In many cities across the UK, social media campaigns have brought large groups of people together to show their solidarity with refugees in war-torn countries. People are able to join these groups at the click of a button and become part of a movement of people who share common values. The members of these groups often come together in real life, to donate many tons of aid to be sent overseas. However, group chat-pages, such as “Donate not Hate” are often also littered with negative comments from people who perceive refugees, and their supporters very negatively. The page supporters sometimes retaliate with equally aggressive comments.

1. Use concepts from Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory to explain why tensions arise between groups of people in our communities, in situations such as this (4)

Click here for advice and model answer

Agnes is a post-graduate Psychology student. She is very interested by the range of comments on the “Donate not Hate” web page and decided to attend one of donation events. She conducted semi-structured interviews with some of the people who had come to make donations to find out about their attitudes, not only to the refugees but also those people who opposed the campaign.

2a. Explain two things that Agnes might have done to prepare for her interviews (4)

Click for advice and model answer

2b. Agnes used thematic analysis to analyse her qualitative data. Explain one strength of her method of analysis (2)

Click here for advice and model answer

3. Evaluate realistic conflict theory as an explanation of prejudice (8)

Model essay: evaluate-realistic-conflict-theory-8-revised-for2017