social influence 10 - 13 Flashcards
factors that affect social influence (social support)
research studies have shown resistance to social influence: in Asch’s experiment 24% of pps did not conform. in milgram’s 35% did not obey. in hofling’s one nurse didn’t prescribe the drug.
social support leads to people resisting social pressure as they have an ally which builds confidence for example in Asch’s variation when there was one correct dissenter in the group, conformity rates dropped to 5.5%.
evaluation of social support
strengths: research support from Asch’s study when one dissenter in the group reduced conformity to 5.5%. similarly in milgram’s when the real pps was joined by disobedient confederate, obedience rates dropped to 10%. gamsons study has high ecological validity as the pps were unaware they were participating in a study so they wouldn’t show demand characteristics
weaknesses: social support is not a strong explanation in the real world as group sizes are massive and one dissenter won’t have any influence unlike in small groups. studies explaining social support are restricted to small group sizes.
locus of control
persons perception of the degree of control they have over their behaviour.
high external locus of control: people see future resulting from external factors and luck or fate
high internal locus of control: people feel a stronger sense of control. rely more on seeking info and more likely to show resistance to social influence.
ppl with high internal LOC are more self confident and have less need for social approval.
evaluation of locus of control
strengths: research evidence from oliner and oliner who interviewed two groups of non-jewish people who lived the holocaust. they found that the group that rescued the jews had scores demonstrating internal LOC. this suggests ppl who have internal LOC are likely to act rather than leave it to fate.
weaknesses: twenge analysed data from American obedience studies over a 40 year period. data showed that over time span ppl have become more resistant to obedience but also show more external LOC .
minority influence
Minority influence is a form of social influence in which members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive Minority
consistency experiment (minority influence)
moscovici got 172 FEMALE pps who were placed in groups of six and shown 36 slides with varying shades of blue. two of six pps were confederates. in the consistent variation they said all 36 were green. in the inconsistent variation they said 24 were green and 12 were blue. in consistent condition 8.2% agreed. in inconsistent condition 1.25% agreed. a consistent majority is 6.95% more effective.
wood est al carried out meta analysis and found consistent minorities are more influential.
flexibility experiment
mugny talks about flexibility is more effective at changing majority
nemeth: pps in groups of four had to agree on an amount of compensation to give to a ski lift victim. 2 conditions where one the minority argued for low rate but were inflexible and one where they were flexible. he found in the inflexible condition the minority had little or no effect. however in the flexible condition the majority were much more likely to compromise asw.
commitment experiment (minority influence)
augmentation principle explains how minorities change the majority by implementing risky actions so the majority pays more interest for example emily pankhurst who walked into race horses. xie et al found you need about 10% of the minority population to affect the majority.
evaluation of minority influence
strengths: martin et al gave pps a viewpoint w a majority and minority and had them exposed to a conflicting viewpoint and found pps were less willing to change their opinions if they had listen
weaknesses: lack of realism w moscovici study as ppl are not asked to identify colours day to day so lacks ecological validity. ppl may accept the minority on a surface level but become irritated by it and belittle it.
social change
when a whole society changes/adopts new beliefs as a result from minority influence. one example is women’s voting.
steps in how minority influence brings social change:
drawing attention to issue
consistency
deeper processing
augmentation principle
snowball effect: minority becomes majority through NSI
social cryptoamnesia: ppl know a social change occurred but the source is dissociated. this could be bc it is the law
evaluation of social influence in the role of social change
strengths: nolan hung messages on the doors of houses in san diego every week for a month: a message that most ppl reduce their energy usage. a control group didn’t mention other residents. the group that mentioned other residents found less energy usage. thus meaning conformity can lead to social change through NSI.
weaknesses: nemeth argued the effects of minority influence is indirect and delayed. therefore it shows it’s effects are fragile and limited. which makes it difficult to measure scientifically.
