1 Social Influence- Conformity P1

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

changing our beliefs and behaviour in response to real or perceived group pressure, to fit the implicit social rules, yielding to majority influence

Question 2

what are 3 types of conformity?

Answer 2

compliance
identification
internalisation

Question 3

what is compliance?

Answer 3

-public (privately disagree)
-temporary change
-change behaviour to feel liked and gain social approval

Question 4

what is identification?

Answer 4

-public
-temporary change
-change behaviour to be liked and be affiliated with a group

Question 5

what is internalisation?

Answer 5

-public and private
-permanent change
-you believe this is the right way to believe/ behave

Question 6

which researcher conducted a study about compliance?

Answer 6

Asch (1951)

Question 7

describe the aim of asch’s research

Answer 7

to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform in an unambiguous situation

Question 8

procedure of asch’s research
where did it take place?

Answer 8

in a controlled, laboratory setting

Question 9

who were the participants and the groups?

Answer 9

50 male students from Swarthmore college in America
-groups of 8 ppts
(7 confederates, 1 naive ppt)

Question 10

procedure of asch’s research
how did the study work?

Answer 10

ppts were told it was a visual perception study
- they were asked to select which line was the closest in length to a target line- 3 options
- 18 total trials
- 12 critical trials

Question 11

what were the results of asch’s research?

Answer 11

• 74% of ppts conformed on at least one critical trial
• 32% was the average number of ppts that conformed to in critical trials
• in control groups, less than 1% gave an incorrect answer

Question 12

what were the conclusions from asch’s research?

Answer 12

ppts were interviewed after the study which revealed that most knew they were giving incorrect answers
-they conformed to normative social influence
-wanted to fit in
-didn’t want to feel ridiculed

Question 13

what are 3 variables that can affect conformity?

Answer 13

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 14

how did group size affect conformity in asch’s study?

Answer 14

he varied the number of confederates giving incorrect answers to up to 16
-found that 3 confederates had the highest conformity rate with 31.8%
-7 confederates had a 37.1% conformity rate

Question 15

how did unanimity affect conformity in asch’s study?

Answer 15

one confederate gave the correct answer throughout
-this decreased the rate of conformity to 5%

one confederate gave a different incorrect answer to the majority
-this decreased the rate of conformity to 9%

Question 16

how did task difficulty affect conformity in asch’s study?

Answer 16

the lines became more similar in length, so it was harder to judge differences
-this increased the rate of conformity

Question 17

why does group size affect conformity?

Answer 17

participants may start to become suspicious if too many people start saying such wrong answers

Question 18

why does unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 18

if someone else says an incorrect answer/ different answer to the majority, the ppt will feel as though they aren’t alone and not need social approval

Question 19

why does task difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 19

the more unclear a situation is, the more a participant will look for others for guidance and therefore conform.

Question 20

ethical issues

Answer 20

whether the procedures used in a study are seen as acceptable and treating the participants in a ‘moral’ way

Question 21

androcentric

Answer 21

when a study that only really applies to males is assumed to be true of females

Question 22

ethnocentric

Answer 22

when a study or theory is only really true of one culture, but we presume it is true of others

Question 23

mundane realism

Answer 23

when a task reflects something that would be a realistic everyday experience people may encounter
-type of ecological validity

Question 24

temporal validity

Answer 24

when a study or theory can be claimed to be true across different periods of time

Question 25

internal validity

Answer 25

when a study is accurately measuring what it claims to be studying

Question 26

what acronym do we used to evaluate studies

Answer 26

GRAVE

Question 27

what does GRAVE stand for?

Answer 27

Generalisability
Reliability
Application
Validity
Ethical issues

Question 28

was Asch’s study generalisable?

Answer 28

no, he used a sample of 50 male students from Swathmore College, America
-androcentric and ethnocentric
-low population validity
-study fif not use a mix of cultures or age groups

Question 29

was Asch’s study reliable?

Answer 29

yes, the research was conducted in a controlled environment
-in a lab there are high levels of control, with standardised procedures and control over EVs
-BUT DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS (artificial env)
-this makes the study replicable as it can be repeated, increasing validity and accuracy of study

Question 30

does asch’s research have any application?

Answer 30

in court cases, jury’s may conform and therefore put innocent people in prison

Question 31

was asch’s study valid?

Answer 31

it was high in internal validity
-used standardised procedures and used a control group
-control over EV, can establish cause and effect between the influence of the confederates and the level of conformity measured
-he accurately measured conformity

Question 32

was asch’s study ethical?

Answer 32

no, he was not truthful about what he was studying to the participants
-thought it was a visual perception test
-the confederates and researcher’s knew
-ppts didn’t give informed consent to the real study
-but demand characteristics would have been presented, and interviewed them all at the end
-it was unethical and they felt their privacy was invaded

Question 33

what two people proposed explanations of conformity?

Answer 33

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Question 34

what did Deutsch and Gerard propose in 1955?

Answer 34

people conform either to be liked or to be right

Question 35

what is the technical terms for wanting to be right or liked?

Answer 35

right- informational social influence
liked- normative social influence

Question 36

explain what normative social influence is?

Answer 36

-wanting to be liked
-go along with group as it is socially rewarding, do not want to face social punishment
-emotional
-relates to compliance and partly identification
-transient (temporary)

Question 37

explain what informational social influence is?

Answer 37

-wanting to be right
-go along with the group to gain knowledge of what is right- seek guidance from others
-cognitive (requires more thought)
-relates to internalisation
-permanent

Question 38

what was Jenness 1932 study?

Answer 38

used an ambiguous situation that involved a glass bottle filled with 811 white beans
-participants estimated how many were in the bottle
-divided into groups of 3 and asked
-he found that nearly all ppts changed their original answer once they were on their own
-males changed by 256 beans
-females changed by 382 beans
-shows informational social influence (right)

Question 39

do explanations of NSI and ISI have validity?

Answer 39

NSI- asch’s study
ISI- Jenness study
YES THEY HAVE VALIDITY