Soc Flashcards (Conformity Slides)
What is conformity?
A change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people.
What are the two main types of social influence discussed?
Informational social influence and normative social influence.
What are social norms?
The implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members.
What is informational social influence?
Relying on other people as a source of information to guide our behavior because we believe their interpretation of an ambiguous situation is correct.
When are people most likely to conform to informational social influence? (List 3 conditions)
- When the situation is ambiguous
- When the situation is a crisis
- When other people are experts
What is private acceptance?
Conforming to other people’s behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right.
What type of social influence often results in private acceptance?
Informational social influence
What is contagion in social psychology?
The rapid spread of emotions or behaviors through a crowd.
What real-world example illustrates informational social influence backfiring?
The ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast panic of 1938, where many believed a Martian invasion was occurring.
What is normative social influence?
Conforming in order to be liked and accepted by others, resulting in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily private acceptance.
What is public compliance?
Conforming to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying.
What was the basic experimental setup in Asch’s line judgment studies?
Participants had to identify which comparison line matched a standard line in length, with confederates giving wrong answers to see if the real participant would conform.
What percentage of participants in Asch’s studies conformed at least once?
76% of participants conformed on at least one trial.
How did conformity rates change in variations of Asch’s study where participants wrote answers privately?
Conformity dropped dramatically, occurring on average in only 1.5 of the 12 trials.
How is obedience related to social norms?
Obedience is a universal social norm valued to prevent chaos, as we are socialized to obey legitimate authority figures.
What were the Milgram obedience studies designed to investigate?
They were designed to investigate under what conditions people would obey an authority figure’s instructions to harm another person.
In Milgram’s original study, what percentage of participants administered the maximum 450-volt shock?
62.5% of participants delivered the maximum 450-volt shock.
What happened to obedience rates in Milgram’s variation where other teachers refused to continue?
Obedience dropped dramatically, with only 10% of participants giving the maximum shock.
What three characteristics of the Milgram experiment made informational social influence particularly powerful?
- The situation was ambiguous
- The situation appeared to be a crisis (for the learner)
- The experimenter was perceived as having expertise
What phenomenon did Sherif study using the autokinetic effect?
Sherif studied how people rely on others’ judgments when faced with an ambiguous situation.
Did Sherif’s autokinetic effect study demonstrate public compliance or private acceptance?
Subsequent research suggested private acceptance.
How can informational social influence affect eyewitness testimony?
Eyewitnesses can be influenced by other witnesses’ identifications, especially when the task is ambiguous.
What real-world tragedy is mentioned as an example of panic spreading in a crisis situation?
The Hillsborough Stadium disaster of 1989.
How does American culture typically view conformity?
American culture generally stresses the importance of not conforming and celebrates the rugged individualist.
