psychology paper 1 Social Influence Flashcards
What is internalisation in the context of conformity?
When an individual believes information to be true and conforms to such ideas in private and public.
If the group is removed, the behaviour will still continue. This relates to informational social influence.
Define compliance in terms of social influence.
When a person conforms to majority opinion publicly, but not privately.
This occurs due to social pressure and they change their behaviour but do not believe it to be true.
What does identification refer to in conformity?
When an individual conforms as they value a particular group and want to be liked and included.
They do not change their private opinions but conform to the roles society expects of them.
What is informational social influence?
Explains that individuals may conform due to wanting to be seen as right or intelligent.
This often occurs in confusion or stressful situations.
What does normative social influence explain?
Individuals conform due to their need to be seen as typical or normal.
This means conforming to majority opinions in group settings to avoid being seen as an outlier.
What was the aim of Asch’s line study?
To see whether people conform to group opinions that are obviously wrong.
He wanted to test normative social influence.
What was the procedure of Asch’s line study?
123 American males were shown a line and asked to match it to three options, with confederates giving the same incorrect answer 12/18 times.
What were the findings of Asch’s line study?
75% conformed at least once, while 25% never conformed.
What is a weakness of Asch’s line study?
It is an artificial study and does not provide real life scenarios.
This leads to a lack of ecological validity.
What is a strength of Asch’s line study?
It is highly controlled through being a lab experiment.
This results in high internal validity due to the lack of extraneous variables.
Why is Asch’s line study considered culturally biased?
It has a high number of male participants, limiting generalizability to females and collectivist cultures.
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
To investigate how people conform to social roles, particularly the roles of prisoner and prison guard.
What was the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment?
Randomly assigned roles of prison guard and prisoner
Mock prison was created in the basement of stanford prison
Prisoners were arrested at their homes, blindfolded and taken to prison
Once at prison, prisoners were searched, given uniforms and were told they cannot leave unless they get bail
Guards were given uniforms, sunglasses, and batons; prisoners wore smocks and ID numbers.
The experiment was meant to last 2 weeks.
What were the findings of the Stanford prison experiment?
Prisoners rioted within the first few days, and the experiment ended after 6 days due to guards’ sadistic behaviour.
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s experiment?
It attempts to limit extraneous variables by randomly allocating roles.
What ethical concerns arise from Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
Prisoners were subjected to physical and verbal abuse, leading to mental and physical harm.
What is a limitation regarding investigator effects in Zimbardo’s study?
Zimbardo’s dual role as prison superintendent blurred the lines of objective observation.
What was the aim of Milgram’s research into obedience?
To investigate how far people would go in obeying an authority figure, even if it meant harming another person.
What was the procedure of Milgram’s obedience study?
40 male participants from age 20-50
Participants were allocated to teacher and student
The teacher would teach the students and if they got it wrong, they would be administered a shock in increments of 15 volts
Volts went up to 450
The student would always be a confederate
The learner would be strapped to a chair in another room and the teacher would be given an example of a shock to ensure they believed the confederate would be shocked.
The student would pretend to have heart problems/fall unconscious
If the teacher wished to stop, the experimenter in the room would urge them to continue with prompts such as ‘please continue’’ ‘the experiment requires you to continue’
What were the findings of Milgram’s obedience study?
100% went up to 300 volts, and 65% went up to 450 volts, with many showing extreme signs of distress.
What is a limitation of Milgram’s study regarding ethics?
It is considered unethical due to deception and lack of informed consent.
What is a limitation of Milgram’s experiment regarding ecological validity?
It lacks generalizability to females and may not apply to other age groups.
What is a strength of Milgram’s experiment?
It has high control/internal validity due to standardized procedures.
For example, all participants had the same confederate, the same verbal prods, instructions and fake shocks.
furthermore, the reactions of the confederate e.g. screams, were pre-recorded which aided the standardisation of the experiment as each participant heard the same thing.
In Milgram’s variations, how did proximity affect obedience?
Obedience dropped to 40% when the teacher and learner were in the same room.
