social influence Flashcards
conformity
yielding to group pressure .
what are the types of conformity
•internalisation
•identification
•compliance
internalisation
publicly changing behaviour to fit in with the group and agreeing with them privately too - deepest level of conformity.
identification
conforming to expectations of a social role, private views stay the same.
compliance
publicly changing behaviour to fit in with the group but your private views disagree.
what are the two explanations for conformity
•normative social influence
•informational social influence
NSI
conforming because you need to be accepted, still privately disagree.
ISI
conforming because you need to be right, you privately agree.
factors effecting conformity rates
•task difficulty
•unanimity
•group size
group size
•the number of individuals within a group,
- as group size increases so does conformity, but only up to 3/4 people.
- conformity rose to 31.8%
- NSI
task difficulty
•the task was made more difficult by putting the lines closer together
•conformity increased under these conditions due to ISI.
unanimity
•is agreement by all people involved
•the presence of a nonconformist will reduce conformity levels, it allows people to feel more independent.
deindividuation
this is a state when you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility.
learned helplessness
a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly. They come to believe that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try.
situational variables affecting obedience
•proximity
•location
•uniform
social psychological factors affecting obedience
•agentic state.
•legitimacy of authority.
agentic state
when we act as the agent of someone in authority we find it easy to deny personal responsibility for our actions - it’s juts doing our job or following orders
autonomous state
where we behave voluntarily and are aware of what will happen as a result of our actions, we are free and independent , acting according to our own principles. we feel responsible for our actions
binding factors
these are aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour and reduce the moral strain they are feeling.
legitimate authority
•milgram suggested that we are more likely to obey a person who have a higher position or status in a social hierarchy.
•people tend to obey others if they recognise their authority as morally right and/or legally based.
destructive authority
•we give up some of our independence and hand control over to people whom we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
aschs line study (1956) aims & procedures
Aim: to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
Procedure: 123 male undergraduate students, USA. Lab experiment. The p’s were given a false aim that they were taking part in a vision test.
Method: There was only one real (naive) participant in groups of 6-8 confederates (actors). The group were shown two cards, one with a standard line and another with there comparison lines. P’s had to state which line was the matching one however confederates gave incorrect answers. The naïve p always answered 2nd to last.
aschs line study findings
•p’s gave the wrong answer 32% of the time, this known as the conformity rate.
-25% p’s did not conform at all - which means 75% conformed at least once.
•In the control group 1% gave the wrong answer.
stanford prison experiment produces
•Laboratory experiment
• Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison
•were given diagnostic interviews and personality tests to eliminate candidates with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse
• 24 participants took part (the most mentally fit) who were paid $15 per day to take part in the experiment
• Participants were randomly assigned to either role of prisoner or guard
•Prisoners were treated like every other criminal, being arrested at their own homes, without warning, and taken to the local police station. They were fingerprinted, photographed and ‘booked!’
standard prison experiment findings
•The behaviour of the prisoners and guards quickly got out of hand.
•Within two days the prisoners rebelled by refusing to obey the rules. The guards reacted by punishing the prisoners and withdrawing privileges e.g. depriving them of sleep by waking them up to conduct headcounts.
• The prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious. One prisoner went on a hunger strike and was punished by being kept in a closet overnight.
•When ‘prisoners’ went to Zimbardo to ask to leave the study he would try to ask them to stay, reminding them that they’d agreed to stay for the whole two weeks.
• Eventually the study ended after only six days
Stanford prison experiment conclusion
People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards.
•The “prison” environment was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behaviour (none of the participants who acted as guards showed sadistic tendencies before the study).
standard prison experiment aim - Zimbardo (1973)
to investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
obedience
where one person follows the orders of another. the person giving the orders normally is an authority figure and has the power to punish
milgrams aim
Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person
milgrams procedures
•The confederate in Milgram’s study was the learner and participant the teacher
• This was determined through a rigged ‘random’ allocation of roles
• No real shocks were given
• Each time the learner made a mistake with a word pairing the p shocked him and the voltage rose by 15 volts
• The reaction was a pre-recorded series of verbal responses that fell silent at 330 volts.
•The experimenter gave verbal prods, such as ‘the experiment requires you to continue and ‘you have no choice, you must go on’.
• The experimenter was the authority figure wearing grey lab coat
milgrams findings
• 65% of ppts administered shocks to 450 volts
• No p’s stopped below 300 volts
milgram conclusion
•People will obey authority and go against their conscience. They can lose empathy, compassion and morality.
•This can help to explain the horrific acts from the Second World War.
proximity definition
The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving orders to. It also refers to the closeness of the teacher to the learner.
location definition
The place where an order is issued.
The relevant factor that influences obedience is the status or prestige of the location.
uniform definition
People in positions of authority often have a uniform that is symbolic of their authority.
proximity variation - milgram
•both teacher and learner were seated in the same room - 40%
•Experimenter absent variation - 21%.
location variation - milgram
• was at yale university, gave ps confidence in the integrity of the people involved
•moving the study to a run down office block - 48%
uniform variation - milgram
• in original study experimenter wore a grey lab coat
•role of experimenter taken over by an ordinary member of the public in ordinary clothes - 21%
milgrams agency theory
milgram argues that there are 2 mental states that we can be in :
•as autonomous individuals
•on the agentic level
the agentic shift
when we move from an autonomous state to an agentic state. there is normally moral strain
dispositional explanation
•highlights the importance of the individuals personality
•the authoritarian personality
authoritarian personality
- susceptible to obeying people in authority.
- submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
authoritarian personality origins
•formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting
•these experiences create resentment and hostility in the child that cannot be expressed
•these fears are displaced into other who are perceived as weaker
explanations for resistance to social influence
•social support
•locus of control
social support
•Having an ally can build confidence and allow individuals to remain independent.
• Individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed, allowing them to avoid normative social influence.
•Disobedient peers therefore act as role models on which the individual can model their behaviour.
•disobedience of another changes the perception that the orders are acceptable.
locus of control
•this is the perception of how much control people have over their own behaviour
•it is measured on a continuum from high external to high internal
internal locus of control
the belief that events in your life, good or bad, are a result of controllable factors such as beliefs, attitudes, preparation and effort.
external locus of control
the belief that events in your life, good or bad, are a result of uncontrollable factors such as the environmental, other people or a higher power.
Minority influence
A form of social influence in which a minority of people (even just one) persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. It leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours.
Mocovici (1969) - minority influence
Ppts were all females (he thought that they would enjoy the task)
• They were put into groups of six to identify colours
• They were shown 36 blue slides, with differences in brightness of the colour
• Asked if they were blue or green
Consistent group: the two confederates always said ‘green’
Inconsistent group: 2/3rd of the time two confederates they said ‘green’
Control group: No confederates
Moscovici findings
- The consistent condition produced the most minority influence, with 8.42% of the ppts answering ‘green’
- In the inconsistent condition, it was only 1.25%
- In the control condition, only 0.25%
- Conclusion: the minority can influence the majority!
Consistency
• the influence of a minority is most effective when it is consistent. This leads the majority group to question their own stance as the minority is so confident.
• Diachronic consistency - where a person maintains a consistent position over time.
• Synchronic consistency - where there is agreement among members of the minority group.
Commitment
• Minorities can exert influence by showing dedication.
• This gives the minority’s message credibility because people are unlikely to be prepared to suffer for a cause which is not worthwhile
• Gradually respect for the minority view grows and the majority is converted
Flexibility
• Merely to adopt a rigid position could lead to the perception of the minority as being dogmatic and narrow minded.
• Majority opinions shifts more if the minority is flexible.
• Members of the minority need to be committed but prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid arguments. E.g. gradual commitment – recycling paper first and then introducing other recycling initiatives later.
Social influence
The process by which individuals and groups change each others attitudes and behaviours.
Social change
This occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs or ways of doing things.
Social change processes
- Drawing attention
- Consistently
- Augmentation principle
- Deeper processing of the message
- snowball effect
- social cryptoamnesia
Drawing attention
- By using social proof
- The minority need to get lots of media attention
- Usually involves marches, blocking roads, sit in ect
Deeper processing
The minority creates a conflict in what the majority currently believes (the existing status quo) and the position advocated by the minority. Makes people think more about a problem that they had previously accepted without thinking about it at all.
Augmentation principle
- making the message bigger
- If a minority influence appears to suffer for their views, they will be seen as more committed and be taken more seriously.
Snowball effect
- The minority initially has a small effect but then it spreads. Until it reaches a tipping point and then leads to wide scale social change.
- Like minded individuals come together to form a minority, they influence others through the 3 behavioural styles and gain more numbers slowly to become the majority
Social cryptoamnesia
People have the memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened
three factors that affect minority influence
•consistency
•commitment
•flexibility
Adorno’s research (dispositional explanation)
procedure:
•investigated the causes of the obedient personality, studying more than 2000 middle class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups.
•they developed several scales including the Fscale, which is used to measure authoritarian personality.
findings:
•people with an authoritarian personality have a tendency to be especially obedient to authority.
