Social Influance Flashcards
What are the three types of conformity?
Compliance
Internalisation
Identification
What is the first type of conformity ?
Compliance
What is compliance ?
When an individual changes their behaviour to fit in with the group so that the group see them as normal they don’t agree with the groups behaviour but they go along with it in public and discard the behaviour/belief in private.
Compliance is the most ______ form of social influence ?
Temporary
What explanation of social influence best describes compliance?
Normative social influence
What is the second type of conformity ?
Internalisation
What is internalisation ?
The behaviour or beliefs of the majority/group is accepted by the individual and becomes an internal part of their own belief system so they conform publicly and privately because it’s part of their behaviour/beliefs
Internalisation is the most _____ of social influence
Permanent
What explanation for conformity best explains internalisation ?
Informational social influence
What is the third type of conformity?
Identification
What is identification ?
Where an individual behaviour changes to fit specific identity of Image this is done to in order to be seen as a member of the group whose values they don’t believe in they still do it to fit and and seem desirable to the group
What explanation (S) best explain identification ?
Both normative and informational social influence support this type
What are the two explanations for conformity ?
Normative social influence and informational social influence.
What is normative social influence as an explanation for conformity?
We conform because we want to actively appear normal and not disrupt group harmony, conforming to avoid social dissaproval
What is informational social influence as an explanation for conformity?
We conform because we want to be correct it is the result of desiring to be correct this is done by the individual looming to the group as a source of information
Evaluation - positive of normative social influence?
+ Research support - Asch found that 33% percent of participants conformed to an obvious wrong answer given by the other 7 confederates however Asch did a variation where the participants were allowed to write their answers in private after discussing with the group conformity dropped to 12.5% so agreed to appear normal to the group but when allowed to answer privately conformity dropped this supports normative social influence and compliance.
Evaluation - positive of informational social influence.
Research support - conformity increase when the line task was made more difficult suggesting the participants did real,y look to the group for the correct answer supporting informational social influence
+ Jenness- beans in a jar , when participants were Givin a second try at estimating the beans in a jar they changed their answer closer to the group estimate.
Evaluation- Why are these explanations for conformity flawed ?
- they reply on inference it’s impossible to know a person reason for conforming , it relies on observations and inferring what is causing the conformity but impossible to actually know someone’s internal processes
- the studies lack ecological validity we don’t know how the participants would actually react when faced with a real world situation where they could conform they may actually conform because they are in a experimental environment and they feel it’s what they are supposed to do - demand characteristics
Study for variables affecting conformity ?
Asch variations
When and where did Aschs experiment take place ?
In 1951 in the US
Aim of aschs experiment?
To discover if the participants will conform to the group/majority when a wrong answer is given even if the correct answer is obvious - to see will people conform to an obvious wrong answer
What was the type and sample number of Aschs experiment?
Asch used a volunteer sample of 123 male US citizens.
What was Aschs procedure ?
One participant was unknowingly put in a room with 7 confederates (in on the experiment but participants thought the other members where volunteers) the whole group was asked a simple line judging task - given a line and asked which one of the given comparison lines are the same as the original line the correct answer was clear but the confederate on 12/18 trials would give the same wrong answer
What were Aschs findings ?
Asch found that on 33% of the trials conformity occurred and that 75% of the participants conformed at least once
Aschs conclusion ?
The result led Asch to conclude that people can and will conform to an easy wrong answer.
Asch performed variations of this study what are his main 4 variations?
- task difficulty
- group size
- answers in private
- unamity of the majoritity
Asch variations - task difficulty and what does it support ?
Asch made the task more difficult by putting the lines closer together, conformity did in fact increase this supports informational social influence - looked to the group for answers in hope of being correct
Asch variations - group size and what does it support ?
also found that conformity could be affected by the size of the group. The was more conformity with three confederates at 32% then at 2 confederates 12.5% and with only one other confederate it dropped to 3% conformity - supports normative social influence because only conforming when the is a group to conform to and informational because when the was no group to look for to correct answers the participants gave their own answer
Asch variations - answers in private and what does it support ?
The levels of conformity significantly dropped when participants when allowed to write down their answer in private to 12.5% this supports Normative social influence not disagreeing publicly as to not upset group dynamic but disagreeing in Private
Asch variations - unanimity of the majority and what does it support ?
One of the 7 confederates broke from the group to give the correct answer each time, conformity dropped to 5% supports normative social influence
Evaluation of Asch - 2 positives of Aschs experiment ?
+ highly controlled and reliable - the experimental design was a lab design meaning all of the independent variables were controlled including the confederates being the same means it’s more valid and reliable
+ face validity- Asch also carried out a control group and found that 711/720 of the answers were correct when the answer is obvious allows for the wrong answers the participants gave to be put down to conformity
Evaluation of Asch - 2 negatives of Aschs experiment ?
- lacks temporal validity - Aschs experiments were conducted in the 1950s this time is sometimes known as the McCarthy era = a very anti communist mindset and high conformist times,it isn’t really applicable to nowadays Perrin and spencer conducted the a very similar experiment in the 19080s in the uk found on,y one conformity in 1/396
- lacks ecological validity- lab experiment means the conditions were not realistic to real life furthermore the may of been participant suspicion meaning they didn’t think it was real so conformed to help out the experiment also the behaviour may of just been the individuals independent behaviour they may have thought the wrong answer was correct
What is conformity to social roles and who investigated them ?
Behaviours that are expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status
Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles.
When and where and what was a zimbardos experiment.
Zimbardo conducted the Stanford prison experiment at Stanford University in America in 1973
What was the aim of Zimbardos Stanford prison experiment (1973)
To find out if participants would conform to a new social role, in the prison given a uniform + role to what extent they would conform - role play
What was Zimbardos sample ?
He used a sample of 24 US male university students
What was the procedure and planned length of Zimbardos Stanford prison experiment?
24 male participants were allocated randomly to either a prisoner or guard role to play in a Mock prison situation. The participants were placed in this mock prison at standard university the prisoners being arrested at home and taken to the mock prison and given prison uniforms and allocated an ID number the guards were givin a smock uniform and reflective sunglasses and refereed to prisoners only by number the study was planned to last for 2 weeks.
What where the findings/results of Zimbardos Stanford prison experiment?
The experiment had to be stopped easily after only 6 days - 1 in 3 guards became aggressive and sadistic one even wanted to do more hours unpayed. The prisoners has actual rebellions and looked as though they took the prison as real at times and it looked like the participants has forgotten it was a psychological experiment 5 prisoners has to be realised early because of extreme reactions like rage and anxiety after 2 days .
What did Zimbardo conclude?
Zimbardo concluded that people will conform to social roles if given the right cues showing people can be made to conform to their social role and new ones - people descent into tyranny when they conform unthinkingly to their social roles prescribed by their authority without the need for specific orders - gourds behaviour was said to be a natural consequence of being allocated the role of guard and the power they were givin over people
Evaluation of Stanford prison experiment - 2 positives ?
+ real world applications - has helped reform prisons showed how bad it is when both guards and prisoners are dehumanised to each other and that guard abuse was made more likely by situational factors.
+ hours of footage- the whole experiment was pretty much recorded so the is lots of footage this is observational data not just snapshots of behaviour can be rewatched and inferred from
Evaluation of Stanford prison experiment - 2 negatives ?
- ethical implications the participants has a severe emotional response and possible psychological strain or trauma the prisoners where also discouraged and made to feel like they couldn’t leave during her study zimbardo didn’t hold a debrief till several years later
- demand characteristics and investigator effects - the behaviour may of not be down the the compelling prison environment rather it was in response to guessing what/how the experiment wanted them to behave and behaved that way zimbardo also acted as a superintendent and it’s clear from the records of the experiments that he actively influenced the guards to be aggressive they were just acting the way they had been told by the experimenter their conformity was not automatic
What is obedience to authority and who studied it ?
Obedience refers to the type of social influence where somebody acts in response to an directed order from a figure or situation with perceived authority and act in a way that they wouldn’t of without the order
- Milgram
What was milgrams experiment and what year did happen ?
Milgrams experiment is known as - Milgrams shock experiment and it happened in 1963
Aim of milgrams shock experiment 1963?
After the atrocities of WW2 milgram wanted to see how ordinary people who have become soliders committed atrocities beyond their morals because of blind obedience to authority wanted to see if ordinary American citizens would obey beyond their morals to a person with higher status.