Social Influence Flashcards
Define conformity
When someone’s behaviour or thinking changes because of real or imagined group pressure.
How does group size influence conformity?
The more people there are in a group, the greater the pressure to conform to their opinion.
How does anonymity influence conformity?
Anonymity decreases conformity because there is less pressure
How does task difficulty influence conformity?
As task difficulty increases, conformity increases because people feel less confident about their answers
How does personality influence conformity?
Someone with an external locus of control is more likely to conform.
Someone with an internal locus of control is less likely to conform.
How does expertise influence conformity?
People with greater expertise are less likely to conform because they have more confidence in their answers
Define an Autonomous State
When people behave according to their own principles and feel responsible for their own actions
Define an Agentic State
When people act on behalf of someone else. They don’t feel responsible for their own actions
What is an authoritarian personality?
A person who is easily influenced by authority. They follow people above them but are hostile to people below them, and may have experienced harsh parenting as a child.
How do people with an authoritarian personality think?
‘Black and white’ thinking. They believe in rigid stereotypes.
What do authoritarian people experience in childhood? (3 bullet points)
- Extremely strict parenting
- High standards of achievement
- Conditional love
What is meant by displacement or scapegoating?
The need to displace your anger onto something else to relieve anxiety and hostility
Define bystander behaviour
The idea that the presence of others reduces the likelihood of help being offered in an emergency.
Define prosocial behaviour
Actions that are beneficial to other people
Factors affecting prosocial behaviour (2 social, 2 dispositional)
- Presence of others
- Cost of helping
- Similarity to victim
- Expertise
Define deindividuation / crowd behaviour
An individual loses their identity and takes on the identity of a group
Factors affecting crowd behaviour: (2 social, 2 dispositional)
- Social loafing
- Culture
- Personality
- Morals
What was the aim of Solomon Asch’s study in 1955?
To study conformity and investigate how participants respond to group pressure.
Describe Asch’s method for his 1955 study on conformity:
- 123 male American students who were NAIVE
- Other participants were confederates
- Each pp tested in a group of 6-8, sat near the end
- Shown 2 cards; had to match a ‘standard’ line to 3 other comparisons
- On each trial each pp was asked to say out loud which of the 3 lines matched the standard line
- First 6 trials: confederates gave correct answers
- Remaining 12 trials: confederates gave wrong answers
What were the results of Asch’s 1955 study on conformity?
- 25% of pp’s never gave the wrong answers
- 75% of pp’s conformed at least once
Evaluate Asch’s 1955 study on conformity:
- Relevance: In the 1950s people were more likely to conform because of McCarthyism
- Relevance: 1980 repeat of the experiment in the UK showed that only 1 participant conformed in 396 trials
- Artificial task
- Asch’s findings only reflect individualistic cultures (USA) - doesn’t represent collectivist cultures (China)
What were the findings of Milgram’s 1963 study?
- 100% of pp’s went up to 300 V
- 65% of pp’s went up to 450 V
- 3 pp’s had seizures caused by stress
What was the aim of Piliavin’s subway study on prosocial behaviour in 1969?
To see whether the appearance of a victim impacts whether they receive help or not
Describe Piliavin’s method of his 1969 study on prosocial behaviour:
- The victim (male confederate) fell over on a subway in NYC after 70 seconds.
- The participants were the people on the subway and they were observed to see whether the victim was helped or not
- 38 trials: smelled of alcohol and carried a brown bag
- 65 trials: carried a walking stick
Describe the findings of Piliavin’s 1969 study of prosocial behaviour in 1969:
- Victim in the disabled condition was helped in 95% of the trials
- Victim in the drunk condition was helped 50% of the time
- Help was faster in the disabled condition
- People are less likely to be helped when in large groups compared to when there were fewer people in the carriage
Evaluate Piliavin’s subway study
+ Natural setting = no demand characteristics
+ Helps us understand why some victims are more likely to be helped if they’re vulnerable
- Research only reflects individualistic cultures (USA)
- Research only reflects people in the city, not rural areas
- Ignores individual differences
