Medium Priority Topics — MPC-004 Advanced Social Psychology
🟡 Medium Priority Topics (4 topics)
These topics appear less frequently than high-priority topics but still recur across multiple years. They are excellent candidates for Section B (6-mark) and Section C (short notes) questions.
| # | Topic | Total Appearances | Key Questions | Study Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooperation and Competition | 15 (5.4%) | Types, differentiation, social interaction | [ ] |
| 2 | Self-Perception | 14 (5.0%) | Bem's theory, how behaviour informs self-knowledge | [ ] |
| 3 | Social Identity | 13 (4.6%) | Social identity theory, in-group/out-group, fashion | [ ] |
| 4 | Nature, Scope and History of Social Psychology | 12 (4.3%) | History, related disciplines, current trends | [ ] |
📖 Topic Summaries
1. Cooperation and Competition
Most likely as: Section B (6-mark) or Section C (short note)
Questions ask to define cooperation, differentiate cooperation from competition, discuss types of cooperation, or describe cooperation and competition as processes of social interaction.
Key concepts: Prisoner's dilemma, social exchange theory, superordinate goals (Sherif's Robbers Cave), interdependence theory, game theory basics.
2. Self-Perception
Most likely as: Section B (6-mark)
Bem's self-perception theory states that people infer their own attitudes by observing their own behaviour — particularly when internal cues are weak. Questions ask to explain the theory or describe how self-perception differs from cognitive dissonance theory.
Key concepts: Bem (1972), over-justification effect, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, contrast with Festinger's dissonance theory.
3. Social Identity
Most likely as: Section B (6-mark) or Section C (short note)
Questions ask about social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner), in-group favouritism, out-group derogation, and sometimes the role of fashion in everyday social identity.
Key concepts: Social categorisation → Social identification → Social comparison, minimal group paradigm, self-esteem and group membership.
4. Nature, Scope and History of Social Psychology
Most likely as: Section A (10-mark) or Section B (6-mark) — appears more in recent papers
Questions ask to define social psychology, trace its historical development, or discuss its relationship with related disciplines (sociology, anthropology, personality psychology).
Key concepts: Triplett's (1898) cycling experiment, McDougall and Ross (1908), Floyd Allport's individual focus, Lewin's field theory, crisis of confidence in the 1970s, current trends (cross-cultural, applied, cognitive social psychology).
✅ Progress Tracking
Medium Priority Topics Completed: 0/4 Progress: 0%