Deviance And Dissent Flashcards
Give a few examples as to why people would break norms unintentionally?
- They don’t realise that a norm has changed
- They physically can’t compile to the norm
- Ignorance to the norm- don’t realise it exists
What are group norms?
Group norms are a set of standards that defines appropriate behaviour
Give a few examples as to why people intentionally break norms.
- They disagree with the norm
- They don’t like who set the norm so they disagree with it in spite
- Want to be original and go against norm (indie as fuckkkk)
What is the definition of an imposter?
An imposter is someone who claims to be apart of a group that they really don’t belong to.
What’s the point of being an imposter?
- Social advantage (e.g. Business)
- Infiltrating the enemy (e.g. Spies)
- To avoid ridicule (e.g. Gays)
Describe the study conducted by gory, Frable and platt on avoiding stigma.
Iv: one group had an obvious stigma (being black, fat etc) and the other group had not obvious stigmas (being gay etc)
DV: how happy they were
Findings: found that being with obvious stigmas were actually happier then those with not obvious stigmas because they had a social network of support and the “hidden” group couldn’t identify with anyone
What did Asch’s original conformity paradigm find?
Found that in groups of people when an obvious task was given, participants would conform at least once 76% of the time to the confederates wrong answer!
What increases conformity according to Asch’s paradigm?
- size of the group
- Women conformed more than men
- Conformity higher in collectivist cultures
What are the two explanations/ theories for why people conform?
Normative influence theory
Informational influence theory
Explain the normative influence theory.
People can more readily in public than in private to avoid exclusion/ridicule. This was supported in a follow
Study of Asch’s that found that people conform less when they can answer privately!
this is implicated when it is a moral issue, people conform less when it’s not moral
Explain the informational influence theory.
Says that people conform when they don’t know what’s going on so they look at others behaviour for a guide. Interestingly, people actually begin to genuinely believe their new choice!
Explain Sherifs autokinetic study.
Sherifs autokinetic study was people where asked to judge how far they thought a dot of light moved in a room of darkness either along or in groups. The findings concluded that when people were in groups they started to use each other as a frame of reference and their answers conformed together
Is conformity decreasing with time?
Yes, people don’t conform out of fear of being ridiculed as much but, people still conform to implicit norms (e.g. Boys don’t wear dresses to uni)
What’s the power of one phenomenon?
When one person on a group says the answer you agree with then you are less likely to conform with the standard response. Sometimes, especially if a moral issue group members will get upset by this as it says that they are wrong or immoral
List the pros of conformity.
- Can understand what to do in an unknown situation by reading beings standard response
- Great for positive change
- Shows group harmony and cohesion
List the cons of conformity.
- Not good when it’s a bad behaviour
2. Groupthink can occur
What is groupthink?
When highly cohesive groups make a stupid decision
Explain two groupthink “illusions” that occurred in the bay of pigs fiasco.
Invulnerability illusion- thought we haven’t made a dumb decision or lost yet it must be a good choice
Illusion of unanimity- no one opposed it so it was be good
What a 4 techniques that are used to discourage dissent?
1) fear of damage to reputation- if you do it, your in shit
2) active pressure from “mind guards”- he’s already made up his mind, as if your going to change it
3) humour- “haha your joke if you do this”
4) abuse- punished if you do it
Explain the cognitive closure theory by kruglanski and Webster and the findings of their study
Theory was that people make a decision because they don’t want to waste time and just want closure. Their study supported their theory and found that when they faced a deadline or discussion was held in noisy environment they rejected an opposing theory
What is a positive deviant?
When someone is judged to be superior to the majority and goes against what the majority is saying
Why do positive deviants face hostility?
- People think that they are too good for the group and will probably leave it
- Threatens people’s self-esteem
- Raises the standards for the rest of the group
What did one study on positive deviants find? and why does it go against conformity?
That when a hard, well performing worker was placed into a factory the average performance increased. But this defies conformity because the person isn’t conforming to the majority, the majority is conforming to the minority
When are minorities effective at having people conform to them?
- When they are passionate and invested in the cause eg personal sacrifice
- When they are acting out of principle
- When they aren’t too rigid or flexible.
