1. social influence Flashcards
conformity
a change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure
compliance
the individual changes their outer behaviour to fit in with the group; inner beliefs don’t change
usually due to normative social influence
identification
the individual adopts some of the behaviour and beliefs of a group out of desire for a relationship or association with the group
internalisation
the individual adopts the behaviour and beliefs of a group internally and externally
usually due to informational social influence
normative social influence
conforming to the majority to avoid rejection; it is driven by a desire to be liked and gain social approval
leads to compliance
informational social influence
conforming to the majority because of a desire to be correct in situations where the right action or belief is ambigious; driven by the belief others have more knowledge or correct information
leads to internalisation
Asch procedure
the study involved groups of 8 to 10 male college students
― only one was an actual participant
➥ the rest were confederates of the experimenter
― participants were shown a standard line and three comparison lines
― asked to publicly identify which of the three lines matched the standard line in length
➥ the real participant was seated so they would always answer near the end after the confederates
― in six control trials, it was conducted so the confederates gave the correct answers
― in twelve critical trials, confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer unanimously
Asch findings
― 75% of participants conformed at least once
― 5% conformed every time
― the overall conformity rate in the critical trials was around 32%
group size
Asch: variables affecting conformity
― with only one confederate, the conformity rate was 3%
― with two confederates, it increased to 13%
― with three confederates, it increased to 33%
― conformity rate of 31% at sixteen confederates
This suggests that the presence of a small, unanimous group has a strong social pressure, but group size does not increase this pressure beyond a certain point
unanimity
Asch: variables affecting conformity
A confederate broke the group’s unanimity by responding correctly
➥ the conformity rate dropped to 5.5%
This suggests the presence of a dissenter provides social support
task difficulty
Asch: variables affecting conformity
Asch repeated the experiment with smaller differences between the line lengths
― the rate of conformity increased
Asch argued this was due to participants being more uncertain about their judgements making them more susceptible to ISI
Asch’s study strengths (AO3)
A strength of this study is that other studies have supported Asch’s findings about the effect of task difficulty
― Lucas et al asked participants to solve easy and hard maths problems
➥ found that participants conformed to the wrong answer more often when the problems were hard
― He found that individual level factors can influence conformity and those who were confident in their maths skills were less likely to conform
― This supported Asch’s claim that task difficulty is a variable that affects conformity
research support
Asch’s study limitations (AO3)
A limitation of Asch’s study is the sample he used
― The sample consisted of only White American undergraduate students
➥ means that the experiment is only generalisable to one specific group of people
― The results received were specific to one group of people, which means it isn’t generalisable. More research in different types of groups is needed to make a reliable conclusion
Asch’s study was also artificial
― Participants were told they were being tested
➥ may have made them concerned to give the correct answer
― This means the study was affected by demand characteristics
― This reduces the validity of the study which means more naturalistic research is needed to confirm whether Asch’s findings about conformity are true
not generalisable & demand characteristics
social roles
a socially defined pattern of behaviour that is expected of a persons who occupy a certain social position or belong to a particular social category
Zimbardo procedure
an observational study of 24 male students from the U.S., who recieved $15 per day
― after psychological assessments, participants were randomly assigned to either the role of a prisoner or prison guard
prisoners:
➥ experienced arrests at home and were deloused
➥ were given prison uniforms and ID numbers
➥ given a list of rules to follow and limited rights, such as asking for parole
guards:
➥ were given uniforms, clubs, whitstles, and reflective sunglasses to establish authority
➥ their roles were reinforced through behaviour by being reminded they had complete power
Zimbardo findings
participants quickly lost their personal identities and adapted to their assigned social roles
prisoners:
― showed signs of stress, anxiety, passivity and helplessness
― some prisoners were released early after breakdowns
guards:
― displayed sadistic aggression and domineering behaviour
Zimbardo’s research suggests situational factors rather than individual personality traits can drive behaviour, as people who were considered ‘normal’ and ‘healthy’ before the experiment engaged in abusive or submissive behaviours as a result of their assigned roles and the prison environment
Zimbardo’s SPE strengths (AO3)
participant variables
A strength of the study is that Zimbardo made some attempt to control for individual differences
― He gave a pool of volunteers a mental health test and ruled out any volunteers whose mental health deviated from ideal standards
― Randomly assigned the role of prison guard and prisoner, which ruled out individual personality differences
― Researchers had more control over variables which increased internal validity.
