2nd Half Material Flashcards
Social Influence
The study of how individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by others around them
Obedience
An individual who, in an unequal power relationship, submits to the demands of the more powerful person
Ex: red light at food counter telling you not to eat; people obey for no reason
Ex: strip-search scandal when criminal called different establishments and lied that he’s a detective and say a worked had to be searched
Situation matters, and obedience studies prove the importance; however, individuals tend to ignore situational influences (FAE)
Milgram Study
July 1961; research was largely motivated by events leading up to WWII and aftermath.
The learner and teacher were the pairs. The teacher was supposed to test the learner on word association. If the learner gets the answer wrong, the teacher is supposed to shock him.
The learners were all actors, and every true participant was given the role of teacher.
The actor gets strapped into the electric chair, and the subject sits in front of the shock apparatus. The shock apparatus had various levels of shocks it could give. From low to lethal.
Experimenter (authority figure) is in the same room as participant (teacher); if participant doesn’t want to continue, experimenter says:
1) Please continue.
2) The experiment requires you to continue.
3) It is essential you continue.
4) You have no choice but to continue.
Was the Milgram Experiment a true experiment?
No. This was a study and not an experiment because there was no random assignment and some self-selection because people had to answer the study flier
Milgram Study Expectations
- All subjects said they would personally disobey before reaching 140 volts
- Some said they wouldn’t deliver any volts.
- No one expected anyone to go past 300 volts.
- 1/1000 would reach “XXX”
Voice condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- At 180 volts, confederate claims he cannot stand the pain any longer; at 300 volts, confederate refuses to answer anymore word pairs.
- 63% obedience rate.
Remote feedback condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- No verbal audio, just pounding on the walls.
- 65% obedience rate.
Proximity condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Confederate was in the same room as participant.
- 40% obedience rate.
Touch proximity condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- When confederate resfused to answer anymore word pairs, experimenter asked participant to take confederate’s hand and put it on the shock plate; direct involvement.
- 30% obedience rate.
No feedback condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- 100% obedience rate - up to XXX so death of confederate
- No feedback from confederate.
- 1st condition Milgram looked at –> had to look at ways to decrease obedience from here.
Gave orders to another shocker (middleman) condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Actual participant is not in charge of administering a shock, only gives orders to another actor to.
- 93% obedience rate.
Absent experimenter condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Gives initial instructions, but gets called away; delivers orders over the phone.
- 23% obedience rate.
- Some lied to the experimenter and said they were shocked when they weren’t.
Ordinary person (no lab coat) condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- The person giving orders was perceived as an ordinary person off the street (but was a confederate) assigned role of experimenter.
- 20% obedience rate.
- Suggests that orders need to be given by a legitimate authority figure.
2 other participants disobeyed condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Participant overhears 2 others disobeying the experimenter.
- 10% obedience rate –> safety in numbers; being the first one to disobey is always the hardest.
Contradictory 2 experimenters condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Participant overhears 2 experimenters arguing with each other over the morals/methodologies of the study.
- 0% obedience rate; not a single person administered the max. volts.
- HOWEVER, still, a mean voltage administered of 180 volts; was still high despite no one going up to the max.
Bridgeport condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
–> Questioned whether the results were linked to Yale and academic authority?
- Removed all academic authority.
- 48% obedience rate.
Women condition
Condition in the Milgram studies.
- Original studying had only male participants.
- In original condition, 65% obedience rate; no different to men.
Shock the puppy
What happens if we use an authentic victim? Asked undergrads to shock a puppy in a learning paradigm.
Puppy response:
- Whimper
- Cry
- Howl
- Run away
Undergrad response:
- Whimper
- Pace/run around
- Hyperventilate
- Coaching puppy
- 75% of undergrads administered shocks up to the max. voltage. This would have killed the dog.
- Only men disobeyed
Shanab and Yahya (1977)
What happens if we ask participants to shock children?
- Highest obedience rate for shocking children 10-12yrs.
- Study demonstrated high obedience rates even when shocking children.
Yes - Milgram Research Studies Were Ethical
- He surveyed people after and few complained
- The participants could have disobeyed
- The findings were an important contribution to science.
Ethical Research Timeline: Before 1945
- Research governed by personal conscience
- Little Albert Experiment was probably the first famous psychological experiment that should be questioned ethically
Nuremberg Code
Established in 1947 in response to ‘biomedical research’ in Japan and Germany during WWII; consent had to be voluntary and had to understand risks/benefits; did not technically apply to psychological research.
Stanford Prison Experiment
Zimbardo’s prison experiment
Occurred in 1971 at Stanford; goal was to examine situational variables of participants in prison study.
- Prison simulation (prisoners vs. guards) –> prisoners were dehumanized and traumatized.
- methods were deeply flawed because Zimbardo coached guards’ behaviors.
National research acts (IRBs)
Established in 1974; passed in response to the Syphilis Tuskegee Study.
- Provides oversight for all research conducted in a lab.
- Protection of human subjects for biomedical and behavioral research.
- Created ethical guidelines as to how participants should be treated.
Syphilis Tuskegee study
- Black men were told they had bad blood; compensated with free healthcare.
- Failed to tell them they had syphilis or treat them; wanted to test what happens if they go untreated.
Belmont report - IRB guidelines
Established in 1978:
1) Respect
- Informed consent.
2) Beneficence
- Do not harm; minimize risks.
- Risks must be outweighed by benefits.
3) Justice
- Research should be fair; all participants should receive an equal chance of risks/benefits.
Meta-Analysis of Obedience Studies (1961-1985)
- Men and women obey equally
- Women report more stress
- No change in rates of obedience by year
Chameleon effect
Unconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one’s interaction partners.
Ideomotor action
The phenomenon whereby thinking about a behavior makes its actual performance more likely; when we see others do things, that action is brought to mind and makes us more likely to do it.
Over-imitation/high-fidelity imitation
- Unique to humans
- Humans imitate every action that a researcher does instead of doing only what is necessary to complete a goal (which is what chimpanzees do).
- Universal in humans.
- Idea behind this is that seemingly irrational tendencies to over-imitate is because humans have learned to rely heavily on complex technologies; thus, it is important to imitate because we don’t know what steps are crucial
Speech Alignment
Of the people we speak with, we mimic:
- Rate of speech
- Rhythm of speech
- Accents
Why do we mimic?
- Ideomotor Action
- Social Lubrication
- People like those who mimic them more than those who do not
Mimicry and Empathy
We mimic peers and those within our social group more often than other humans.
- We are more likely to yawn when our family and friends yawn
- Chimps are more likely to yawn when their social group yawns
- Dogs also yawn contagiously
Conformity
Changing one’s behaviors or beliefs in response to explicit or implicit pressure from others (pressure can be perceived or intentional).
Group Size’s Role in Conformity
Implicated in the line estimated task - conformity increases as group size increases, but stops at a certain point (i.e. 3 - 4).
Group unanimity
Implicated in the line estimation task - when subjects had at least 1 ally, conformity drops; if 1 person breaks (doesn’t have to be correct answer), it liberates others to break from the group.
Informational conformity
The influence from other people that results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct, proper, or effective.
- We rely heavily on reviews (like yelp) that are out there; not necessarily a bad thing.
- More likely in ambiguous situations –> happens in emergency situations; we look to see if others are panicked (i.e. pluralistic ignorance).
- This type of conformity can lead to incorrect emergency situations (i.e. Phnom Penh stampede).
Normative conformity
The influence of other people that comes from the individual’s desire to avoid their disapproval, harsh judgments, and other social sanctions.
- Added in the public eye.
- There might be some cross cultural differences in conformity.
- Interdependent societies exhibit higher conformity.
Asch’s Line Estimation Task
- Which line is bigger? Obvious right answer.
- 12 of 18 trials confederates gave obviously wrong answer.
- 37% of the time participants conformed to the wrong answer.
- 75% of participants conformed on at least one trial.
Compliance
Responding favorably to an explicit request by another person
Norm of Reciprocity
Norm dictating that people should provide benefits to those who benefit them
Very universal.
Door in the face (reciprocal concessions) techniqu
Asking someone for a large favor that he or she will certainly refuse and then following that request with one for a smaller favor.