Social Influence

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.

Question 2

Internalisation

Answer 2

conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.

Question 3

Identification

Answer 3

conformity where we act in the same way with the group because we value something about the group and identify with the group so want to be part of it. This may mean publicly changing our opinions/behaviour even if we don’t privately agree.

Question 4

Compliance

Answer 4

A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it. The change in our behaviour only last while the group is monitoring us.

Question 5

Informational social influence

Answer 5

An explanation of conformity that refers to instance where people conform because they uncertain about what to do in a particular situation so the look to others for guidance because they want to be right. Which tends to lead to internalisation .

Question 6

Normative social influence

Answer 6

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinions of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance.

Question 7

Research evidence for informational social influence

Answer 7

Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult and it was found that there was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier ones.this was most true to students who rated there mathematical ability as poor.

Question 8

What was the findings of the Asch experiment?

Answer 8

75% confirmed at least once

naïve participants conformed on 36.8% of trials

Question 9

What did Asch find when testing if group size effects conformity ?

Answer 9

Asch found that with three confederates conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31.8% but the addition to further confederates made little difference suggesting that there is no need for a majority of more than three.

Question 10

What did Asch find when testing if introducing a non-conforming person would affect the naive participant ?

Answer 10

Confirming was reduced by a quarter from the level it was when majority was unanimous. The presence of a dissenter enabled the naive participant to behave more independently. This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to some extent on the group being unanimous

Question 11

What did Asch find when making the task more difficult?

Answer 11

He found that conformity increased under these conditions suggesting informational social influence play a greater time when the task becomes harder because the situation is more ambiguous so we are more likely to look to other people for guidance.

Question 12

How is a ‘ child of its time’ a limitation of Asch’s research ?

Answer 12

• Perrin and Spencer (1980) repeated Asch’s original study with engineering in the uk. Only one student conformed out of 396 trials while this could be that engineering students felt more confident than the naive men. It could be that the 1950s were an conformist time in America therefore it made sense to conform to established social norms. People are possibly less conformist today. Therefore the Asch effect is not consistent across situations and may not be consistent across time.

Question 13

How is the ‘Artifical situation and task’ a limitation of Asch’s research ?

Answer 13

• demand characteristics may be a reason why people conformed.
• according to Fiske (2014) ‘Asch’s group we’re not very groupy’ meaning that the findings do not generalise to everyday situations. This is especially true where the consequences of conformity might be more important, and we interact with other people in groups in a more direct way.

Question 14

How is ‘limited application findings’ a limitation of Asch’s research ?

Answer 14

• only men were tested. Other research suggest that women might be more conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships.
• the men were from the United States, an individualist culture so if it was conducted in a collectivist culture conformity rates are higher. This shows that Asch’s findings may only apply to American men because he didn’t take gender and cultural differences into account that.

Question 15

mundane realism

Answer 15

the task is not a task that would be conducted in real life

Question 16

zimbardo findings

Answer 16

• guards became increasingly brutal, prisoners became increasingling withdrawn and depressed

Question 17

conclusions of the zimbardo research

Answer 17

participants conformed to their roles as guards or prisoners even volunteers(e.g. prison chaplain). Shows the situational power of the prison experiment to change behaviour.

Question 18

strengths of Zimbardo’s research

Answer 18

control- Zimbardo had control over variables. e.g. selected emotionally stable participants. randomly assigned roles and trying to rule out personality traits. this increases internal and external validity.