PAPER 1 - Social Influence Flashcards
What is the AGENTIC STATE ?
putting the responsibility of our actions on someone else
What is the AUTONOMOUS STATE ?
when we take responsibility for our own actions
What are BINDING FACTORS ?
aspects of situation that allow a person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour
What is LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY ?
we are more likely to obey when we believe an authority is legitimate
What are the two explanations for obedience ?
agentic state and legitimate authority
What are the traits of someone with an authoritarian personality ?
- hostile
- fairly rigid in beliefs
- conventional / traditional
(Adorno F-scale)
What are the characteristics of INTERNAL LoC ?
- independent
- active seekers of info
- less likely to conform / obey
- don’t rely on external opinions
What are the characteristics of EXTERNAL LoC ?
- less independent
- rely on others for info
- more likely to conform / obey
- rely on external opinions
What is OBEDIENCE ?
- within HIERARCHY
- emphasis on POWER
- pp embrace obedience to explain behaviour
What is CONFORMITY ?
- between EQUAL STATUS
- emphasis on ACCEPTANCE
- pp deny conformity
Who investigated obedience to an authority ?
MILGRAM (1963) - Electric shock
How did MILGRAM study obedience to an authority ?
- teacher / learner (always teacher)
- read word pairs
- read first word and match second
- wrong = shock
What were the results of MLGRAM’S study ?
240 volts - 100%
300 volts - 87.5%
360 volts - 76.6%
420 volts - 65%
450 volts - 63%
What are the STRENGTHS of legitimate authority ?
APPLICATIONS
- Kelman and Hamilton
- My Lai Massacre
- power hierarchy of US Army
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
- Tarnow (2000)
- dependence on captain
- second officer didn’t bring up odd behaviour
What are the WEAKNESSES of legitimate authority ?
OTHER EXPLANATIONS
- gradual commitment
- obey small requests leads to bigger ones
- cannot assume legitimate authority is the only reason
JUSTIFY HARMING OTHERS
- no longer feel own moral values
What is the STRENGTH of authoritarian personality ?
SUPPORT RESEARCH
- Dambrun & Vatine
- correlation between pps RWA score maximum voltage shock administered to the victim
- highest score = most obedient
What are the WEAKNESSES of authoritarian personality ?
SOCIAL CONTEXT MORE IMPORTANT
- explains obedience better than disposition
EDUCATION MAY DETERMINE AUTHORITARIANISM AND OBEDIENCE
- less educated are more obedient
- lack of obedience may be responsible rather than authoritarianism
NOT ALL OBEDIENT P’s SHOWED ALL THE FEATURES OF AN AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
- not all obedient pps had difficult relationship with fathers
What are the STRENGTHS of LoC ?
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
- Atgis
- meta-analysis
- avg. correlation between LoC and conformity = 0.37
- genuinely is a higher rate of conformity within externals
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
- Oliner and Oliner
- compared 406 who had rescued jews with 126 who didn’t
- rescuers had higher internal
- internal is a factor in resisting pressure to obey authority
What are the WEAKNESSES of LoC ?
CORRELATION METHOD
- don’t know cause and effect
LACK OF CONTROL
- Oliner and Oliner
- no cause and effect
What are the STRENGTHS of social support ?
RESEARCH SUPPORT
- Allen and Levine = similar study to Asch, dissenter allowed conformity to decrease
- Gamson = did not obey when asked to give evidence - pps where in groups
What are the STRENGTHS of Milgram’s study ?
LABORATORY EXPERIMENT
- high control
- cause and effect
- reliable
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
- Bickman
- uniforms
- provide coin for parking metre
What are the WEAKNESSES of Milgram’s study ?
LACK INTERNAL VALIDITY
- Orne and Holland
- extra manipulation = demand characteristics
ETHICAL ISSUES
- deception
- protection from psychological harm
What are the STRENGTHS of the agentic state ?
APPLICATIONS
- nazi criminals
- defended in court
- just following orders
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
- Milgram
- pp demonstrated moral strain
- disobeyed no longer had strain emotions
- in autonomous state
What are the WEAKNESSES of the agentic state ?
OTHER EXPLANATIONS
- French and Raven
- 5 different types of power
- Milgram’s conclusion may be inaccurate
DESCRIBES RATHER THAN EXPLAINS
- does not say HOW agentic takes over
- harder to carry out research to test theory
What are the WEAKNESSES of social support ?
SUPPORT MUST BE GIVEN EARLY
- from the start conformity drops from 32% to 5.5%
- later only drops to 8.5%
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
- you don’t always copy the behaviour
- people around you might litter but you may disagree with it
What are the STRENGTHS of minority influence ?
METHODOLOGY
- lab experiment
- high control
- cause and effect
- internal validity
RESEARCH SUPPORT
- Wood et al = meta-analysis - minority are still persuasive when compared to ‘control’ conditions
APPLICATIONS
- social change
- votes for women
What are the WEAKNESSES of minority influence ?
ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
- not normally asked if slides are green or blue
- consistent minority might not always be able to influence majority
OTHER THEORIES
- people move to members if their ‘in-group’
- we feel we share a membership
