Social Influence

Question 1

What is Internalisation

Answer 1

Deepest form of conformity:

• when we take the majority view because we accept it as correct
• We then start to behave like the majority

Question 2

What is Identification

Answer 2

• Where we act like the majority because we value it but we don’t necessarily agree with the view of the group

Question 3

What is Compliance

Answer 3

• Where we outwardly go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it

Question 4

What are the three types of conformity

Answer 4

• Internalisation
• Identification
• Compliance

Question 5

What is Normative Social Influence

Answer 5

• When we agree with the majority in order to be accepted and ‘liked’

Question 6

What is Informational Social Influence

Answer 6

• When we conform because we want to be right

- When e agree with the majority because we think it is correct

Question 7

Describe Asch’s Study and its findings

Answer 7

• Line Study with 1 participant and 5 confederates
• Three conditions = Silence and writing down answer/ saying answer with no confederates saying right answer/ saying answer with one confederate saying the correct answer
• Conformity increased when the confederates said the wrong answer because of ISI and NSI
• 37% conformed with wrong answer

Question 8

Evaluate Asch’s study

Answer 8

• Deception —> Asch deceived his participants by telling them they would be judging a line not being tested on conformity for his psychological research
• Asch did not tell the participant the full story so the participant did not give informed consent
• Asch did not protect the participants from harm as some started to feel stressed and anxious

Question 9

Describe Zimbardo’s study and findings

Answer 9

• Prison experiment where participants were split into two groups one group the prison guard and the other group the prisoners
• Guards given tinted sunglasses to Make them ‘less Human’
• Guards started becoming hostile and prisoners becoming degraded and very mentally unhealthy
• Experiment was to show conformity to social roles

Question 10

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study

Answer 10

• Zimbardo had some control over the variables that affected his study
• Lack of realism as participants were merely only play acting and the prison was not real and neither were the guards or surroundings
• Zimbardo caused his participants servers mental damage especially the prisoners as he did not assign anyone to oversee the study from an outside point of view so could not see the damage he was doing

Question 11

Criticisms of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 11

• Ethical = Lack of informed consent gained, deception, lack of protection from psychological harm
• Zimbardo’s ‘dual role’ affected the way in which events unfolded which affected validity of the study
• methodological issues = demand characteristics, lack of mundane realism/ ecological validity

Question 12

Describe Milgrams study

Answer 12

• Made participants give electric shocks to confederates if they answered a wrong question
• Shocks were not real bu participants did not know
• Found that obedience was more with the experimenter in a lab coat and in the same room
• Obedience was more when the experimenter proximity was close and the study was conducted in a More official building

Question 13

Evaluate Milgram’s study

Answer 13

• Participants were deceived and did not give informed consent
• Milgram may have given some participants psychological harm as they felt stressed about giving the confederates shocks

Question 14

What are the three situational variables that affect obedience

Answer 14

• Proximity
• Location
• Uniform

Question 15

What is the Authoritarian personality

Answer 15

• When a person is thought to have more authority than another because of their status, job, wealth or other factors.
• Developed through socialisation as a child or job type

Question 16

What is Agentic state

Answer 16

• When we act as the agent of someone in authority we find it easy to deny responsibility for our actions as we are just doing jobs/ following orders

Question 17

What is autonomous state

Answer 17

• When we direct our own behaviour and take responsibility for out actions

Question 18

What is meant by agentic shift

Answer 18

• The change from an autonomous state to an agentic state

Question 19

What is the theory of legitimacy of authority and what are its consequences

Answer 19

• Where we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have more authority over us
• Their authority is justified by their position of power within the social hierarchy
• Consequences = Exploitation of power and authority figures can use their authority for bad purposes

Question 20

What is destructive authority

Answer 20

• When authority figures use their authority for bad purposes

Question 21

Where do we initially learn to obey authority

Answer 21

• Family

Question 22

Explain resistance to social influence using the social support theory: (Conformity and Obedience)

Answer 22

• Conformity = when other people resist it is more likely for others to resist because they have social support of others doing the same thing
  E.g Asch’s study where if a confederate resisted, the participant was more likely to resist as a result of social support
• Obedience = If other people resist then we are more likely to resist because we have the social support to be able to
  E.g Milgram’s study where if there was a confederate sat with the participant who refused to obey the experimenter, the participant was more likely to obey the experimenter

Question 23

Evaluate the Agentic state

Answer 23

• Blass and Schmitt found that people who saw Milgram’s study blamed the experimenter, indicating that they believed the participants were agents of authority

However

• Obedience could be due to personality not situation
• Agency theory cannot explain why some people disobey authority figures

Question 24

Evaluate the legitimacy of authority theory

Answer 24

• Useful in account of cultural differences as in some cultures authority may be more legitimate and would demand a higher level of obedience

Question 25

What is an internal locus of control

Answer 25

• Where you feel you make things happen and you determine your own future by your own actions and nothing else

Question 26

What is an external locus of control

Answer 26

• Where you let things happen to you and you rely on nature and your surroundings to determine your future

Question 27

Evaluate locus of control

Answer 27

• There is research to support the theory through the study by Charles Holland who repeated Milgram’s study and found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest voltage. Shows that internals are more likely to resist

However

• Research by Jean Twenge found that American LOC studies over 40 years showed that people over time became more resistant to obedience but also more external. Disproves the theory because we would have expected people to become more internal.

Question 28

What are the 6 steps for social change

Answer 28

• Drawing attention: drawing attention to things and making people aware things are happening
• Consistency: People continuing to tell people about the injustice
• Deeper Processing: When people begin to think deeper about the situations
• Augmentation Principle: When people take big risks to reinforce their points
• Snowball Effect: When beliefs gradually spread and more people get involved
• Social Cryptoamnesia: When change has occurred but people don’t remember how it happened

Question 29

Evaluate Social Change using conformity

Answer 29

• Conformity was supported through research by Nolan et al who found that residents presented with posters saying others saved energy were more likely to save energy. Shows that NSI can lead to social change