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Psychology A Level (AQA) > Social influence > Flashcards

Social influence Flashcards

Paper 1

1
Q

What variables did Asch study in his baseline procedure

A
  • Group size
  • Unanymity
  • Task difficulty
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2
Q

3 weaknesses for Aschs study

A
  • 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
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3
Q

One strength of Aschs study

A
  • 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
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4
Q

Name the three types of conformity

A
  • Internalisation
  • Identification
  • Compliance
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5
Q

Who suggested those three types of conformity

A

Herbert Kelman

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6
Q

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

A
  • 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
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7
Q

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

A

Deutsch and Gerard - Two - process theory

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8
Q

One strength and one weakness for the Normative social influence

A

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

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9
Q

One strength and weakness of Informational social influence

A

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

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10
Q

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

A

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’)

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11
Q

Findings of Zimbardos research

A
  • 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
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12
Q

2 strengths of Zimbardos experiment

A
  • 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
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13
Q

2 weaknesses of Zimbardos experiment

A
  • 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
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14
Q

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

A

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

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15
Q

What were the findings of Milgrams research

A
  • 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
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16
Q

2 strengths of Milgrams study

A
  • 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
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17
Q

2 weaknesses of Milgrams study

A
  • 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
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18
Q

What 3 situational variables are there for Milgrams experiment

A
  • Location
  • Uniform
  • Proximity
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19
Q

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

A

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

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20
Q

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

A

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

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21
Q

Agentic State

A

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.

22
Q

Autonomous state

A

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

23
Q

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

A

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

24
Q

Why do people remain in the agentic state

A

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”

25
Legitimacy of Authority
Legitimate - the authority that a person hold is widely agreed upon by society Learn acceptance of legitimate authority from childhood : parents and teachers
26
One strength and one weakness of the agentic state
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
27
One strength and one weakness of legitimacy of authority
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
28
The authoritarian personality - Psychologist behind it and what it means
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'
29
Origins of the authoritarian personality
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
30
What was Adornos research
Procedure : - 2000 + middle class white Americans - Measuring their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups - Developed many measurement scales including the F- Scale
31
What did Adorno discover during his research (findings)
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
32
One strength of the authoritarian personality
- 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
33
3 weaknesses of the authoritarian personality
-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
34
What 2 reasons may be a reason an individual is able to resist social influence
- Social Support - Internal LOC (locus of control)
35
Who proposed the LOC (locus of control) contiuum
Julian Rotter
36
What is the difference between external and internal locus of control
External - things that happen are outside their control (e.g fait) Internal - things that happen are largely controlled by themselves
37
Resistance to social influence and the LOC
High internal LOC - more easily able to resist pressures to conform or obey - Usually more self-confident, more achievement orientated and higher intelligence
38
2 strengths of social support as a reason a person is able to resist social influence
- 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
39
One strength and one weakness of the LOC
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
40
The three factors of minority influence
- Consistency - Commitment - Flexibility
41
What type of conformity is minority influence likely to lead to
Internalisation
42
What 2 types of consistency are there
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"
43
Augmentation principle
Minority groups engaging in extreme activities to draw attention to views. Risk = Commitment Majority groups then pay more attention
44
Charles Nemeth - Flexibility
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.
45
Snowball effect
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.
46
2 strengths of minority influence
- 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
47
2 weaknesses of minority influence
- 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
48
what 6 processes are involved with creating social change
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
49
2 strengths of social influence and social change
- 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
50
2 weaknesses of social influence and social change
- 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

Psychology A Level (AQA) (12 decks)

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