← Psychology syllabus

QLDPsychology

Unit 4: The influence of others

6 dot points across 6 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How are attitudes structured, how do they form, and what makes them change?

Describe the tri-component model of attitudes and explain how attitudes form and change, including cognitive dissonance and persuasion
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on attitudes. Explains the tri-component (ABC) model, how attitudes form through learning, the attitude-behaviour gap, Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, and persuasion via the elaboration likelihood model.
6 min answer →

Why do individuals change their behaviour to match a group or comply with authority?

Explain conformity and obedience as forms of social influence, and describe the situational and individual factors that affect them using classic studies
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on social influence. Distinguishes conformity from obedience, explains normative and informational influence, and works through Asch's line study, Milgram's obedience experiments and Zimbardo's Stanford prison study, including the situational factors that increase or decrease each.
6 min answer →

How does being in a group change the way individuals think, feel and behave?

Explain how group membership affects cognition and emotion, including group polarisation, groupthink, deindividuation and the bystander effect
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on group processes. Explains how groups change thinking and feeling through group polarisation, Janis's groupthink, deindividuation, social loafing and the bystander effect, using studies such as Darley and Latane and Zimbardo's deindividuation work.
6 min answer →

What makes people help others, and what makes people behave aggressively or fail to help?

Explain the factors that influence prosocial behaviour and the factors that influence antisocial behaviour and aggression, using studies such as Bandura's and the bystander research
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Explains the situational and personal factors behind helping (reciprocity, social responsibility, empathy, mood), the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility, and the influences on aggression including Bandura's social learning study.
6 min answer →

How does belonging to a group create stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and how can intergroup hostility be reduced?

Explain social identity theory and how it produces stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and evaluate strategies for reducing intergroup conflict
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on social identity and prejudice. Explains Tajfel and Turner's social identity theory and the three steps of categorisation, identification and comparison, distinguishes stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and evaluates strategies such as contact and superordinate goals.
6 min answer →

How do status, power and assigned social roles shape the way individuals think, feel and behave?

Explain the concepts of status and power, describe the bases of social power, and analyse how status and assigned roles influence behaviour using studies such as Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment
A focused answer to the QCE Psychology Unit 4 dot point on status and power. Defines status, power and social roles, describes French and Raven's bases of power, and analyses how status and assigned roles shape behaviour using Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment and the concept of role conformity.
6 min answer →