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16 MARKER Flashcards

1
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY
A

STATE BOTH AND OUTLINE NSI
- 2 explanations
- ISI and NSI
- NSI is when a person conforms to be accepted and feel like they belong to a group
- here a person conforms because it is socially rewarding or to avoid social rejection e.g. feeling like they do not ‘fit in’

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2
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY

(Asch study?)

A

ASCH FOR NSI
- Asch’s (1956) study into conformity provides research support for NSI
- he found many ppts went along with the majority and provided an obviously incorrect answer on a line judgement task
- when questioned by Asch in post experiment interviews ppts said they changed their answer to avoid disapprovement from the rest of the group - NSI!
- furthermore Asch demonstrated that when the pressure to publicly conform is removed by asking them to write down their answers the conformity rates fell - reduction of peer pressure = reduction of rate of conformity

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3
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY
A

LINK TO EG
- Explain here how the person in the example is showing NSI
- Maybe conforming so they aren’t alone?
- Compliance also - changing public behaviour not private in the short term

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4
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY
A

ISI
- However NSI isn’t the only reason people conform - some conform for informational reasons
-ISI is when a person conforms to gain knowledge or because they believe that someone else is ‘right’
- ISI is usually associated with internalisation where a person changes both their public and private beliefs on a long term basis
- This semi permanent change is the result of adopting a new belief system because they genuinely believe they are ‘right’ or the majority are ‘experts’

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5
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY

(Jeness?)

A

JENNESS
- Jenness 1932 provides research support for the role of ISI
- Ppts were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of jelly beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group
- Following the discussion ppts then made another individual private estimate
- Jenness found that this second private estimate moved closer to the group estimate and that females typically conformed more
- This shows ISI will occur in unfamiliar ambiguous situations as the ppts believe they gain knowledge from group and more likely to be right if they do so

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6
Q
  1. DISCUSS EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY
A

LINK TO EG ISI
- refer to example and suggest why they are conforming in this way
- maybe they believe someone else is right?
- also demonstrating internalisation - resulting in long term semi permanent change in behaviour

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7
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY

(NSI?)

A

STATE BOTH AND OUTLINE NSI
- two key explanations of conformity informational social influence and normative social influence
- NSI is when a person conforms to be accepted and to feel like they belong to a group
- here a person conforms because it is socially rewarding or to ‘avoid social rejection’ e.g. feeling like they don’t ‘fit in’

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8
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY
A

ASCH FOR NSI
- Aschs (1956) study into conformity provides research support for NSI
- he found many ppts went along with the majority and provided an obviously incorrect answer on a line judgement task
- when questioned by Asch in post experiment interviews ppts said they changed their answer to avoid disapprovement from the rest of the group - NSI!
- furthermore Asch demonstrated that when the pressure to publicly conform is removed by asking them to write down their answers the conformity rates fell - reduction of peer pressure = reduction of rate of conformity

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9
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY

(Criticism of Asch?)
(Perrin and Spencer?)

A

CRITICISM OF ASCH
- While the Asch study provides support for the notion of NSI, more recent research has yielded different results
- For example, Perrin and Spencer 1980 conducted an Asch style experiment and found a conformity level of 0.25%
- Therefore it could be argued that the results of Asch are the results of a different era and do not represent conformity and the idea of NSI in the modern day
- However, it must be noted that the Perrin and Spencer used a very different sample consisting of engineering and mathematic students so it could be that lower levels of conformity were also influenced by the ppts expertise in problem solving tasks

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10
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY
A

ISI OUTLINE
- However NSI isnt the only reason people conform - some conform for informational reasons
- ISI is when a person conforms to gain knowledge or because they believe that someone else is ‘right’
- ISI is usually associated with internalisation where a person changes both their public and private beliefs on a long term basis
- This semi permanent change is the result of adopting a new belief system because they genuinely believe they are ‘right’ or the majority are ‘experts’

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11
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY

(Jeness 1932?)

A

JENNESS
- Jenness 1932 provides research support for the role of ISI
- Ppts were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of jelly beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group
- Following the discussion ppts then made another individual private estimate
- Jenness found that this second private estimate moved closer to the group estimate and that females typically conformed more
- This shows ISI will occur in unfamiliar ambiguous situations as the ppts believe they gain knowledge from group and more likely to be right if they do so

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12
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH EXAMINING CONFORMITY

(Criticism of Jeness)

A

CRITICISM OF JENNESS
- While Jenness provides convincing evidence for the role of ISI it must be noted that his experiment has been criticised for lacking ecological validity
- Providing an estimate of the number of beans in the jar is a rather mundane task with no social consequences
- Consequently it is legitimate to question whether we would display such levels of ISI in tasks that have more significant social consequences e.g. hearing evidence in a court case from an ‘expert’ barrister.
- Therefore until further research examining ISI is conducted in the real world these results remain confined to the laboratory

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13
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

(3 main factors?)

A

OUTLINE ALL THREE THEN START WITH GROUP
- there are three main factors that affect whether a person conforms
- group size
- unanimity
- task difficulty
- firstly it is logical to assume that a larger group will increase the rate of conformity because the size of the social pressure increases

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14
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

( Group size?)

A

GROUP SIZE
- However research done by a
Asch has found that the effect of group size is not so straight forward
- In Asch’s original experiment one real ppt was placed among six to eight confederates
- Asch found that the average conformity rate was 32%
- Asch found that when there was only one confederate conformity dropped to 3% and when there were two it dropped to 12.8%
- However with three confederates it remained at 32%
- Increasing group size has limitations
- When Asch increased the size of the majority to 15 confederates conformity began to drop
- This may be because the situation is seen as bizarre and the ppts started to become suspicious leading to demand characteristics
- These results show that group size has a significant impact on conformity and that when a group has three or more people it reaches its highest level at approx. 32%

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15
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

(Unanimity?)

A

OUTLINE UNANIMITY
- Another factor that affects conformity is unanimity which is the extent to which the majority agree in their views or behaviour
- If a majority is unanimous in their opinion then they are more likely to have a significant impact

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16
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

(Results of unamity?)

A

RESULTS OF UNANIMITY
- Asch examined the idea of unanimity in a variation where one of the confederates was instructed to give the correct answer throughout
in this variation the average conformity rate dropped to just 5%
- this shows that when a majority is broken people are more likely to resist the pressure to conform
- this is because they do not feel as though they are alone and do not have to go along with the group

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17
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

(Task difficulty?)

A

TASK DIFFICULTY
- The final factor that affects conformity is task difficulty
- In the original Asch experiment the correct answer was always obvious therefore the ppts were conforming due to normative social influence and a desire to fit in

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18
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

(Results of task difficulty?)

A

TASK DIFFICULTY RESULTS
- However in one of aschs variations he made the length of the lines significantly smaller and more difficult to judge
In this variation he found that the rate of conformity increased
- This is likely to be the result of informational social influence as individuals look to another for guidance when completing the task suggesting that as tasks become more difficult people are more likely to conform
- Furthermore jenness (1932) also provides research support for the idea of task difficulty
In jenness’ study ppts were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of jelly beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group
- Following this ppts then made another private estimate
Jenness found that this second guess was closer to the group judgement
- Jenness concluded that this shift in judgement was due to the ambiguity of the task and therefore the difficulty of the task led people to conform for informational reasons as they believed that the group were more likely to be correct.

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19
Q
  1. DISCUSS FACTORS THAT CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY. REFER TO VARIATIONS OF ASCH’S EXPERIMENT IN YOUR ANSWER

( Task Difficulty results)

A

TASK DIFFICULTY RESULTS
- However in one of aschs variations he made the length of the lines significantly smaller and more difficult to judge
In this variation he found that the rate of conformity increased
- This is likely to be the result of informational social influence as individuals look to another for guidance when completing the task suggesting that as tasks become more difficult people are more likely to conform
- Furthermore jenness (1932) also provides research support for the idea of task difficulty
In jenness’ study ppts were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of jelly beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group
- Following this ppts then made another private estimate
Jenness found that this second guess was closer to the group judgement
- Jenness concluded that this shift in judgement was due to the ambiguity of the task and therefore the difficulty of the task led people to conform for informational reasons as they believed that the group were more likely to be correct.

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20
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

(Zimbardo 1973?)

A

AIM PROCEDURE AND FINDINGS
- Zimbardo 1973 conducted a study on conformity to social roles called the Stanford prison experiment
- The aim of his experiment was to examine whether people would conform to his given roles when placed in a mock prison environment
- His sample consisted of male university students who were randomly assigned to one of two social roles: prisoner or guard
- The ‘prisoners’ were arrested by local police given a numbered smocked to wear and chains were placed around their ankles
- The guards were given uniforms, sunglasses, handcuffs and a truncheon and were instructed to run the prison without using physical violence
- The experiment was set to run for two weeks although it was terminated after only six days

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21
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

(Findings explained?)

A

FINDINGS EXPLAINED
- Zimbardo found that both the prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles
- Within days the prisoners rebelled which was quickly crushed by the guards who then grew increasingly abusive towards them
- The guards dehumanised the prisoners waking them during the night and forcing them to clean toilets with their bare hands
- The prisoners became increasingly submissive identifying further with their subordinate role

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22
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

(A03 - recent replication?/ reicher + Haslam?)

A

A03
- A recent replication of the
Stanford prison experiment carried out by Reicher and Haslam 2006 contradicts the findings of Zimbardo
- In this replication the ppts did not conform to their social roles automatically
For example, the guards did not identify with their status and refused to impose their authority
- The prisoners identified as a group to challenge the guards authority which resulted in a shift of power and a collapse of the prison system
- These results clearly contradict the findings of Zimbardo and suggest that conformity to social roles may not be automatic as Zimbardo already implied

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23
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

(A03 - individual differences?)

A
  • Furthermore the individual differences and personality also determine the extent to which a person conforms to social roles
  • In Zimbardos original experiment the behaviour of the guards varied dramatically from extremely sadistic behaviour displayed by around one third of the ppts in that role to a few guards who actually helped the prisoners by offering support and sympathy giving cigarettes and reinstating lost privileges
  • Suggests that situational factors are not the only cause of conformity to social roles
  • And dispositional factors such as personality also play a role implying that Zimbardos conclusion could have been over stated
24
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

(A03 - Ethical?)

A
  • Zimbardos experiment has been heavily criticised for breaking many ethical guidelines especially protection from harm
  • Five of the prisoners left the experiment early because of their adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment
  • Furthermore some of the guards reported feelings of anxiety and guilt as a result of their actions during the Stanford prison experiment
  • Although Zimbardo followed the ethical guidelines of Stanford university and debriefed his ppts afterwards he acknowledged that the study should have been stopped eariler
  • It has been suggested he was responding more in the role of the superintendent of the prison rather than the researcher with responsibility
  • Furthermore, the fact he only used male ppts shoes beta bias as his research may have ignored or minimised the differences between gender in terms of conformity to social roles so we are unable to conclude whether females are the same.
25
Q
  1. DISCUSS RESEARCH INTO OBEDIENCE AS INVESTIGATED BY MILGRAM
A
  • milgram investigated whether ordinary people would obey an order to inflict pain on an innocent person
  • his sample of 40 male american volunteers went to yale where they met the experimenter and another ppt (confed)
  • it was fixed so that the real ppt was assigned the role of ‘teacher’ and instructed to give an electric shock of increasing strength (from 15-450 v) to the ‘learner’ everytime he made a mistake on a list of word pairs. - the ppt was also given a sample shock to pretend the study was real and provide a source of empathy (45v)
  • at 300 v the learner could be heard complaining but after that there were no further responses
  • the experiment continued until either the ppt refused to continue or the maximum of 450v was reached
  • if they tried to stop the experimenter would offer a verbal prod e.g. the experiment requires that you continue
  • milgram found that all ppts went to 300v and 65% administered the full 450 v
    in addition, qualitative observation report ppts showing signs of distress and tension
26
Q
  1. DISCUSS RESEARCH INTO OBEDIENCE AS INVESTIGATED BY MILGRAM

(Ethical issues?)

A

CRITICISM: IT BROKE SEVERAL ETHICAL GUIDELINES
- He deceived ppts as they believed that they were taking part in a study on how punishment affects learning rather than on obedience
- They were also deceived by the rigging of the role allocation that was pre determined
- Due to the nature of the task milgram did not protect the ppts from psychological harm since many showed signs of real distress during the experiment and may have continued to feel guilty following the experiment knowing they could have harmed someone
- Some critics of milgram believed that these breaches could serve to damage the reputation of pyschology and jeopardise future research

27
Q
  1. DISCUSS RESEARCH INTO OBEDIENCE AS INVESTIGATED BY MILGRAM

(Different to real life situations?)

A

ANOTHER CRITICISM: LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY BECAUSE MILGRAM CONDUCTED A LAB STUDY WHICH IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM REAL LIFE SITUATIONS OF OBEDIENCE
- In everyday life we often obey far more harmless instructions rather than giving people electric shocks
- As a result we are unable to generalise his findings to real life situations of obedience and cannot conclude that people would obey less severe instructions to the same degree
- However milgram counters this by stating that the lab can reflect wider authority relationships seen in real life situations
- E.G. Hofling found that nurses were suprisingly obedient in a hopsital setting and this suggests milgrams findings do apply
- 21/22 carried out drugs

28
Q
  1. DISCUSS RESEARCH INTO OBEDIENCE AS INVESTIGATED BY MILGRAM

(Population validity?)

A

ANOTHER METHODOLOGICAL CRITICISM OF MILGRAMS STUDY IS THAT IT LACKS POPULATION VALIDITY
- This is because milgram used a biased sample of 40 male american volunteers from a broadly individualistic society
- Therefore we cannot generalise the results to other populations particularly collectivist cultures or to explain female behaviour since we cannot conclude that those with other cultural experiences or female ppts would respond in this way
- The fact he only used male shows a beta bias as his research may have ignored or minimised the differences between men and women in relation to the conclusions drawn regarding obedience to authority
- It can also be criticised as being androcentric since the results cannot be generalised to females.

29
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY
A

PROXIMITY, LOCATION AND UNIFORM
- Situational variables focus on external factors that affect the likelihood that someone will obey orders including proximity, location and uniform

30
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

(Location?)

A

LOCATION
- Milgram conducted his original study in a lab in yale univeristy
- In order to test the power of location he conducted a variation in a rundown building in bridgeport, connecticut
- In this the % of ppts who administered the full 450v dropped from 65% to 47.5% highlighting the importance of location in creating a prestigious atmosphere generating respect and obedience

31
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY
    (Uniform?)
A

UNIFORM
- Likewise he demonstrated the power of uniform in a variation where the experimenter was called away and replaced by another ppt (confederate) in normal clothes
- Here, the % of ppts administering the full shock dropped to 20%
- While this variation appears to suggest that uniform is an important factor that affects obedience it is unclear from this variation alone whether the uniform is the contributing factor or whether the experimenter also appears more legitimate due to his social status and role

32
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

(Additional research for uniform?)
( Bickman 1974?)

A

UNIFORM
- However additional research supports the role of uniform having an effect on obedience rates
- Bickman 1974 conducted a field experiment in nyc where confederates stood on the street and asked members of the public who were passing by to perform a small task such as picking up some litter or providing a coin for the parking meter
- The outfit varied from a smart suit jacket and tie, a milkmans outfit or a security guards uniform
- It was found that in this final condition people were tice as likely to obey the order given by the security guard which supports milgrams idea that uniform adds to the legitimacy of authority and is a situational variable increasing obedience

33
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

(Proximity?)

A

PROXIMITY
- Proximity refers to how close someone or something is
In a variation of milgrams experiment where the teacher and learner were in the same room the % of ppts who administered the full 450v dropped from 65% to 40% because the teacher could understand the learners pain more directly
- In another variation the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the telephone which meant obedience levels fell even further to 20.5%
- This shows that proximity affects obedience in two ways
1) the closer a person is to an authority figure the more likely they are to obey
2) the closer a person is to the consequences of their actions the less likely they are to obey

34
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE HOW SITUATIONAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AFFECT OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

(Other factors such as culture?)
(Kilman and mann 1974?)

A

OTHER
- While situational variables like uniform and proximity are seen to be important research suggests that other factors (e.G. Culture) also play an important role
- Kilman and mann 1974 replicated milgrams original study procedures in austrailia but found that only 16% of the ppts shocked the learner at the maximum voltage level of 450v
- Whereas mantell 1971 on the other hand showed that it was 85% when conducted in germany
- This cross cultural comparison shows that different societies follow alternative hierachical structures and children may be socialised differently from a young age to be more or less obedient
- This suggests that while situational factors like uniform and proximity are important other factors may play a more significant role in obedient behaviour

35
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

(Adorno?)

A
  • Dispositional explanations for obedience focus on internal (personality) characteristics within humans that contribute to obedience
  • One particular explanation focuses on the authoritarian personality which was proposed by adorno
  • Adorno 1950 believed that the foundations for an authoritarian personality were laid in the early childhood because of harsh and strict parenting
  • This creates resentment within the child as they grow up and since they cannot express it at the time the feelings are displaced onto others who are seen as ‘weak’ or ‘inferior’
  • According to adorno this personality type is correlated with prejudice and discrimination as well as obedience
36
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE
A

https://quizlet.com/gb/395446213/social-influence-16-markers-flash-cards/?funnelUUID=350e7be7-05ac-41bc-9873-a7593d715da8#:~:text=%2D%20Adorno%20conducted%20a,for%20obedient%20behaviour

37
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

(MILGRAM + ELMS?)

A
  • There is research support for the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience
  • Milgram and elms 1966 conducted post experimental interviews with participants who were fully obedient in milgrams original study to see if there was a link between high levels of obedience and an authoritarian personality
  • It was found that the obedient ppts scored higher on the f scale in comparison to the disobedient ppts
  • Furthermore the obedient ppts were less close to their fathers during childhood and admired the experimenter in milgrams study which was quite the opposite for disobedient ppts
  • It was concluded that the obedient ppts in milgrams original research displayed more characteristics of the authoritarian personality
38
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

(Middendorp + Meleon?)

A
  • There may be individual differences that contribute to the development of the authoritarian personality
  • Research by middendorp and meleon 1990 has found that less educated people are more likely than well educated people to display authoritarian personality characteristics
  • If these claims are correct then it is possible that it is not authoritarian personality characteristics alone that lead to obedience but other factors including levels of education
39
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

(Response bias?)

A
  • There may be methodological criticisms associated with the measures used to determine authoritarian personality traits
  • It is possible that the f scale suffers from response bias or social desirability where ppts provide answers that are socially acceptable
  • For example, ppts appear more authoritarian because they believe their answers are socially correct and consequently they are incorrectly classified as authoritarian when they are not
  • This, therefore reduces the internal validity of the questionnaire research method used in determining the degree of authoritarianism suggesting that other factors/explanations may be responsible for the obedient behaviour
40
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AS A DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

High degree of AP

A

Adorno came to believe that a high degree of authoritarianism was similar to suffering from a psychological disorder with the cause lying within the personality of the individual (nature) but originally caused by the treatment they received from their parents at a young age (nurture)
- Obedient behaviour is therefore determined by our socialisation experiences and not as a result of free will
- However some psychologists (e.g. Humanistic pyschologists) would dismiss these claims and argue that humans have the capacity for free will and change that dispositional explanations for obedience are overly deterministic

41
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE TWO EXPLANATIONS OF RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE - REFER TO EXAMPLES GIVEN IN ANSWER
A
  • there are two explanations of resistance to social influence that relate to (the example): social support and locus of control
42
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE TWO EXPLANATIONS OF RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE - REFER TO EXAMPLES GIVEN IN ANSWER

(Internal LOC?)

A
  • one example suggests that a ‘confident personality’ is the reason why people resist social influence and therefore she is advocating a dispositional explanation - linked to the idea of locus of control
  • people with an internal locus of control believe that they have control over their life and are less concerned with social approval
  • individuals with an internal loc are therefore more independent and find it easier to resist social influence
  • it could be inferred that a person with a ‘strong’ personality would be more likely to display an internal locus of control and therefore resist social influence
43
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE TWO EXPLANATIONS OF RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE - REFER TO EXAMPLES GIVEN IN ANSWER

(Research for internal LOC? Spector 1983?)

A
  • research supporting that individuals with an internal LOC are less likely to conform
  • Spector 1983 used rotters locus of control scale to determine whether loc is associated with conformity
  • from 157 students Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with a high external loc but only in situations of NSI where they wanted to conform to be accepted
  • there was no difference between the two groups for ISI suggesting that NSI is more powerful than ISI when considering loc
  • these results suggest that (which view from example is correct)
44
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE TWO EXPLANATIONS OF RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE - REFER TO EXAMPLES GIVEN IN ANSWER

(Asch variations?)

A
  • There is evidence to support the idea that social support can reduce social influence
  • In one of aschs variations 1951 one of the confederates was instructed to give the correct answer throughout
  • In this variation the rate of conformity dropped to 5%
  • This demonstrates that if the real ppt has support for their belief (social support) then they are more likely to resist the pressure to conform
  • This suggest the example of resisting social influence depends on whether others do so (quote from eg) is supported by research
  • Asch clearly demonstrates that social support lowers the pressure of the group making it easier to demonstrate independent behaviour
45
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO MINORITY INFLUENCE

(Consistency?)

A
  • different factors can enhance the effectiveness of a minority including commitment, flexibility and consistency
  • consistency refers to the way in which minority influence is more likely to occur when the members share the same belief and retain it over time
46
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO MINORITY INFLUENCE

(Moscovici 1969? Consistency?)

A
  • Moscovici 1969 conducted a study to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
  • His sample of 172 female ppts were placed in groups of six and shown 36 slides all varying shades of blue
  • The ppts had to state out loud the colour of each slide
  • Two of the six ppts were confederates
  • In the consistent condition the two confederates said that all 36 slides were green and in the inconsistent they said 24 were green and 12 were blue
  • Moscovici found that in the consistent condition ppts agreed on 8.2% of the trials whereas in the inconsistent the ppts only agreed on 1.25% of the trials
47
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO MINORITY INFLUENCE

(Generalisability?)

A
  • Moscovici used a biased sample of 172 females from america
  • As a result, we are unable to generalise the results to other populations e.G. Male ppts and we cannot conclude that male ppts would respond to minority influence in the same way
  • His research can be criticised as being gynocentric as it takes an exclusive focus on the conforming behaviour of female ppts to a minority influence
  • Furthermore research often suggests that females are more likely than males to conform and therefore further research is required to determine the effect of minority influence on male ppts to improve the low population validity of this experiment
48
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO MINORITY INFLUENCE

(Ethical?)

A
  • He has been criticised for breaching ethical guidelines during his study
  • He decieved his ppts as they were told they were taking part in a colour perception test when it wasin fact an experiment on minority influence
  • This also means that moscovici didn’t gain fully informed consent
  • Although it is seen as unethical to decieve ppts moscovicis experiment required deception in order to achieve valid results as if the ppts were aware of the true aim they may have shown demand characteristics and acted differently
  • Thus a cost benefit analysis would deem that the insight gained from such research was worth the short term cost to the ppts which could be dealt with by a debrief afterwards
49
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE RESEARCH INTO MINORITY INFLUENCE

(Lacks mundane realism?)

A
  • There are methodological issues with research into minority influence
  • Judging the colour of a slide is an artificial task therefore lacking mundane realism since its not something that occurs everyday
  • Research conditions are criticised as being too far removed from cases of real world minority influence such as political campaigning
  • The implications of real world cases are grossly disproportionate to those seen in a lab setting as they can for some people literally be cases of life or death and as such Moscovici’s research lacks external validity
50
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE
A
  • Social change refers to how over time beliefs attitudes and behaviours of society are replaced with new norms and expectations
  • There are many processes that are involved the first of which is consistency
  • Displaying a consistent viewpoint is beneficial in bringing about social change as the message appears more credible and can help to convince a majority
51
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE

(Augmentation principle?)

A
  • Another process is the augmentation principle
  • When the majority pays attention to selfless and risky actions being taken by the minority group it is more likely to integrate the groups opinion into their own personal viewpoints due to the personal sacrifice made by the minority
  • Once the minority viewpoint has got the attention of some of the majoirty group members more and more people begun to pay attention and the monority viewpoint gathers momentum which is called the snowball effect
52
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE

(NSI?)

A
  • Finally NSI can encourage social change by reporting the behaviour or attitudes of the majority to urge others to fit in with the group
53
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE

(Bashir 2013?)

A
  • Minority influence can often act as a barrier to social change
  • Bashir 2013 were interested in investigating why so many people resist social change even when they believe it to be needed
  • It was found that some minority groups such as environmental activists or feminists often live up to the stereotypes associated with a minority for fear of being stereotypically labelled
54
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE

(Nolan 2008?)

A
  • There is research support for the role of normative social influence as a process for social change
  • Nolan 2008 conducted a study which spanned one month in california and involved hanging messages on the front doors of people’s houses in san diego encouraging them to reduce energy consumption by indicating that most other residents are already doing so
  • As a means of control some houses received a message with no reference to the behaviour of others in the area
  • It was found that the experimental group significantly lowered their energy consumption showing that conformity can lead to positive social change
55
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE

(Mackie 1987?)

A
  • Minority and majority influence may involve different levels of cognitive processing
  • Moscovici believes that a minority viewpoint forces individuals to think more deeply about the issue however Mackie 1987 counters this suggesting the opposite to be true
  • She suggests that when a majority group is thinking or acting in a way that is different from ourselves we are forced to think more deeply about the reasons
  • This therefore casts doubt on the validity of moscovicis minority influence theory suggesting it may be an incorrect explanation of social change
56
Q
  1. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL CHANGE
A
  • Reports of social change can involve concepts that have not been or cannot be tested empirically which means that they lack scientific credibility
  • Furthermore many examples of social change rest on isolated case studies (e.G. Martin luther king) and therefore an idiographic approach is often taken
  • Consequently there is a large amount of subjective interpretation involved in explaining the occurrences of social norms and such evidence should be treated with caution
  • However there is also a large quantity of research that supports the processes involved in social change such as that of asch milgram and moscovici which take a nomothetic approach as they have each created universal laws to explain human behaviour under certain circumstances
  • Taken together these isolated case studies and relatively large scaled studies provide credibility to the underlying processes involved in social change

Social influence (2 decks)

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