Social influence

Question 1

What variables did Asch study in his baseline procedure

Answer 1

• Group size
• Unanymity
• Task difficulty

Question 2

3 weaknesses for Aschs study

Answer 2

• Task and situation artificial - participants may have displayed demand characteristics
• Participants only consisted of American men - collectivist culture + women may be more comformist
• Lucas et al discovered conformity is more complex - individual level factor could influence conformity

Question 3

One strength of Aschs study

Answer 3

• Support from other studies for the effects of task difficulty : Lucas et al - maths questions ranging in difficulty - people conform more when maths question was harder

Question 4

Name the three types of conformity

Answer 4

• Internalisation
• Identification
• Compliance

Question 5

Who suggested those three types of conformity

Answer 5

Herbert Kelman

Question 6

What are the two explanations for conformity and what do they each mean

Answer 6

• Informational social influence : Conforming based on who has better information :cognitive process
• Normative social influence : Conforming based on what is normal for a social group : emotional process

Question 7

Which psychologists suggested these explanations for conformity (ISI and NSI) and what is the theory called

Answer 7

Deutsch and Gerard - Two - process theory

Question 8

One strength and one weakness for the Normative social influence

Answer 8

Strength - Evidence supports this as an explanation for conformity : Asch - some participants conformed as they felt self-conscious giving correct answer and afraid of disapproval

Weakness - It does not predict conformity in every case - NSI underlies conformity for some people more than it does others - individual differences

Question 9

One strength and weakness of Informational social influence

Answer 9

Strength - Research evidence to support ISI from Lucas et al - When maths problems were easier participants ‘knew there own minds’ but when problems were harder the situation became more ambiguous - participants did not want to be wrong so relied on the answers

Weakness - Difficult to decipher between ISI or NSI in studies - both processes probably operate together

Question 10

What did Zimbardo do (procedure) and what was he studying (aim)

Answer 10

Aim : Look at how and if people comform to social roles
Procedure:
- Took place in Stanford University - psychology base created into mock prison
- 21 male student volunteers who tested as ‘emotionally stable’
- Participants randomly assigned prison guard or prisoner
- Participants given uniforms relevant to roles stripping them of their identity (deindividuation)
- Prisoners and guards were persuaded and pushed to behave like role (e,g guards continually told they had power over prisoners and prisoners could ‘apply for parole’)

Question 11

Findings of Zimbardos research

Answer 11

• Guards took up roles with enthuisiasm treating prisoners harshly
• Within 2 days prisoners rebelled
• After rebellion was put down prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious
• 1 was released due to psychological disturbance
• 2 more released on the 4th day
• 1 prisoner went on hunger strike
• Guards behaviour became increasingly more aggressive and brutal
• Zimbardo ended the study early - intended length : 14 days , actual length : 6 days

Question 12

2 strengths of Zimbardos experiment

Answer 12

• Zimbardo and colleagues had control over key variables : degree of control increases internal validity - more confident about drawing conclusions about influence of roles on conformity
• Participants did behave as though prison was real to them ( McDermott) - 90% of conversations between prisoners was about prison life

Question 13

2 weaknesses of Zimbardos experiment

Answer 13

• Experiment did not have the realism of a true prison (lacks realism) - participants merely play acting and performances based on stereotypes (influence of media)
• Zimbardo may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour - only 1/3 of guards behaved in brutal manner another third applied to rules fairly and the rest sympathised with prisoners

Question 14

What did Milgram do (procedure) and what was the aim

Answer 14

Aim : Assess obedience levels
Procedure :
- 40 American men - volunteers
- Drew lots to see who would be the ‘teacher’ and who would be the ‘learner’ - draw was fixed so participant would always be teacher and the confederate and confederate would always be learner
- Experimenter dressed in grey lab coat
- Learner strapped into chair and wired up with electrodes
- Each time the learner made a mistake the teacher was ordered to give increasinglt worse (fake) electric shocks

Question 15

What were the findings of Milgrams research

Answer 15

• 100% participants - gave up to 300 volts
  12.5% (5) - stopped at 300 volts
• 65% - continued to highest level of 450 volts
• collected qualitative data : participants showed signs of anxiety and tension (sweating , dig fingernails into hands and stutter)
• 3 participants had full blown seizures

Question 16

2 strengths of Milgrams study

Answer 16

• Findings replicated in a French documentary that was made about reality TV - findings replicable
• Sheridan and King conducted a study using similar procedure : Participants gave real shocks to puppy - 54 % of men and 100% women gave what they thought was a fatal shock

Question 17

2 weaknesses of Milgrams study

Answer 17

• Orne and Holland argued that participants behaved as they did because they didn’t believe in the set up so were ‘play acting’ - demand characteristics
• Conclusions about blind obedience may not be justified - Social identity theory : participants only obeyed when they identified with scientific aims of the study ; when ordered to blindly obey an authority figure they refused

Question 18

What 3 situational variables are there for Milgrams experiment

Answer 18

• Location
• Uniform
• Proximity

Question 19

How did they study the effect of these variables and what did there results show : (Milgram)

Answer 19

Proximity :
Original : teacher could hear the learner but not see them
Variation : teacher and learner in the same room - obedience dropped from 65% to 45%
Decreased proximity allowed people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences

Location :
- Original study : Yale
Variation : run down office building
- Obedience fell to 47.5%
- Prestigious university gave experiment legitimacy and authority

Uniform :
- Original : grey lab coat
Variation : experimenter called away and replaced with ‘normal member of the public’ - obedience dropped 20%
Uniforms are widely recognised symbols of authority - legitimacy of authority

Question 20

2 strengths and 2 weaknesses of the situational variables of Milgrams research

Answer 20

Strength - other studies have demonstrated the influence of situational variables on obedience : Bickman tested Uniform (Milkman, security guard and jacket and tie) - people 2x as likely to obey person dressed up as security guard

Strength - Findings have been replicated in other cultures : Meeus and Raaijmaakers - Dutch experiment - Interview situation : Milgrams findings valid across cultures and women

Weakness - Replications not very cross-cultural : Countries such as Jordan and India different culturally to America, Australia etc - not appropriate to conclude that it is applicable to all cultures

Weakness - Participants may be aware that the experiment was faked : Holland and Orne

Question 21

Agentic State

Answer 21

Acting for someone else - e.g being an ‘agent’.
This does not mean someone is unfeeling but they may experience high morality strain and anxiety but feel powerless to otherwise disobey.

Question 22

Autonomous state

Answer 22

The opposite of agentic state.
‘Autonomy’ means to be free or independent.

Question 23

What is the shift between autonomy to agency called and why does this happen

Answer 23

The agentic shift - when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure

Question 24

Why do people remain in the agentic state

Answer 24

Binding factors - aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the daming effect of their behaviour - e.g shifting responsibilty to the victim “they were foolish to volunteer”

Question 25

Legitimacy of Authority

Answer 25

Legitimate - the authority that a person hold is widely agreed upon by society
Learn acceptance of legitimate authority from childhood : parents and teachers

Question 26

One strength and one weakness of the agentic state

Answer 26

Strength - Milgram own studies support the role of the agentic state in obedience :
“Who is responsible if the ‘learner’ is harmed?” - the teacher (participant)
“I am” - the experimenter
After this the participants went on with the procedure with no more objections

Weakness - Agentic shift does not explain many research findings about obedience :
Rank and Jacobsons - 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug to a patient

Question 27

One strength and one weakness of legitimacy of authority

Answer 27

Strength - Useful account of cultural differences in obedience : In some cultures authority is more accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals

Weakness : Legitimacy cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted - suggests that some people may simply be more or less obedient than others

Question 28

The authoritarian personality - Psychologist behind it and what it means

Answer 28

Adorno
- People show an extreme respect for authority.
- Such people view society as weaker than it once was so believe we need a strong and powerful leader to enforce traditional values.
- No ‘grey areas’

Question 29

Origins of the authoritarian personality

Answer 29

Authoritarian personality type forms in childhood - result from harsh parenting : parents give conditional love
- Fears are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker
- Psychodynamic explanation

Question 30

What was Adornos research

Answer 30

Procedure :
- 2000 + middle class white Americans
- Measuring their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups
- Developed many measurement scales including the F- Scale

Question 31

What did Adorno discover during his research (findings)

Answer 31

Findings :
- people with authoritarian leanings (high on the F-Scale) identfified with ‘strong’ people and were generally conemptuos of the ‘weak’
- Authoritarian people have a certain cognitive style (way of perceiving others) and there is no ‘fuziness’ between categories of people
- Have fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
- Strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 32

One strength of the authoritarian personality

Answer 32

• Evidence from Milgram to support the AP - interviewed participants from previous experiment who had been fully obedient and made them all complete the F- scale , those who had been fully obedient scored higher than those who had not been

Question 33

3 weaknesses of the authoritarian personality

Answer 33

-Participants from Milgrams previous research showed number of characteristics unusual for authoritarians - link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex

-Authoritarianism cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a countrys population

-F- scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right-wing ideology ; does not account for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum

Question 34

What 2 reasons may be a reason an individual is able to resist social influence

Answer 34

• Social Support
• Internal LOC (locus of control)

Question 35

Who proposed the LOC (locus of control) contiuum

Answer 35

Julian Rotter

Question 36

What is the difference between external and internal locus of control

Answer 36

External - things that happen are outside their control (e.g fait)

Internal - things that happen are largely controlled by themselves

Question 37

Resistance to social influence and the LOC

Answer 37

High internal LOC - more easily able to resist pressures to conform or obey
- Usually more self-confident, more achievement orientated and higher intelligence

Question 38

2 strengths of social support as a reason a person is able to resist social influence

Answer 38

• Research evidence for the positive effects of social support : Albrecht et al studied Teen Fresh USA - an eight week programme to help pregnant teens resist peer pressure to smoke, social support provided by a slightly older mentor - at end of programme teens who did not have a mentor were more likely to smoke than those who had a mentor
• Research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience : Gamson et al - Oil company smear campaign - researchers found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgrams - this is because the participants were in groups so could could discuss - 29 / 33 rebelled against orders

Question 39

One strength and one weakness of the LOC

Answer 39

Strength - Holland repeated Milgrams baseline study and measured whether partcipants were internals or externals. - 37% of internals did not continue to highest shock and and 23% of externals did not continue

Weakness - Twenge et al - analysed data from LOC studies from America conducted over a 40 year period. People became more resistance to obedience but more external - LOC not a valid explanation for how people resist social influence

Question 40

The three factors of minority influence

Answer 40

• Consistency
• Commitment
• Flexibility

Question 41

What type of conformity is minority influence likely to lead to

Answer 41

Internalisation

Question 42

What 2 types of consistency are there

Answer 42

Synchronic consistency : agreement between people in the minority group - “they’re all saying the same thing”
Diachronic consistency : consistency over time “they’ve been saying the same thing for some time now”

Question 43

Augmentation principle

Answer 43

Minority groups engaging in extreme activities to draw attention to views.
Risk = Commitment
Majority groups then pay more attention

Question 44

Charles Nemeth - Flexibility

Answer 44

Consistency can be off - putting, members of minority need to be prepared to adapt their view and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments. Key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility.

Question 45

Snowball effect

Answer 45

Over time increasing numbers of the majority switch to the minority. They have become ‘converted’. The more this happens the faster the rate of conversion. Gradually the minority view becomes the majority view and change has occured.

Question 46

2 strengths of minority influence

Answer 46

• Research evidence demonstrating the importance of consistency : Moscovici et al - Blue/Green slide study - a consistent minority opinion had greater effect than an inconsistent opinion
• Evidence showing that a change in the majoritys position does not involve deeper processing of the minoritys ideas

Question 47

2 weaknesses of minority influence

Answer 47

• Real world social influence situations are more complicated - e.g majorities have a lot more power and status than minorities
• Tasks usually involved in minority influence research often artificial - e.g Moscovi Green and Blue slides - lacks external validity and limited what they can tell us about how minority influence works in real life situations

Question 48

what 6 processes are involved with creating social change

Answer 48

1. Drawing attention
2. Consistency
3. Deeper Processing
4. The augmentation principle - individuals risked their lives
5. The snowball effect - More and more people backing the minority position
6. Social cryptomnesia - people have a memory that change has occured but no memory of how it happened

Question 49

2 strengths of social influence and social change

Answer 49

• Research has shown that social influence processes based on psychological research do work - majority influence can lead to social change through the operation of normative social influence
• Psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change - Charles Nemeth claims social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire - dissenting minorities are valuable as they stimulate new ideas and open minds in ways that majorities cannot

Question 50

2 weaknesses of social influence and social change

Answer 50

• Peoples behaviour is not always changed through exposing them to social norms - normative social influence does not always produce long-term social change (e.g imagine smokers or drinkers - unlikely to change habits)
• Deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change - when we find the majority believes something different then we are forced to think about their arguments are reasoning