Section 1: Social Influence Flashcards
Define conformity.
Conformity is a type of social influence defined as when a person changes their beliefs and behaviour to fit – or conform – to those of a group.
What are the three types of conformity?
Compliance
Identification
Internalisation
What is compliance?
Compliance is the weakest type of conformity. It is where a person publicly changes their behaviour and beliefs to fit that of a group and avoid disapproval. However, privately, the person does not accept the behaviours and beliefs of the group – they just comply with them.
An example of compliance would be pretending to like a film you dislike so as not to stand out from a group who all really love that film.
What is identification?
Identification is a stronger type of conformity than compliance because it involves the person both publicly and privately changing their behaviour and beliefs to fit that of a group they want to be part of. However, the person only identifies with these beliefs as long as they are associated with the group – upon leaving the group, the original behaviours and beliefs return.
An example of identification would be adopting the same music and fashion tastes as your friendship group. When you move away, though, you revert back to your old clothes and music.
What is internalisation?
Internalisation is the strongest type of conformity. It is where a person both publicly and privately changes their behaviour and beliefs to those of a group – but permanently. So, unlike identification, individuals who internalise beliefs and behaviours maintain those beliefs and behaviours even after leaving the social group.
An example of internalisation would be a person who undergoes a genuine religious conversion. This person will still pray and believe in God even if they move away from the social group of their church.
Who investigated conformity using a line experiment?
Asch
What was the aim of Asch’s experiments?
The aim of these experiments was to find out the extent to which people would conform to an obviously wrong majority consensus.
Describe the participants that were involved in Asch’s experiment
- 123 of them
- male
- undergraduates
- completed 18 trials
What % of participants conformed at least once?
75%
What 3 variables did Asch use?
- group size
- difficulty
- unanimity
How can conformity be explained? (two ways)
NSI and ISI
What is ISI?
ISI is about who has the better information- you or the rest of the group. The reason individuals follow the behaviour of the group is because people want to be right. ISI is a cognitive process because it is what you think.
When is ISI most likely to happen?
ISI is most likely to happen in situations that are new to a person or situations where there is some ambiguity; so it isn’t clear what is right. It is also typical in crisis situations where situations have to be made quickly and also when one person or group is regarded as being more of an expert.
What is NSI?
NSI is about norms, i.e. what is normal or typical for a social group. Norms regulate the behaviour of groups and individuals so it is not surprising that we pay attention to them. People do not like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval than be rejected
How did Asch investigate his variables?
Difficulty- Lines being closer together in length so it was harder to tell the correct one
Group size- from 1-15 confederates
Unanimity- Confederates giving the same incorrect answer
Name some disadvantages of Aschs study
- Artificial task and setting
- Limited sample
- Poor ethics
What are advantages of Aschs study?
+ Use of lab study so reliable and replicable
Define social roles
The ‘parts’ people say in social groups. e.g teacher etc
These come with expectations we have of what is appropriate behaviour for each role, e.g. kind
What did Zimbardo investigate?
conformity to social roles
In Zimbardo’s experiment, where did it take place?
Stanford University
In Zimbardo’s experiment, why was he doing the experiment?
To see what happens when you put good people in an evil place. (conformity to social roles)
In Zimbardo’s experiment, why were prisoners put in a hole?
as punishment
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what did the guards wear?
Military uniform with silver sunglasses. Uniform gave power
In Zimbardo’s experiment, who were the participants and how much did they get paid?
Students, $15 a day
In Zimbardo’s experiment, how did he choose who became guards and prisoners?
Randomly
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what did the guards say happened when they put on the uniform?
They took on the role, and became the person
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what did he say when he briefed the guards?
Maintain order, can’t use physical violence
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what did the guards make the prisoners do?
Physical task e.g. clean toilet with bare hands, wake at any hour
In Zimbardo’s experiment, when the prisoners said they wanted to leave, what were they told?
They weren’t allowed to be a snitch, told they couldn’t leave
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what process did the prisoners first go through?
Blindfolded, striped, deloused
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what happened to the prisoners identity?
Overtime they lost it
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what did the study show?
Power corrupts- shows how victims of abuse struggle to stand up for themselves
In Zimbardo’s experiment, why did it end?
Young boys were suffering, Zimbardo told to end it after 6 days, not two weeks
Why was Zimbardo’s study unethical?
-no one had the right to withdraw
- psychological harm
In Zimbardo’s experiment, what happened when the good people were put in an evil place?
evil won the good people
people conformed to social roles
What are weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study?
- Lack of realism
- Ethical issues
- Contradictory findings
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s study?
- Real world application e.g US army against Iraqi prisoners
Define obedience
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person giving the order is usually an authority figure
What did Milgram investigate?
Obedience
In Milgrams experiment, what was the aim?
He wanted to see why German’s had followed Hitler’s orders and if other people were less obedient than the germans were
In Milgrams experiment, how were participants recruited?
newspaper advertisement for participants to take part in a learning study at Yale University
In Milgrams experiment, who were the participants?
40 males aged 20-50
Describe Milgrams experiment
The experiment measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure.
Participants were told they had an equal chance of being a learner, but the decision was fixed to them always being a questioner who administered the shocks.
The participants were given the same 4 prompts when they questioned it.
In Milgrams experiment, what prompt were given by the experimenter?
1) please continue
2) the experimenter requires that you continue
3) it is absolutely essential that you continue
4) you have no other choice but to continue
In Milgrams experiment, what were the findings?
65% of participants continued to the highest level (450V)
100% of participants continued to at least 300V
What is a study that supports Milgram’s experiment?
Hofling et al
22 night nurses
told to administer drug by unknown doctor
95% obeyed,
11 knew they were giving wrong dosage
What is a study that disproves Milgram’s experiment?
Rank and Jacobson
replication of Hofling hospital study
theorised nurses only obeyed because it was a fake drug
shows knowledge is power when obeying
Give two strengths of Milgram’s study
- supporting evidence: e.g. french TV study
- high validity, lab experiment, control of variables
- reliability: test repeatable
- supporting evidence from Hofling
Give two weaknesses of Milgram’s study
- ethical issues (deceived patients, also caused psychological harm)
- Biased sample (all american males, paid), not generalisable
- contradictory evidence from Rank and Jacobson
What are situational variables?
factors which may have an influence on the results related to external circumstances
What are three situational variables?
- location
- proximity
- uniform
Explain what happened to obedience when the location was changed in Milgram’s study
Obedience was 65%, dropped to 47.5%
Location changed from Yale Uni to rundown building
yale seen as more professional, has legitimacy of authority
Explain what happened to obedience when the proximity changed in Milgram’s study
Obedience dropped from 65% to 40%, when teacher and learner in the same room
Obedience dropped from 65% to 30% when participant had to force participants hand on the shock plate
Obedience dropped to 20.5% when orders given over the phone
guilt makes u more responsible
What is acting in the autonomous state?
you feel more responsible, acting independently
What is acting in the agentic state?
you feel less responsible, believe you are acting for an authority figure
How does uniform effect obedience in Milgram’s experiment?
Obedience dropped to 20% when the experimenter was wearing normal clothes and not a grey lab coat.
What study supports the research of Milgram, by studying the power of uniform?
Bickman- found people were more likely to obey if someone is wearing uniform
adds validity
Give two strengths of using situational explanations as an explanation of obedience
- supporting evidence from Bickman
- control over variables
- cross cultural replications
Give two weaknesses of using situational explanations as an explanation of obedience
- the ‘obedience alibi’ (gives people an excuse to justify wrong actions)
- lack of internal validity (many participants worked out it was fake)
What is the agentic shift?
when someone moves from the autonomous state to the agentic state
What are binding factors?
aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the effect of their own behaviour, so allows them to reduce moral strain
What would be binding factors in Milgram’s experiment?
the prompts given that made the participant compel and obey
Explain a limitation of the agentic state explanation for obedience
it cant be used to describe all destructive behaviour
e.g. Mendel’s research shows that soldiers shot many innocent civilians in Poland, despite not having direct orders to do so.
This shows that there must have been other reasons to do this.
Explain a strength of the agentic state explanation for obedience
there is research support
Milgram’s study shows how people underwent the agentic state and felt no responsibility
Shows that agentic state is a causing factor, and can be applied
Give an example of research support for explanations of the agentic state
Hofling et al
the nurses acted in the agentic state for the doctor
What is legitimacy of authority?
an explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have more authority than us.
What is destructive authority?
When people in power use their authority destructively e.g. Hitler
What is the authoritarian personality?
Dispositional explanation
A type of personality particularly susceptible to obeying people in authority.
They can be submissive of those of a higher status and dismissive of inferiors
Who researched the authoritarian personality?
Adorno et al (1950)
What scale is used to measure authoritarian personality?
F-scale
high score = identifies with strong people and contemptuous of the weak
What are some characteristics of authoritarians?
- obedient to authority
- extreme respect for authority
- highly conventional attitudes against race, gender and sex
- are very aware of social status
What are the origins of the authoritarian personality?
- strict discipline (impossibly high standards)
- criticism of failures
- child cant express feelings to parents out of fear
How did the participants from Milgram’s study score on the authoritarian personality test?
the obedient participants scored higher than the disobedient
Give a strength of using dispositional explanations to explain obedience
authoritarian personality
- research support
- using Milgram’s participants
- obedient people scored higher on the F scale
Give a weakness of using dispositional explanations to explain obedience
- limited explanation as it cant explain obedient behaviour in the majority of people, meaning there must be other explanations, decreasing validity
- flawed evidence, people can just select agree answers and get a high score, response bias
What is locus of control?
dispositional explanation
Refers to the sense we have about what directs events in our lives, continuum
internals- believe they are responsible for what happens to them
externals- believe it is a matter of luck for what happens to them
Are internals or externals more able to resist social influence?
high internals- because they take responsibility for their own actions
What is social support?
the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible.
What is the research support for resistance to conformity because of social support?
Alan and Levine found that conformity decreased when there was a dissenter in an Asch type study.
What is the research support for resistance to obedience because of social support?
Gamson et al found that 88% of participants rebelled against orders when there was support.
This shows that peer support is linked to greater resistance.
What three things are needed for minority influence to occur?
- commitment (sacrifice)
- consistency (must keep the same beliefs over time)
- flexibility (accepting compromise)
What then happens in minority influence?
the snowball effect: minority becomes the majoirity
Who researched minority influence?
Moscovici et al, using a colour perception task
What does Moscovici’s research show?
colour perception task
shows how consistency can change a person’s beliefs due to a minority influence
What is a strength of using minority influence as an explanation for obedience?
supporting evidence:
Moscovici et al tested to see if consistent minority could influence a majority, to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
What % of people conformed when the confederates were consistent, compared to when they weren’t consistent?
8.4%
1.25%
What is a weakness of minority influence?
lacks mundane realism
real life situations are more complicated than this, majorities often have more power
Define social change
when societies not just individuals adopt new beliefs and ways of doing things
What are the six steps needed for social change?
- drawing attention
- consistency
- deeper processing
- the augmentation principle
- the snowball effect
- social cryptomnesia
What might happen if a minority group pushes too hard for change, or are too extreme?
you judge them, don’t agree with them
What is a weakness of social influence causing social change?
there are barriers to social change happening
Bashir et al found that people can resist social change even when they agree
found that people dont want to be seen in association with stereotype activist groups
shows that social change is more complex
What is a strength of NSI in social change?
research support
Nolen et al investigated whether social influence processes led to a reduction in energy consumption in a community using messages he hung on houses
he found people were more likely to change if references to other people were made on the message
shows how NSI plays a role
