Social Influence

Question 1

Define conformity

Answer 1

When someone’s behaviour or thinking changes because of real or imagined group pressure.

Question 2

How does group size influence conformity?

Answer 2

The more people there are in a group, the greater the pressure to conform to their opinion.

Question 3

How does anonymity influence conformity?

Answer 3

Anonymity decreases conformity because there is less pressure

Question 4

How does task difficulty influence conformity?

Answer 4

As task difficulty increases, conformity increases because people feel less confident about their answers

Question 5

How does personality influence conformity?

Answer 5

Someone with an external locus of control is more likely to conform.
Someone with an internal locus of control is less likely to conform.

Question 6

How does expertise influence conformity?

Answer 6

People with greater expertise are less likely to conform because they have more confidence in their answers

Question 7

Define an Autonomous State

Answer 7

When people behave according to their own principles and feel responsible for their own actions

Question 8

Define an Agentic State

Answer 8

When people act on behalf of someone else. They don’t feel responsible for their own actions

Question 9

What is an authoritarian personality?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

How do people with an authoritarian personality think?

Answer 10

‘Black and white’ thinking. They believe in rigid stereotypes.

Question 11

What do authoritarian people experience in childhood? (3 bullet points)

Answer 11

• Extremely strict parenting
• High standards of achievement
• Conditional love

Question 12

What is meant by displacement or scapegoating?

Answer 12

The need to displace your anger onto something else to relieve anxiety and hostility

Question 13

Define bystander behaviour

Answer 13

The idea that the presence of others reduces the likelihood of help being offered in an emergency.

Question 14

Define prosocial behaviour

Answer 14

Actions that are beneficial to other people

Question 15

Factors affecting prosocial behaviour (2 social, 2 dispositional)

Answer 15

• Presence of others
• Cost of helping
• Similarity to victim
• Expertise

Question 16

Define deindividuation / crowd behaviour

Answer 16

An individual loses their identity and takes on the identity of a group

Question 17

Factors affecting crowd behaviour: (2 social, 2 dispositional)

Answer 17

• Social loafing
• Culture
• Personality
• Morals

Question 18

What was the aim of Solomon Asch’s study in 1955?

Answer 18

To study conformity and investigate how participants respond to group pressure.

Question 19

Describe Asch’s method for his 1955 study on conformity:

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

What were the results of Asch’s 1955 study on conformity?

Answer 20

• 25% of pp’s never gave the wrong answers

- 75% of pp’s conformed at least once

Question 21

Evaluate Asch’s 1955 study on conformity:

Answer 21

• 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)

Question 22

What were the findings of Milgram’s 1963 study?

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

What was the aim of Piliavin’s subway study on prosocial behaviour in 1969?

Answer 23

To see whether the appearance of a victim impacts whether they receive help or not

Question 24

Describe Piliavin’s method of his 1969 study on prosocial behaviour:

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Describe the findings of Piliavin’s 1969 study of prosocial behaviour in 1969:

Answer 25

• 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

Question 26

Evaluate Piliavin’s subway study

Answer 26

+ 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