AS Paper Paper 1 - Social Influence

Question 1

What is compliance?

Answer 1

A superficial and temporary form of conformity where we publicly agree but privately disagree. Only lasts as long as the group is watching us.

Question 2

What is identification?

Answer 2

A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be a part of it. We don’t necessarily agree with everything it stands for.

Question 3

What are 2 differences between internalisation and compliance?

Answer 3

Public acceptance and private rejection.

Public and private acceptance.

Question 4

Explain what is meant by normative and informational social influence.

Answer 4

Both explanations for conformity.
NSI - Conforming in order to be liked / to fit in → usually leads to compliance.
ISI - conforming in order to be right - conformity occurs when situation is novel; the correct course of action is unclear; an expert is present → most likely to lead to internalisation.

Question 5

Evaluation point for Explanations of conformity- Research support for NSi

Answer 5

Asch found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did
He asked them why they did this. some said they felt self conscious about giving the correct answer and were afraid of disapproval. When he repeated the study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud conformity rates fell to 12.5% as they felt less self conscious

This is a strength as it Shows that concern for social approval is a key driver in conformity

Question 6

Individual differences for NSI

Answer 6

NSI does not affect everyones behaviour in the same way

some people are less concerned with being liked and are less affected by NSI than those who do care about being liked. These people are known as Naffiliators.

this is a weakness because the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others

Question 7

What support for NSI was provided by Asch’s study (1951)?

Answer 7

Participants went along with a wrong answer because other people did.
When asked they said they feared disapproval by the others.
Supports: participants conformed in order to be accepted and gain social approval.

Question 8

Real Life application- nsi and isi

Answer 8

NSI and ISI have real life applications. they explain why people conform in everyday life.

for example peer group pressure is an everyday occurrence for young people- fashion music taste and bad habits can be attributed by NSI

additionally when we are sometimes unsure how to act e.g when we find ourselves in a new situation or how to answer a question we often turn to the person who we feel has more knowledge than us

this is a strength as it helps to explain how people us normative and informational social influence non a daily basis

Question 9

Describe the aim of Asch’s research into conformity

Answer 9

The aim of Asch’s research was to test conformity under non ambiguous conditions, therefore, devised a simple perceptual task of matching the length of a line to one of three other comparison lines

Question 10

Describe the procedure of Asch’s research into conformity

Answer 10

• 123 american male students were the sample of the study
• told it was a study into perception when in fact it was a study to test if they conformed in a unambiguous situation
• the task was so easy that control conditions participants ( those who tried the test with no actors present) made almost no errors
• in the experimental condition only one real participant was tested at a time.
• they were surrounded by seven confederates of the experimenter, who pretended to be real participants- been told before hand to give the same wrong answer on 12/18 trial and the true answer on 6/18.
• it was conducted in a lab
• the real participant was second to last to give their answer , therefore being faced with giving their own opinion or conforming to the group opinion

Question 11

Findings of Asch’s research into conformity

Answer 11

• in condition with the fake majority participants accepted and conformed on an average of 36.8% of trials
• about 25% of participants were able to remain independant and never conformed to the majority on any of the trials
• about 75% of participants conformed to the majority on at least one trial

Question 12

Conclusion of Asch’s research

Answer 12

• the study shows a strong tendency to conform to group pressures even when the answer is clear
• for Asch the important finding was that there was any conformity at all
• however he also found that on 2/3 (63%) of his trials the participants remained independent- clear evidence of how people can resist the pressure to conform

Question 13

Variables affecting Conformity

( group size)

Answer 13

• size of the confederate(actor) group varied from 1-15
• when real participant was confronted with only a single individual who gave the wrong answer, there was little conformity- gave their own answer
• when confederate increased to 2, pressure to conform became substantial - real participant accepted wrong answer and conformed 13.6% of time
• under pressure of majority of three- real participants conformity to wrong answer rose to 31.8%
• increases in size - after 3 did not have a difference on rates of conformity - size of majority in important. - only up to a point

Question 14

Variables affecting Conformity

( unanimity)

Answer 14

• disturbance of the majority’s unanimity (all giving wrong answer) - striking effect
• in this variation, real participant was given support of truthful partner- either another individual who did not know of the pre arrangement or a person who was instructed to give correct answers throughout
• weakened the majority’s power- conformity dropped to 5%

Question 15

Variables affecting conformity

(task difficulty)

Answer 15

• when the lines were made more similar in length it was harder to judge the correct answer and conformity increased- when we are uncertain we seem to look to others for confirmation- the more difficult the task the greater the conformity

Question 16

Evaluation of Asch’s study - Controlled Lab Conditions

Answer 16

P- strength of Asch’s study is that it was carried out under controlled lab conditions

E- this means he was easily able to isolate and control all variables that were important so he could see the effects on the participants willingness to conform. Asch could look for a cause and effect relationship.

L- this is an advantage as the close control Asch used means that the experiment could be easily replicated by other psychologists to see whether similar or different results are obtained in the same conditions. If the same conditions are found this adds to the reliability of the the conclusions of the research.

Question 17

Evaluation of Asch’s study- Cultural Differences

Answer 17

P- a weakness of Asch’s research is that it does not account for cultural differences in conformity

E- Smith and Bond carried out a meta analysis of 31 studies of conformity in different cultures using Asch’s procedures.
- they concluded that people in collectivist cultures- show higher levels of conformity- compared to those who live in individualistic cultures
- collectivist- people emphasise loyalty to the group- being concerned about the needs and interests of others
- individualistic cultures- people are more concerned with their own and their families self interest and individual initiatives are valued

L- this is a weakness because it shows that sometimes conformity levels may be higher than Asch initially found. Asch’s findings may only apply to individualistic cultures- therefore are culturally bias.

Question 18

Evaluation of Asch’s study - ethical issues

Answer 18

P- a weakness of Asch’s study is that there are ethical issues; deception, lack of informed consent and. psychological harm

E- in Asch’s experiment participants did not know they were being tricked (deception). They did not know the real purpose of the study(lack of informed consent) or that the other ‘participants’ were actually confederates of the experiment.
- Participants might behave differently if they were made aware conformity and not perception was being considered
* A further ethical issue is the distress participants may have faced (psychological harm)- the true participant may have found the experience quite distressing
- Bognor et al (1961) found raised blood pressure and increased heart rates in participants involved in a study using an Asch like procedure.- however it is unlikely that they suffered lasting damage

L- this is a weakness because such ethical issues undermine the creditability of psychological research

Question 19

Evaluation of Asch’s research- Sample choice

Answer 19

P- a strength of Asch’s research is that there was a good sample used

E- The sample size of 123 participants was good as the group of participants were of a similar age(students) , from similar backgrounds to the naive participants. This adds realism to the study.

L- this is a strength as the same reflects how we conform in real life; it is very often our peer group who we conform to and has greatest influence over us.

Question 20

Aim of Zimbardo’s research- Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 20

• to investigate how readily people would conform to new roles, by observing how quickly people would adopt to roles of a prisoner or guard in a role playing exercise that stimulated prison life.
• Zimbardo was interested to find out if the brutality reported amongst guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards ( dispositional explanation), or had more to do with the prison environment ( situational explanation)

Question 21

Procedure of Zimbardo’s research- Stanford Prison experiment

Answer 21

• male volunteers paid $15 a day to take part in a two week simulation study of prison life
• volunteers were randomly allocated the roles of prisoners or guards
• local police helped by “arresting” 9 prisoners at their homes, without warning- they were taken blindfolded to the ‘prison’ in the basement of Stanford university- stripped and sprayed with disinfectant - given smocks to wear and their prison number to memorise- from then on they were referred by number only

Question 22

Findings of Zimbardo’s research- Stanford Prison experiment

Answer 22

^ the guards harassed and humiliated the prisoners and conformed to they perceived roles so much so that the study had to be discontinued after 6 days-(planned to last two weeks)

^ prisoners rebelled against the guards after only two days. guards quelled the rebellion using fire extinguishers

^ some prisoners became depressed and anxious- one prisoner had to be released after only one day- two more prisoners had to be released on the fourth day- by day 6, prisoners were submissive to the guards

Question 23

Conclusions of Zimbardo’s research- Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 23

• the behaviour of the participants is best explained in two ways
• stereotyped roles- people will readily conform to the roles they are expected to play especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as. those of prison guards
• de-individuation- the loss of personal identity- the prisoners were de- individuated by being stripped of their individuality- living among strangers who do not know your name or history, dressed like all the other prisoners- all led to the weakening of self identity among the prisoners- the prisoners became not only de individuated not only to the guards but to themselves

Question 24

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s research- control

Answer 24

P- a strength of the experiment is that Zimbardo and his colleagues had some control over variables

E- Zimbardo carefully controlled the selection of the participants. They pre tested participants in order to gain emotionally stable individuals. They were then assigned to the roles of guard or prisoner, in an attempt to minimise individual differences as an explanation of findings.

L- this is a strength because having this control increases the internal validity of this study. We can therefore be more confident drawing conclusions about the influence of roles on behaviour

Question 25

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s research- lack of realism

Answer 25

P- a weakness of Zimbardo’s research is that it lacks realism

E- because Zimbardo’s experiment was a role play- critics believe that participants may have acted in a way to support stereotypes on how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave- argued they are acting a character- not conforming to social roles- eg one guard based his behaviour on a character from a film ‘Cool Hand Luke’

L- this is a weakness because stereotypes could also explain why the prisoner’s rioted; because they believe that’s what real prisoners do, rather than their behaviour being explained by conformity to social roles

Question 26

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s research- Ethical issues

Answer 26

P- the study has received many ethical criticisms; specifically lack of full informed consent and lack of protection from harm

E- *lack of full informed consent- Participants did not know, for example that they would be arrested at home. Zimbardo thought, however, that withholding this type of procedural detail was justifiable given the nature of the study.
* protection from harm- the humiliation and distress experienced by those who acted as prisoners could have been long lasting. Also, those acting as guards had to face up to the fact that they had been willing to mistreat their prisoners, and they as well as the ‘prisoners’ might have suffered psychological harm. However Zimbardo’s follow up interviews with participants found no lasting negative effects.

L- These ethical concerns are a weakness because such issues undermine the creditability of psychological research.

Question 27

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s- ethical considerations

Answer 27

P- despite the ethical issues raised above, a positive is that Zimbardo did debrief his participants.

E- extensive group and individual debriefing sessions were held several weeks, then several months later, then at yearly intervals. Zimbardo concluded there were no lasting negative effects to any of his participants.

L- this is a strength because it ensures that psychological harm was minimised. Zimbardo also strongly argues that the benefits gained about our understanding of human behaviour and how we can improve society out balance the distress caused by the study.

Question 28

Aim of Milgram’s research into obedience

Answer 28

• his aim was to find out whether ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from a person in authority to inflict pain on another person- Milgram wanted to discover what factors in a situation led people to obey

Question 29

Procedure of Milgram’s research into obedience.

Answer 29

Procedure: ‘Teacher’ gave fake electric shocks to ‘learner’ during a ‘learning task’, ordered to do so by an experimenter. At 315v learner pounded on the wall for the last time. Prods, e.g. ‘You have no other choice, you must go on’.

Question 30

Findings of Milgram’s research into obedience

Answer 30

Findings:
No participants stopped before 300v and 65% went all the way to the top of the shock scale, 450v.
Many showed signs of stress, most objected but continued anyway.
Although many dissented(disagreed) verbally, they continued however to obey the researcher who prodded them to continue to give shocks
Prior survey said 3% would obey.

Question 31

Conclusion of Milgram’s study into obedience

Answer 31

• under certain circumstances, most people will obey orders that go against their conscience
• when people occupy a lower position in a dominance hierarchy- loose feelings of empathy, compassion, morality- inclined towards blind obedience
• atrocities such as events carried out in World War 2- may be explained in terms of pressures to obey a powerful authority
• sees things like murder of innocent people and torture - situational factors-not the thoughts or characteristics of the person doing the action

Question 32

Evaluation of Milgram’s research- low ecological validity

Answer 32

P- Milgram’s lab based studies have been criticised for being low in ecological validity.

E- It has been claimed that the very fact that Milgram’s studies were lab experiments means that the behaviour was artificial, and this gave rise to the high level of obedience- Baumrind suggested that it was not possible to generalise these findings to real life, because the study was carried out at Yale.

L- this is a weakness because the findings may only be applicable to lab research, not everyday life and therefore lacks ecological validity.

Question 33

Evaluation of Milgram’s research- ethical issues

Answer 33

P- a disadvantage of Milgram’s research is that there are a number of ethical issues that arose including deception, lack of informed consent , right to withdraw and protection from psychological harm

*DECEPTION AND LACK OF INFORMED CONSENT- milligram deceived his participants by telling them they were involved in a study of the effect of punishment on learning, this effectively denied the participants the right to informed consent. Although he argued that the experiment would have been meaningless without some degree of deception.

*RIGHT TO WITHDRAW- in milgram’s study the right to withdraw was not clear- milligram claimed that the participants knew they were free to leave at any time, as demonstrated by the fact that some did leave. Others argued that the ‘prods’ from the experimenter made this very difficult for some of the participants who felt they had no choice but continuing.

*PROTECTION FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM- Baumrind criticised the research saying that participants suffered considerable distress which was not justified given the aims of the research

L- these ethical concerns are a weakness because such issues undermine the creditability of psychological research

Question 34

Evaluation of Milgram’s research- supporting research

Answer 34

P- an advantage of Milgram’s research is that realistic field experiments have supported his findings.

E- Hofling et al found that 95% of nurses would give a higher dose of an unfamiliar drug if ordered to do so by what they believed to be an authority figure even if they knew the dose was wrong.

L- This is a strength because it suggests that the processes of obedience can be generalised to other situations and tells us about how obedience operates in real life.

Question 35

Evaluation of Milgram’s research- ethical considerations

Answer 35

P- despite the ethical issues raised above, Milligram did DEBRIEF his participants to ensure that psychological harm was minimised and any issues could have been resolved

E- In a follow up study 84% of participants felt they had learned something extremely valuable about themselves.

L- this a strength because it ensures that psychological harm was minimised

Question 36

Briefly outline what is meant by situational variables.

Answer 36

Factors that affect someone’s level of obedience. Factors are all due to external circumstances.

Question 37

Outline the 3 situational variables Milgram tested and the effect it had on obedience.

Answer 37

Baseline obedience at 65%.
Proximity - the closeness of a participant to the experimenter affected obedience. When the experimenter was in a different room obedience fell to 40%.
Location - where the experiment is held. When in a run down office building obedience fell to 47.5%.
Uniform - what the experimenter was wearing. When the experimenter was wearing civilian clothing conformity fell to 20%.
Uniform caused the largest drop in the level of conformity or any other concluding sentence.

Question 38

Evaluation of Milgram’s variations- research support

Answer 38

P- There is evidence to support the impact that wearing uniform has on obedience

E- Bickman investigated obedience on the streets of New York- when experimenter was dressed in a guards uniform and asked passers by to pick up litter or give a coin to a stranger there was 89% obedience- compared to 33% when the researcher was dressed more ‘casually’

L- This is a strength because it provides support for Milgram’s conclusion- a uniform conveys the authority of it’s wearer and is a situational factor likely to produce obedience.

Question 39

Evaluation of Milgram’s variations- control of variables

Answer 39

-High control over variables

-Systematically altered one variable at a time to see the effect on level of obedience. All other procedures and variables kept the same as the study was replicated with eventually more than 1,000 participants total.

-Strength - high internal validity. Can be confident that the IV was the cause of the change in the DV.

Question 40

Evaluation of Milgram’s variations- Cross cultural replications

Answer 40

P- Similar results were found in different cultures.

E- It was found that Spanish students had obedience 90% (similar to Milgram’s results).- Miranda et al

L-This suggests Milgram’s findings aren’t limited to the male American students and range across different cultures.

Question 41

Evaluation of Milgram’s variations- “obedience alibi”

Answer 41

P- disadvantage of milligrams situational variable research, is that they offer an excuse for obedience in certain situations

E- it has been argued that these factors offer an excuse or “alibi” for undesired behaviours

L- this is a weakness as it is offensive to particular individuals- eg to suggest to the survivors of the Holocaust that the Nazi’s were simply “following orders” and were victims themselves of situational factors beyond their control.

Question 42

Outline the agentic state as an explanation for obedience. Refer to autonomous state and binding factors in your answer.

Answer 42

Milgram found that people involved in atrocities do not take the blame for them.
Feel like the are acting for some else - agent for someone else’s will.
Opposite to agentic state is autonomous state → free to behaviour according to their own principles.
Agentic shift occurs when some perceives someone else as a figure of authority because of their position in the social hierarchy.
Binding factors explain why people remain in an agentic state despite wanting to leave.
These are aspects of the situation that allow people to ignore the damaging effects of their actions e.g. shifting blame to the victim.

Question 43

Evaluation of agentic state- real life application

Answer 43

P- a strength of the agentic shift argument is that it has real life applications

E- when those responsible for atrocities during WW2 were asked why they did what they did, there answer was simply “I was only obeying orders”- (Arendt, 1953) - they were acting in an agent state and saw their superiors as responsible

L- This is a strength because it provides support for the shift from autonomy to agency in a real life crime.

Question 44

Evaluation of agentic state- offers only a limited view on obedience

Answer 44

P- Does not explain some research findings showing that people did not obey.

E- Humans are all involved in social hierarchies and so all should obey.
The agentic shift also does not explain findings from Hofling’s study, where nurses did not show any levels of anxiety (unlike in Milgram’s study) despite being aware of their role of the destruction.

L- This suggests the agentic state can only explain some cases of obedience but not all of them.

Question 45

Evaluation of the agentic state- “obedience alibi”

Answer 45

P- a weakness of the agentic state argument is that the behaviour of the Nazis cannot be explained in terms of authority and agentic shift.

E- Mandel describes one incident involving German reserve police- battalion 101 where men obeyed orders to shoot civilians in a small town in Poland

L- this is a weakness as it challenges the agentic shift explanation - doesn’t explain why they shot

Question 46

evaluation of the legitimacy of authority- real life application

Answer 46

P- a strength of the legitimacy of authority explanation os that it can help explain how obedience can lead to real life war crimes

E- Kelman and Hamilton (1989) argue that the Mai Lai massacre can be understood in terms of the power hierarchy of the U.S army

L- This a strength as it provides support for the idea that we are willing to hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise authority.

Question 47

Evaluation of Legitimacy of Authority- Research support

Answer 47

P- there is research to support the legitimacy of authority theory

E- Blass and Schmidt (2001) showed a film of Milgrams study to students and asked them to identify who they felt was responsible for the harm to the learner. The students blamed the researcher rather than the participant (teacher). - they said the responsibility was due to the legitimacy of authority the “experimenter” was at the top of the hierarchy and therefore had legitimate authority and being a scientist -(lab coat)

L- this is a strength because they recognised legitimate authority as the cause of obedience, supporting this explanation.

Question 48

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority- Cultural differences

Answer 48

P- a strength of the legitimacy of authority is that it is a useful account of individual differences in obedience

E- many studies show that countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally obedient to authority. For example, Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated milgrams procedure in Australia and found that only 16% of participants went all the way to 450 volts.

However, Mantell (1971) found in a different replication that 85% of German participants went to the full voltage. This shows that in some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate, demanding obedience from individuals.

L- this is a strength because it reflects the way different societies are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures. Support from cross - cultural research increases the validity of the legitimacy of authority explanation.

Question 49

Briefly introduce the basic idea behind dispositional factors of obedience.

Answer 49

High levels of obedience is a psychological disorder, caused by an individual’s personality.

Question 50

Outline the key study into dispositional factors.

Answer 50

Adorno et al. (1950) - causes of the obedient personality. 2000 middle class white Americans -studied unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups. Used the F-Scale to measure the authoritarian personality. High scorers on the F-scale identified with strong people and were contemptuous of the weak, conscious of their own status, showing excessive respect to those of a higher status. Very black and white with high levels of prejudice and stereotypes beliefs.

Question 51

Outline 2 conclusions of Adorno’s study.

Answer 51

People with an authoritarian personality have/are: Very obedience to authority; have an extreme respect for authority and are submissive to it; are contemptuous of people with an “inferior” social status; have very conventional views; are inflexible; believe we need to be strong and powerful.

Question 52

What was suggested by Adorno about the origin of the authoritarian personality.

Answer 52

Harsh parenting - strict discipline, high standards, loyalty, criticisms, conditional love.
Creates resentment and hostility which cannot be expressed and so is displaced.

Question 53

evaluation of authoritarian personality - research support

Answer 53

P- research support

E- Elms and Milgram conducted interviews with people who scored highly of the F-Scale, believing there may be a link to obedience and authoritarian personality

L- strength -provides support for the authoritarian personality explanation

Question 54

evaluation of authoritarian personality- correlation not causation

Answer 54

P- Adorno and his colleagues measured correlations between variables. Correlation does not equal causation.

E- for instance, they found that authoritarianism was strongly correlated with measures of prejudice against minority groups- however no matter how strong a correlation between two variables is , does not mean that one causes the other

L- this is a weakness as it dilutes the validity of the authoritarian personality

Question 55

Evaluation of authoritarian personality- limited explanation

Answer 55

P- authoritarian personality seems to be a limited explanation of why people blindly obey authority figures- cannot explain obedience in entire societies

E- Pre-war Germany - lots of racist, hostile and anti-semitic behaviour - seems unlikely they all had an authoritarian personality.

L-Limitation because it dilutes the validity of the Authoritarian personality explanation

Question 56

Evaluation of authoritarian personality- flawed methodology

Answer 56

P- a limitation of the authoritarian personality explanation is that is that it is based on a flawed methodology- Greenstein 1969- goes as far as to describe the F scale as ‘a comedy of methodological errors’

E- for example, the scale has come in for severe criticism because every one of its items is worded In the same ‘direction’ - this means that it possible to get a high score for the authoritarianism just by ticking the same line of boxes down one side of the page- people who agree with items on the f scale are therefore not necessarily authoritarian but ‘acquiescers’, and the scale just measures their tendency to agree to everything

L- this is a weakness as it threatens the validity of Adornos findings

Question 57

Name 2 causes for resistance to social influence.

Answer 57

Social Support & Locus of Control.

Question 58

Outline the role of social support in conformity and obedience.

Answer 58

Plays a large role in both.
Asch - conformity dropped to 25% when a dissenter was introduced.
Milgram - dropped to 10% when a dissenter was introduced.

Conformity - social support can help people to resist conformity- the pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people who are not conforming

Obediance- social support can also help people to resist obediance- the pressure to obey can be reduced if there is another person who is seen to disobey

Question 59

Outline what is meant by the locus of control and how it relates to resisting social influence.

Answer 59

Is a scale that measures what people believe to control behaviour. Internal and External.

Internals - they are in control of their behaviour and therefore responsible for it.

Externals - behaviour is controlled by forces beyond our control (e.g. luck) and are not responsible.

Internals are more likely to resist. This is because they see themselves as responsible for their actions.

Question 60

Outline supporting evidence for the role of social support for both conformity and obedience.

Answer 60

Obedience: Evidence for the role of dissenters in resisting obedience (Gamson et al. 1982). PPTs were in groups - found higher levels of resistance than Milgram - 88% rebelled. Shows there is a link between peer support and resistance.

Conformity: Allen and Levine. Conformity decreased when a dissenter was present in an Asch-type study. Even when the dissenter wore thick glasses and claimed to have bad vision. Shows that it is not the presence of another answer that causes resistance, but the dissenter allows us to be free of pressure.

Question 61

Outline the support for the LoC provided by Holland (1967).

Answer 61

Repeated Milgram’s study - measured if PPTs were internal or externals. 37% of internals did not continue to 450v & 23% of externals did not. Shows that internals are more likely to resist - increases the validity/credibility of the theory.

Question 62

Rotter (1982) pointed out the role of the LoC may have been slightly exaggerated. Outline his claims and why they present a problem.

Answer 62

Suggested the LoC only comes into play in novel situations. In familiar situations past experiences may be more important. This means that people who have conformed or obey in specific situations are likely to do so again. It suggests that locus of control can explain only a limited range of situations - maybe not as important as first thought.

Question 63

What is minority influence and who was one of the first people to research it?

Answer 63

A form of social influence in which a minority persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Leads to internalisation or conversion.

Moscovici.

Question 64

Outline the 4 main processes in minority influence.

Answer 64

Consistency - recognised as single most important factor for minority to be influential- consistency within majority group- same message within everyone in group- same message over time → makes people start to rethink their own views.

Commitment - show you are dedicated to the issue- conversion may result rather than compliance- engagement in extreme activities, which are sometimes risky; Majority group members then pay even more attention → augmentation principle.

Flexibility and compromise - some researchers suggest consistency can be interpreted negatively as it can be misinterpreted as being inflexible and uncompromising- Members of the minority need to ready to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments

Question 65

research support for the role of consistency.

Answer 65

P- strength - research support

E- Moscovici et al (1969) - blue and green slides. Consistent minority opinion had a greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion.

Wood et al. (1994) - carried out meta analysis - consistent minorities were most influential.

L- strength suggests that consistency is a major factor in minority influence.

Question 66

Discuss research by Martin et al. (2003) and how it supports theory of minority influence.

Answer 66

Martin et al. (2003) gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. PPTs then heard either a minority or a majority group agree with the view and they also heard a conflicting view. People were less willing to change their opinion if they had heard support from the minority group → Minority view had been more deeply processed.

Question 67

Outline why it has been argued that research into minority influence is lacking in external validity.

Answer 67

Artificial tasks are used. Research is therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life → in real life, outcomes can be vastly more important. So they lacks external validity and are limited in what they can tell us about minority influence in real life.

Question 68

Discuss the limited real-world applications of research into minority influence.

Answer 68

Research studies often make a clear distinction between majority and minority → However majority and minority is about more than just numbers.
Majorities have more power and status and minorities are very committed and are often tight knit.
Studies often don’t reflect these differences.
Tasks are often trivial and so it is difficult to see why anyone would be motivated to choose one opinion over another → studies do not capture the commitment of minorities or the social support they provide each other.

Question 69

What are the steps in how minority influence creates social change?

Answer 69

Drawing Attention.
Consistency.
Deeper Processing.
The augmentation principle.
Snowball effect.
Social Cryptmnesia.

Question 70

What lessons regarding social change can be learnt from research into conformity and obedience?

Answer 70

Conformity: The importance of a dissenter within a majority (Asch’s study conformity dropped). Highlighting what other people are doing and using NSI to sway people’s opinions.
Obedience: The importance of a dissenter within a majority (Milgram’s study obedience dropped). Zimbardo showed how obedience can be used to bring about social change through gradual commitment.

Question 71

Outline research support for normative influences in social change.

Answer 71

Nolan et al. Messages on doors saying that people were trying to cut their energy consumption down - control had a similar message but with no reference to others. Energy consumption dropped in first group → highlighting NSI.

Question 72

The validity of Moscovici’s theory has been cast into doubt regarding the role of deeper processing. Explain this point, referring to research where possible.

Answer 72

Moscovici suggested that minority influence causes individuals to think deeply, which is a different cognitive process from majority influence.
Mackie (1987) disagrees, arguing that majority influence creates deeper processing if you do not share their views.
We believe that others think in the same ways as us; when we find that a majority believes differently, we are forced to think hard about their arguments.
So a central element of minority influence is challenged and may be incorrect, casting doubt on the validity of Moscovici’s theory.

Question 73

What did Bashir et al. (2013) find when investigating why people often resist social change?

Answer 73

Bashir et al. suggest that people are less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways because they want to avoid the label of being environmentalists.
Participants rated environmental activists negatively (“tree huggers”).
Minorities wanting social change should avoid behaving in ways that reinforce stereotypes; off-putting to the majority.
This suggests that being able to identify with a minority group is just as important as agreeing with their views in terms of changing behaviour.

Question 74

Explain why research into social change suffers from methodological issues. Do you think these issues undermine the link between social influence and social change?

Answer 74

Explanations of social change rely on studies by Moscovici, Asch and Milgram.
These can be evaluated in terms of their methodology, mainly over the artificial nature of the tasks and whether the group dynamics reflect real life.
These criticisms apply to the evaluation of explanations for the link between social influence processes and social change.
This does not mean that the link between social influence and social change is non-existent.
There are many studies using very different methods that support such a link. It is not so much individual studies that are important but the overall body of evidence that needs to be considered.
Practical steps based on research studies have proven effective in bringing about change, suggesting the link with social influence is at least partly valid.