Social influence

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

A form of social influence that results from exposure to the majority position and leads a person to adopt that behaviour attitude or value

Question 2

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 2

Compliance, internalisation and identification

Question 3

What is compliance?

Answer 3

You agree with the group publicly but disagree privately while alone. Shallowest form of conformity.

Question 4

What is identification?

Answer 4

Agree publicly and privately temporarily while you consider yourself to be part of the group.

Parts of compliance and internalisation.

Question 5

What is internalisation?

Answer 5

Conforming to the group because you accept it’s norms - you agree privately as well as publicly.

It’s a permanent form of conformity until your views change it doesn’t matter who you are with or where you are.

Deepest form of conformity.

Question 6

What are the two types of influence?

Answer 6

Majority - being influenced by the views of a larger group.

Minority- being influenced by the views of a smaller group.

Question 7

What are the two main reasons people conform?

Answer 7

The want to be liked and the want to be right.

Question 8

What is the want to be right called?

Answer 8

Informational social influence

Question 9

What is informational social influence?

Answer 9

You conform because you believe in the superior knowledge or judgment of others (believe other peoples answers or opinions would be right but not yours)

This leads to people changing their private opinion and is ambiguous/subjective.

Question 10

What is the want to be liked called?

Answer 10

Normative social influence

Question 11

What is normative social influence.

Answer 11

You conform because you want to be liked/respected by other members of the group. We show we agree publicly to be accepted although we don’t agree privately.

Doesn’t lead to private opinions changing and is unambiguous.

Question 12

Who were the people to develop the two process theory of why people conform?

Answer 12

Deutch and Gerrard (1955)

Question 13

What is a confederate?

Answer 13

An individual in a study who is not a real participant and has been instructed how to behave by the investigator.

Question 14

Who carried out a series of studies involving a line matching task

Answer 14

Asch (1951, 1955)

In his original study the conformity rate was 33% and 74% of people conformed on at least one trial.

Question 15

What variables did Asch investigate to see if they had a significant affect on conformity.

Answer 15

Size of group, unanimity and task difficulty.

Question 16

According to Asch, what affect does group size have on conformity?

Answer 16

The size of the majority is important but only up to a certain point. The proportion of conforming responses jumps up to about 30% with a majority of 3 but any further increase of the majority does not substantially increase conformity.

Question 17

According to Asch, what affect does unanimity have on conformity?

Answer 17

Breaking the groups unanimous position is a major factor in reducing the level of conformity shown by participants.

Question 18

According to Asch, what affect does task difficulty have on conformity?

Answer 18

The more difficult the task the more conformity increased.

Question 19

What are social roles?

Answer 19

The behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status.

Question 20

Explain Asch’s study.

Answer 20

• Conformity was tested by showing a group of participants (all but one was a confederate) a card with a standard line and 3 comparison lines where one was the same as the standard line.
• All participants were asked which line was the same. The confederates said the correct one for the first two and then started to lie to see whether the participant would conform.
• Usually 6-8 participants and the real one would be second to last. 123 American male undergrads.

Question 21

Is Asch’s study still valid?

Answer 21

No because it is not temporally or ecologically valid (lab experiment - demand characteristics)

The experiment took place during the Cold War. During this time people were being arrested on the street for not going along with social norms as they were thought to be Russian spies. This lead to mass conformity across America (McCarthyism)

Question 22

Was Asch’s study ethical?

Answer 22

As the participants didn’t know exactly what was going on or being tested they are only able to give partially informed consent.

Participants could also experience embarrassment or even loss of confidence during this study when they are supposed to be protected from harm.

Question 23

What did Sherif’s research consist of?

Answer 23

He got a group of participants to look at a still point of light (a white dot on a black screen in a black room) and estimate how far/which direction the dot moved.

When alone, participants developed their own personal estimates but in a group judgements became gradually closer and closer until an estimate they all agreed on developed (informational social influence)

Question 24

What is the name of the study where Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles.

Answer 24

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Philip Zimbardo was the lead researcher but the reference for the study is ‘Haney et al’.

Question 25

What is obedience to authority?

Answer 25

A form of social influence whereby someone acts in response to a direct from a figure with perceived authority, with the implication that they have to respond in a way they would not have done without the order.

Question 26

Being in an agentic state is one explanation for obedience to authority.

How do you define ‘agentic state’?

Answer 26

A person sees themselves as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes and not being responsible for their own actions.

Question 27

The perception of legitimate authority is needed for a person to shift to an agentic state.

What is meant by ‘legitimate authority’?

Answer 27

A person who is perceived to be in a position if social control within a situation.

Question 28

Identify three situational variables that may affect obedience to authority.

Answer 28

Proximity, location and power of uniform all have an effect on obedience.

Question 29

What effects do uniforms have on obedience?

Answer 29

They can have a powerful effect: people are more obedient when asked to do something by a person in an easily recognisable uniform.

Question 30

What did Milgram find about the effect of proximity on obedience?

Answer 30

The closer a person is to the authority figure giving the order, the more likely they are to obey. However he also found that when the teacher was closer to the learner obedience dropped

Question 31

What did Milgram find about the effect of location on obedience?

Answer 31

The more prestigious the location, the more likely participants will be able to to obey because they believed the legitimacy of the authority. When the study was moved to a run-down office, obedience dropped slightly to 48%.

Question 32

What did Milgram’s study consist of?

Answer 32

Milgram did a study where participants were led to believe that they were administering electric shocks to a “learner” when they got a question wrong. The experiment was to find out when the participants would stop with the electric shocks even though they were being told to continue.

Question 33

What are dispositional explanations of behaviour?

Answer 33

They explain that behaviours like obedience are caused by personal characteristics rather than situational influences within the environment.

Question 34

What is the Authoritarian Personality explanation for obedience?

Answer 34

It is a dispositional explanation that suggests obedient behaviour is due to a personality characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority

Question 35

Name two explanations of resistance to social influence.

Answer 35

Social support and locus of control.

Question 36

What is meant by ‘internal locus of control’ and how does it affect resistance to social influence?

Answer 36

People believe the outcomes of their actions are dependant on what they do. Having an internal locus of control makes a person more likely to resist social influence.

Question 37

What is meant by ‘external locus of control’ and how does it affect resistance to social influence.

Answer 37

People believe the outcomes of their actions are dependent on events outside their personal control, making them less likely to resist social influence

Question 38

What is social support and how does it affect resistance to social influence?

Answer 38

The perception that an individual has assistance available from other people, and that they are part of a supportive network. Having social support makes a person more likely to resist social influence.

Question 39

What is minority influence?

Answer 39

A form of social influence where members of the majority group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of exposure to a persuasive minority.

Question 40

What factors can enhance the effectiveness of a minority influence?

Answer 40

Consistency, commitment, flexibility.

Question 42

What is consistency and how does it affect minority influence?

Answer 42

Minority influence is effective, provided there is stability in the expressed position over time and agreement among different members of the minority.

Question 43

What is commitment and how does it affect minority influence?

Answer 43

The degree to which members of a minority are dedicated to a particular cause or activity. The greater the perceived commitment, the greater the influence.

Question 44

What is flexibility and how does it affect minority influence?

Answer 44

A willingness to be flexible and to compromise when expressing an opinion is more effective at changing majority opinion than rigidity of arguments.

Question 45

When does social change occur?

Answer 45

When a society or a section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which becomes widely accepted as the norm.

Question 46

What are the stages in the process of social change through social influence?

Answer 46

1. Drawing attention to the issue
2. Cognitive conflict
3. Consistency of position
4. The augmentation principle
5. The snowball affect

Question 47

What drives social change through majority influence (conformity)?

Answer 47

Normative influence