Lecture 5- Social Influence Flashcards
what is social influence?
how individuals influence the way we think, feel and behave.
Obedience-Milgram:
What was Milgram’s aim?
Would ordinary individuals obey orders at the cost of harming someone?
Obedience-Milgram:
Explain milgrams study
40 men between the ages of 20-50 years were told the study was on the effects of punishment on memory. The participate was the ‘teacher’ and a confederate was the ‘learner.’ The teacher gave electric shocks to the learner every time they got an answer wrong. The learner gave answers wrong purposefully and the electric shocks were fake. Prods were given to the teacher if they wanted to stop the experiment.
Obedience-Milgram:
What were the results of Milgram’s study?
65% of participants continued to the max of 450 volts.
All continued to 300 volts.
Obedience-Milgram: Variations: Proximity study
Teacher and learner are in the same room.
40% obeyed to the highest volt.
Obedience-Milgram:
Variations: Two Peers Rebel study
More than one teacher is present and 2/3 would refuse to give higher shocks. 10% obeyed to highest volt.
Obedience-Milgram:
Variations: Gender study
Both men and women took part. 65% obeyed to highest volt. Women reported more stress.
Obedience-Milgram:
Evaluation: Ethics
Participants were deceived as they were not told the true aim of the study. However, all participants were offered debriefing and Milgram argued that the results were so significant that the deception was warranted. Many felt afterwards that they were happy they participated.
Obedience-Milgram:
Evaluation: Supporting research
Hofling
Found high obedience rates in nurses who were asked to give a patient a drug they’d never heard of before, by an unfamiliar doctor over the phone. Giving the reason that the doctors had become annoyed if they refused before. Supporting Milgram’s study has ecological validity. When the nurses had time to discuss, validity dropped, supporting the variations.
Obedience-Milgram:
Evaluation
Burger
Replicated Milgram’s study but with 2 conditions this time. Found similar results. The second condition involved a second confederate pretending to be a second confederate, they deliver the electric shocks, at 90V they stopped and the actual participant is asked to continue.
Obedience-Milgram:
Evaluation
Obedience alibi
It has been suggested that Milgram’s study offers an alibi for the obedience shown during the Holocaust by the Nazis. However, when applied to real life setting’s, thy are not shown.
Obedience: LADS Buzz of Footbal
Legitimate authority Agentic shift Disposition Social Roles Buffer Foot-in-the-door
Obedience: Legitimate authority
The participants believed the experimenter had power and so were more likely to obey them than an ordinary person. Obedience was higher when the authority figure was close by and perceived as legitimate.
Obedience: Agentic shift
Putting the blame onto someone else. When another ‘participant’ (confederate) actually flipped the switch and all the real participant had to do was something small, 93% obeyed. The confederate in the
room took blame for the harm being caused too.
Obedience: Disposition
Some people are more likely to obey than others. Milgram found differences in life produced few differences in obedience.
Obedience: Social Roles
People are more likely to obey social roles because of the disapproval they would incur if they dont obey.
Obedience: Buffers
When the learner was out of sight, obedience was highest. It dropped when they were in the same room. The wall acted as a buffer.
Obedience: Foot-in-the-door
Once people comply, they find it difficult to refuse to carry on. The gradual increase of the electric shock made it difficult to disengage from the procedure.
Conformity-majority influence: what is conformity?
A form of social influence that results from majority influence which leads to a change in behaviour/belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.
Conformity-majority influence: what are the two types of conformity called?
Compliance
Internalisation
Conformity-majority influence: what is compliance?
Publicly conforming to the views of others but privately maintaining our own views.
Conformity-majority influence: what is internalisation?
Publicly and privately conforming because they have acceptance their point as being their own.
Conformity-majority influence: what are the 3 reasons why people conform?
Normative social influence
Informational social influence
Referent informational influence
Conformity-majority influence:
what is normative social influence?
Conforming to be liked and to be part of a group. When the group is important to us and we spend a lot of time with it, conformity is high.
Conformity-majority influence:
what is informational social influence?
Changing our own point of view to go along someone because we believe them to be right.
Conformity-majority influence: Describe Asch’s study
Participants were asked to look at 3 lines and say which was the closest to a standard line. All but one of the participants were confederates. All the confederates gave the wrong answer on some of the trials. Participants were found to conform on 37% of the time.
Conformity-majority influence: what is referent informational influence?
Individuals are influenced by groups they identify with.
Conformity-majority influence: name 3 reasons why participants conformed?
DISTORTION OF PERCEPTION: Seeing the lines in the same way as the majority.
DISTORTION OF JUDGEMENT: feel doubt about own judgement and yield to majority view
DISTORTION OF ACTION: privately trusted own judgements but changed public answers to avoid disapproval.
Conformity-majority influence: how can conformity be increased?
group size cohesion status public responses prior commitments unanimity
Conformity-minority influence: how do minorities attempt to change others’s views?
By exposing individuals to a persuasive argument under certain circumstances, the minority may be able to change the person’s views.
Conformity-minority influence: what is conversion?
the minority being able to change the views of an individuals due to certain circumstances being met
Conformity-minority influence: what circumstances need to be met ?
Attention
Consistency
Commitment
Conformity-minority influence: explain attention?
By drawing attention to the issue at hand, we make it visible
Conformity-minority influence: explain consistency
Minorities tend to be more influential in bringing about social change when they express their views consistently.
Conformity-minority influence: explain commitment
when people are committed they are more likely to be taken seriously.
Behaviour in groups:
3 key features of behaviour in groups
Social loafing
Group polarisation
Group think
Behaviour in groups:
What is social loafing?
the tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group then when working alone.
Behaviour in groups: why does social loafing happen?
People believe they are not being watched
the task as less meaning to the individual
person displays low motivation
Behaviour in groups: what is group polarisation?
when a group of like-minded people discuss an issue, the ‘average’ opinion of group members tend to become more extreme
Behaviour in groups: why group polarisation happen?
normative social influence
informational social influence
referent social influence
Behaviour in groups:
what is group think?
the tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement.
Behaviour in groups: why does group think happen?
those who favour the group leaders position will have their confidence in the decision reinforced whereas those who have doubt will feel pressured to go along with the group.
Deindividualisation:
what is deindividuation?
the process by which someone loses their sense of identity when part of a large group.
Deindividualisation: What is anonymity?
Being anonymous to someone reduces feelings of accountability. So people are more likely to act in an antisocial way. When ‘faceless’, people ignore these social norms and act upon their own accord.
Deindividualisation: Describe Zimbardo’s aim
How readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner.
Deindividualisation: Describe Zimbardo’s study
24 volunteers were randomly assigned to either prison guard or prisoner. They were placed in a mock prison and behaved accordingly to their roles. The study caused massive psychological damage and had to be stopped after 6 days.
Deindividualisation: Zimbardo’s study was repeated by who?
Reicher and Haslam
Deindividualisation: Describe Reicher and Haslam’s study?
This was a replicated broadcast, participants were given ways of enforcing authority. Participants failed to respond to role until a new prisoner was added and they started to challenge the guards. They negotiated a new regime but this was eventually challenged too. This was also terminated early.
Deindividualisation: why did this behaviour occur? 2 reasons
Because people are anonymous so they seem to become ‘faceless’.
They lose their sense of identity and so are more likely to act in an unsocial way and uncivilised way.
Deindividualisation:
Diener has a reason for why a person becomes deindividualised?
he said that individuals developed an extreme lack of self-awareness.
Deindividualisation:
Reicher and Haslam also had a reason for why people act in an unsocial able way
Individuals accept the roles they are given until the group identification breaks down.
