conformity and obedience Flashcards

Question

In order for a minority influence to be successful, what three things do they need to ensure?

Answer 1

-Consistency (Synchronic and Diachronic) -Commitment (Augmentation principle) -Flexibility

Answer 2

Procedure: 1. 6 people viewed a set of blue-green colored slides, varying in intensity- then said they were blue or green 2. Study had three conditions: - Conf. always said green - Conf. inconsistent about the colour of the slides - Control group- no conf

Answer 3

Findings: - Consistent minority condition: 32% gave the wrong answer on at least one trial - Inconsistent minority: agreement fell to 1.25% - Control: ppt said wrong answer 0.25% of the time

Answer 4

Bickman investigated the power of uniform in a field experiment. Bickman used male actors: one dressed as a milkman; one dressed as a security guard. The actors asked members of the public to following one of three instructions: pick up a bag; give someone money for a parking metre; and stand on the other side of a bus stop sign which said ‘no standing’. On average the guard was obeyed on 76% of occasions, the milkman on 47% - These results all suggest that people are more likely to obey, when instructed by someone wearing a uniform. This is because the uniform infers a sense of legitimate authority and power.

Answer 5

The door-in-the-face technique The foot-in-the-door technique Low-balling

Answer 6

starting with an extreme request, and then retreating to a more moderate request (original request) which is more likely to be accepted

Answer 7

* First (large) request: * Counsel offending teens for 2hrs a week for 2years * Most refuse * Second (small) request: * Just one day trip * 50% agree * Control group: * Just ‘small’ request * 17% agree

Answer 8

foot-in-the-door technique = first ask for a very small favour (which will more than likely be granted). Then follow this up with a larger, but related favour (the one they originally had in mind)

Answer 9

Freedman and Fraser 1966 research – sign in garden research and desires to be consistent

Answer 10

Compliance to an initial attempt – followed by a more costly and less beneficial version of the same request – target feels obliged to agree - used in sales

Answer 11

Conformity can be conscious (changing behaviour in response to others) or unconscious (automatic mimicry)

Answer 12

CONSCIOUS: changing behaviour in response to others UNCONSCIOUS: automatic mimicry

Answer 13

Sheriff Autokinetic effect Asch research

Answer 14

1) Asked groups to estimate the amount of movement of a stationary light in a dark room. 2) Group norm rapidly established – similar answers 3) New Ps conformed quicker 4) Internalisation

Answer 15

- too ambiguous, movement of light isn't a measurement and this might have influenced responses - Asch research

Answer 16

- Moscovici's explanation of how a minority influences a majority - Focuses on the cognitive and interpersonal processes that can directly or indirectly impact how the minority influence the majority

Answer 17

- Conflict is critical factor (individuals motivated to reduce conflict) - Self-categorisation theory – categorisation as group member

Answer 18

- Milgram Research - Stanford Prison Experiment 1974 - William Calley – Vietnam War Case - Burger 2009 Study – Milgram replication study (70% obedience) - Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves & Pierce (1966)

Answer 19

o Staff nurse received call from ‘Dr Smith’ asking nurse to administer 20mg of new drug to patient o Drug stated maximum dose was 10mg o 95% of nurses obeyed and were going to administer 20mg dose (stopped by an observer) o Broke a number of hospital regulations o But nurses expected to obey instructions from doctors in normal medical practice o Disobedience would have been difficult for nurses in this situation

Answer 20

- Sociocultural perspective - Binding factors - Responsibility – the agentic shift (Milgram’s Agency Theory) - Situational factors

Answer 21

- Sociocultural perspective – learn to obey authority and expect to encounter legitimate, trustworthy authority

Answer 22

Binding factors – subtle creation of psychological factors to disobedience – gradual increase in punishment levels in Milgram’s research is a means of ‘entrapment’

Answer 23

Responsibility – the agentic shift (Milgram’s Agency Theory) - the subordinate in a hierarchical system acts as a ‘puppet’ for an authority figure – may feel guilt but feels powerless to disobey and allocates responsibility for their actions to the authority figure

Answer 24

Situational factors – such as proximity, location and uniform have such strong influences on our behaviour that we are more likely to obey