4.1.1 social influence Flashcards
what is conformity
yeilding to group pressure.
occurs when an indiviuals behaviour and/or beliefs are influenced by a larger group of people, which is why conformity is known as majority influence
what is compliance
an individual adjusts their behaviour and opinions to those of a group to be accepted or avoid disproval.
includes public but not private acceptance of the majority’s behaviour and attitudes
weak and temporary
what is identification
individuals adjust their behaviour and opinion to that of the group as membership of the group is desirable.
stronger form of conformity where there’s private and public acceptance.
is not maintained when individuals leave the group
what is internalisation
true conformity
individuals genuinely adjust their behaviours and opinions to the rest of the group
involves individuals being exposed to the belief systems and having to decide what they believe in.
if the groups beliefs are seen as correct, it will lead to public and private acceptance.
isnt dependent on the presence of the group for maintenance
what is informational social influence as an explanation for conformity
humans have aa basic need to feel confident their ideas and beliefs are correct so they feel in charge of their lives
when individuals are uncertain about things, they look at the behaviour and opinions of others which helps them shape their own thoughts and behaviours
tend to believe the opinions adopted
what did Jenness’’ experiment consist of?
estimate the number of jellybeans in a jar (unknown)
- made individual private estimates
- then discussed the estimates either in a large group or in smaller ones. found estimates differed
- after discussion, group estimates were made
- then made own individual estimate
what did Jenness’ experiment found
typicality of opinion was increased- 2nd estimate tended to move towards the group estimate
the average change of opinion was generally among females
what did Abrams et al. (1990) say about ISI?
we are only influenced by other’s opinions in ambiguous situations where we see ourself as sharing characteristics with them
so are less likely to internalised the opinion of a stranger
what is normative social influence
indiviudals wants others to like and respect them and not reject and ridicule them
need to be accepted by others
what was Asch’s (1955) experiment on NSI?
everyone was confederates but 1
had to compare a line to another and say what lines were the same length
confederates said the wrong answer
what was Asch’s variations?
difficulty increased
majority increased
1 or more confederates gave correct answer (presence of allies)
what was Asch’s (1955) findings?
37% conformed
63.2% didnt conform
people did change their answer to fit in
what are variables affecting conformity?
situational variables i.e. size of group unanimity task difficulty
what are situational variables
qualities of an environment that influences the levels of conformity- which have an influence over the degree to which people conform
what does size of group have to do with conformity?
research indicates that conformity rates increases as the size of a majority influence increases but there is a point where the size of the majority no longer increase conformity
what did Asch (1956) find about the size of the group and conformity
with 1 real participant and 1 confederate conformity was low, rising to 13% with 2 confederates and 32% with 3. adding anymore (up to 15) had no effect
what did Bond and Smith (1996) find about size of a group and conformity
performed a meta-analysis of 133 Asch style studies from 17 countries and found conformity peaks with about 4/5 confederates
what does unanimity have to do with conformity
conformity rates have been found to decline when majority influence isn’t unanimous
important factor though would seem to be the reduction of in the majority’s agreement, rather than an individual being given support for their opinions, as conformity drops if a rebel goes against the majority who dont support the viewpoint
what does Asch (1956) find about unanimity and conformity
if there was 1 confederate who went against the other confederates, conformity dropped from around 32% to 5.5% but if the ‘rebel’ went against the confederates and the real ps, conformity still dropped to 9%
what does task difficulty have to do with conformity
greater conformity rates are seen when task difficulty increases, as the right answer becomes less obvious
means that individuals will look to others more for guidance as to what the correct response is, suggesting that the ISI is the dominant force
what does Asch (1956) find about task difficulty and conformity
increased task difficulty by making the comparison lines similar to each other, finding that when he did so participants were more likely to conform to wrong answers, thus demonstrating the effect of task difficulty on conformity
what is conformity to social roles
the parts individuals play as members of a social group, which meet the expectations of that situation
indiviudals learn to behave by looking at the social roles other people play in such situations and then conforming to them
involves identification
what were Zimbardo’s hypothesis in regards to prison systems
dispositional where the degradation of prisons was due to the nature of people found in the system
situational where the degradation as a product of the ‘prison soil’ in that the conditions were to blame
what was Zimbardo’s sample
average people with no criminal history or violence
randomly allocated prisoners and guards
from a newspaper ad
uni students
