P1 Section A (Social Influence - Conformity) Flashcards
What is conformity (changes)
Conformity is a form of social influence whereby a person changes their behaviour to fit in with a group
What is the Asch Effect
the Asch Effect is the influence of the group majority on an individuals judgement
What are Deutsch and Gerard (1955) two motivations to conform
Deutsch and Gerard (1955) two motivations to conform are normative social influence and beliefs informational social influence
What are Kelmans (1958) three types of conformity
the three types of conformity are internalisation, identification and compliance
What is internalisation
Internalisation is when an individual changes their behaviour to fit in publicly and changes private views or behaviour
What is identification
Identification is when someone changes their public behaviours and private beliefs temporarily because membership of a group is desirable, but private views revert
What is compliance
Compliance is when an individual changes their behaviour in public but not privately
What is informational social influence
informational social influence is when an individual conforms as they do not know what to do or if they are incorrect to look to others who seem knowledgeable, often leading to internalisation
What is normative social influence
normative social influence is when an individual conforms in order to fit into a group of gain approval
What type of social influence did Aschs line study look at
Aschs line study looked at normative social influence
How was Asch’s line study carried out
Asch’s line study was carried out by showing a group of 123 male Americans a series of lines at different lengths and then asked to identify which line was the closest in length to a given line after hearing confederates choose an incorrect line
How many percent of participants conformed to group pressure in Aschs line study at least once by choosing incorrect line
75% of participants conformed to group pressure in Aschs line study at least once by choosing incorrect line
What factors influenced conformity in Aschs line study
The factors which influenced conformity in Aschs line study were size of the majority, difficulty of the task, number of dissenters (unanimity) and whether participants responded in public or private
What happened to conformity in Aschs line study when size of majority increased
When size of majority increased in Aschs line study, so did conformity
What was a weakness of Aschs line study (ecological, can’t)
a weakness of Aschs line study was that it lacked ecological validity because it was artificial and can’t be generalised to real-life situations
How is Aschs line study andocentric and ethnocentric
Aschs line study androcentric and ethnocentric as the sample was all males and all white
What is a strength of Aschs line study
A strength of Aschs line study is that it was done in a lab so the experiment could be repeated easily and extraneous variables could be limited
How did Asch say confidence influences conformity
Asch said confidence influences conformity as they are able to not conform since they don’t succumb to group pressure
How did Perrin and Spencer (1980) support Asch’s confidence
Perrin and Spencer (1980) supported Asch’s confidence by doing 396 trials of Asch-like experiment with engineering students and found conformity rate of 0.25%, as engineering students less likely to conform in problem-solving tasks
What did Sherif (1935) try to show
Sherif (1935) tried to show that people conform to group norms when they’re performing ambiguous tasks
What was Sherifs (1935) method
Sherifs (1935) method was projecting a stationary light dot in a dark room (but it was a visual illusion so thought to be moving) and asked participants to guess how far it was moved by a person.
How were Sherifs (1935) participants tested in phases (first, then, again)
Sherifs (1935) participants were tested in phases by first getting them to guess individually, then make guesses in a group of 3 and then make guesses again individually as to how far the dot had moved
What were the results of the three phases of Sherifs (1935) study
The results of the three phases were that first individual guesses varied by 20cm to 80cm, then in the group of 3 - guesses converged to one group estimate and then thirdly the individuals would be closer to the group estimate they formed than the initial estimate
What did Sherif (1935) conclude about his light dot study
Sherif (1935) concluded about his light dot study that people would look to others in ambiguous situations and they perform informational conformity when influenced by informational social influence
What was a weakness of Sherifs (1935) dot study
A weakness of Sherifs (1935) dot study was that it was an artificial situation about estimating movement of a stationary light so there is a lack of ecological validity
What is a social role
A social role is a pattern of behaviour that is expected of a person in a given setting or group
What is a social norm
A social norm is a groups expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behaviour for its members
How were Zimbardos (1971) participants found
Zimbardos (1971) participants were found from an advertisement asking for male volunteers for study about prison life, they were all then tested to eliminate any psychiatric issues and 24 healthy males are left and each was payed $15 a day
Where did Zimbardos (1971) study take place
Zimbardos (1971) study took place in a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university
How did the prisoners and guards conform to social roles in Zimbardos (1971) study
the prisoners and guards conformed to social roles in Zimbardos (1971) study by prisoners rebelling and guards threatening prisoners with night sticks and harassing the prisoners
How did prisoners react to Zimbardo’s (1971) mock prison
The prisoners reacted to Zimbardo’s (1971) mock prison by showing signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness by tolerating the abusive guards and then after six days the experiment was shut down as the participants behaviour was deteriorating
How did social norms influence the guards and prisoners
social norms influenced the guards as they became authoritarian and the prisoners as they became submissive and even showed signs of mental breakdown
How did Zimbardo (1971) conclude that dispositional attribution wasn’t true
Zimbardo (1971) concluded that dispositional attribution wasn’t true as good young people acted badly when in the prison environment, so it’s not the dispositions of the people who go to prison that make it bad but the environment
What is deindividuation
deindividuation is when a person is made anonymous by, for example, wearing the same uniform therefore making the person less aware of their personal behaviours and act the same as everyone else to not stand out
How did the guards in Zimbardos (1971) study show deindividuation
The guards in Zimbardos (1971) study showed deindividuation as they wore their uniform and so we’re less aware of their own personal morals and considered themselves guards, not a person
What is a real world example of deindividuation
A real world example of deindividuation is Abu Ghraib prison of 2003/04 where soldiers tortured prisoners and even killed one
What is a weakness of Zimbardo’s (1971) study
A weakness of Zimbardo’s (1971) study is that Zimbardo took part in the experiment and so there is investigator bias as he is able to manipulate performances to get the results he needs
What was Orlando’s (1973) study and the aim
Orlando’s (1973) study was a mock psychiatric ward lasting 3 days looking at how people conformed to their social roles.
What was the results of Orlando’s (1973) study
the results of Orlando’s (1973) study was that mock patients quickly began acting like normal hospital patients and some showed signs of withdrawal and depression and some admitted to feelings of lost identity
What is a strength of Orlando’s (1973) mock ward study
A strength of Orlando’s (1973) mock ward study is that it influenced hospital staff to empathise more with patients
What happened in Asch’s line study when the dissenter said the correct answers the whole time (unanimity)
in Aschs study when the dissenter said the correct answers in the whole study, conformity levels dropped from 32% to 5% as when people dissent majority, people are more likely to also dissent as they do not feel alone in doing so
how did group size change conformity in Asch’s line study
group size changed conformity in Asch’s line study as when there was 1 confederate, conformity rate was 3%, 2 confederates = 13% and 3 confederates = 32% and started lowering when there was 15 confederates as caused ppt suspicion so therefore demand characteristics
how does difficulty of task change conformity in Asch’s line study
difficulty of task changed conformity in Asch’s line study as informational social influence takes over as main role in conformity, so people less confident will look to others and copy because they lack own knowledge
how does Bond and Smith support group size implicated in Asch’s line study
Bond and Smith supports group size implicated in Asch’s line study as found in meta-analysis of 133 studies similar to Asch, conformity peaked at 4-5
how does Jenness support difficulty of task changing conformity
Jenness supports difficulty of task changing conformity as when ppts had to guess Jelly beans in a jar, the final estimate would be closer to the group estimate showing that informational social influence occurs when the task is ambiguous as people believed group estimate was more likely to be correct
how does Banuazizi and Mohavedi criticise Zimbardo’s prison experiment
Banuazizi and Mohavedi criticise Zimbardo’s prison experiment as they showed the procedure to sample of people and found the majority could guess the aims of the study and predicted guards would become hostile and prisoners become passive suggesting Zimbardo’s prisoners may have just been “acting up” due to demand characteristics
