Video Library » Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Histories of social psychology

1       2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9      10      11      12 

The influence of psychology on 20th century society

The following is the link to Episode 2 from the Century of the Self documentary series. It explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses through the development of public relations and consumerism.

The Century of the Self - Part 2: “The Engineering of Consent” 

Discussion questions:

• Why was the field of public relations developed? Is it ethical?
• Why did the US government and military employ large numbers of psychologists?
• Why did Freud’s ideas appeal to business and political elites?
• What was the role of psychology in developing marketing?
• What was Herbert Marcuse’s main point?
• Do you think psychology still has a strong influence on business, advertising and politics today?
• What parallels exist between the ideas and historic events covered in the documentary and events happening in the world today?
• In relation to the speech by Martin Luther King, is psychology still about adjusting people to a maladjusted society? Is this ethical? What might alternative forms of psychology look like? 

Famous social psychology experiments

The video below has footage from the original experiment where Milgram and his colleagues studied the conflict between obedience to authority and people’s conscience.

Milgram experiment 1963

Discussion questions:

• How far do you think you would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person?
• Why did Milgram decide to conduct these experiments?
• What do you think are the strengths and limitations of such experiments?
• How valid are such experiments in relations to complex issues such as the human potential for violence in contexts of war and genocide?
• This next video shows footage from the Sherif Robbers Cave Experiment. Muzafer Sherif was interested to find out whether competition for limited resources might increase hostility and conflict between groups.

5 Minute History Lesson, Episode 3: Robbers Cave

Discussion questions:

• Have you ever done competitive team activities at a school or camp? If so, did you experience any intergroup tensions? Do you think scarcity might have increased the conflict? How might developing common goals change group dynamics?
• What were the strengths and limitations of the Sherif studies, and of how they were analysed?

The history of poverty

The following documentary explores the history of poverty starting at the dawn of human history to the current day. The film looks at the causes of poverty which span human-made and environmental factors. In the past poverty arose because of a scarcity of resources. Today, the world is richer than ever before yet poverty persists.

Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty

Discussion questions:

• Why is poverty often viewed as something natural and inevitable?
• How has psychology helped or hindered efforts to reduce poverty and the associated psychological suffering?
• As an issue which has affected and still affects billions of people, why has humanity not done more to alleviate poverty for those affected? How could we do more?