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Social Psychology
Responsibility, motivation, peer pressure, culture, teamwork, management, supervision and leadership.
Social psychology — summary notes
FreeMain ideas
- Individual responsibility means every technician owns the quality of their own work; group responsibility (e.g. a shift sign-off) must not be allowed to dilute that into "someone else will check it."
- Motivation and morale affect error rates — a demotivated technician is more likely to take shortcuts or skip documentation, even if fully competent.
- Peer pressure can push a technician to skip a step to avoid holding up a shift or looking slow — a healthy safety culture makes it acceptable to stop and query, not just to keep pace.
- Organisational ("just") culture distinguishes honest error, at-risk behaviour, and reckless behaviour, and responds to each differently — this is what makes people willing to report their own mistakes.
- Effective supervision and leadership set the tone: a supervisor who visibly prioritises schedule over a technician's safety concern teaches the whole team to do the same.
- ⚠ Exam trap: "norms" — the unwritten way things are really done — quietly replace the approved procedure, and a group sign-off must never dilute individual responsibility.
Solved examples
A technician notices a torque value looks wrong but the rest of the shift has already moved on and is waiting on them. They sign it off anyway. Which social factor is most at play?
Peer/schedule pressure overriding individual judgement — the correct response the organisation should encourage is to stop and query, and a just-culture programme protects the technician for doing so.
Social psychology concept map
FreeSocial Psychology
Social psychology quiz
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