Conformity and Obedience

Question 1

Describe how gender influences conformity and include a study

Answer 1

Women are more likely to conform than men mori and Ari- confirmed by around 30% of women conformed -similar to ash’s findings but men didn’t conform

Question 2

Identify The factors that affect conformity and how they can be categorised 

Answer 2

1. Individual factors: age, gender, self esteem
2. Situation factors: group size, task difficulty, unanimity of majority
3. Cultural factors: individualist vs collectivist
4. Influence - normative vs informational

Question 3

Define internalisation and give an example

Answer 3

Taking on majority view and accepting it into personal value system term (long term)
e.g. becoming vegetarian after your friends were but keeping at it for life

Question 4

Define identification and give an example

Answer 4

Someone/people you admire has a belief you take it on publicly and privately but only as long as you stay in the group/like them/admirer them
E.g. subscribing to donate to charity with a friend group but once you leave the friend group you unsubscribe
wanting to be like your dad so repeating things he has said

Question 5

Define compliance and give an example

Answer 5

Agree with majority group views in public but privately keeping your own beliefs
E.g. laughing at jokes that you don’t find funny or tidying your room when your parents say
(Just doing it as it’s easier than sticking to own beliefs)

Question 6

What are the 3 types of conformity

Answer 6

Compliance, identification, internalisation

Question 7

Describep how self esteem influences conformity and include a study

Answer 7

Those with higher self esteem will be less likely to conform. Burger showed that people with a high desire to be in control conform a lot less than others, in study on the funniness of cartoons

Question 8

Describe how group size influences conformity and include a study

Answer 8

As group size increases conformity also increases to a certain extent. In Asch’s variations he used different numbers of participants and found that when group size increases from 3 to 4 conformity increases form 12.8% to 30% but further increases in participants have no impact

Question 9

Describe how task difficulty influences conformity and include a study

Answer 9

As the task difficulty increases conformity also increases. In Asch’s study when he makes the line difference harder to differentiate between, conformity significantly increased. This could be due to internalisation - they think confederates are right rather than compliance. This is likely due to the influence being informational and not normative

Question 10

Describe how unanimity of group influences conformity and include a study

Answer 10

A unanimous group results in higher conformity. In Asch’s study when just 1 confederate gave the correct answer instead of wrong, conformity decreased from 32% to 5.5%

Question 11

Describe how culture influences conformity and include a study

Answer 11

Individualist cultures such as USA are less likely to conform than collectivist cultures such as Japan. Smith and Bond found this while reviewing many studies

Question 12

Describe informational social influence and normative social influence

Answer 12

Informational social influence - you don’t know what is correct so you follow majority views because you believe they are right as they know more than you (lack information)

Normative social influence - you want to be liked and accepted by people (be normal)

Question 13

What are the factors that affect obedience

Answer 13

1. Perceived legitimate authority
2. Autonomous and Agentic state
3. Authoritarian parenting
4. Socialisation
5. Situational factors - location, proximity, wearing a uniform

Question 14

Describe perceived legitimate authority and give a study

Answer 14

Someone seen to have more power than you (can reward/punish, more knowledge, look up to, official job title)
Bickman - uniforms , litter
Milgram - not Yale, casual clothes 52%

Question 15

Describe autonomous and Agentic state and give a study

Answer 15

Autonomous- act according to own beliefs
Agentic - acting as agents on behalf of someone else - not responsible for actions
Milgram = Agentic

Question 16

Describe Authoritarian parenting and give a study

Answer 16

Parents who raise you non-democratically teach you to obey and not question authority so you internalise the need for obedience
Adorno (around ww2 time) found adults raised by authoritarian parents score high on the f-scale (fascist)

Question 17

Describe socialisation

Answer 17

Process that occurs from birth telling us how to behave
Linked to parenting, schooling, social class etc
Binding factors keep up in agentic state as we are scared of disruption societal situation

Question 18

List the 3 situation factors that affect obedience

Answer 18

Location
Proximity
Wearing a uniform

Question 19

Describe location and give a study

Answer 19

Can have an affect but not very significant

Milgram - instead of Yale, rundown office with experimenter in casual clothes - 52%

Question 20

Describe proximity and give a study

Answer 20

Not the only factor
Milgram - removed buffer - 40%
- held mr Wallace’s hand onto shock plate 30%

Question 21

Describe wearing a uniform and give a study

Answer 21

Dramatic power of uniform
Bickman - security guard obeyed most
Milgram - experimenter left replaced by another participant in normal clothes who had the idea to increase volts - 20%

Question 22

Describe bickman’s study on obedience

Answer 22

Used 3 male actors (normal clothes, milkman, security guard) told public to; pick up bag or give someone money for parking or stand on other side of stop sign
Guard - 76% milkman -47% normal clothes - 30%

Question 23

Describe Hofling’s study

Answer 23

Had fake doctor call nurses and tell them to give a patient double the dose of fake drug that they hadn’t seen before, however labelled on bottle dangerous. 21/22 obeyed