situational Flashcards
situational factors
how external influences affect our behaviour
normative conformity
where people yield to group pressure because they want to fit in and are concerned about being rejected by others in the group
group norm
specific ideas or assumptions held by a particular group about what is considered acceptable behaviour within that group
asch experiment
participants were put in a group and shown a series of three lines on a card. One line was on another card and participants were asked to say which of the three lines it matched.
what happened in asch
the confederates were verbally influencing the participants to conform to their group norm of giving the wrong answer.
variation of asch
Asch did some later variations of his line experiment and found that only three confederates were needed to make participants comply. In fact, increasing the number of confederates who gave the wrong answer did not increase the amount of conformity. However, having one confederate who did not agree with the group was enough to hugely reduce the rates of conformity - even if the dissenter gave another wrong answer, just as long as it was different to the majority.
informational conformity
people yield to group pressure because they are unsure of the answer themselves or if the situation they are in is unclear
milgram experiment
Stanley Milgram - investigated the effects of situational factors on obedience → controlled observation ‘The Electric Shock’ study
results of milgram
65% of participants were willing to obey to researchers and go to 450 volts on the shock generator
reasons for obedience
the presences of a legitimate authority figure
location of the research (well respected uni)
fact that the learner was in a different room
researcher had said he would take responsibility
agency theory
people obey orders that they know to be ethically wrong because they have moved from being in an autonomous state where they have power over their own actions to an agentic state where they are acting as ‘agents’ of the authority figure
Hofling (1966)
field study
pose as a doctor in a hospital and give instructions to a nurse over the phone
studies show that what we say we will do and what we will actually do can be two very different things
criticisms of situational (1)
themes focusing on situational factors suggest our behaviours are simply determined by what is happening around us and that we do not resist this
criticisms of situational (2)
deindividuation does not always lead to violence
criticisms of situational (3)
not everyone conforms in the same way