Psychology 2 - Social Influence

Question 1

What is social influence?

Answer 1

The effect that other people have on our behaviour

This includes conformity, social loafing and obedience

Question 2

What is conformity?

Answer 2

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as the result of group pressure

Question 3

Give a study on conformity

Answer 3

Sherif (1935)

To discover the effect of judgement of listening to other people

He asked participants to estimate how far a spot of light moved when they were sitting in an otherwise completely dark room. In fact, the light didn’t move at all but owing to an optical illusion, it did appear to

Individually, the participants gave a variety of estimates which differed quite widely from each other’s. However, when they undertook the same task in groups of three, the estimates were more similar

The participants used other people’s opinions to help them form a judgement in an ambiguous situation

Question 3

Evaluate the conformity study

Answer 3

The situation was ambiguous because the distance the light moved was not known by the participants, so this did not demonstrate conformity
Lacks ecological validity because study took place in a laboratory setting

Question 4

What is obedience?

Answer 4

Following the orders of someone we believe to have authority

Question 5

Give a study on obedience

Answer 5

Bickman (1974)

To see if people would be more likely to obey an order if it came from somebody in uniform

He had actors dress as either a security guard or just in a casual jacket. They asked people in a park to pick up litter

He found that 80% of people who obeyed the “guard” compared with 40% when the casual jacket was worn

Wearing a uniform will increase the sense that a person is a legitimate authority figure

Question 6

Evaluate the obedience study

Answer 6

Has ecological validity because participants didn’t realise they were part of an experiment
They could have picked up the litter when the guard was there because they feared what the guard could do if they did not pick up the litter

Question 7

What is socialisation?

Answer 7

A reason for obedience where people naturally obey authority figures because they have grown up doing this

Question 8

What is a buffer?

Answer 8

Something like a wall that stops the teacher from seeing the consequences of their actions on the learner
It is a reason for obedience

Question 9

What is deindividuation?

Answer 9

The state of losing our sense of individuality and becoming less aware of our own responsibility for our actions

Question 10

Give a study on deindividuation

Answer 10

Zimbardo (1969)

To see if people in a big city behave in a more antisocial way than people in a small town

He parked a car in each place with its bonnet up, as if it had broken down, and observed what people did as they passed by

In New York, people immediately stole all of the parts of the car but in Palo Alto, the only time that the car was touched was when the bonnet was lowered to stop the engine getting wet when it was raining

The deindividuation caused by living in a big city leads to an increase in antisocial behaviour

Question 11

Evaluate the deindividuation study

Answer 11

This study lacked mundane realism (the situation was not realistic) meaning the participants would behave differently to how they normally would behave
This could simply be because there are many more people in a big city meaning there is a much higher chance that there are people that steal

Question 12

What are the 3 causes of deindividuation?

Answer 12

Being able to hide one’s identity
Wearing a uniform
Being part of a gang or clearly identifiable group

Question 13

What is social loafing?

Answer 13

Putting less effort into sonething when you are with others doing the same thing

Question 14

Give a study on social loafing

Answer 14

Earley (1989)

To see if culture makes a difference to social loafing

Participants from the US and China had to complete tasks alone and in groups. The level of social loafing was measured by how much effort was put into the tasks

The US participants reduced their effort when in groups but the Chinese did not

Social loafing does not exist in all cultures. In some cultures, people are prepared to work just as hard for the good of the group even when they do not need to

Question 15

Evaluate the social loafing study

Answer 15

Only 2 countries were compared and other cultures could give different results
Hard to measure effort of participants

Question 16

What are the 3 factors that affect social loafing?

Answer 16

The size of the group you are with
The nature of the task you are performing
The culture to which you belong

Question 17

What is bystander intervention?

Answer 17

When people do nothing to help someone in need of help because there are multiple people present

Question 18

Give a study on bystander intervention

Answer 18

Latane & Darley (1968)

To see if people are less likely to react in an emergency when there are others present

Participants sat in a room either alone or in threes while completing a questionnaire. While they were doing this, smoke began coming into the room

75% of those sitting alone told someone in the next 6 minutes but only 38% of those in groups of three did

If there are other people around you, it will make it less likely that you will react in an emergency

Question 19

Evaluate the bystander intervention study

Answer 19

It was conducted in a laboratory setting so people could have behaved differently to how they normally would
The fact that no one else was reacting could mean that you might not think what is happening as a problem. This would cause the people in groups to not react

Question 20

What is the diffusion of responsibility?

Answer 20

In a group of people, there is less need for the individual to act because someone else is present could also do something

Question 21

Who was Kitty Genovese?

Answer 21

In 1964, Kitty was attacked in New York
She was attacked for over half an hour until she was killed
Only after, did someone call the police even though the attack could have been stopped almost straight away if someone had called the police earlier
38 people witnessed the attack and did not act

Question 22

What is altruism?

Answer 22

Helping someone without thinking of yourself, sometimes at great cost

Question 23

Give a study into how appearance affects bystander intervention

Answer 23

Piliavin (1972)

To see if the appearance of the victim would influence helping behaviour

Piliavin had an actor pretend to collapse in a train carriage. His appearance was altered several times and the amount of help he received each time was recorded by an observer

When the victim carried a walking stick, he received help within 70 seconds, 90% of the time. When he had an ugly facial scar, this dropped to 60% and when he acted drunk, it dropped to 20%

The appearance of the person needing help will affect whether and how quickly they get that help

Question 24

Evaluate the appearance bystander study

Answer 24

In a train carriage, there are many variables that the researcher can’t control

In 1983, Batson conducted an experiment to show how the characteristics of a victim can have a different sort of impact on whether they receive help or not

Question 25

Give a study into similarities between people and bystander intervention

Answer 25

Batson et al. (1983)

To see if the similarity of a victim to a bystander will affect whether they receive help

Participants watched a woman who they thought was receiving electric shocks. Each participants was made to think the woman was either like themselves or not. They were given the opportunity to take the woman’s place in order to stop her suffering

More participants were prepared to take the place of the woman they thought to be similar to themselves than dissimilar

People are more likely to offer help to someone they feel is similar to themselves in some way than to someone they can’t relate to. This is because we have empathy for people to ourselves

Question 26

Evaluate the similarities bystander study

Answer 26

The participants were not part of a crowd so bystander intervention doesn’t come into this

People might be helping people similar to them because they thought they were part of their in-group

Question 27

Give a study providing an alternate explanation for bystander intervention

Answer 27

Schroeder et al. (1995)

To explore different reasons for bystanders not helping

They studied the findings and conclusions from many previous pieces of research

They were able to provide an alternate explanation for bystander intervention

Bystanders are concerned about victims but when other people are present, they think someone else might be more capable of helping

Question 28

Evaluate the alternative explanation of bystander intervention study

Answer 28

This doesn’t support Batson’s study because no one was able to help more easily than anyone else

They were relying on the research and findings of other people which could be wrong