Chapter 1: Social Influence Flashcards
1
Q
Procedure of Asch’s research into conformity (baseline)
A
- 2 white cards: one standard line & three comparison lines
- Groups of 6-8 participants: one actual participant & 5-7 confederates
- Actual participant always seated either last or second to last
- Asked to say aloud which of the comparison lines matched the standard line
- Confederates purposely gave wrong answer
- Of 18 ‘trials’, confederates gave incorrect answer on 12
2
Q
Findings of Asch’s research into conformity (baseline)
A
- Participants conformed around 1/3 of the time
- 25% of never conformed
3
Q
Variations of Asch’s research into conformity: Group size
A
- Tested number of confederates from 1-15
- Found curvilinear relationship between group size & conformity rate
- > Conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
- > 3 confederates: conformity rose to 31.8%
- > > 3 confederates: conformity rate levelled off
4
Q
Variations of Asch’s research into conformity: Unanimity
A
- Introduced a confederate to disagree with other confederates
- > Called a dissenter
- In one variation, dissenter gave correct answer, & in another, he gave a wrong one
- Found that actual participant conformed less in the presence of a dissenter
- > Presence of dissenter appeared to encourage the actual participant to behave more independently
- Suggests influence of majority largely depends on being unanimous
5
Q
Variations of Asch’s research into conformity: Task difficulty
A
- Wanted to know whether making task harder would affect conformity rate
- Increased difficulty by making standard line and comparison lines more similar in length
- > Makes it difficult for actual participant to distinguish between differences between the lines
- Found that conformity increased
- Situation may be more ambiguous when task becomes harder (ISI)
6
Q
Evaluation of Asch’s research into conformity: Artificiality (LIMITATION)
A
- Participants knew they were taking part in a study so may have gone along with what was expected (demand characteristics)
- Task was relatively trivial so wasn’t a reason to not conform
- ‘Asch’s groups were not very groupy’, i.e. they don’t resemble groups in everyday life (Fiske, 2014)
- Meaning findings can’t be generalised to real-world situations
7
Q
Evaluation of Asch’s research into conformity: Limited application (LIMITATION)
A
- Asch’s participants were American men
- Women may be more conformist as they are possibly more concerned with being accepted (Neto, 1995)
- America is an individualist culture (i.e. people are more concerned with themselves than social groups)
- > Conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures (e.g. China where social group is more important) found conformity rates were higher (Bond and Smith, 1996)
8
Q
Evaluation of Asch’s research into conformity: Research support (STRENGTH)
A
- (Lucas et al., 2006) asked participants to solve ‘easy’ & ‘hard’ maths problems
- > Participants given answers from three other students (who weren’t real)
- > Found participants conformed more often on ‘harder’ problems
- > Shows Asch’s claim that task difficulty is a variable that affects conformity was correct
- COUNTERPOINT:
- > Lucas et al.’s study found conformity is more complex than Asch suggested
- > Participants with high confidence in maths abilities conformed less on ‘hard’ tasks than those with low confidence
- > Shows individual-level factor influences conformity by interacting with situational variables
9
Q
Types of conformity
A
- Kelman (1958) suggested three ways in which people conform to the opinion of a majority: compliance, internalisation & identification
10
Q
Compliance (temporary agreement)
A
- Involves ‘going along with others’
- Public opinions and/or behaviour is changed
- Private opinions and/or behaviour isn’t changed
- Compliance is the most superficial
- Particular opinion and/or behaviour stops as soon as group pressure stops
11
Q
Internalisation (think the group is right)
A
- When someone genuinely accepts group norms
- Public opinions and/or behaviour is changed
- Private opinions and/or behaviour is changed
- Change is usually permanent
- Persists in absence of group because attitudes have become part of how someone thinks (i.e. they’ve been internalised)
12
Q
Identification (value the group)
A
- Identifying with a valued group, wanting to become a part of it
- Public opinions and/or behaviour is changed
- May not necessarily agree with everything the group stands for
13
Q
Explanations for conformity
A
- According to the two-process theory (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955), there are two main reasons why people conform:
- Informational social influence (ISI)
- Normative social influence (NSI)
14
Q
Informational social influence (ISI)
A
- Based on the central human need to be right
- Most likely to happen in ambiguous situations, situations that are new to the person, or where we think others have more knowledge
- Leads to permanent change in opinions and/or behaviour (internalisation)
- A cognitive process
15
Q
Normative social influence (NSI)
A
- Based on the central human need to be liked
- Based around norms (‘normal’ or typical behaviour for a social group)
- Most likely to happen in situations where we prefer to gain social approval rather than be rejected
- Leads to temporary change in opinions and/or behaviour
- An emotional process
