Chapter 1 - Social Psychology Flashcards
Define conformity
An individual yielding to group pressure
What are the 3 types of conformity
- Compliance
- Internalisation
- Identification
Describe compliance
Where an individual publicly but not privately go’s along with majority influence to gain approval or avoid embarrassment. This is a weak type of conformity.
Describe internalisation
Public and private acceptance of majority influence. A much stronger and permanent form of conformity.
Describe identification
Public and private acceptance of majority however it is a temporary form of compliance as they don’t always agree with the group.
What are the two types of social influence which causes us to conform
- Informational social influence
- Normative social influence
Describe informational social influence
A cognitive process which we do when we believe the opinion of the majority is correct. We accept it as we want to be correct as well.
Describe normative social influence
An emotional process where we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked.
What was Asch’s study attempting to show?
His study was attempting to show conformity
Describe how Asch’s study attempts to show conformity
The experiment attempts to show conformity as one individual is placed within a number of confederates who all say a wrong answer. The individual will go last and sometimes will conform and say the wrong answer when it is very clearly an incorrect answer.
What was Zimbardo’s prison experiment attempting to show?
Zimbardo wanted to see if prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities or is it the situation which creates such behaviour.
What was Milgram’s study testing
Milgram was testing people’s obedience
Briefly summarise Milgram’s experiment
40 male participants were told to give electrical shocks to confederates in another room if they got a question wrong. Milgram was attempting to see how high the participant would go and if they would blindly obey their orders even if it resulted in pain for the confederate.
What was Milgram’s findings from his experiment
Milgram found that most ordinary people will obey orders to hurt someone else, even if it means acting against their own conscious.
Define obedience
Obedience is a type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person.
What is the agentic state
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour as we are acting for an authoritative figure.
What is the autonomous state
This is when we act independently and freely
What are the two dispositional factors which affect obedience?
- Situational
- Dispositional ( personality )
Define resistance to social influence
The ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority.
Define locus of control
the extent to which a person believes they are in control of their own life
Define minority influence
A form of social influence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs.
What are the 3 factors which a minority group will likely need to persuade others to adopt their beliefs?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
What was Moscovici’s study attempting to show?
Minority influence and how consistency helps the minority persuade others.
Briefly summarise Moscovici’s experiment
Six women, with 2 confederates and 4 real participants were told to judge the colour of 36 slides which were all a shade of blue however the two confederates would either answer green 36 times (consistent) or only call 24 slides green (inconsistent).
