P1 Section A (Social Influence - Conformity)

Question 1

What is conformity (changes)

Answer 1

Conformity is a form of social influence whereby a person changes their behaviour to fit in with a group

Question 2

What is the Asch Effect

Answer 2

the Asch Effect is the influence of the group majority on an individuals judgement

Question 3

What are Deutsch and Gerard (1955) two motivations to conform

Answer 3

Deutsch and Gerard (1955) two motivations to conform are normative social influence and beliefs informational social influence

Question 4

What are Kelmans (1958) three types of conformity

Answer 4

the three types of conformity are internalisation, identification and compliance

Question 5

What is internalisation

Answer 5

Internalisation is when an individual changes their behaviour to fit in publicly and changes private views or behaviour

Question 6

What is identification

Answer 6

Identification is when someone changes their public behaviours and private beliefs temporarily because membership of a group is desirable, but private views revert

Question 7

What is compliance

Answer 7

Compliance is when an individual changes their behaviour in public but not privately

Question 8

What is informational social influence

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is normative social influence

Answer 9

normative social influence is when an individual conforms in order to fit into a group of gain approval

Question 10

What type of social influence did Aschs line study look at

Answer 10

Aschs line study looked at normative social influence

Question 11

How was Asch’s line study carried out

Answer 11

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

Question 12

How many percent of participants conformed to group pressure in Aschs line study at least once by choosing incorrect line

Answer 12

75% of participants conformed to group pressure in Aschs line study at least once by choosing incorrect line

Question 13

What factors influenced conformity in Aschs line study

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What happened to conformity in Aschs line study when size of majority increased

Answer 14

When size of majority increased in Aschs line study, so did conformity

Question 15

What was a weakness of Aschs line study (ecological, can’t)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

How is Aschs line study andocentric and ethnocentric

Answer 16

Aschs line study androcentric and ethnocentric as the sample was all males and all white

Question 17

What is a strength of Aschs line study

Answer 17

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

Question 18

How did Asch say confidence influences conformity

Answer 18

Asch said confidence influences conformity as they are able to not conform since they don’t succumb to group pressure

Question 19

How did Perrin and Spencer (1980) support Asch’s confidence

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What did Sherif (1935) try to show

Answer 20

Sherif (1935) tried to show that people conform to group norms when they’re performing ambiguous tasks

Question 21

What was Sherifs (1935) method

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

How were Sherifs (1935) participants tested in phases (first, then, again)

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What were the results of the three phases of Sherifs (1935) study

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What did Sherif (1935) conclude about his light dot study

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What was a weakness of Sherifs (1935) dot study

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What is a social role

Answer 26

A social role is a pattern of behaviour that is expected of a person in a given setting or group

Question 27

What is a social norm

Answer 27

A social norm is a groups expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behaviour for its members

Question 28

How were Zimbardos (1971) participants found

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Where did Zimbardos (1971) study take place

Answer 29

Zimbardos (1971) study took place in a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university

Question 30

How did the prisoners and guards conform to social roles in Zimbardos (1971) study

Answer 30

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

Question 31

How did prisoners react to Zimbardo’s (1971) mock prison

Answer 31

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

Question 32

How did social norms influence the guards and prisoners

Answer 32

social norms influenced the guards as they became authoritarian and the prisoners as they became submissive and even showed signs of mental breakdown

Question 33

How did Zimbardo (1971) conclude that dispositional attribution wasn’t true

Answer 33

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

Question 34

What is deindividuation

Answer 34

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

Question 35

How did the guards in Zimbardos (1971) study show deindividuation

Answer 35

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

Question 36

What is a real world example of deindividuation

Answer 36

A real world example of deindividuation is Abu Ghraib prison of 2003/04 where soldiers tortured prisoners and even killed one

Question 37

What is a weakness of Zimbardo’s (1971) study

Answer 37

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

Question 38

What was Orlando’s (1973) study and the aim

Answer 38

Orlando’s (1973) study was a mock psychiatric ward lasting 3 days looking at how people conformed to their social roles.

Question 39

What was the results of Orlando’s (1973) study

Answer 39

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

Question 40

What is a strength of Orlando’s (1973) mock ward study

Answer 40

A strength of Orlando’s (1973) mock ward study is that it influenced hospital staff to empathise more with patients

Question 41

What happened in Asch’s line study when the dissenter said the correct answers the whole time (unanimity)

Answer 41

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

Question 42

how did group size change conformity in Asch’s line study

Answer 42

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

Question 43

how does difficulty of task change conformity in Asch’s line study

Answer 43

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

Question 44

how does Bond and Smith support group size implicated in Asch’s line study

Answer 44

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

Question 45

how does Jenness support difficulty of task changing conformity

Answer 45

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

Question 46

how does Banuazizi and Mohavedi criticise Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Answer 46

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