1. Social Influences

Question 1

Conformity definition

Answer 1

Also known as majority influence, conformity is yielding to group pressure.

Question 2

What are the 3 types of conformity?

Answer 2

1. Compliance
2. Identification
3. Internalisation

Question 3

What is compliance conformity?

Answer 3

When a person goes along with other people’s behaviour or attitudes but does NOT believe them to be correct.
→ It is a short term conformity often used to avoid conflict.

Question 4

What is identification conformity?

Answer 4

Individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions to those of a group as membership of the group is desirable.
→ A temporary response, views may change when the person leaves the group.

Question 5

What is internalisation conformity?

Answer 5

The individual accepts the view and believes the view to be right.
→ A long term response and a permeant change conforming to others’ beliefs.

Question 6

What are 2 of the reasons we conform?

Answer 6

• Informational Social Influence
• Normative Social Influence

Question 7

What is informational social influence?

Answer 7

People have a need to be seen to be “in the right”. We look to others for information about how to behave because we believe that others have more knowledge. This results in public and private agreement with the group.

Question 8

What is normative social influence?

Answer 8

People need to fit in with the norms of the group. People will conform then for social approval. This results in public agreement but is not likely to change private opinion.

Question 9

Aim of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 9

Solomon Asch wanted to see how group pressure affects group tasks with an obvious answer.

Question 10

Method of Asch’s experiment

Answer 10

8 male students were sat along a table. Only one of them however was a real participant the others were confederates of the researchers. The real participant sat in the penultimate place.
The task was to identify which of the lines was the same length as the test line.
They answered out loud in turn and the confederates were all told to answer the same incorrect letter. Asch recorded whether the actual participant conformed.

Question 11

Why was the actual participant seated where he was?

Answer 11

The real participant was placed in his position because it would give him a chance to see what the other participants’ answers were, but not right at the end as he may become suspicious.

Question 12

Key results from Asch’s experiment?

Answer 12

• 75% of the participants conformed on at least one critical trial.
• 25% of the participants never conformed.

Question 13

Conclusion of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 13

Even in an unambiguous situation there is a strong group pressure to conform, especially if there is a unanimous majority.

Question 14

Strengths of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 14

Asch’s research is reliable. His procedure was controlled - standardised instructions, same behaviour from the confederates and researchers, unambiguous task means that they aren’t accidentally testing something else. It could easily be replicated in the same way today.

Question 15

Limitations of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 15

→ It has low generalisability. All the participants were male students who all belonged to the same age group.

→ This means that the study has low ecological validity - the experiment used an artificial task to measure conformity – judging line lengths, so cannot be generalised to real-life situations of conformity.

→ High levels of conformity found by Asch could be a reflection of American, 1950’s culture, America was very conservative, involved in an anti-communist witch-hunt against anyone who was thought to hold sympathetic left-wing views.

Question 16

What factors did Asch conclude effect conformity in a group?

Answer 16

• Group size
• Unanimity
• Task difficulty

Question 17

How does group size effect conformity?

Answer 17

The bigger the group, the more likely we are to conform. However, when the group gets too large (more than 12 people) conformity decreases again.

Question 18

How does unanimity effect conformity?

Answer 18

If the whole group agrees we are more likely to conform.

Question 19

How does task difficulty effect conformity?

Answer 19

On a more difficult task, people are more likely to conform.

Question 20

How does gender effect conformity?

Answer 20

• Women are more likely to conform than men.

Question 21

Other factors that could effect conformity?

Answer 21

• Gender
• Mood
• Culture

Question 22

Evidence that proves how gender effects conformity?

Answer 22

→ Eagly et al (1981): females focus on quality of relationships.
→ Jenness (1932): women conformed more.

Question 23

How does mood effect conformity?

Answer 23

We are more likely to conform when we are in a good mood.

Question 24

Evidence that proves how mood effects conformity?

Answer 24

→ Tong er al. (2008): participants conform to wrong answers on maths questions given by confederated when in a positive mood rather than a neutral mood.

Question 25

How does culture effect conformity?

Answer 25

If you come from a collectivist culture you are more likely to conform than someone from and individualist culture.

Question 26

Evidence that proves how culture effects conformity?

Answer 26

→ Smith & Bond (1993): average conformity rate in collectivist cultures is 25-58%, in individualistic cultures it is only 14-39%.

Question 27

What does Zimbardo’s experiment study?

Answer 27

This experiment studies conformity to a social role rather than conformity in general.

Question 28

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 28

Zimbardo was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (i.e., dispositional) or had more to do with the prison environment

Question 29

When did Zimbardo conduct his experiment?

Answer 29

In 1971 - but published finding in 1973.

Question 30

How were the prisoners screened?

Answer 30

They took personality tests, background test (they weren’t allowed to be ex criminals, or have a history of drug or alcohol abuse), anyone with existing mental health issues or disabilities.

Question 31

What was Zimbardo’s role in the experiment?

Answer 31

Superintendent of the prison – this never should have happened as he got too involved in the experiment.

Question 32

How were prisoners treated by the guards after the first day?

Answer 32

They were treated more harshly than normal prisoners – they were deprived of food and were made to do push ups if they didn’t comply.

Question 33

What happened on the second morning of the experiment?

Answer 33

The prisoners removed their numbers and barricaded themselves into their cells.

Question 34

How did the guards respond to the rebellion?

Answer 34

The ringleaders of the prisoner rebellion were placed into solitary confinement. After this, the guards generally began to harass and intimidate the prisoners.

Privileged prisoners also got to eat special food in the presence of the other prisoners who had temporarily lost the privilege of eating. The effect was to break the solidarity among prisoners.

Question 35

What happened to prisoner 8612?

Answer 35

Less than 36 hours into the experiment, Prisoner #8612 began suffering from acute emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking, uncontrollable crying, and rage.

After a meeting with the guards where they told him he was weak, but offered him “informant” status, #8612 returned to the other prisoners and said “You can”t leave. You can’t quit.”

Soon #8612 “began to act ‘crazy,’ to scream, to curse, to go into a rage that seemed out of control.” It wasn’t until this point that the psychologists realized they had to let him out.

Question 36

What happened to prisoner 819?

Answer 36

While talking to the priest, #819 broke down and began to cry hysterically. The psychologists told him they would get him some food and then take him to see a doctor.

While this was going on, one of the guards lined up the other prisoners and had them chant aloud that prisoner 819 was a bad prisoner.

The psychologists realized #819 could hear the chanting and went back into the room where they found him sobbing uncontrollably. The psychologists tried to get him to agree to leave the experiment, but he said he could not leave because the others had labelled him a bad prisoner.

At that point, Zimbardo stepped in a brought the prisoner back to reality reminding him he wasn’t actually a prisoner.

Question 37

How did the experiment come to an end?

Answer 37

Christina Maslach, came in to conduct interviews with the guards and prisoners, strongly objected when she saw the prisoners being abused by the guards. The experiment ended after 6 days rather than the planned 2 weeks thanks to Christina.

Question 38

What did Zimbardo say happened to him during the experiment?

Answer 38

“By the third day, when the second prisoner broke down, I had already slipped into or been transformed into the role of “Stanford Prison Superintendent.”

Question 39

Conclusion of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 39

According to Zimbardo and his colleagues, the Stanford Prison Experiment revealed how people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play.

Question 40

Which ethical guidelines were broken during the experiment?

Answer 40

1. There was ‘no protection from harm’ – students suffered both physical and psychological harm. Nowadays, psychologists have to comply with BPS ethics of 2009.
2. There was no ‘right to withdraw’ – the students didn’t think they could leave with no consequences. For example, prisoner 819.
3. No informed consent – the participants didn’t know what they were signing up for, there was too much deception within the experiment.

Question 41

Strengths of Zimbardo’s conformity experiment?

Answer 41

High in mundane realism - this increases the validity of the experiment and the credibility of the findings.

Question 42

Weaknesses of Zimbardo’s conformity experiment?

Answer 42

• Ethics are extremely low
• Reliability can be questioned because of Zimbardo’s role as a superintendent in the experiment.
• BBC study repeated the experiment and found similar but NOT the same results.
• Lack of realism - people can argue the guards were just play acting.
• Some said that Zimbardo got too involved in the experiment and encouraged the guards.
• Generalisability was low as all the participants were white, American males of similar ages.

Question 43

Obedience definition?

Answer 43

Obedience – a type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person. The person who gives the order usually has power or authority.

Question 44

Difference between obedience and conformity?

Answer 44

Conformity involves a group - there is no explicit demands to follow orders.

On the other hand

With obedience the social influence comes from a person who is in a position of authority.

Question 45

Weaknesses of Milgram’s obedience experiment?

Answer 45

• Low levels of generalisability: as all the participants were white, American males, from the same area.
• Unethical as the participants were not protected from psychological harm. 3 subjects experienced seizers after the experiment and therefore suffered physical harm too.
• Element of deception – informed consent was NOT gained.

Question 46

What was the aim of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 46

Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.

Question 47

What was Milgram interested in that inspired his 1963 experiment?

Answer 47

Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, for example, Germans in WWII.

Question 48

Procedure of Milgram’s 1963 experiment?

Answer 48

• Volunteers were recruited for a controlled experiment investigating “learning” . Participants were 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, from the New Haven area.
• Before the experiment, they were introduced to another participant, a confederate of the experimenter.
• They drew straws to determine their roles but the confederate was always the learner. There was also an “experimenter”.
• The “learner” was strapped to a chair with electrodes.
• After he has learned a list of word pairs, the “teacher” tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its pair from a list of four choices.
• The teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time.
• There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts to 450.
• The learner gave wrong answers on purpose, and the teacher gave him an electric shock.
• When the teacher refused to administer a shock, the experimenter was to give a series of prods to ensure they continued.
• There were four prods, and if one was not obeyed, then the experimenter read out the next prod. The four main prods were as follows:
  Prod 1 : Please continue.
  Prod 2 : The experiment requires you to continue.
  Prod 3 : It is absolutely essential that you continue.
  Prod 4 : You have no other choice but to continue
• The experimenter also had two special prods available. These could be used as required by the situation:
  1. Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on’.
  2. ‘Whether the learner likes it or not, you must go on until he has learned all the word pairs correctly. So please go on’.

Question 49

Results of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 49

65% of participants continued to the highest level of 450 volts.
100% continued to 300 volts.

Question 50

How many variations did Milgram conduct of his experiment?

Answer 50

18

Question 51

Give some of the variations of Milgram’s experiment.

Answer 51

• Proximity
• Location
• Uniform
• Limited contact
• Support
• Someone else doing the deed

Question 52

What happened to obedience when the experimenter gave instructions over the phone?

Answer 52

Obedience lowered to 20.5%

Question 53

What happened to obedience when the study was moved from the university research lab to a rundown office building.

Answer 53

Only 47.5% of people were obedient.

Question 54

What happened to obedience when the experimenter was called away and replaced by a member of the public (actually a confederate)?

Answer 54

Obedience dropped to 20%.

Question 55

What happened to obedience when someone else does the deed?

Answer 55

92.5% were obedient.

Question 56

Strengths of Milgram’s obedience experiment?

Answer 56

• Some generalisability is shown – the participants were of different ages (20-50 years of age) and various occupations.
• Lab experiment all the extraneous variable can be controlled. The experiment is the same every time it is conducted.
• Standardised procedures
• Use of deception – tries to prevent demand characteristics – leads to validity in results.

Question 57

What is the agentic state?

Answer 57

The agentic state is the condition a person is in when he sees himself as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes.

Question 58

What happens when someone is in the agentic state?

Answer 58

Once a person sees themselves as an agent they may still feel a moral strain, but they remain in the agentic state.

Question 59

What is moral strain?

Answer 59

We may not want to obey as we fear it to be immoral but we fear the consequences of not obey could effect us.

Question 60

What are binding factors?

Answer 60

The things that keep us from rebelling and disobeying.