Alabama Social Studies SS24.P.17a
The Standard
- SS24.P.17
- Describe how attitudes, conditions of obedience and conformity, and other influences affect actions and shape human behavior, including actor-observer, self-server, social facilitation, social loafing, bystander effect, groupthink, and group polarization.
Critique the ethical issues found in Stanley Milgram's work with obedience and S. E. Asch's work with conformity.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies · Clinical Psychology
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify where participants were misled, pressured, or distressed in two studies. They explain how those choices affected consent and the ability to stop, then weigh the research value against the risks.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain that Milgram's participants thought they were delivering shocks and faced repeated prompts to continue. They can explain how Asch's planted group members pressured participants to give wrong answers, then suggest a safer way to study each question.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think Milgram's shocks were real. They may mistake Asch's planted group members for ordinary participants. Some assume deception causes no harm when nobody is physically injured.
How to Assess It
- Ask on an exit ticket: What is one ethical concern in each study? Which study put participants at greater risk, and what detail supports your answer?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs printed timelines of both studies and colored dots; have them mark moments of deception, pressure, or possible distress.
Ask students to write three sentences answering, 'Which study put participants under greater pressure, and what detail supports your claim?'
Give teams six detail cards, including scripted wrong answers and repeated prompts to continue; have them sort the cards by ethical concern.
Show a sample online survey consent screen; ask students to rewrite its opt-out line so people know they can leave.
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