L10,L11,L12,L13 Social influence

Question 1

Research Studies showing how many people conform or obey under pressure

Answer 1

Asch’s 1951 Experiment = 24% pps did not conform at any point in the study

Milgrams 1963 Experiment = 14/40 male pps did not obey the authority figure and went up to 450 volts

Hoflings Experiment = 1 nurse disobeyed and did not administer the drug

Zimbardo’s Experiment = around 2/3 guards resisted the pressure to behave sadistically towards the prisoners

Factors leading people to resist social pressure
Obedience and Disobedience are opposing sides of same coin, influenced by both external and internal (dispositional) factors
Important external factor = presence of others who are resisting pressure to conform or obey, providing social support
Internal factor seems to be important is an internal locus of control

Question 2

Reasons to resist conformity = social support

Answer 2

One reason resist pressure, if they have an ally, someone supporting their pov, having an ally can build confidence and allow individuals to remain independent.
Individuals who have support, for their pov, no longer fear being ridiculed, allowing them to avoid NSI, although Asch reports if this dissenter returns to conform then, so does naive pp, meaning effect may only be short term
Furthermore, pps who have support, for their pov, less likely to obey orders, feel better able to resist pressure, if there is another person present, also does not obey

Conformity
- pressure reduced if other people present who are not conforming
- non conforming person no necessarily give correct answer, fact that person non conforming, to majority, enables person to be free to follow own conscience
-eg. Aschs variations, conformity rates dropped to 5.5%, one correct dissenter, in group, if incorrect dissenter dropped to 9%

Research supports idea resisting conformity, eg. Allen and Levine (1971), found conformity decreased, one dissenter in Asch type study, even if had problem with vision, wearing thick glasses, shows how having one person in group whos view goes against the majority can lead an individual to resist conforming showing how social support truly powerful

Question 3

Resist Obedience = Social Support

Answer 3

Pressure reduced if another person seen to disobey, eg. One of Milgrams variations rate of disobedience decreases from 65-10 % when real pp joined by disobedient confederate.
person not always follow disobedient persons behaviour, does have will to follow / not follow, based on his/her conscience

eg. Gamson et al (1982)
set up situation, pps encouraged to rebel against unjust authority, advert local newspapers, in Michigan town, asking volunteers, paid group discussion on behaviour standards in community
Respondents, attend group discussion at local Holiday Inn, when arrived, put into groups of 9, met by consultant from fictional hr company (MHRC)
consultant explained MHRC conducting research for oil company, taken legal action against petrol station manager, argued manager had been sacked because lifestyle was offensive to local community, contrast, manager argued been sacked for speaking out on local TV, against high petrol prices

Pps take part in group discussion abt this decision, was filmed, as discussion unfolded, became apparent pps own views irrelevant, MRHC wanted argue in favour of sacking
At no points during discussion, cameraman stopped filming, instructed diff members of group to argue in favour of oil companys decision to sack manager
Finally pps asked sign consent form allowing film shown in court case

Rebellion involved challenging 2 well established norms in the situation, norm of obedience and commitment, both of which pps engaged in by agreeing take part in study

Out of 33 groups, 32 rebelled in some way, during group discussion, pps established strong group identity, in which members agreed that demands of authority unreasonable
This could be seen by way in which addressed MHRC coordinator, ‘we dont wanna go on record, even pretending that we agree with what we’re saying. We dont.’, ‘all three of us feel the same way’

25/33 majority refused to sign consent form
9 groups threatened legal action

Question 4

Strengths of social support

Answer 4

Research support
Aschs study = terms of one dissenter = reduces conformity to 5.5%
Milgrams Study = real pp joined by disobedient confederate, refused give shock, obedience reduced to 10%, both show power of social support in reducing social influence

Can be applied to real life
Gamsons study, high ecological validity, pps unaware that they were pps in psych study, would not show demand characteristics, task was very real to life, having discussion about standards of behaviour in community

Question 5

Weaknesses of social support

Answer 5

Strong for explaining group size under 10 people, then 1 dissenter, can influence non conformity or disobedience,
In real world, group size massive, 100s, having one dissenter has no influence on majority
Studies Explaining social support are restricted to small group sizes may not represent group sizes in real world, thus more research would be required to establish effects of social support on resistance to Social Influence

Question 6

L11 Locus of Control what is it

Answer 6

Apart from social support, internal and external locus of control has an effect on resistance to social influence

Locus of control was proposed by julian rotter (1966)
Refers to persons perception of degree of persobal control they have over behaviour
High external locus of control = future and actions result largely from factors outside control (luck or fate)
High internal locus of control = stronger sense of control over their lives, more active seekers of info, rely less on others opinion, more likely resist pressure from others, more likely show resistance to social influence

Another explanation = high internal LOC = more self confident, more achievement orientated = higher intelligence = less need social approval = greater resistance to social influence

Question 7

Strengths of locus control

Answer 7

Supporting evidence
- oliner and oliner (1988) interviewed 2 groups non jewish people lived through holocaust and nazi germany, compared 406 people had protected and rescued jews, from nazis, and 126 people had not
Found group rescued jews, scores demonstrated internal locus of control, study suggests people w internal loc, likely to act on situation rather than up to fate

Holland (1967) repeated milgrams baseline study measured whether pps internal loc or external loc
37% internal = not continue to highest shock
23% external = not continue, research support increases validity of LOC explanation, confidence can explain resistance to social influence

Question 8

Weakness LOC

Answer 8

Explaining resistance to social influence esp obedience is conflicting research evidence, eg. Twenge (2004) analysed data from american obedience studies over 40 year period, 1960 to 2002, data showed over time, people more resistant to obedience, show more external though
If resistance linked to internal, expect people become more internal, challenges link between internal loc and resistance social influence ( esp obedience)

Questions how LOC measured, julian rotter devised questionnare, in 1967, society had very diff viewpoints, had been world war 22 years before, also questions whether LOC questionnaire by Rotter, in 1960s is relevant in todays world
Questionnaire measures LOC may lack temporal validity, not be relevant

Question 9

L12 minority influence - what is it

Answer 9

Type of social influence motivates individuals reject established majority group norms, this is achieved through process of conversion where majorities become gradually won over to minority viewpoint
Conversion involves new belief being accepted both publically and privately, can be seen as a type of internalisation

Research shown minorities can be influential provided they adopt appropriate style behaviour

People simply went along with majority, all time, minority views never prevailed, there would be no change, no innovation

Minority influence, almost always associated with internalisation, leads to disagreeing with majority, ordinarily individual would only go against majority, if genuinely believed, views / behaviour, of majority was wrong

Question 10

L12 behavioural characteristics minority = c,c,f

Answer 10

Consistemcy, commitment, flexibility
Consistency most important behavioural characteristics that minority possess, to influence majority
Moscovici suggested important for minority show commitment and flexibility

Need to understand consistency, commitment and flexibility

Consistency = minority influence persuasive, minority is consistent, with opinion, show confidence in beliefs appear unbiased
Minority choose adopt consistent approach, others reassess situation, consider issue more carefully
After all, must be reason why minority takes position it does sufficiently confident maintain it over time, with each other

Question 11

L12 : exp into minority influence

Answer 11

Moscovici (1969)
See if consistent minority influence majority give incorrect answer, in colour perception task

172 female pps
told taking part in colour perception task
groups of 6
shown 36 slides
all varying shades of blue
pps state out loud, colour of each slide
2/6 pps were confederates, one condition (consistent) had 2 confederates all slides were green, 2nd condition (inconsistent) confederates said 24 green and 12 blue

Found that in consistent condition real pp agreed on 8.2% trials
Inconsistent condition, real pps only agreed on 1.25%

Shows consistent minority 6.95% more effective than inconsistent minority, consistency key factor in exerting minority influence

Wood et al (1994)
Carried out meta analysis of 97 studies of minority influence, and found that minorities who were perceived as being esp consistent in expressing their position were particularly influential

Question 12

L12 : commitment

Answer 12

Important in influence process suggests certainty, confidence and courage in face of hostile majority, joining majority has greater cost for individual than stay w majority, degree of commitment usually greater

Greater commitment persuades majority group members, take them seriously, even convert to minority

Augmentation principle = explains how minorities can change minority becasue if minority doing something quite rsiky, but shows commitmnet, majority pay more interest (wow he must really believe in what hes saying so i should consider his viewpoint)

Research support (Xie et al 2011)
Discovered tipping point, where no people holding minority position sufficient to change majority opinion, found that about 10% minority needed population to influence majority

Question 13

L12 flexibility

Answer 13

Mugny (1982)

Suggests flexibility more effective at changing majority opinion than rigidity of arguments, minorities are generally powerless compared to majorities, minority must therefore negotiate rather than enforce position upon majority
However, minority too flexible or too rigid risks being seen as either weak and inconsistent or dogmatic
Nemeth (1986) argues that it is important to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility

Research support

Nemeth (1986)

Consistency not most important factor in minority influence, suggesting idea often be misinterpreted as negative trait
Investigated idea of flexibility, key characteristic of successful minorities exerting pressure

Pps in groups of 4, agree on amt on compensation would give to victim of ski lift accident
One pps each group was confederate, 2 conditions 1. When minority argued for low rate of compensation refused to change position 2. Minority argued low rate compensation but compromised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation

Found in inflexible minority had little or no effect, on majority
Flexible condition, majority much more likely to compromise and change their view

Highlights importance of flexibility, question idea of consistency, strike balance between the two is most succesful strategy

Question 14

Strengths minority influence

Answer 14

• real value research into minority influence, since Nemeth 2010, argues dissent in form of minority group, opens mind and as a result, people search for info, consider more options, make better decisions, more creative, allows researchers understand means and processes for social change which can linked to minority influence as was shown in many studies

Research evidence show change in minority position involves deeper processing ideas
Martin et al (2003) gave pps message supporting particular viewpoint measured support, one group heard minority group agree with initial view, whilst one group heard majority agree
Pps finally exposed to a conflicting view, attitudes measured again
Found that pps less willing to change opinion, if listened to minority group, rather than majority, study shows power of minority influence, in terms of views being more deeply processed, and had a more enduring effect

Question 15

Weaknesses Minority Influence

Answer 15

Lack of realism
Many of tasks that were given to pps, moscovicis study judging colour of slides, not done in real lif every often, unless artist or painter perhaps, also case for many other studies so lack of ecological validity is real issue with research on minority influence, this means should be cautious when analysing research findings for minority influence research, most studies lack ecological validity and may not represent how minority influence works in real world

Although minority influence research has real value, may not apply to real life situations, can be much more complicated, eg. Nemeth claimed still difficult to convince people of value of dissent since people may accept minority opinion on surface, may become irritated by this view, fearing lack of harmony, as a result we attempt to belittle dissenting view to contain it

Question 16

L13 what is social change

Answer 16

Social change is when a whole society changes and adopts new beliefs / ways of behaving = then becomes norm
commonly result of minority influence (impact of individual and small groups upon majority)

If minorities did not exist, were not influential, we would simply go along w majority all the time, and there would never be any change in society, no new ideas would enter culture, no unfairness’s challenged, society never improve

eg. Social change is attitudes towards homosexuality, imprisonable offence in UK until 1967, public attitudes changed over time, most people now regard being gay as normal variation of human behaviour

New laws created to protect rights of gay people, in 2005 same sex civil partnerships introduced
Represents huge change in society in only 50 years

Question 17

Role of Minority Influence = steps of how it creates social change

Answer 17

Individual exposed to persuasive minority, may change view match those of minority

1. Draw attention to the issue = minorities bring about social change by drawing majority attention to issue
2. Consistency of position = minority more influential when express arguments consistently, over time and with each other
3. deeper processing = other people, not part of minority pay attention to minority, thinking about what status quo is perhaps unjustness of it
4. augmentation principle = minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed, are taken more seriously
   eg. Doing something wow, catches majoritys attention, supports minority influence characteristic of commitment
5. snowball effect = initially has relatively small effect, but this then spreads more widely, more and more people consider issue raised, until reaches tipping point, minority becomes majority, there is wide scale social change
   This when conformity due to NSI or ISI happens, everyone follows each other, perhaps even laws made in which people bound to follow
6. Social cryptoamnesia = majority knows social change occurred but source of change and message itself has become disassociated through process of social cryptoamnesia, do not recall how it happened, this could be because it is the law, we all have to obey the law, so we don’t always think about how the law came about, eg. Now law we have to treate everyone equally, regardless of background, otherwise we will be punished through discrimination and equally act

To do this, best to look at this from real life examples, such as african american civil rights movement

Question 18

African american civil rights movement as minority change

Answer 18

1. Draw attention = done through social proof, in 1950s america, black seperation applied all parts america, in southern states, schools selective just whites, civil rights marches drew attention to situation by providing social proof of problem
2. Consistency = many people taking part, many marches happened, even though they were minorty, civil rights activists, displayed consistency of message and intent
3. Deeper processing = attention meant many people who accepted status quo began think about unjustness of it
4. Augmentation Principle = number of incidents where individual risked their lives, eg. Freedom riders, were mixed racial groups, got on buses in south to challenge the fact taht black people still had sit seperately on buses
   Many freedom riders beaten there were incidents of mob violence
5. The Snowball Effect
   Civil rights activists such as MLK, continued to press for changes that gradually got the attention of the US Government
   In 1964 US civil rights act was passed, prohibited discrimination, represented a change from minority to majority support for civil rights
6. Social cryptoamnesia
   People have memory where change has occurred but cannot remember how happened, no doubt social change happened and south is quite diff place now, but some ppl have no memory of events that led to change

Question 19

Lessons from conformity research

Answer 19

One variation of Aschs exp, learned that one confederate gave a diff answer, to majority, conformity rates dropped, even if answer was wrong
Dissent has potential to ultimately lead to social change, environmental and health campaigns exploit conformity processes through NSI, by giving info, suggesting majority are doing something, this is the norm.
Social change encouraged by drawing to what others are doing

Question 20

Lessons from obedience research

Answer 20

Milgrams research showed how one disobedient person refused to give shock then obedience rates decreased dramatically
Zimbardo (2007) suggested how obedience can create social change through process of gradual committment, once small instruction obeyed, becomes more difficult to resist further instructions

Social change can happen when one disobedient person can take the correct decision and others will follow

Question 21

Lessoms from minority influence research

Answer 21

Moscovicis research showed needs to be committed, flexible, consistent if you are going to bring about social change
If you hear something new, might think about it, especially if source is consistent and passionate, conversion is possible
Over time, increasing numbers of ppl switch from majority to minority, known as snowball effect, finally minority then becomes majority, social change effectively happened

Question 22

Strengths of role of social influence processes in social change

Answer 22

Research Evidence
Nolan (2008) investigated whether social influence processes led to reduction in consumption of energy
Hung messages on door of houses in San Diego, every week, one month
Key message = most residents trying to reduce energy usage
Control group = message not referring to other residents instead just to save energy
Found that group referred to other residents showed a decrease in energy usage
Showing conformity can lead to social change through NSI

Question 23

Weaknesses of role of social influence processes in social change

Answer 23

Problem is that Nemeth (1986) argues effects of minority influence are likely to be mostly indirect, and delayed
Indirect as majority influenced only on matters at hand, not direct issue itself
Delayed as effects may not be seen for some time
Seen as limiatiom, shwos its effects are limited and fragile, this then makes it difficult to test and measure in scientific setting as social change does not happen straight away

Also many be barriers to social change, investigated by Bashir et al (2013) found that pps less liekly to behave innenvironmentally friendly ways as they did not want to be associated with environmentalists who were stereotyped as “tree huggers”
Social change can thus only happen if minority influence not associated with negative and extremist stereotypes, can be difficult to shift
Means studying social change is even more difficult when there are barriers to social change in general