Social Flashcards
agentic shift
individual displaces the responsibility of the situation onto the authoritative figure absolving them of the consequence of their actions
prejudice
when you form a judgement about something
- extreme attitude
discrimination
treating people differently according to group membership
stereotype
overgeneralised belief about someone
ethnocentrism
belief ones own ethnic group is superior
football hooliganism
violent behaviour by spectators
obedience
type of social influence where someone acts in response to direct order by an authoritative figure
destructive obedience
complying with instructions that leads to negative outcome
theories of obedience
- social roles
- social situation
- groups
- interaction
autonomous state
acting on ones own free will
agentic state
when one acts as an agent for another, give up free will
moral strain
action goes against your moral judgement
socialisation
process by which we learn rules and norms of society through socialising agents
hierarchical
social organisation ranked from top to bottom
who came up with social impact theory
latané (1981)
agency theory
humans exist in 2 different states; autonomy and agency
what is social impact theory
peoples actions affect how we act in response
3 social impact theory principles
- social forces
- psychosocial law/ multiplicative effect
- divisional effect
social forces
the impact of influence is a function of
- strength
- immediacy/proximity
- numbers
psychosocial law/ multiplicative effect and example
first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people than 2nd and 3rd
e.g. one teacher gives order is more effective than 2nd or 3rd
divisional effect
- diffusion of responsibility
- social force gets spread out between people
- the more of you there are the less responsibility you feel
factors affecting obedience
Situation - proximity - legitimacy - momentum of compliance Personality - locus of control - authoritarian personality Culture - individualism - collectivism Gender -milgram replications - moral reasoning
moral reasoning
- Gilligan suggested males and females have different principles which affect moral decision making
Males= ethic of justice (equity and fairness)
Females = ethic of care (nurturing and supporting)
therefore males more destructive obedient
evaluation of moral reasoning
- strength of Gilligan is qualitative research ppts interviews about real life dilemmas and men favoured justice orientation and females favoured care
gender difference in obedience
and a conclusion
- milgram found no difference yet higher anxiety levels for those who were obedient
- women more obedient than men
Sheridan and king - 1972 electric shocks to puppy
females = 100%
males = 54% - men more obedient than women
Kilham and mann 1974 - replicated milgrams study
females = 16%
males = 40%
evaluation of gender difference in obedience
- Blass 1999 found 8/9 milgram styled studies there was no significant difference
C= milligrams study was androcentric and Gilligan said M+F just see the world differently. Vital to combat androcentrism and not overlook similarities in M+F
culture differences in obedience
individualistic - e.g. USA more independent and resist conformity
- collectivistic - e.g. China behave as a collective group so compliance is vital for stability
evaluation of culture differences in obedience
- weakness is that most nations have similarly high obedience levels (Blass)
- avg obedience levels for 8 non-US milgram replications shows 66% compared to 61% of US replication
- perhaps obedience is a universal social behaviour and culture doesn’t affect it much
C= Blass’ analysis does suggest universality but collectivist cultures may be under-represented and procedural differences make comparison difficult
evaluation for agency theory
- SE from from milligram’s study as ppts showed overt signs of moral strain and many reported their behaviour was experimenters responsibility
- Hofling et al 1966- stooge doctor phoned nurse to administer 2X dose - 21/22 complied. nurses displaced responsibility and justified it to be a result of hierarchy
- does not explain individual differences - why some people don’t obey
- theory cannot be directly measured
I+D = social impact theory is a better explanation as it explains why people disobey
C- this theory is oversimplified and overstated
- agent state is not inevitable so it would be more beneficial to look at factors that lead to people to resist destructive obedience
evaluation for social impact theory
- theory oversimplifies the nature of human interaction and individuals differences are some people are more resistant
- does not take into account how to sources and target interact with one another
- useful as it can predict behaviour under certain conditions but doesn’t say why people are influenced by others
- SE from Milgram
I+D = reductionistic as it reduces complexity of human thoughts and feelings to predict outcomes