Psychology Paper 1 - Social Influence Flashcards

Question

What is another strength of Zimbardo's study?

Answer 1

Realistic: -Participants acted as if the prison was real to them -90% of their conversations were about prison life -Prisoners 416 explained how it felt so real -Basement was turned into prison

Answer 2

-Banuazizi and Mohavedi (1975) suggested that the participants were merely play acting rather than conforming to a role -Performance was based on stereotypes -Things seen off the media -One guard based their personality on a tv character -Tells us little about conformity to social roles -Cannot be generalised to everyone

Answer 3

Ignores the role of dispositional factors: -1/3 of the guards were acting in a brutal manner, not a majority -Conclusions drawn by Zimbardo are exaggerated -More to do with dispositional than situational -Reducing accuracy and findings

Answer 4

Type of social influence where a person follows an order from another person who is usually an authority figure.

Answer 5

To know why Germans were willing to kill Jews during the Holocaust. Wanted to see whether people would obey a legitimate authority figure when given instructions to harm another human being.

Answer 6

-Lab experiment -Participant would be a teacher and confederate would be learner -Teacher and learner were put into separate rooms -Teacher was then asked by the experimenter to administer (fake) electric shocks to the learner each time he gave the wrong answer -Shocks increased every time the learner gave a wrong answer, from 15 – 450 volts -Teachers got test shock before the study -The experimenter wore a grey lab coat - His role was to give prods when the participant refused to shock -There were 4 prods and if one was not obeyed then the experimenter read out the next prod

Answer 7

Prod 1: Please continue. Prod 2: The experiment requires you to continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: You have no other choice but to continue.

Answer 8

-All participants went to 300 volts -65% went to all the way to 450 volts -Participants showed signs of sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting nails, seizures

Answer 9

Germans are not 'different' as American participants were willing to harm another person. Certain factors lead to obedience so there he researched more.

Answer 10

Research support: -French documentary -Behaviour was almost identical to Milgrams research -80% delievered 460 volts shocks -Real life application -External validity -Can be used to explain obedience

Answer 11

Scientific and objective: -Conducted in a lab -Reliable -Establishes a cause and effect relationship -Can be done multiple times -Controlled -Not many extraneous variables

Answer 12

Artifical task: -Low mundane realism -Cannot be generalised to real life situations -Low external validity -Cannot be an explanation to explain obedience

Answer 13

Low internal validity: -25% of participants claimed they knew they were 'play-acting' -Gina Perry's research proves it -Only half of them believed the shocks were real -2/3 of those participants were disobedient -Participants responding to demand characteristics

Answer 14

-Deception as the participants actually believed they were shocking a real person // However, Milgram argued that it was necessary to know their true actions // Milgram also interviewed participants afterwards. Apparently 83.7% said that they were “glad to be in the experiment”. -Protection from harm as participants experienced psychological harm. //Only short term //Participants were debriefed afterwards.

Answer 15

Featurs of immediate physical and social environment which may influence a person's behaviour.

Answer 16

-Proxmity: closeness of authority figure to the person they're ordering. OR, closeness of teacher to victim -Location: place where an order is issued -Uniform: what they are wearing

Answer 17

-Teacher and learner in the same room (40%) : Proximity -Teacher forcing learners hand on shock plate (30%) : Proximity -Experimenter giving orders from another room (20.5%) : Proximity -Experiment done in a run-down office block (47.5%) : Location -Experimenter wearing casual clothing (20%) : Uniform

Answer 18

A mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour because we are acting for an authority figure. We don't feel guilty for our actions. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey the authority figure.

Answer 19

Free to behave according to your own principles and feel a sense of responsiblilty for our own actions. You feel guilty for your own actions.

Answer 20

The shift from being in an autonomous state to an agentic state. This occurs when a person percieves someone else as an authority figure as they have a higher position in the social hierarchy.

Answer 21

The psychological distress which can be experienced when one follows an order from an authority that is against one's own beliefs.

Answer 22

Factors that cause an individual obey the authority figure. Cannot help but stay in an agentic state. E.g. Fear.

Answer 23

Research support: -Milgram's study -Some participants resisted giving shocks and asked 'who's responsible if the learner gets harmed?' -After clarified they're not responsible they went on with study -Acted easier

Answer 24

Limited explaination: -Rank and Jacobsons study -16/18 nurses disobeyed an order of giving a patient an excessive drug dose -Nurses remained autonomous -Can only account for some situations -Cannot be used to explain obedience all the time

Answer 25

We are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. The authority is legitimate by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy.

Answer 26

Research support: -Bickmans study -3 confederates, milkman, security guard, jacket -Individuals 2x more likely to obey security guard -Asked people to perform tasks -Increases external validty -Uniform can used to explain why people obey

Answer 27

Explains cultural differences: -Kilham and Mann research -16% of Austrailian woman went all the way to 450 volts - Mantell found 85% went to 450 volts -Some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted -Reflects different societies -Shows how children are raised from their parents from around the world

Answer 28

Cannot explain all disobedience: -Rank and Jacobsons experiememt -Most of them disobeyed a person in power -A significant minority disobeyed in Milgram's experiment -Some people are less obedient than others -Cannot be used to explain why people obey in all situations.

Answer 29

Highlights the importance of the individual's personality. Contrasted with situational explanations.

Answer 30

Adorno argued these people are especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dimissive to inferiors.

Answer 31

Cross-cultural replications: -Have been replicated -Meeus and Raaijmakers study on Dutch people -Say something stressful to confederate desperate for a job -90% obeyed -When authority figure was further away obedience decreased drastically

Answer 32

Low internal validty: -Holland critisiced Milgrams experiment -Some participants may have guessed aim of study due to many manipulations of variables -Demand characteristics -Unclear whether findings we genuine -Saw trough deception -Cannot be generalised to explain obedience

Answer 33

-From childhood -Strong, strict parenting -Expectations of absolute loyalty -HIgh standards -Severe criticism of percieved failings -Create hostility and resentment in child -Fear punishment -Fear displaced on those weaker -Psychodynamic explanation

Answer 34

To understand the anti-Semitism of the Holocaust.

Answer 35

-2000 middle class white americans -Developed several measurement scales like the F-scale -Measures authoritarian personality

Answer 36

People with authoritarian learnings scored high on the F-scale. They identified with 'strong' people and were generally contemptous of those 'weaker'. They're very conscious of status and showed immense amount of respect to those in power - basic traits of obedience. They had a certain cognitive style as they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes of other groups. Adorno had found a positive correlation between this personality and prejudice.

Answer 37

Research support: -Milgram interviewed his participants who were fully obedient -Those obedient 20 participants scored higher on the F-scale than those where disobedient -Groups were clearly different in terms of authoritarianism -Obedient people show similar charateristics of those with an authoritarian personality

Answer 38

Limited Explanation: -Cant explain obedient behaviour for everyone -Pre war Germany, many displayed obedient personalities and anti Semitic behaviour -Not all were authoritarian -Social identity theory approach is an alternative view -Alternative view is more realistic

Answer 39

Political bias: -Only measures tendency towards right-wing ideology -Christie and Jahoda argued it is politically biased -Left wing ideology isnt an explanation to explain anti Semitism towards jews -Explains Chinese maoism -Doesnt account for obedience all around the world

Answer 40

Withstadning social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. Influenced by situational and dispositional factors.

Answer 41

Presense of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others do the same.

Answer 42

-Asch's research -Confederate who is conforming may not be giving the right answer -Enables the naive participant to follow their own conscience -Confederate acts as 'model' of independent behaviour -Show that the majority is no longer unaminous.

Answer 43

-Milgram's research -Rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when participant is joined by disobedient confederate -Other persons obedience acts as 'model' -Disobedient model challenges legitmacy of authority figure making it easier to disobey

Answer 44

Research support: -Albrecht et al research -Evaluated Teen Fresh Start USA, a 8 week programme -Help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke -Social support was provided by a slightly older mentor -Adolescents who had a 'buddy' were less likely to smoke -Can help young people resist social influence

Answer 45

Research support: -Gamson's et al research -Participants were told to gather evidence to help a oil company run a smear campaign -Higher levels of resistance than Milgram's research as participants were in groups -29 out of 33 groups rebelled -Shows peer support leads to obedience

Answer 46

Rotter proposed that we each have about what directs events in our lives. Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them. Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces. People are not internal or external as its a scale and individuals vary their positions on it.

Answer 47

-People with high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey. -If a person takes responsibilty for their actions they base their decisions on their own beliefs -High internal LOC people are more confident and intelligent -These traits lead to greather resistance -They are more likely to be leaders who need less social approval

Answer 48

Research support: -Link between LOC and resistance to obedience -Hollands research -He found out that 37% of the original participants who didnt continue to the highest shock levels were internals -Only 23% were externals -Internals showed greater resistance -Increases external validity

Answer 49

Contradictory research: -Challenges link -Twenge et al research -American LOC studies conducted over 40 years -People became more resistence to obedience but also more external -We would expect to become more internal -Limited explanation

Answer 50

A form of social influence in which a minority persuades majority to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviour. Leads to internalisation.

Answer 51

Minority influence is most effective if minority keeps the same beliefs both over time (diachronic consistency) and between all individuals (synchronic consistency) that form the minority. Consistency is effective because it draws attention to minority view and makes majoirty rethink.

Answer 52

Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position by e.g. making sacrifices. This is effective because it shows minority is not acting out of self interest. Majority may pay more attention. This is called the augmentation principle.

Answer 53

Minority influence is more effective is the minority show flexibilty by accepting the possiblilty of compromise, as someone repeating the same arguments and behaviour again may be seen as rigid and dogmatic.

Answer 54

If you hear something new, then you might think more deeply about it. It is this deeper processing which is important in the process of conversion to a different, minority viewpoint The more this happens the faster rate of conversion resulting in a snowball effect, causing change.

Answer 55

If a consistent minority can change the views of a majority.

Answer 56

-Group of 6 were asked to view a set of 36 coloured slides -Asked to state if they were blue or green -Each group had two confederates who said the slides were consistently green -A second group of participants were exposed to an inconsistent minority -Third group was a control group

Answer 57

-Consistent minority, the true participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of the trials -The second group agreed with the confederates 1.25% of the time -The control group were wrong 0.25% of the trials.

Answer 58

Research support: -Demonstrating importance of consistency -Moscovici showed that a consistent minority had a greater effect -Wendy Wood et al carried a meta analysis of 100 similar studies -Minoritities who were seen as being consistent were most influential -Suggest being consistent is a minimum requirement to influence majority

Answer 59

Research support: -Involves deeper processing of minority's ideas -Martin et al presented message supporting a particular view and measured participant agreement -One group heard minority agree with the intial view -Another group heard majority agree with it -People were less willing to change if they listened to minority -Minority had been more deeply processed

Answer 60

Artifical task: -Identifying colours of a slide -Wouldn't do this in real life -In real life, jury decision making and political campaigning the outcomes are more crucial -Lacks external validty -Doesn't explain how minority influence works in real world situations

Answer 61

The process by which individuals and groups change each other's attitudes and behaviours.

Answer 62

This occurs when whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways fo doing things. E.g. accepting Earth orbits the Sun, women's suffrage, gay rights and environmental issues.

Answer 63

1.) Drawing attention - providing social proof of problem 2.) Consistency - keep presenting the same messages 3.) Deeper processing - people begin to thinik deeply about unjustness 4.) Augmentation Principle - risk taking, indicating a strong belief and reinforces message 5.) Snowball effect - marking a change from minority to majority 6.) Social cryptomnesia - people have no memory of the event that led to change

Answer 64

Research support: -Nolan et al aimed to see if they could change people's energy use habits -Researchers hung messages every week for a month -Trying to reduce their energy usage -To control, some residents had different message -Significant decreases in energy usage in first group compared to second

Answer 65

-Minority influence brings about social change -Nemeth claims social change is due to type of thinking that minorities inspire -Considering minority agruments engage in divergent thinking -This leades to better decisions and creative solutions -Dissenting minorities are valuable as they stimulate new ideas and open minds

Answer 66

-Deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change -Mackie (1987) says majority influence may create deeper procedding -We like to believe others share our views -When majority believes something different we think long and hard about their reasoning -Central element of minority influence has been challenged -Reducing external validity as an explanation of social change.

Psychology Paper 1 - Social Influence Flashcards

(90 cards)