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PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 > Conformity (Social Influence) > Flashcards

Conformity (Social Influence) Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a private attitude?

A

Genuine beliefs/feelings about something.

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2
Q

What is a public attitude?

A

What they tell others they believe and feel.

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3
Q

What is conformity?

A

When a persons private or public attitudes are influenced by the majority.

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4
Q

What are the three types of conformity?

A
  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
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5
Q

What is compliance?

A

Where someone conforms publicly but not privately.

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6
Q

What is the reason for compliance?

A

Fear of social rejection.

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7
Q

What is the duration for compliance?

A

Very short.

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8
Q

What is the strength of compliance?

A

Weak.

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9
Q

What is identification?

A

Public and private conformity.

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10
Q

What is the reason for identification?

A

Desire to imitate a role model or fit a social role.

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11
Q

What is the duration for identification?

A

Short but depends on attractiveness of group.

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12
Q

What is the strength of identification?

A

Medium.

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13
Q

What is internalisation?

A

Public and private conformity.

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14
Q

What is the reason for internalisation?

A

Persuaded that the attitude is correct.

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15
Q

What is the duration for internalisation?

A

Long-lasting.

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16
Q

What is the strength of internalisation?

A

Strong.

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17
Q

What are the three situational variables that affect conformity?

A

1) Group size
2) Unanimity
3) Task difficulty

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18
Q

What happens if the situational variables increase?

A

People are more likely to conform.

19
Q

What are the two explanations for conformity?

A
  • Normative social influence (NSI)
  • Informational social influence (ISI)
20
Q

What is normative social influence (NSI)

A
  • When people conform to feel accepted and fit in.
21
Q

When does normative social influence occur?

A

In situations of high social pressure.

22
Q

What type of conformity does normative social influence result in?

A

Compliance.

23
Q

What is informational social influence? (ISI)

A

When people conform as they want to be correct as they believe majority is correct.

24
Q

When does informational social influence occur?

A

When uncertainty is high and social pressure is low.

25
Q

What types of conformity does informational social influence result in?

A

Internalisation ot identification.

26
Q

Who study supports the ISI?

A

Jenness.

27
Q

What was Jenness’s procedure?

A

Asked people to estimate how many jelly beans were in a jar (before and after group discussions).

28
Q

What were Jenness findings?

A

People estimates conformed to the group estimate after the discussion even though the group was no longer present.

29
Q

What did Jenness conclude?

A

Confroming by internalisation due to uncertainty, thinking the groups estimate was correct.

30
Q

What is a limitation of Jenness’s study?

A

NSI might also have has influenced behaviour (yet is ignored).

31
Q

Which studies investigated conformity?

A
  • Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
  • Asch
32
Q

What was the procedure in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

A
  • Gained student volunteers + selected those emotionally stable after psychological testing.
  • Set up a mock prison.
  • Randomly assigned ppts social roles of either guard or prisoners (provided them with uniform).
  • Was a controlled and overt observation/
33
Q

What were the findings in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

A

They all conformed to their roles.

Guards = treated prisoners harshly
Prisoners = tried to rebel, then became passive.

  • Study had to be stopped after 6 days when 14 was intended.
34
Q

What are the limitations for Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

A
  • Unethical = stress which has long lasting consequences.
  • Lack generalisability: only white, middle class, male students were recruited.
  • Lack ecological validity: ppts may not have believed it was real, they may not have behaved as they would in the real world.
35
Q

What is a strength for Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

A
  • He had control over variables such as the selection of ppts being randomly assigned.
  • This rules out individual personality differences, increasing internal validity meaning a more valid result about influence roles on behaviour.
36
Q

What was Asch’s aim?

A

To investigate whether people would conform with the majority when they are obviously wrong.

37
Q

What was Asch’s procedure?

A

Asked ppts in the experiment group to judge line lengths in presence of confederates who gave the wrong answer.

  • A control group gave their answers privately.
38
Q

What were the findings in Asch’s study?

A

Ppts did conform and gave the wrong answer.

75% = confromed at least once
32% = overall conformity rate

  • Ppts didn’t seem to give the wrong answer because they didn’t know, as the control group had a 0.04% error rate.
39
Q

What happend to conformity when Asch reduced unanimity?

A

When one confederate disagreed with majority there was a decrease in conformity.

40
Q

What happend to conformity when Asch increased group size?

A

There was an increase in conformity (only up to a certain point).

41
Q

What happend to conformity when Asch increased task difficulty?

A

There was an increase in conformity.

42
Q

What are the limitations of Asch’s study?

A
  • Lab study = lack ecological validity.
  • Demand characteristics = ppts might have realised confederates were deliberately giving the wrong answer as the ppts gave the wrong answer.
43
Q

What strengths counteract the limitations in Asch’s study?

A
  • Lab study = establish cause + effect relationship for the presence of the majority giving the wrong answers + ppts giving wrong answer.
  • Ppts stated they thought the confederates were real ppts.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 (15 decks)

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