Sample response

In the socio-cultural approach, a research method that may be used is observation. An observation could be overt, where the participants know that they are being observed; or it could be covert, where they are unaware that they are being observed. A covert observation was used in a study by Festinger. In his Doomsday Cult study, Festinger used a covert observation which involves deceiving participants. This is a serious ethical consideration. In his study, Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated a doomsday cult because they wanted to see how the people would react when their prophecy that the world would end, did not come true. They joined the cult pretending to be “believers,” but they were actually observing the cult members. They took notes on a daily basis regarding the conversations that they had with cult members, as well as describing their behaviour. When the final day came and nothing happened, the cult members suddenly found themselves justifying their behaviour to lower their sense of shame and cognitive dissonance. The cult members rationalized that their prayers had postponed the doomsday.

The sociocultural approach studies group behaviour. In order to make this as natural as possible, often people are observed “in the field.” In order to do this without having them change their behaviour, deception may be used. Deception carries ethical concerns due to the fact that the people in the study are not aware of what is really going on; they are being tricked. They will feel that their trust was violated and they may experience extreme stress as a result. In spite of the deception, covert observations are highly effective in achieving obtaining data with high ecological validity and low demand characteristics. Furthermore, such as in this case with the cult, sometimes it is very difficult to obtain consent to observe a certain group or situation openly, so deception may be used to study the behaviour. The question is - to what extent is this research necessary? Is the harm caused by the deception worth the value of the findings? In the case of Festinger’s classic study, this is rather debatable.