control group

Examples of control group in the following topics:

• Statistical Literacy

  • Two groups of rats were tested.
  • Both groups were injected with chemicals known to increase the chance of liver cancer.
  • The experimental group was fed saffron (n = 24) whereas the control group was not (n = 8).
  • Only 4 of the 24 subjects in the saffron group developed cancer as compared to 6 of the 8 subjects in the control group.
  • What method could be used to test whether this difference between the experimental and control groups is statistically significant?

• Random Assignment of Subjects

  • Random assignment helps eliminate the differences between the experimental group and the control group.
  • Random assignment, or random placement, is an experimental technique used to assign subjects either to different treatments or to a control group (no treatment).
  • Consider an experiment with one treatment group and one control group.
  • If the experimenter were to assign all of the blue-eyed people to the treatment group and the brown-eyed people to the control group, the results may turn out to be biased.
  • If there are differences between the fertilized plant group and the unfertilized "control" group, these differences may be due to the fertilizer.

• Statistical Controls

  • For example, during drug testing, scientists will try to control two groups to keep them as identical as possible, then allow one group to try the drug.
  • Negative controls are groups where no phenomenon is expected.
  • To continue with the example of drug testing, a negative control is a group that has not been administered the drug.
  • We would say that the control group should show a negative or null effect.
  • Positive controls are groups where a phenomenon is expected.

• Informal Means of Control

  • Informal social control refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.
  • As with formal controls, informal controls reward or punish acceptable or unacceptable behavior.
  • Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society.
  • Informal social control—the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws—includes peer and community pressure, bystander intervention in a crime, and collective responses such as citizen patrol groups.
  • Informal controls differ from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society.

• Informal Social Control

  • Social control refers to societal processes that regulate individual and group behaviour in an attempt to gain conformity.
  • Social control refers to societal and political mechanisms that regulate individual and group behaviour in an attempt to gain conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group.
  • Sociologists identify two basic forms of social control - informal control and formal control.
  • Formal social control typically involves the state.
  • Informal social control has the potential to have a greater impact on an individual than formal control.

• Sanctions

  • As opposed to forms of internal control, like norms and values, sociologists consider sanctions a form of external control.
  • Internal controls are a form of social control that we impose on ourselves.
  • With informal sanctions, ridicule or ostracism can cause a straying individual to realign behavior toward group norms.
  • Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society.
  • To maintain control and regulate their subjects, groups, organizations, and societies of various kinds can promulgate rules that act as formal sanctions to reward or punish behavior.

• Primary Groups

  • A primary group is typically a small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships.
  • A primary group is a group in which one exchanges implicit items, such as love, caring, concern, support, etc.
  • Examples of these would be family groups, love relationships, crisis support groups, and church groups.
  • He, therefore, analyzed the operation of such complex social forms as formal institutions and social class systems and the subtle controls of public opinion.
  • Examples of these would be family groups, love relationships, crisis support groups, and church groups.

• The illusion of control

  • Humans often have a strong desire to feel in control – so much so that acquiring a feeling of control is usually deemed essential for survival.
  • (Mlodinow, Leonard, ‘The Limits of Control', The International Herald Tribune) In an academic study of elderly nursing home residents, for example, a group of individuals was told that it could decide how their rooms were decorated and that each person had a choice over what type of plant he or she could have (the subjects were also told that they were responsible for caring for the plant).
  • A second group had everything done for them.
  • Eighteen months later, 15% of the subjects in the first group had died compared with 30% in the second group.
  • Few people enjoy the company of control freaks, for instance, and having one person in a group (or business) make every decision often results in the group being vulnerable to bad choices – particularly when it comes to money.

• Conflict

  • During war, one army tries to gain control over available resources in order to prevent the opposing army from gaining control.
  • Resources are scarce and individuals naturally fight to gain control of them.
  • Social groups will use resources to their own advantage in the pursuit of their goals, frequently leading powerful groups to take advantage of less powerful groups.
  • Thus, any gain for group A is automatically a loss for group B.
  • The idea that those who have control will maintain control is called the Matthew Effect.

• Control Theory

  • Control theory explains that societal institutions without strong control of society can result in deviant behavior.
  • According to Travis Hirschi, norms emerge to deter deviant behavior, leading to conformity and groups.
  • People will conform to a group when they believe they have more to gain from conformity than by deviance.
  • Decentralized control, or market control, is typically maintained through factors such as price, competition, or market share.
  • An example of mixed control is clan control, which contains both centralized and decentralized control.