SECTION A Social Influence

Question 1

Q1) Briefly outline how two variables investigated by Asch were found to affect conformity

Answer 1

1- increased the number of people who have the incorrect answer before the p answered-increased conformity.

2- I increased the difficulty of the task, making the lines more similar in length-increased conformity.

Question 2

Q2) Explain how social influence processes contribute to social change

Answer 2

Minority influence
Must be:
-Consistent
-Committed
-Flexible
Explain all fully
-Snowball effect
-Crypto-amnesia

Question 3

Q3) Milligrams work can be criticised for being unethical. Describe one way in which his work is unethical

Answer 3

Decetion
Ps thought they were shocking and potentially killing people
Excess stress-crying-laughing

Question 4

Q4) Describe and evaluate the procedure of Zimbardos research into social roles
(Looks long but is alright)

Answer 4

Method:
Mock prison basement Stanford university
Advertised for volunteer (male) students
Selected those who are most emotionally stable after testing
Randomly assigned-guard or prisoner
Prisoners arrested in their homes and delivered to prison-blindfolded strip-searched deloused & given a uniform and number (used instead of name)
Prisoners daily routine- heavily regulated
16 rules enforced by guards (shifts of 3 at a time)
Guards-uniform (wooden club, handcuffs, key and mirror shades)

Evaluation:
Negative-Only male students-cannot be generalised
N-Reicher & Haslam-repeated study-Guards did not enforce authority-Prisoners identified as a group. The guards authority was challenged causing a power shift-shows people don’t automatically conform to social roles as zimbardo implied.
N-Warden-researcher bias
Positive-Psychological screening-only mentally well Ps participated
P-Randomly assigned roles-no bias