Conformity & Obedience

Question 1

Obedience is simply…

Answer 1

a change in behaviour that is due to another person’s orders.

Question 2

In the context of studies of conformity and obedience people recruited by the experimenter to behave in prescribed ways to influence conformity or obedience are known as …

Answer 2

experimental confederates

Question 3

Mustafer Sherif conducted conformity studies based on an optical illusion. What was that optical illusion?

Answer 3

Autokinesis – in which a spot of light appears to move when the subject is in a dark room.

Question 4

High status of confederates in conformity studies shows..

Answer 4

higher levels of conformity

Question 5

There is a sign on the entry of a hotel in northern Thailand which reads: No Durians! A person who flaunts this directive and brings the smelly fruit into the hotel would be best described as having:

Answer 5

Psychological reactance

Question 6

Influenced by the Holocaust, who was social psychologist interested in the situationalist who emphasises the social situation to understand behaviour.

Answer 6

Stanley Milgram

Question 7

Which condition of Milgram’s studies yielded the highest levels of obedience?

Answer 7

Subject watches a peer give shocks.

Question 8

Participants who were assigned the role of administering electric shocks in Milgram’s study were recruited from the …

Answer 8

community

Question 9

The process by which the actions of an individual or group affects the behaviour of others the definition of …

Answer 9

Social influence.

Question 10

Typically in an independent view of self or in individualistic societies, what is the general consensus of the idea of conformity and obedience?

Answer 10

Conformity and obedience are not as much valued. In other words, being a ‘conformist’ is not valued.

Question 11

What is the interdependent view of self in regards to conformity and obedience? What are they seen as?

Answer 11

Conformity and obedience are valued. They are seen as a sign of tolerance, self-control and maturity.

Question 12

A change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.

Answer 12

CONFORMITY

Question 13

Pluralistic ignorance

Answer 13

False belief about what others are thinking or doing.

Question 14

Conformity

Answer 14

Public conformity Private disagreement

Question 15

Conformity in behaviour and belief

Answer 15

ACCEPTANCE

Question 16

Obedience

Answer 16

Acting in accord with a direct order or command

Question 17

Myers & Louis, (2016) implicates that people are suggestible which means …

Answer 17

“our views of reality are not ours alone”

Question 18

Yawning, laughing tracks, shows of disgust in which people react accordingly.

Answer 18

Suggestibility.

Question 19

A confederate is an _________ of the experimenter who is there to influence the _________ with predetermined responses.

Answer 19

1. Accomplice 2. Subject

Question 20

Which experiment compared standard lines to comparison lines?

Answer 20

Solomon Asch’s experiment, 1951

Question 21

In Solomon Asch’s experiment, what were the confederates doing?

Answer 21

Provide a wrong answer in the presence of the subject.

Question 22

In Solomon Asch’s experiment, what was the subject’s initial responses and how did it change?

Answer 22

Subjects were resistant at first by proving the correct answer, but gradually conformed to proving the wrong answer similarly answered by confederates.

Question 23

In Solomon Asch’s experiment, it was found that the 75% of subjects … and 1/3 of subject …

Answer 23

1. would conform at least once. 2. Conform consistently.

Question 24

In Solomon Asch ‘s conformity experiment, how did he get the majority of subjects to agree on a wrong answer?

Answer 24

All but one were the researcher’s confederates who agreed in advance to provide a particular wrong answer.

Question 25

What factors influence conformity?

Answer 25

1. Character of a the group. - The size of the confederate group, status of members, group cohesion.

2. Situation which in the individual is responding. - Public response

3. Kind of task. - Unambiguous or ambiguous answers.

4. Unanimity - social supporter, a person who shares an unpopular point of view along with another group member.

Question 26

Define ‘Hegemony’

Answer 26

The political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others.

Question 27

Psychological reactance.

Answer 27

A motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom.

To not obey or be told what to do or not do.

Question 28

Obediance.

Answer 28

A change of behaviour due to the commands of others.

Question 29

Who said the following?

“The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: Often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he defines himeself that determines how he will act.”

Answer 29

Scott Milgram, 1974.

Question 30

What is “Befehl ist Befehl”?
Pronunciation: “beh-feel-ist-beh-feel”

Answer 30

The Nuremberg Defence or ‘superior order’

Meaning “an order is an order” in German.

A plea in which a person not to be held guilty for actions which were ordered by a superior officer or an official.

Question 31

What was the purpose of Milgrim’s study?

Answer 31

Whether ordinary people could be pushed to obey commands to cause harm to others.

Question 32

Milgram’s studies were about obedience, but what sort of study did his subjects believe they were participating in?

Answer 32

The effects of punishment on the learning of word associations.

Question 33

In the Milgram Experiment, who was the ‘‘teacher’ and the ‘learner’?

Answer 33

The teacher was the subject, the learner was a confederate.

Question 34

In the Milgram Experiment, what was the responsibility of the teacher when the learner gave the “incorrect” answer?

Answer 34

Teacher was meant to apply an “electric shock” to the leaner.

Question 35

In the Milgram Experiment, what would happen to the voltage when the learner gave the incorrent answer?

Answer 35

Increased in voltage.

Question 36

In the Milgram Experiment, from the perspective of the ‘teacher’, what was the responsibility of the ‘learner’?

Answer 36

To learn words association and provide a correct answer.

Question 37

In the Milgram Experiment, what was the role of ‘experimenter’?

Answer 37

To be the authority, to get the teacher to obey.

Question 38

What was the percentage of people who applied the maximin shock level of 435 - 450 volts in the Milgram Experiment?

Answer 38

Approximately, 65%.

Question 39

From highest to lowest, what are the 4 main factors influenced a higher level of obedience in the Milgram Experiment?

Answer 39

1. Subject watches a peer gives shocks.
2. Two other teacher (confederates) continue.
3. Learner in another room, no communication.
4. Learner head on intercom.

Question 40

What main influence factors in the Milgram Experiment produced a lower level of obedience?

Answer 40

1. Learner and the subject in the same room.
2. Subject must touch learner to give shocks.
3. Two other teachers quit experiment.