of responses, of the other
person.
In the security industry, an example of overt conflict might occur when a patron, refused admission to a
licensed venue, becomes argumentative.

Ans 18

Group development refers to the process by which members of newly formed work teams learn about
their teammates, establish their roles and responsibilities, and acquire the task work and teamwork
capabilities required to coordinate their effort to perform effectively as a team.

The amount of time it takes for a team to develop is variable and, although precise time frames are not
established, the process is presumed to take longer when the team task entails greater complexity,
interdependence, and coordination and less time when there is less demand for the integration of team
members’ knowledge, skill, and effort.