P1 Section A (Social Influence - Obedience) Flashcards
What is obedience
Obedience is the change of an individuals behaviour to comply with a demand by an authority figure
Why do people obey
People obey to avoid consequences if they do not
What was Milgram’s (1963) obedience study method
Milgram’s (1963) study method was recruiting 40 male volunteers who believed they were in study about memory and they were shown how to use a device that would elicit an electric shock and they were told to use it if the confederate gave a wrong answer to a question and the voltage would increase up until 450 volts
Milgram’s (1963) obedience study results
Milgram’s (1963) obedience study results were that 100% of participants elicited up to 300V and 65% of participants elicited the full 450V shock to confederates and 3/40 had seizures and many others showed distress
What happened to percentage obedience rate in Milgram’s (1963) study when the experiment was moved from university to a rundown office building
The percentage obedience rate when Milgram’s (1963) experiment was moved from university to a rundown office building dropped to 48%
What happened to percentage obedience rate in Milgrams (1963) study when the researcher gave orders to the participant over the phone
The percentage obedience rate in Milgrams (1963) when the researcher gave orders to the participant over the phone dropped to the lowest of 23%
What happens when authority of the experimenter decreases in Milgrams (1963) study
when authority of the experimenter decreases in Milgrams (1963) study, so does obedience.
What is a strength of Milgram’s (1963) study
A strength of Milgram’s (1963) study is that it was done in a laboratory allowing for variables to be controlled and it has real-life application in explaining how ordinary German soldiers obeyed authority figures despite the wrongdoings
What is a weakness of Milgram’s (1963) study
A weakness of Milgram’s (1963) study is that participants were deceived and so unable to give informed consent since they didn’t know the real nature of the experiment and they were not told they could withdraw from the experiment and when they showed signs of distress they were told to carry on
What is Milgrams agentic state
Milgrams agentic state is a state in which an individual behaves as if the they are the agent of another person so they can deny responsibility for their actions
What is Milgram’s autonomous state
Milgrams autonomous state is when people have control and act according to their own wishes
How did Milgrams obedience study (1963) show agentic state
Milgrams obedience study (1963) showed agentic state as participants noted they felt under moral strain but still obeyed, during the de-brief
How did Milgrams obedience study (1963) show autonomous state
Milgrams obedience study (1963) showed autonomous state as when researchers were not in same room as participant and gave instructions via telephone, obedience fell from 65% to 23%
What is agentic shift (in Milgrams study)
Agentic shift is when individuals transfer from the autonomous state to the agentic state like Milgrams participants when they started taking orders
What are Milgrams 3 factors to cause people to stay in the agentic state
Milgrams 3 factors to cause people to stay in the agentic state are insistence of authority (experimenter telling participants to continue), pressure of location (study was done in a university so see experimenter as a legitimate authority) and unwillingness to disrupt (participants felt they couldn’t leave experiment as they’d been paid).
What are the three factors affecting likelihood of obedience according to Milgram
The three factors affecting likelihood of obedience are location, proximity and uniform according to Milgram
What happened to obedience levels in Milgram’s study when proximity between participant and confederate got closer and why
obedience levels dropped to 40% when proximity between participant and confederate increased in Milgram’s study as they were in same room so closer to consequences
How did Bickman prove uniform affected obedience
Bickman proved uniform affected obedience as he found 38% of people would loan a coin to person in security guard costume and only 14% would to a milkman
What did Adorno et al (1950) propose and what is it caused by
Adorno et al (1950) proposed authoritarian personality which is caused by strict childhood and leads people to have higher levels of obedience and discipline
What was Adorno et al (1950) measurement of authoritarian personality
Adorno et al (1950) measurement of authoritarian personality was an F-scale questionnaire
What is anti-conformity
Anti-conformity refers to a consistent movement away from the social conformity
What is resistance to social influence
resistance to social influence is when individuals disobey and don’t conform
What helps people resist social influence
Social support such as a dissenter helps people resist social influence as they create a strong sense of defiance
What happened in Aschs study when the dissenter said the correct answers part way of study
In Aschs study when the dissenter said the correct answers part way of study, conformity levels dropped from 32% to 8.5%
How did Rotter (1966) measure internal and external locus of control
Rotter (1966) measured internal and external locus of control in a 13 part questionnaire and scores ranged from 0-13, 0 being internal control and 13 being external control
What is internal locus of control
Internal locus of control is belief that things happen as a result of own choices and decisions
What is External locus of control
External locus of control is the belief that things happen because of fate or external forces beyond control
How does locus of control affect social influence
Locus of control affects conformity as Internal locus of control means a person is less likely to conform than those who have external locus of control
What did Spector (1983) find about locus of control
Spector (1983) found about locus of control that those with high external locus of control would conform more but only by normative social influence, there was no difference in conformity by informational social influence showing that resistance to conformity increase when we don’t feel the need to to be accepted into a social group
How did Moghaddam (1988) show cultural differences in locus of control
Moghaddam (1988) shows cultural differences in locus of control as found Japanese people conform more easily and have higher external locus of control than Americans
How did Holland and Blass (1967 and 1991) support Rotter’s locus of control
Holland and Blass (1967 and 1991) support Rotter’s locus of control by finding that those with higher internal locus of control were better at resisting obedience
How did Schulz (1985) criticise Rotter’s locus of control
Schulz (1985) criticised locus of control by finding there was no relationship between locus of control and obedience but people with higher internal locus of control would be responsible for their actions more often
What is minority influence
Minority influence is a type of social influence whereby individuals reject established majority group norms by a process of conversion
What is conversion
Conversion is the process where the majority group gradually adopts a new minority viewpoint and then it becomes accepted publicly and privately
What type of social influence is conversion
Conversion is a type of internalisation and happens through informational social influence
What is cryptomnesia (minority, without)
Cryptomnesia is a process by which minority views become majority held views without a cognitive understanding of where it came from
What is Van Avermaet’s (1966) snowball effect
Van Avermaet’s (1966) snowball is the idea that when a small number of people converge to the minority, they will then pass it on to others until everyone changed their views
Why is consistency required in minority influence
consistency is required in minority to attract attention to their views.
Why is commitment required in minority influence
commitment is required in minority influence as the minority need to prove they can resist pressure and show they are committed to their cause by doing something extreme
Why is flexibility required in minority influence
Flexibility is required in minority influence as the minorities need to show they can moderate, be co-operative and be reasonable to be seen as more persuasive
what is systematic processing in minority influence
Systematic processing in minority influence is when minority is consistent and committed leading to majority to consider their views but if the view is instantly dismissed, it undergoes superficial processing
What is social change
Social change is when society develops via shifts in peoples beliefs, attitudes and behaviours which then becomes the norm
What are the six stages of social change
The six stages of social change are drawing attention, consistency, deeper processing, augmentation principle, the snowball effect and then social cryptomnesia
What is advantage of minority social change
An advantage of minority social change is that it is a gradual process and so doesn’t have a great disruptive impact on society and also means new ideas can be tested to see if they fit to society
What was Moscovici et al (1969) blue-green slide study method
Moscovici et al (1969) blue-green slide study method was 192 blind female participants were split into six groups with 2 confederates in each group and asked to identify the colour of 36 different slides which were all actually blue
What were Moscovicis et al (1969) blue-green slide A and B conditions
Moscovicis et al (1969) blue-green slide A and B conditions were the confederate was consistent and said all the slides were green and another condition was where the confederates were inconsistent and said 24 out of 36 slides were green.
What were the results of Moscovici (1969) condition A
the results of condition A were that 32% of participants identified at least 1 slide as green and 8% of participants identified all the slides as green
What were the results of Moscovici (1969) condition B
the results of condition B were that only around 1% of participants would identify all the slides as green
What did Moscovici et al (1969) conclude
Moscovici et al (1969) concluded that minority groups would have greater influence when they behaving consistently
how did Wood et al (1994) support Moscovici’s consistency
Wood et al (1994) support Moscovici’s consistency by a meta-analysis of 100 similar studies finding consistent minorities were most influential
What is a weakness of Moscovici et al (1969)
A weakness of Moscovici et al (1969) is that there is low generalisability because all participants were women
What was Adorno et al (1950) study
Adorno et al (1950) study was measuring 2000 middle class white Americans and their attitudes to other racial groups
What did Adorno et al (1950) find
Adorno et al (1950) found that authoritarian people were much more likely to be highly obedient and have conservative views on gender, race and sex
What are weaknesses of Adorno et al (1950)
Weaknesses of Adorno et al (1950) are that it was open to social desirability bias as homophobia and racism was fashionable and also there is beta bias as male study is applied to women
What are Kelman and Hamiltons (1989) 3 factors for obedience
Kelman and Hamiltons (1989) 3 factors for obedience are legitimacy of system, legitimacy of authority within the system and legitimacy of demands or orders given
What is legitimacy of system according to Kelman and Hamilton
Legitimacy of system is the extent to which the body is a legitimate source of authority like a school or a family or a government according to Kelman and Hamilton
What is legitimacy of authority within the system according to Kelman and Hamilton
legitimacy of authority within the system is the extent to which an individual has authority in a system based on their position in hierarchy according to Kelman and Hamilton
What is legitimacy of demand or orders given according to Kelman and Hamilton
legitimacy of demand or orders given is the extent to which the order given is deemed legitimate for the field of the authority figure like a teacher telling you to clean their car according to Kelman and Hamilton
What is destructive authority
Destructive authority is when an authority figure uses their power for destructive purposes like Hitler
how does Hofling support obedience of authority figure
Hofling supports obedience of authority figure by finding 21/22 nurses were about to administer a lethal dosage of an unauthorized medicine when given orders by a doctor over the phone - it was a placebo
How did Nemeth et al (1986) support role of flexibility in minority influence
Nemeth et al (1986) supported role of flexibility in minority influence as when confederate had to convince 3 ppts to lower compensation amount of an accident victim, the majority refused to change their position to lower the amount when the confederate was consistent in arguing, but when confederate was flexible and compromised to a higher amount, the ppts were influenced to lower their demand slightly to confederate’s view - supporting the need of the minority to be flexible in order to influence majority
