6: conformity + pro-social behaviour Flashcards
What is conformity?
Type of social influence defined as a change in belief or behaviour in response to real or imagined social pressure
Markus + Kitayama, 1994
- cultural differences eg Japan, conformity = positive
What was Sherif’s study, supporting conformity?
- Ppt exposed to autokinetic effect
- asked how much the light in the dark has moved - Added ppt each time
= people’s estimates began to merge
What was asch’s paradigm?
- Gave ppt a target line to match with 3 other lines
- surrounded by confeds who gave wrong answers
- 37% ppt conformed to incorrect answer even though the answer was very very obvious
What was the consequence of the radio broadcast of a parody of War of the Worlds in 1938?
- people thought they were being invaded by martians
- contagion - special form of conformity
- people looked to friends to see what to do
= suggesting when people don’t know what to do, they look to others and conform
What is mood linkage? Mood linkage
- feeling happier when others look + feeling happier too
What did Platow et al 2005 show about the importance of identifying with the people you are conforming with?
- no laughing vs laughing condition
- Uni ppt told audience also uni or others
= greater conformity when told uni student 3.92 vs -.94 min of laughter
= identity with the group
What did Baron, Vandello + Brunsman 1996 find about considering task to be important and conformity?
- showed ppt a perpetrator
- Asked to identify perpetrator from others
- told task important vs not important
- Confeds incorrectly identifying perpetrator
= high importance task resulted in higher conformity 51% vs 35%
What is Mass psychogenic illness?
Contagion
- 1998, Tennesse teacher reported smelling gas + symptoms
- others and whole school began to report symptoms
- when experts came in there was nothing + people recovered
- mass consequences = school shut-down etc
What is the boomerang effect?
Students told on avg X amount of drinks are consumed
= found those drinking less than x = increased intake, closer to ‘avg’
What does Stanley Schacter’s fake character Jonny Rocco suggest about why people conform?
- In a group discussing about punishments
- Group = love + disciple vs Rocco = harsh punishment
- Rocco became…
*target of comments + questions
* leading to no communication
* nominated to be dropped from group
* given boring, unimportant job
= Social exclusion
What does the mental rotation task suggest about why people conform?
- Put in scanner
- Either shown other people’s answer vs alone
- Confeds give incorrect sometimes
= 41% conformity
- answering alone = Posterior brain activated = spatial perception etc
- answering after seeing others = Amygdala + Right caudate nucleus active = pain
= can be painful not to conform
What did Frey and Meier 2004 find about pro-social behaviour at uni supporting the Theory of conditional cooperation?
- asked students to voluntary donate money to help students in financial difficulty + foreign students?
= more likely to donate if you have done so in the past + told how others have also donated
What is the theory of conditional cooperation?
You see others doing it so you also cooperate
What was the museum donation box study and what theory does it support?
- clear boxes either empty, some notes , some coins
= some money = others more likely to donate
= some coins = more coins
= no money = less likely to donate - Supports Theory of conditional cooperation
What is the difference between descriptive and injunctive norm?
Descriptive - what people do in reality
Injunctive - what people should do
