Social Influence Flashcards
What is the order of the types of conformity from strongest to weakness? And definition of each
Internalisation-Here a person changes both their public behaviour (the way they act) and their private beliefs. This is usually a long-term change and often the result of informational social influence.
Identification- here a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs but only while in presence of the group they want to identify with.
Compliance -public behaviour changes, but private beliefs don’t
What are three variables which effect conformity? Found in Asch’s line study
Task difficulty- harder the task the more conformity
Group size- 3 is ideal for most conformity
Unanimity- when there isn’t a single bit of social support conformity is increased
NSI?
Normative Social Influence- the want or need to fit in with a group and feel apart of it, including the social norms.
ISI?
Informational social influence- people conform as they believe an individual or often group has more information than us and we desire to have that information and be right
What is a confederate and how can they effect conformity in an experiment
A confederate is an actor who knows of the true aim of the experiment and therefore can influence people by providing social support or breaking unanimity.
What are the main Procedures of Zimbardo’s experiment?
- Advertised for experiment and carefully select people aren’t mentally ill ( figured out by tests done by participants)
- Paid 15 dollars a day
- kidnapped from home taken to “prison”
- random allocation, guards or prisoners
- 8 hour shift roatation for guard 24 hour for prisoners
Zimbardos aim
To see how people behave when they are put into social roles and whether they follow the social norms of that role
Zimbardo findings
He found that although never being told specifically how to act everyone became apart of their role , one participant even said he felt as if he was playing a role
3 different variables Milgram manipulated to see how obedience would be effected? And how was obedience effected?
1) Uniform- formal clothes meant that obedience was decreased
2) proximity - when told to do something by someone who isn’t there e.g. across the phone obedience decreased
3) location- when the experiment took place in an old run down office obedience was less than when it took place in an university
Some empirical evidence increasing the validity of Milgram’s experiment and findings. Hint (2001)
Blass and Schmitt (2001) showed some students a film of Milgrams experiment and they were asked who was responsible for the harm to learner. They found that the students blamed the experimenter rather than the participant/teacher. Showing that they were also fooled by the agent state.
Milgram’s findings and figures
65% of participants shocked the learner to the maximum of 450 volts. 100% of participants went to 300 volts or more. Many participants showed signs of distress but they only continued with the experiment when they thought that the responsibility was passed onto the experiment. Suggesting that once the agentic shift occurs people will do anything they are told by an authority figure, no matter whether they agree or not.
Milgram’s aim
Researching to see how far people would go in obeying constitution if it invoked harming others (because of events he’d seen in WW2 and between the nazi’s
Procedures of Milgram’s experiment
- deception to what the expression really is
- paid $4 a hour (volunteers)
- only men
- lab experiment
- MrWallace, confederate
- Mr W was wired to a fake machine with voltage shocks from 150 volts to 450 volts
- rigged so MrW was always learner
- teacher tells learner words he has to remember and recite if not he gets shocked
What is the Authoritarian personality ?
When you obey someone you believe has author or a higher social status than you, but anyone who you see as inferior to you, you treat with a lack of care.
Agentic state
This is a state where you believe that anything you do you don’t have the responsibility for you obey the authority with the belief whatever you do is there responsibility not your own. Your conformity with your social roles
