Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

AQA A Level Psychology > Social Influence > Flashcards

Social Influence Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
AP® Psychology flashcards Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Conformity
`
What is conformity

A

When you change your behaviour or beliefs to fit in with a group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Conformity

How came up with the two process theory and what is it about

A

Deustch and Gerard (1955) came up with a two process theory as to why humans conform. This is the need to be liked and right

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Conformity

What are the different types of conformity
Kelman(1958)

A

Compliance: changing behaviour due to feeling pressure of others. Go along publicity but don’t privately. So this change is superficial and stops when away from group setting

Identification: when you identify with a group, so we may publicly change our opinions but not agree with everything the group stands for

Internalisation: when you agree with group of people and have accepted their beliefs. This results in private and public change in opinion and the change is permanent

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Conformity

What is normative social influence

A

Normative social influence (NSI)
‘the need to be liked’
- about norms
- conforms in order to accepted /rewarded
- tries to avoid rejection
- emotional process (normally when in need of emotional support)
- leads to compliance (temporary change in behaviours or opinions)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Conformity

What is informational social influence

A

Informational social influence (ISI)
‘the need to be right’

  • look to group for information as your uncertain
  • believe majority to right in times of ambiguity
  • cognitive process
  • can lead to internalisation (permanent change in behaviour)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Evaluation

What research support is there for NSI

A

Strength
Schultz(2008)
-in experimental condition door hanger informed guests, in 132 different hotels, the benefits of reusing towels and said 75% re use them
-reduce in need of hand towels by 25% in comparison to control group
-shows how the effects of NSI in real life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Evaluation

Support for ISI

A

Lucas(2006)
- found Ppts conformed more to incorrect answers when maths problem was hard
- when easy Ppts relied on themselves
- when hard they relied on answers, mostly by poor ability ppts
- shows how when in ambiguous situations people use ISI

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Evaluation

Individual differences in NSI

A

Limitation cannot predict conformity
Naffiliators are people who are concerned about social approval and higher need of relationships
McGhee and Teevan(1967) found that students who were Naffiliators were more likely to conform
Shows how NSI underlies conformity more for some than others.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Asch

What was his baseline study and what were the findings

A

Procedure

  • 123 American male students
  • tested with group of 6-8 confederates
  • asked which line is similar to the line shown
  • confederates answered correctly first few times then wrong the others

Findings
33% conformed all the time
25% never gave one wiring answer
75% conformed once

Conclusion
Conformed due to NSI

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What variables did Asch investigate and what were the findings

GS

A

Group size
Test varied with confédérant numbers being between 1 and 15
Findings: found à curvilinear relationship
With one person conformity is 3%
With 3 is 33%
But after 3 it levelled of

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What variables did Asch investigate and what were the findings

U

A

Unanimity
Introduced a truthful confederate or a dissenting incorrect confederate

Findings
One person dissenting reduced conformity by 80%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What variables did Asch investigate and what were the findings

TD

A

Task difficulty
Made line judging harder by making the lines similar

Findings
More difficult the task the more conformity
This was due to ISI

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Evaluation of Asch

Artificial research

A

Task and situation was artificial
Ppts knew they were in a study and may have showed demand characteristics
Fiske said Asch groups did not resemble real life

Hard to generalise findings to real world as it lacks ecological validity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Evaluation of Asch

Androcentrism

A

Limitation
Asch ppts where American men
Due to sampling issues it would be hard to generalise findings to women
This is an example of beta bias, as rates of conformity in men were generalised to women
Research from Neto found that women are more conformist due to being concerned about social relationships
Suggests Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Evaluation of Asch

Highly replicable

A

Asch procedure was replicable
Done in a lab
Procedure was scientific
Examples of this include Perrin and spencer

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Evaluation of Asch

Lacks temporal validity

A

Perrin and spencer conducted same research 30 years later
Carried out exact replica with university students
Out of 396 trials only 1 ppt conformed
This suggests that Asch research is a child of its time as a cultural change has happened since the 1950s

However could be because sample was maths, Chem and engineering students, they may have just been more confident

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Evaluation

Ethnocentric

A

Smith and bond
Mets analysis
Found average conformity rates in collectivist countries was 37% whereas in individualist it’s 25%
This may be due to how collectivist cultures empathise the group whereas Individualist cultures emphasise your own success
So Asch findings may be hard to generalise to other cultures

18
Q

Conformity to social roles

Explain zimbardo procedure

AO1

A

Procedure
Students randomly assigned to play prison guard or prisoner
Uniforms: prisoners had uniforms as did guards
Guards had shades, wooden club
Uniforms created loss of personal identity (de individuation)
Both prisoners and guards were asked to conform to roles

19
Q

What were the findings of the Stanford prison study

A

Day 2 prisoners rebelled
Guards retaliated using fire extinguishers
Guards used divide and conquer tactics, harassed prisoners constantly, conducted random headcounts at nights

Prisoners 
Became depressed anxious and subdued 
One released because he showed psychological disturbance 
One went on hunger strike
Study ended in 6 days as opposed to 14
20
Q

What can we conclude about the prison study

A

Situations may cause people to act badly
De-individuation makes it easier behave in a manner untoward
Cognitive dissonance: guards distanced themselves from their actions
Both prisoners and guards conformed to roles

21
Q

Evaluation of zimbardo

Control

A

Participants were randomly assigned roles
Emotionally stable individuals were chosen
This meant they could rule out individual differences as a reason
Can say findings to due to roles
Degree of controlled increased internal validity

22
Q

Evaluation of zimbardo

Lack of realism

A

Was not representative of a real prison
Some psychologist argued the ppts were play acting rather than conforming to a role
One the guards claimed to be basing his role on a character from cool hand Luke
Suggests findings of SPE tells us little about conformity to social roles in actual prison

CP

McDermott argues ppt did behave as if it was real. 90% of the conversations that were recorded were about the prison
Suggests SPE did replicate social roles of prisoners and guards in real prison so high internal validity

23
Q

Evaluation of zimbardo

Exagération of roles

A

Zimbardo said 1/3 behaved in a brutal manner, 1/3 tried to help and support prisoners, 1/3 tried help reinstate privileges
Shows most were above to resist situational pressures
Which demonstrates how the role of individual differences were minimised

24
Q

Evaluation
supporting evidence
cp of findings

A

Orlando

CP: Reicher and Haslam

25
Q

Evaluation of Zimbardo

Androcentrism

A

Limitation
Zimbardo sample size was small and his ppts where American middle class men
Due to the sampling issues it would be hard to generalise findings to women
This is an example of beta bias, as how men acted in a study was generalised to women
Suggests Zimbardos findings tell us little about conformity of social roles in women

26
Q

Evaluation of Zimbardo

Ethics

A

Study may have caused psychological harm to ppts
During the study ppts were depressed and some had to be removed from the study
Zimbardo did debrief ppts

CP: despite this zimbardo study did tell us a lot about conformity to social roles

27
Q

Obedience

What was Milgrams baseline procedure

A
  • Ppts acted as a teacher, Mr wallace as a learner
  • Teacher had to increase voltage every time answer was wrong
  • Volts went from 15 to 450
  • ppts were debriefed after and they did a questionnaire
28
Q

Obedience

What were Milgrams finding for the baseline study

A

Findings

  • No ppt stopped under 300 V
  • 12.5% stopped at 300 V
  • 65% went to 450
  • Participants were sweating, trembling, 1 even fainted
29
Q

Obedience

What were the 4 prods

A
  1. Please continue or go on
  2. The experiment requires you to continue
  3. It is absolutely essential you continue
  4. You have no other choice but to continue
30
Q

Obedience

What did Milgram conculde

A

That americans were no different to germans.

He found that ppts were willing to obey orders even if it meant hurting someone

31
Q

Evaluation of Milgram’s study

Lab study

A

-study lacked ecological validity
-in a lab under artificial conditions. -hard to generalise the finding to a real-life because people do not usually receive orders to hurt another person in real life.
Milgrams research may not represent everyday experiences of obedience

CP: Hoffling and the nurses
21 out of 22 nurses went to administer 20 mg of a drug despite dosage being 10mg.

32
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams study

Andocentrism

A

Milgrams sample size was men
Due to the sampling issues it would be hard to generalise findings to women
For example in an Australian study with a female learner and ppts obedience levels were 16%.
This is an example of beta bias, as how men acted in a study was generalised to women
Suggests Milgarms findings tell us little about obedience in women.

However, Milgram conducted a study with women a few years later and found the same levels in obedience. So perhaps the difference in obedience in the two study was to do with culture not gender

33
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams study

Lab study strength

A
  • Used a standardised procedure because it was a lab experiment
  • allows it to be repeated by other researchers, most replication support the findings for example sheridan and king (puppies)
  • because there is high control of variable a casual relationship can be established
  • increases reliability of findings

CP
Some researchers believe that ppts thought shocks weren’t real so they were showing demand charactetics

34
Q

Evaluation of Milgram study

Ethical issues

A
  • Participants were exposed to extremely stressful situations
  • signs of stress included trembing, biting nails
  • this may have caused psychological harm
  • 3 ppts had seizures, one so bad that the experiment had to be stopped
  • but Milgram did debrief ppts
35
Q

Evaluation of milgrams study

Blind obedience?

A

Haslam et al, found ppt obeyed when given the first 3 prods

  • due to social identity theory the ppts identified with the experiment
  • after 4th prod ppt stopped as they were told to blindly follow orders
  • shows how SIT may be a better explanation for obedience
36
Q

How did situational variables affect the results of Milgrams study

Location

A

Orignal experiment conducted at Yale, a prestigious university.
- high status of the university gave the study credibility making ppts more likely to obey
when study was in run down offices obedience dropped to 47.5%.
-suggests that status of location effects obedience.

37
Q

How did situational variables affect the results of Milgrams study

Uniform

A

when experimenter wore everyday clothes obedience was 20%.

Sugguest uniform of the authority figure can give them status

38
Q

How did situational variables affect the results of Milgram’s study

Proximity

A

Teacher and learner in same room obedience fell to 40%

When ppt had to force hand on shock plate obedience fell to 30%

When orders were given over the phone and it was just the teacher and learner in the room obedicne fell to 20.5%

39
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams situational variables

Research support

A

Bickman
In a field experiment in the streets of new york city
-Three confederates dressed as milkman, in a suit, security guards uniform asked people to perform tasks such as picking something up
-found that people obeyed the security guard twice as likely than the guy in a suit
-shows how uniform can affect levels of obedience

40
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams situational variables

Cross culture replications

A

Study replicated in other cultures

  • A study did in the Netherlands asked ppts to say stressful to someone who came to an interview (confederates)
  • found 90% people obeyed
  • shows how milgrams findings can be applied cross cultures and to women

CP
smith and bond say that cultures like spain, the UK and Belgium may not be that different
but results from studies in Jordon and India showed a difference
-so perhaps ideas about obedience being affected by uniform, promxity, location may notbe applicable to other cultures

41
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams situational variables

Low internal validity

A

Orne and Holland

  • ppts may have noticed that this was fake when an experiment with different clothes walked in
  • suggests that ppts saw through deception
  • may have play acted
42
Q

Evaluation of Milgrams situational variables

Situational perspective

A

Mandel says that situational variables excuses evil behaviour or offer an alibi
Milgram ignores dispositional factors like personality, obedience may be better explained by the authoritarian personality

AQA A Level Psychology (22 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions