Conformity and Obedience Flashcards
What are the 3 compliance techniques?
1) Door in the face
2) Foot in the door
3) Lowballing
What are the 2 types of influences for conformity?
1) Majority influence
2) Minority influence
Who said this?
“The scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others”
G. W. Allport
What is the term used to describe when people have an impact on one another?
Social influence
What is the term used to describe when your attitudes and behaviour are brought about by others?
Social influence
What is the term used to describe when individuals change their behaviour to meet the demands of another, a social environment or a group?
Social influence
What are the 2 types of social influence?
- Deliberate
- Incidental
What type of social influence is intentional and involves persuasive communication to encourage an attitude change?
Deliberate social influence
What type of social influence involves individuals being influenced by the presence of others but are not met with any explicit attempts to influence them?
Incidental social influence
What is the term used to describe when someone “changes” their behaviour/attitude to match the norm without agreeing/corresponding on a private level?
Compliance
What is the main difference between influence and compliance in terms of changes in attitude and behaviour?
Influence = Someone’s behaviour/attitude can be changed by others
Compliance = Someone’s behaviour/attitude usually does not change but they fake their behaviour/attitude to blend in with the group
What compliance technique starts with an extreme request (which will more than likely be refused). Then retreats to a more moderate request (the one they originally had in mind)?
Door in the face technique
Who proposed the door-in-the-face technique study?
Cialdini et al.
Describe Cialdini et al.’s study on the door-in-the-face technique
1) First (large) request:
- Counsel offending teens for 2hrs a week for 2 years
- Most refuse
2) Second (small) request:
- Just one day trip
- 50% agree
3? Control group:
- Just a small request
- Only 17% agree
What compliance technique involves first asking for a very small favour (which will more than likely be granted) which then follows up with a larger, but related favour (the one they originally had in mind)?
Foot-in-the-door technique
Why does the door-in-the-face technique work?
Because the change from an extreme request to a moderate one encourages the target to make similar reciprocal concessions
If we comply with a smaller request, we believe we’re being generous and aim to maintain good relationships with people
Why does the foot-in-the-door technique work?
It only works if you’re consistent
The target feels the need to reply consistently when asked for another favour/request from the requester
What type of social influence involves innovation?
Minority influence
Why does the low-balling technique work?
If you keep asking the target for small favours that gradually get bigger, the target feels an unfulfilled obligation to the requester
Target may feel like they’re invested too much time complying with the requester and prefers not to reject their request (psychologically committed)
What compliance technique involves compliance to an initial attempt, which is then followed by a more costly and less beneficial version of the same request?
Low-balling
What is innovation?
- Present in minority influence
- When an individual or group in a numerical minority, influence the majority
What type of social influence involves conformity?
Majority influence
What is conformity?
- Present in majority influence
- Social influence resulting from exposure to the opinions of a majority, or the majority of one’s group
What is the term used to describe a social influence resulting from exposure to the opinions of a majority, or the majority of one’s group?
Conformity
What is the term used to describe a social influence where an individual or group in a numerical minority influences the majority?
Innovation
What are the features of conformity?
a. Can be automatic
b. Can be conscious
c. None of the above
d. A and B
d. A and B
What are the 2 types of conformity?
1) Compliance
2) Internalisation
What type of conformity involves a change in behaviour but not a change in personal views?
Compliance conformity
What type of conformity is superficial and public?
Compliance conformity
What type of conformity is deep and private?
Internalisation conformity
What type of conformity involves a change in behaviour and personal views?
Internalisation conformity
Which type of conformity involves a genuine acceptance of group norms?
Internalisation conformity
Who proposed the autokinetic effect?
Sherif
What did Sherif do in his autokinetic effect experiment?
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 (internalisation)
Who replicated Sherif’s ambiguous autokinetic effect experiment?
Asch
What did Asch do in their replicated experiment of Sherif’s autokinetic study?
1) Groups of 6-9 males (Consisting of all confederates and 1 naive participant)
2) Group had to complete a task and all confederates purposely said the wrong answer
3) Naive participants also gave the same incorrect response on 36.8% of occasions
4) Suggests participant publicly agrees with the majority (public compliance)
What do the results of Asch’s conformity experiment suggest about conformity?
People conform for two main reasons:
1) They want to fit in with the group (normative influence)
2) They believe the group is more informed than they are (informational influence)
What happened in Asch’s (1956) 2nd conformity experiment?
1) Participant “arrived late” so had to write down answers (others still said aloud)
2) Conforming to incorrect majority fell to 12.5%
3) MUCH higher than when alone (0. 7%)
According to Asch’s experiments, what influences group conformity?
1) Group size and independence
2) Unanimity/social support
3) Culture
Who proposed that we conform due to normative influence and informational influence?
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
According to Deutsch and Gerard (1955), why do we conform? List 2 reasons
1) Normative influence (to feel in line with the group)
2) Informational influence (“several pairs of eyes more likely to be correct”)
What kind of social influence is this?
When one goes along with others to gain social approval or belonging (and to avoid disapproval/rejection)
a. Normative social influence
b. Informational social influence
a. Normative social influence
What kind of social influence is this?
When one goes along with others because their ideas and behaviour make sense, the evidence in our social environment changes our minds
a. Normative social influence
b. Informational social influence
b. Informational social influence
What is the term used to describe behaviour that is considered appropriate within a social group?
Social norms
Who proposed that norm-following and norm-formation result in pressures towards uniformity?
Festinger
Who proposed that following group norms result in confidence in behaviour (appropriate/socially desirable)?
Festinger
Who proposed that minorities lack power, status and numerical size and can’t enforce normative/informational influence?
Festinger
Who argued against Festinger’s belief that minority groups are unable to enforce normative/informational influence?
Moscovici
Describe the 12 angry men movie based on the minority influence
1) There were 12 prisoners
2) 1 of the prisoners convinced the jury to declare them not guilty
3) The prisoner was consistent and confident in their proposal
4) This created a snowball effect
How do minority groups enforce normative/informational influence?
Confidence and consistency
Being consistent and unchanging in a view is more likely to influence the majority than if a minority is inconsistent and chops and changes their mind.
What is a snowball effect?
When small actions can cause bigger and bigger actions
Who proposed the dual process conversion theory?
Moscovici
What did Moscovici propose about the dual process conversion theory?
- Conflict is a critical factor (individuals motivated to reduce conflict)
- There are different processes and outcomes for majority/minority
Simply = Disagreement within the group results in conflict, and that group members are motivated to reduce that conflict, either by changing their own opinions or attempting to get others to change
What is self-categorisation?
Categorisation as a group member
When an individual compares their result/behaviour/attitude with other members of the group
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Majority influence
When an individual analyses whether their result/behaviour/attitude is valid
Is this majority influence or minority influence
Minority influence
When an individual complies publicly
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Majority influence
When an individual converts their attitude/behaviour privately (internalisation)
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Minority influence
When an individual complies to fit in with the group (normative social influence)
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Majority influence
When an individual complies because they think others’ opinions seem right and more valid than their own
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Minority influence
When an individual complies in the short-term
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Majority influence
When an individual experiences a longer-lasting attitude change
Is this majority influence or minority influence?
Minority influence
Who said this about obedience?
“complying with orders from a person of higher social status within a defined hierarchy or chain of command”
Miller
What is the term used to describe when individuals listen to an authority figure, which influences their attitude/behaviour?
Obedience
Who proposed the classic obedience to authority study during WW2?
Milgram
Describe Milgram’s classic obedience to authority study
1) Participants believed the study was examining the effect of punishment on learning (newspaper ad – no mention of obedience)
2) There were 40 male participants aged 20-50 yrs
3) Participants were allocated to a teacher or a learner role (led to believe this was random but the learner was always the confederate)
4) The Learner (confederate) had electrodes attached to his body
5) The Teacher has taken into another room containing a shock generator
6) The teacher read out word pairs to the learner e.g. Cat - Tree
7) The learner must identify which is the correct word pair for each cue word (e.g. The cue word for cat is tree
8) If the learner answers incorrectly, the teacher administered an electric shock to the learner
9) Each successive mistake= shock 15 v higher
(The learner DID NOT actually receive any shocks)
10) Standardised prompts were given to the teacher throughout by the experimenter:
“Please continue” / “Please go on”
Describe the results of Milgram’s classic obedience to authority study
Most of the participants (the teacher) proceeded to increase electric shock volts to “torture” the learner (confederate) when given prompts by the experimenter
Even when the learner screams in pain and asks to stop, the participants kept going to obey to the higher authority (the experimenter)
Why do we obey? List 4 reasons
1) Sociocultural perspective
2) Binding factors
3) Responsibility
4) Situational factors
What is the term used to describe when we learn to obey authority and expect to encounter legitimate, trustworthy authority based on our environment/culture?
Sociocultural perspective
What is the term used to describe the subtle creation of psychological barriers to disobedience?
Binding factors
What is the term used to describe when the subordinate in a hierarchal system does not accept personal responsibility for their own actions and allocates responsibility to another individual?
The agentic shift
What is the term used to describe when some situations are so “strong” that they dominate individual differences in personality and makes us behave?
Situational factors
Agentic shift is when….
People shift between autonomous and agentic states
When people are in an autonomous state, what do they do?
In an autonomous state, people behave voluntarily and in a self directed manner (conscious state)
When people are in an agentic state, what do they do?
In an agentic state, people mindlessly accept orders from someone seen as responsible
(doing ‘what they’re told’)
When people do what they’re told, is this autonomous or agentic?
Agentic
When people voluntarily do things, is this autonomous or agentic?
Autonomous
What are the ethical issues in Milgram’s obedience study?
1) It is a controversial study (stress, anxiety, guilt, poor debriefing)
- Is research important enough to justify the deception and stress experienced?
2) “You have no other choice, you MUST go on”
- Strict ethical guidelines now control the use of human participants in psychological research
Who replicated Milgram’s study in a more ethical manner?
Burger
What did Burger do to make the partial replication of Milgram’s study more ethical?
1) Protected the well-being of participants
2) Followed ethical guidelines (participants could withdraw and were given immediate debrief)
3) The electric shock was only up to 150 v unlike Milgram’s which was 450 v
70% obedience to 150V (Milgram’s = 82.5%)
Who conducted an obedience study on nurses and drug doses?
Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves & Pierce (1966)
What did Hofling et al. do in their study of obedience involving nurses and drug doses?
1) Staff nurse received a call from ‘Dr Smith’ asking the nurse to administer 20mg of a new drug to a patient
2) Drug stated the maximum dose was 10mg
What were the results of Hofling et al.’s obedience study on nurses and drug doses?
- 95% of nurses obeyed and were going to administer 20mg dose (stopped by an observer)
- Nurses broke a number of hospital regulations
- But nurses were expected to obey instructions from doctors in normal medical practice
- Disobedience would have been difficult for nurses in this situation
