2 - Social Influence Flashcards
Define social influence.
scientific study of the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings & behaviours are affected by other people.
Define conformity.
change in behaviour or belief as a result of a real or imagined group pressure
What are the 3 types of conformity? Can you put them in order of superficiality.
- compliance (most superficial)
- identification (moderate form)
- internalisation (deepest level)
Define compliance.
to appear to agree with others, while disagreeing in private
Define internalisation.
to agree with other both in public & in private
Define identification.
to want to be perceived to belong, as to share groups’ values.
change of belief or behaviour is only temporary
Is compliance private or public acceptance?
public
Is compliance permanent or temporary?
temporary
What explanation of conformity explains compliance?
normative influence
Is internalisation public or private acceptance?
both
Is internalisation permanent or temporary?
temporary
What explanation of conformity explains internalisation?
information influence
Is identification public or private acceptance?
both
Is identification temporary or permanent?
temporary
What explanation of conformity explains identification?
normative influence
What are the 2 explanation of conformity?
- normative influence
- information influence
What is normative influence?
where we want to be liked & accepted by a group
What is informational influence?
where we aren’t confident of our ideas & beliefs
What research supports normative influence?
- Schultz found that hotel guests were exposed to normative mssg that “75% of guests re-used their towels each day”
- guests reduced their own towel use by 25%
What did Schultz’s study suggest?
ppl shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in with their reference group
What research supports information influence?
Asch’s conformity study
What limitations were found after carrying out research for normative influence?
What did McGhee & Teevan in regards to this?
- does not affect everyone’s behaviour in same way
- McGhee & Teevan found that students who are highly in need of affiliation are more likely to conform.
social desirability to be likely is what leads to conformity
For evaluation, what was found from research on information influence?
- Lucas found students conformed to an incorrect answer when they found a maths problem difficult.
showing people conform in situation where they don’t know the answer - Individual differences – Perrin and Spencer found very little conformity and were less likely to seek information from others.
Define confederate.
not a real prtcpnt
What were the 2 aims of Asch’s conformity study?
- to find out how people would behave w an unambiguous task
- would prtpcnts be influenced by the behaviour of others or would stick to what they believed was right?
How many participants were there in Asch’s study? Who were they?
123 male American undergrads.
How was Asch’s study carried out?
- prtpcnt was in a group of confederates
- each indvdl was asked to state which ‘standard’ line was the same as the other 3 lines
- confederates were asked to give the same incorrect answer on 12 critical trials out of 18
What were the results of Asch’s study?
- on critical trials, 36.8% of responses from real prptcpnt conformed to confederates, by stating wrong line
- when prptcnts asked in private, they were right 99% of time
When asked, why did the participants conform with the confederates? Which explanation of conformity is this?
to avoid ridicule - normative influence
What were the 3 ways that Asch varied his study?
- group size
- unanimity
- task difficulty
How did the change in group size affect the results of Asch’s study?
increase in group size
2 confeds. = prtpcnts conform 13.6% of time
3 confeds. = prtpcnts conform 31.8% of time
How does the change in unanimity affect the results of Asch’s study?
adding a truthful confed. or inaccurate confed.
truthful = conformity drops to 5.5%
inaccurate = conformity drops to 9%
How does a change in task difficulty affect the results of Asch’s study?
make the lines more similar in length
this increases conformity
(information influence)
What are 4 weaknesses of Asch’s conformity study?
- lack of ecological validity
- deception, informed consent & psychological harm are issues
- susceptible to demand characteristics
- conformity is not a fixed thing, Asch’s findings may only be relevant to this study
What are 2 strengths of Asch’s study into conformity?
- lack of influence from extraneous varibles, due to it being a controlled lab experiment
- Support from other studies for variation of task difficulty (eg. Todd Lucas (2006))
Give an outline of Todd Lucas’ study into task difficulty & conformity
- asked participnats to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems
- Participants were given answers from 3 ‘students’ (confeds)
- Participants conformed with confeds more when problems were harder
Where did Zimbardo’s study take place?
Stanford University
Who were the participants in Zimbardo’s study? How many of them?
24 American male students
What were Zimbardo’s participants screened for?
emotional stability
What took place to get the ‘prisoners’ to the ‘prison’?
arrested by real police
What did the prisoners end up doing, in Zimbardo’s experiment?
rebelling against guards
How long was the experiment meant to last for? How long did it really last?
2 weeks
6 days
What is Zimbardo’s IV?
making prptcpnt into prisoner or guard
What is Zimbardo’s DV?
whether prtcpnts conformed to their roles as a prisoner or guard
Define deindividuation.
where people tend to engage in deviant behaviour bc. they lose their sense of individual identity & act only as part of the group eg. football hooligans
Define population validity.
whether you can reasonably generalise findings from sample -> larger grp of ppl
Define cultural validity.
whether results are generalisable to other cultures and countries
What are 4 strengths of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
- high ecological validity
- good control of extraneous variables
- high population validity
Which real life situation is Zimbardo’s prison experiment applicable to?
Abu Ghraib military scandal
What are 2 limitations of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
- high ethical problems
- low cultural validity
Why did Zimbardo’s prison experiment have high ecological validity?
alot of effort went into making Stanford Uni like a prison
What examples show that there was good control of extraneous variables in Zimbardo’s study?
psychological screenings took place, random allocation to conditions
Why was there low population validity in Zimbardo’s study?
all the prisoner & guards were young American men
Why was there high ethical problems in Zimbardo’s study?
- extreme lack of protection from harm (no interventions when ptps experience psychological distress)
- lack of clarity on right to withdraw
Why was there low cultural validity in Zimbardo’s study?
they were all young white men
What did Zimbardo’s prison study aim to investigate?
whether aggression in prison is bc of :
- the sadistic nature of prison guards
or
- people conform to social roles and what is expected of them
Define obedience.
where somebody acts in response to a direct order from an authority figure.
Without the order the person would not have acted in the way that they did.
What was the procedure of Milgram’s study?
- 3 individuals = ‘learner’, ‘teacher’ & ‘experimenter’
- ‘learner’ & ‘experimenter were confeds of Milgram
- ‘learner’ strapped into chair w electrodes
- ‘teacher’ gives shocks to learner for wrong answer & shock intensity increases each time by 15V
- if ‘teacher’ is unwilling to shock ‘learner’, they r urged by ‘experimenter’ to continue
What were the results of Milgram’s experiment?
65% gave max. shock
What 3 conclusions were made from Milgram’s study?
- ordinary ppl are suprisingly obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane way
- it is not necessarily evil people who commit evil crimes but ordinary ppl who are just obeying orders
- crimes against humanity may be outcome of situational rather than dispositional factors
What are situational factors?
to do with the situation that prtpcpnt is in
What are dispositional factors?
to do w the prtcpnt & their personality/characteristic tendencies
What were the 3 independent variables in Milgram’s study?
- orders given
- uni setting
- white lab coat
What was the control variable of Milgram’s study?
when the learner starts to ‘react’ to electric shocks
eg. at 270V screaming was heard
What was the dependent variable of Milgram’s study?
whether prtcpnts went to highest electric shock
Define buffer.
something that serves as a protective barrier
How many of the participants believed it was a genuine experiment?
70%
What showed that participants were exhibiting real rates of obedience?
variations in obedience rates of additional studies
How did Milgram protect participants from long term harm?
assessed by a psychiatrist one year later
What were the 3 variations of Milgram’s obedience study?
- Agentic shift
- Role of Buffers
- Legitimate authority
Define agentic shift.
we can either be conscientious & aware of consequences of our actions (autonomous) or we can see ourselves as puppets of others & no longer responsible for our actions (agentic)
Define role of buffers.
buffers protect people from having to confront the consequences of their actions.
when persong given ‘electric shock’ are present/absent, the participant’s behaviour is affected
Define legitimate authority.
we feel obligated to authority that we feel is legitimate, as we accept credentials of authoruty figures & believe they know what they are doing (eg. white lab coat & uni building)
How was touch proximity changed to affect the role of buffers?
in this variation the ‘teacher’ was in the same room as the ‘learner’ and had to place the ‘learners’ hand onto an electric plate to administer each electric shock
Obedience was 30% (removal of a buffer)
How was the research assistant changed to affect the role of buffers?
in this variation the ‘teacher’ did not have to administer the shocks themselves but gave a research assistant (another confederate working for the researcher) the order to administer the shock to the ‘learner’.
Obedience was 92.5%
How were the telephone instructions used affect the agentic shift?
the experimenter was not present in the room but would give instructions to the ‘teacher’ over the phone (this included prods)
Obedience was 20%
How was closer proximity changed to affect the agentic shift?
the ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ were placed 1 metre away from each other
Obedience was 40%
How was the research setting changed to affect the impact of legitimate authority?
the experiment was not carried out in a prestigious university setting but in a run down office block
Obedience was 47%
What was the uniform of the experimenter changed to affect the impact of legitimate authority?
the experimenter was not a scientist or someone who worked at the university, they were an ordinary person dressed in ordinary clothes
- obedience dropped to 20%
What did Sheridan & King believe about Milgram’s experiment?
Milgram’s subjects were too vulnerable to demand characteristics & had played along with the experiment bc they knew the learner was faking the pain
How did Sheridan & King change Milgram’s experiment?
instead of an actor to feel the pain - they used a puppy
What was the procedure of Sheridan & King’s experiment?
- undergrads. from a psychology course were volunteers
- the puppy was trained to distinguish btwn a flickering light & a steady light
- puppy had to stand on left or right dependening on cue of light
- if puppy failed to stand in correct place, the volunteers would shock it
- shock level increased by 15 volts for every wrong answer
What 3 things makes an individual more likely to conform?
- large group size
- group unanimity
- task difficulty
What 3 things make an individual less likely to conform?
- small group size
- presence of dissenter
- unambiguous task
What 3 things makes an individual more likely to obey?
- location
- uniform
- proximity
What 4 things makes an individual less likely to obey?
- less legit. authority
- greater proximity to consequence
- presence of dissenter
- no uniform
Define locus of control.
the extent to which we believe we have control over the events in our lives
Define social support.
perception of assistance & solidarity available from other
What is an internal locus of control?
you believe events in your life are largely a consequence of your own behaviour & of your control
What is an external locus of control?
you belive that events in your life is largely uncontrollable & affected by luck & fate
How did Asch investigate the effects of unanimity on the conformity rate?
he ensured on of the confederates gave the correct answers throughout the procedure
What three things means that informational social influence is likely to happen?
- in an unfamiliar situtaion
- in a crisis situation
- one of the people in the group has specialist knowledge of the situation
What was the behaviour of the guards in Zimardo’s prison experiment?
most of them were brutal, but some of them tried to help & support them
Why was legitimacy of authority was present in Milgram’s study?
most participants recognised that the experimenter was entitled to order them to continue giving them shocks
Why do we obey due to agentic shift?
we switch from an autonomous state to being an agent of an authority figue
What approach was Adorno’s authoritarian Personality based on?
psychodynamic
What type of conformity does minority influence eventually lead to?
internalisation
What was the procedure of Hofling’s study into obedience?
- naturalistic field experiment
- involving 22 real night nurses
- a stooge phoned the nurses at the hospital to ask if they have the drug astroten
- they were told to adminster a dose over the maximum dosage to a patient
- the nurses were observed to see how they’d behave
What were the findings of Hofling’s study into obedience?
21/22 were easily influenced into carrying out the orders, which broke 3 hospital rules
What are the 3 factors which vary in Milgram’s obedience study?
- agentic shift
- role of buffers
- legitimate authority
What were the 2 ways in which the role of buffers varied in MIlgram’s study?
touch proximity - ‘teacher’ was in same room as ‘learner’ & had to place ‘learner’s’ hand on button to adminster electric shock
- obedience was 30%
Research assistant - ‘teacher’ did not enforce the shocks, but a research assistant gave the orders
- obedience was 92.5%
What were the 2 ways in which agentic shift was varied in Milgram’s study?
telephone instructions - experimenter gave instructions to ‘teacher’ over the phone
- obedience was 20%
closer proximity - the ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ were placed only 1 metre away from each other
- obedience was 40%
What were 2 ways in which legitimate authority varied in Milgram’s study?
research setting - experiment carried out in a run down office instead of university
- obedience was 47.5%
uniform - the experimenter was not a scientist, but an ordinary person in ordinary clothes
- obedience rates dropped to 20%
what are 3 features of an authoritarian personality?
- conventional
- submissive to members of authority
- aggressive to those who violate conventional values
What was Albrecht’s research into resisting social change?
- evaluated Teen Fresh Start - a programme used to help pregnant teens resist the pressure to smoke, by providing them with a ‘buddy’ to hold them accountable
- teens with a ‘buddy’ were less likely to smoke, than those without a ‘buddy’
According to Moscovici, how can a minority be successful in influencing social change? (3 points)
- be consistent with their argument
- be flexible, they need to be open to other peoples’ views & appeal to the majorities’ interest
- be committed - shows how much they believe in their cause
What was the procedure of Moscovici’s study on influencing social change?
32 groups of 6 female prtcpnts told they’re taking part in a study on perception
- each group is presented with 36 blue slides differing in shades & asked to say what colour the slide are
- 2 participants are confeds & always say the slides are green
What were the findings of Moscovici’s study on influencing social change?
- when the confeds say ‘green’ every time, 8% of the majority agree
- thus, demonstrating the importance of consistency
What is snowball effect?
members of the majority slowly move towards the minority, until the minority becomes the majority
What is social cryptomnesia?
when over time, the minority changes the view of the majority
- people are afraid to internalise the opinions but as time goes on gradually follow the viewpoint
- the attitude become integral to that society’s culture
