social influence

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

when we change our behavior to fit in with the social norms or due to group pressure

Question 2

what are the reasons people conform?

Answer 2

the need to be right (informational social influence ISI)

the need to be liked (normative social influence NSI)

Question 3

Elaborate on the reasons why people conform

Answer 3

in ambiguous situations we think others have better knowledge than us and are right we observe what they do and change our behaviour to match theirs.

in social interactions, we want to be liked by others we change our behaviour to match the group’s behaviour so that we fit in the extent to which we do this depends on how much we like them and want to fit in with them.

Question 4

what are the social factors affecting conformity?

Answer 4

GROUP SIZE - 3 or more people behaving a certain way - more likely to match behaviour - bigger group - more pressure to act like them and conform
TASK DIFFICULTY - harder the task - more likely to conform - challenging task lack confidence in judgement and ability - so we conform
ANONYMITY - in public situations - worried about judgement - when anonymous - less concerned about other people - less conformity - care less about fitting in

Question 5

what are the dispositional factors affecting conformity

Answer 5

PERSONALITY - low self-esteem and intelligence - high conformity - assume others have a better understanding - or to fit in with others of high status
EXPERTISE - high expertise and confidence in knowledge - low conformity - age - older people more expertise and experience - less confomity

Question 6

what is the aim of Asch’s study on conformity?

Answer 6

to investigate if people conform to others even when they know others are wrong

Question 7

what is the study design used?

Answer 7

lab experiment with a standardised procedure done on male uni students

Question 8

what is the conclusion of Asch’s study

Answer 8

people may conform to fit in with group, even when they know the group is wrong.

Question 9

describe the method of Asch’s study

Answer 9

• group pf 7-9 shown four lines - told it was visual judgement task. 1 real ppt -rest of group confederates.
• group asked to compare one line to three other lines and point which is it similar to. - each ppt did it 18 times out of which confederates were told to give wrong answer 12 times - ppt always asked last in group. researcher recorded num of wrong answers
  from the 12 times - n.o of times ppt conformed and also gave wrong answer was measured.

Question 10

what did Asch’s study find?

Answer 10

ppt conformed and gave wrong answer 37% of the time
76% off ppt conformed and gave wrong answer at least once

Question 11

Eval n.o 1 of Asch’s study:

Answer 11

+ high replicability
+ standardised procedure in controlled environment can get another group of people to compare lines. Asch found the same results when he repeated the experiment shows study is replicable
+ allows reliability of results to be tested

Question 12

Eval n.o 2 of Asch’s study:

Answer 12

• low ecological validity
• done in an artificial setting in everyday life we do not compare lines in group. cannot apply to everyday behaviour
• for example, real-life conformity happens in decisions like where to eat with friends.
• decreases validity of study

Question 13

Eval n.o 3 of Asch’s study:

Answer 13

• not generalizable
• only done on university students, cannot apply to females and we do not know how they will conform
• they may choose to act independently and not conform
• this decreases validity of study

Question 14

what is obedience?

Answer 14

when we follow the orders of someone we believe to be a figure of authority.

Question 15

what are the social factors affecting obedience?

Answer 15

1. legitimacy of authority
2. culture
3. proximity
4. socialisation
5. agentic state

Question 16

what is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 16

when authority figure seems to have right and power to give orders. when this exists, more likely to obey.
maybe due to a uniform as it makes them look more legitimate or the ability to give consequences for disobeying them

Question 17

how does culture affect obedience?

Answer 17

• culture is a group of people who share similar beliefs or behaviour
• collectivist cultures place importance on group values and respecting authority (higher obedience)
• individualist cultures place emphasis on independence and individual freedom (lower obedience)

Question 18

how does proximity affect obedience

Answer 18

• when in close distance to authority figures, we are more to oey them
• this is because when the authority figure is close, they can easily give consequences for not obeying

Question 19

how does socialization affect obedience

Answer 19

• from young age we are brought up to obey figures of authority such as parents and teachers.
• obedience becomes a social expectation

Question 20

what is the agentic state?

Answer 20

• believe that we are performing actions for an authority figure - do not feel personally responsible for actions -> more like to obey

Question 21

how does the agentic state affect obedience?

Answer 21

• people pass on responsibility to figure of authority who gave the orders
• happens because we move from an autonomous state where we feel responsible for our own actions to an agentic state this is called agentic shift

Question 22

what is the dispositional factor affecting obedience and how does it affect obedience?

Answer 22

personality factors - low self-esteem/confidence can lead to more obedience - find it hard to go against figures of authority
- external locus of control -> more obedience -> think external factors control their behaviour
Authoritarian personality -> in question 23

Question 23

outline Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 23

• people with harsh/strict upbringing with the use of physical punishments from parents go through change in personality -> more obedient as adults
• they learn not to retaliate in a hostile way to parents - such reaction seen as unacceptable and can cause further punishment.
• therefore, they grow up submissive to authority figures and look up to them -> more obedience
• measured using the F scale

Question 24

Eval n.o. 1 of Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 24

+ supporting evidence
+ Elms and Milgram interviewed obedience ppt in Milgram’s shock experiment found that they scored highly on F-scale showing that they have an authoritarian personality
+ supports Adorno’s assumption that having authoritarian personality leads to more obedience
+ this increases validity of theory

Question 25

Eval n.o. 2 of Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 25

• supporting evidence is correlational
• because Adorno has not provided proof an authoritarian personality actually causes high levels of obedience. he has only found a correlation between personality type and obedience
• this means cause and effect cannot be proved
• therefore, as supporting evidence is weak, the theory is also invalidated

Question 26

Eval n.o. 3 of Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 26

• theory is considered incomplete
• research has shown that social factors like uniform and proximity can also affect levels of obedience. for example, Bickman found people in everyday situations are more likely to obey someone who wears a uniform compared to wearing normal clothes.
• this shows that other factors in addition to the strict upbringing can have an impact on obedience
• Adorno does not account for this theory can be seen as incomplete
• decreases validity of theory