Social Influence Flashcards
Milgram procedure (situational variables affecting obedience)
40 male volunteer participants in each condition.
it was a ‘memory test’
after 315v the learner stopped noise suggesting unconsciousness
if they resisted, prof. encouraged them to continue
Teacher administered increasing shock levels up to 450v.
Milgram findings
In voice feedback condition, 65% went to maximum 450v.
All participants went to 300v.
Situational factors in obedience
Proximity - obedience levels decreased with increasing proximity. having to hold their hand on shock plate dropped obedience to 30%.
Location - obedience levels dropped to 48% in run down office building.
The power of uniform - people more likely to obey someone in a uniform (Bushman).
in normal clothes, obedience dropped to 20%, lack of LOA.
Evaluation of obedience
Internal validity - Orne and Holland claim many participants saw through the deception and just played along (demand characteristics)
Historical validity - Milgram’s findings are relevant today. No relationship between year of study and obedience levels (Blass).
support for uniform - 39% picked up litter when asked by security guard but only 14% obeyed a milkman.
What is the agentic state?
Person acts as an agent to carry out another person’s wishes. They believe they are not responsible for their actions as they are just obeying someone else.
they are an agent of an authority figure.
they commit actions they may morally oppose.
moves from autonomous to agentic state via agentic shift.
What is legitimacy of authority?
Person must perceive an individual in a position of social control.
Legitimate commands arise from institutions e.g. a uni or the military.
those higher in social hierarchy should be obeyed.
learnt through socialisation and accepted by most that its needed for society to function.
Evaluation of agentic state and legitimacy of authority
Agentic state does not explain gradual transitions found in Nazi doctors.
Obedient behaviour may be due to a desire to inflict harm on others.
supports war crimes - claim they are only following orders
35% resisted authority and did not give 450v shock to learner
the professor occupies high level in social hierarchy (LOA) - when they said they was responsible, participants agreed to continue shocking (agentic state)
What is the authoritarian personality?
what causes it?
A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority.
People who score high on F-scale raised in authoritarian family (Adorno et al.). they have high respect for those with higher social status.
likely they were raised by authoritarian parents, with physical punishment. theory that anger from this was displaced onto others, such as minority groups.
Elms and Milgram procedure
20 obedient participants (who went to 450v) and 20 disobedient participants (refused to continue).
Completed MMPI and F-scale tests, and asked open ended questions.
Elms and Milgram findings
obedient participants scored higher on F scale.
Higher levels of authoritarianism in obedient participants.
Obedient participants reported being less close to their fathers and admired the experimenter.
Evaluation of authoritarian personality
social desirability bias - participants may think it is socially correct to be obedient and so are falsely classified as authoritarian.
Education may determine auth. and obedience (Middendorp and Meleon). less educated are more authoritarian - obedience determined by education levels rather than personality.
there are other situational factors that contribute to obedience - proximity, location, uniform.
Resistance to social influence - social support
Presence of social support enable individual to resist conformity (Asch).
Social support breaks unanimity, reduces pressure to obey and increases confidence.
Disobedient peers as role models, or providing an alternate group to belong to (conformity), increases disobedience.
Obedience rates dropped to 10% when two confederates defied experimenter (Milgram).
What is locus of control?
Internal - greater independence and less reliance on the opinions of others. They believe they are responsible for their own actions.
External - more passive and greater acceptance of the influence of others. Believe in fate, destiny, aren’t in control of their life.
High internals are better able to resist influence and coercion (Hutchins and Estey).
Evaluation of social support
Social support is important when resisting pressure to drink (Rees and Wallace).
repeat of milgram study - participant teacher with 2 confederate teachers, who withdrew from experiment. only 10% went to 450v.
Evaluation of locus of control
repeat of milgram’s study - 37% with ILC refused to go to highest shock, 23% with ELC refused to go to highest shock.
situational factors are critical in whether someone is able to resist social influence - location, uniform, presence of social support. not entirely based on LOC.
