Conformity Flashcards
- Define what conformity is + the 3 types
Conformity: type of social influence defined as a change in belief or behaviour in response to a real or imagined social pressure.
Compliance: publicly agreeing, privately disagreeing. Temporarily changing beliefs.
Identification: publicly & privately agreeing, identified with the group, feels a sense of group membership - change often temporary.
Internalisation: publicly & privately agreeing, beliefs of the group have internalised & become part of the persons belief system - DEEPEST form of conformity.
- Describe Asch’s Line Study
compliance
Study used to test compliance/conformity
To investigate whether a person would conform to the majority when the answer was obvious
5-7 ppts. in each group (all but one were confederates) presented with 3 comparison lines & had to say out loud which of the comparison lines matched the standard
The confederates were told to give the wrong answer on 12 out of 18 critical trials
True ppts. conformed on 32% of critical trials - answer was WRONG!
75% conformed to majority at least once
- Outline Asch’s Line Study (AO3)
(P)A weakness of the study is that it was based on people’s perceptions of lines. (E)This does not reflect the complexity of real life conformity. (E)Therefore the study lacks ecological validity.
(P)There are also sampling issues regarding this study. (E)As it was only carried out on men, making it gender biased. (E)Furthermore the results can not be applied to females so the study lacks population validity.
- Describe the 3 initial explanations for conformity
+ the 2 further social influences
Group size - more likely to conform when the group size is larger - Asch altered the no. of confederates in a study + found conformity increased every extra confederate, 4/5 - found to be optimal group size.
Task difficulty - when we are uncertain we look to others for confirmation - Asch altered the comparison lines so they were more similar in length - conformity increased!
Unanimity - person more likely to conform when all members of the group are in agreement - Asch found presence of at least 1 confederate that gave the correct answer - conformity dropped by 80%!!
Normative social influence - leads to compliance + is the desire to be right - conform to fit in + not feel left out - Asch found true ppt. agreed with majority when the answer was wrong - TO FIT IN!!
Informational social influence - internalise with the group, leads to internalisation - desire to be right - conform when we are unsure of a situation + look to those who have more information.
- Outline Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
(identification)
Social roles: parts that people play as members of a social group - considerable amount of pressure to conform to the expectations of a social role.
To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard + prisoner.
Ppts. randomly assigned role of guard + prisoner.
Prisoners given a uniform + referred to by their number. Guards also wore a uniform + glasses - eye contact made impossible.
Prisoners + guards began to settle into their roles.
Prisoners - submissive whilst guards - aggressive + demanding obedience!
Zimbardo observed behaviour of ppts. but also took on role as prison warden!!
- Evaluate Zimbardo’s Study (A03)
(P)The Study had ethical issues. (E)For example, the lack of fully informed consent, as Zimbardo himself did not know what would happen - it was unpredictable. (E)This may have resulted in ppts. suffering from psychological harm + distress.
(P)Demand characteristics may explain the findings of the study. (E)Due to the fact the guards + prisoners were playing a role, so their behaviour may not have been influenced by the same factors which affect behaviour in real life. (E)Therefore the findings of the study can not be generalised to real life. Resulting in a lack of ecological validity.
- Outline Milgram’s Shock Study
Obedience - type of social influence were a person follows the orders of another person, usually an authority figure.
Test hypothesis ‘Germans are different’ + to see if ordinary people follow the orders of authoritive figures.
Two ppts. assigned to role teacher (ppt.) + learner (confederate).
Learner strapped to chair with electric shock plates - for each incorrect answer a shock was given from 15 to 450 volts (at 15 volts intervals).
In separate rooms + teacher instructed by experimenter in lab coat giving prods.
All ppts. went to 600 volts + 65% willing to go whole way.
18 variations - in a variation when experimenter in a separate room giving prods. by telephone - obedience fell by 20.5%.
(altered situation to measure obedience)
- Evaluate Milgram’s Study (A03)
(P)A problem with the study is that the sample was biased. (E)As Milgram only used males in his study. (E)As a result of this, the findings of the study can not be applied to women.
(P)A criticism of the study is that it lacks ecological validity. (E)Due to the fact it was carried out in a lab under artificial conditions also people do not usually receive orders to hurt another person in real life. (E)Therefore the findings of the study can not be applied to real life settings.
- What are the initial explanations of obedience?
Agentic state - people tend to obey an authority figure when they believe the person will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
Milgram found when ppts. told they had full responsibility - almost none prepared to obey (vice versa).
Legitimacy of authority figure - more likely to obey when the authority figure appears to be morally right.
Milgram’s study: experimenter see to have scientific status therefore the ppts. obeyed.
(legitimate authority)
- What are the situational factors which affect obedience?
environmental, external
Milgram varied the basic procedure (IV) to identify the situational factors that affected obedience (DV).
Uniform - experimenter wore lab coat - gave him high status.
But when he dressed in everyday clothes - obedience dropped!
Uniform gives an authority figure status!
Proximity - people are more likely to obey authority, closer to them.
Authority more distant; easier to be resistant!!
Milgram’s experiment instructed over phone - obedience fell to 20.5%.
Location - when experiment conducted at Yale, gave study credibility + respect.
When study located to run down offices - obedience fell to 47.5%.
- Describe the dispositional explanation for obedience?
individual characteristics - internal
Authoritarian personality - Adorno felt dispositional factors affected obedience.
If a person has an authoritarian personality then they are likely to favour a authoritarian social system/admires obedience to authority figures.
Submissive of people in high status + dismissive of inferiors.
- Describe social support
Independent behaviour - term used by psychologists to describe behaviour that has not been influenced by others.
- resisting social pressure.
In a variation of Asch’s study - he found that the presence of a dissident led to a drop in conformity levels.
The dissident gave the true ppt. social support + made them feel comfortable with their answer.
Social support also results in obedience dropping.
In a variation of Milgram’s study, there were 2 other confederates - who were teachers.
Confederate 1 - stopped at 150 volts.
Confederate 2 - stopped at 210 volts.
With the presence of others who disobey an authority figure - reduced obedience level to 10%!!
- Describe Locus of Control
Proposed by Rotter!!
Locus of control - refers to how much control a person has over their own behaviour.
A person can either have a high internal locus of control (less conforming + obedient) - believe they have a lot of personal control over their own behaviour.
They are likely to take responsibility for the way they behave.
Or a high external locus of control - see their behaviour as being a result of external influences or luck.
Rotter proposes people with an internal locus of control are better at resisting pressures to conform + obey.
(less conforming + obedient - feel responsible for their actions)
- Describe the 3 things a minority must be in order to alter the opinions of the majority
Minority influence - occurs when the minority influence the opinions of the majority.
Consistency - Moscovici stated being consistent + underchanging in a view is more likely to make the majority re - think their position.
A consistent minority is more likely to influence a majority + disrupt established norms so the majority question their own beliefs.
Commitment - when confronted with a confident, dedicated individual - the majority assume they have a point worth listening to.
Flexibility - researchers argue the key is how the majority interprets consistency.
If a minority appear to be flexible, comprising + less likely to be extreme - they have a better chance at changing majority views.
Researchers suggest that actual flexibility + compromise are important - rather than just the appearance.
- Describe the 6 steps of social change
Social change - occurs when a whole society adopts a new belief or behaviour + it becomes accepted as a ‘norm’.
(result of minority influence - minority is able to persuade majority to adopt their point of view)
(link to independent behaviour, minority refuses to conform/obey - internal locus of control)
- The minority must be consistent + clear on what they are asking for.
- This creates uncertainty amongst the majority.
- Once the minority begin to persuade people round to their way of thinking, a snowball effect begins to occur.
- More + more people begin to adopt the minority opinion, until the minority becomes the majority.
- The majority opinion then becomes law + people MUST obey this law.
- Once this happens, the minority opinion becomes the more dominant opinion in society, people do not often remember where the opinion originated from - social cryptomnesia.
