Social influence Flashcards
What can conformity be defined as?
When a person changes their behaviours, attitudes or values due to real or imagined group pressure.
What is compliance?
The behaviour is simply to fit in with a group. Once away from the group, behaviour and opinions will go back to ‘normal’.
What is identification?
When a person conforms to the behaviours of a group because there is something they value about the group.
What is internalisation?
When a person genuinely believes and accepts a group norm. This would be publicly and privately as it is now part of the way they think.
What was the aim of Asch’s experiment?
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
What was the procedure of Asch’s experiment?
50 male students were given a ‘task of visual perception’. There was a standard line and three comparison lines. Ppt had to call out in turn which line (A, B or C) was the same length of the standard. The real ppt was seated in a row amongst the confederates. The true ppt could see that one of the lines was obviously a match, the others obviously wrong. 12 out of 18 times, the confederates were told to give the wrong answer. Real was seated 2nd to last, so listened to the same answer over and over.
How many people gave the same answer as the confederates in Asch’s experiment?
37% conformity rate
How many participants conformed in every single critical trial in Asch’s study?
5%
How many participants remained completely independent in Asch’s experiment?
25%
What was the conclusion of Asch’s experiment?
The majority of ppt’s conformed to the wrong answer even when they knew it was wrong because they didn’t want to stand out. This supports the theory of NSI, as the ppt’s did not want to be rejected from the group.
How did the difficulty of the task affect Asch’s experiment?
Some of the lines were easier to tell apart than others.
Conformity increases when the task is harder because you are unsure of your capability so look to experts.
How did the size of the majority affect Asch’s experiment?
Asch increased the number of confederates from 1 to 15 to see if the number of people made more of a difference than the agreement itself. He found that there was very little difference in conformity.
How did unanimity affect Asch’s experiment?
Asch introduced a confederate who acted as a dissenter within the group. The real ppt conformed less than 25% when the dissenter was part of the group.
What is the generalisability of Asch’s study?
It could be considered low. Lacks temporal validity as modern day replications found that people are far less conforming in a line test.
123 males - the study is androcentric.
Swarthmore college in Pennsylvania - conformity not the same in all societies or cultures. Study is ethnocentric.
What is the reliability of Asch’s study?
High because it has clear standardised procedures. 7 confederates. All ppts heard the wrong answer in 12 out of 18 trials.
What practical applications does Asch’s study have?
Jurors now warned about conformity so they do not feel excessive pressure by other jury members to give a specific verdict.
What is the validity of Asch’s study?
High internal validity
Low external validity
Did Asch’s study follow ethical guidelines?
It broke ethical guidelines because the participants were deceived, meaning they didn’t give informed consent.
Who put forward the model of NSI and ISI?
Deutsch and Gerard in 1955
What is informational social influence?
We conform because we need to be right, so we look to others for the right answer. We are influenced if the majority are people we admire and respect. It leads to internalisation.
What is normative social influence?
We conform because we need to be accepted by others by others and to be part of the group. It is driven by emotional factors so it leads to compliance or identification.
What evidence is there for normative social influence?
Some ppts said they conformed in Asch’s study because they were self-conscious giving the correct answer and were afraid of disapproval. When ppts wrote their answer down, conformity fell to 12.5% because there was no normative group pressure.
What evidence is there for informational social influence?
Some ppts said they conformed because they didn’t think they had the right answer because they didn’t trust their eyes, so they looked to the experts for the correct answer.
What research is there to support ISI?
Asch found that there was a 37% conformity rate to the wrong answer when asking 123 ppts a simple visual perception task.
What is an issue with the research into explanations of conformity?
Research cannot be generalised into real life settings as it is artificial, eg. strangers judging lines.
What is a theoretical problem with the explanations of conformity?
It fails to take into account individual experiances.
What is a practical application with ISI?
Schultz conducted a study placing messages in hotel bathrooms asking customers whether they needed clean towels everyday.
What is the research for NSI?
Asch found that 37% conformed due to fear of rejection from the group. Ppts said they conformed because they wanted to be accepted by the majority.
What is deindividuation?
When an individual loses their sense of self. This could occur when wearing a uniform, as people conform to the social roles of uniform.
What is dehumanisation?
Not being treated like a human, being stripped of their rights.
What is diffusion of responsibility?
Whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present.
What is the definition of obedience?
A compliance to an order request from an authority figure.
When was Milgram’s experiment?
1965
What was the aim of Milgram’s experiment?
The pt’s thought that the study was about the effects of punishment on memory. The real aim was to see if people would obey the orders of an authority figure, even when there were fatal consequences.
What was the procedure of Milgram’s experiment?
40 males between 20 - 50 were recruited from volunteer sampling and told to go to Yale university. They met a stern individual who played the role of the experimenter, and Mr Wallace, the learner. Pt and Wallace were ‘randomly’ assigned the role of teacher and learner. Pt and experimenter attached Mr Wallace to equipment and Pt sampled 45v shock to increase authenticity. In adjoining room, pt asked Mr Wallace a question and had to shock him with increasingly stronger shocks. 15v - 450v. At 150v he would demand to be released, 300v refused to answer more questions. 315v screamed. 330v heard no more.
What were the four prods in Milgram’s experiment?
Prod 1 - Please continue
Prod 2 - The experiment requires you to continue
Prod 3 - It is absolutely essential you continue
Prod 4 - You have no other choice but to continue
What were the results of Milgram’s experiment?
Qualitative data - Pt’s looked uncomfortable and under some strain because they were sweaty, had seizures. they showed nervous laughter and they wanted to leave. They also hesitated pressing the switches.
Quantitative data - 100% gave 300v
65% gave the maximum 450v
What was the conclusion of Milgram’s experiment?
Milgram concluded that participants would obey the orders of an authority figure as the participants gave electric shocks to a learner when told to do so by an authority figure.
What was the generalisability of Milgram’s experiment?
Not generalisable to the target population - androcentric.
What was the reliability of Milgram’s experiment?
High reliability - clear standardised procedures so it can be replicated.
What were the applications of Milgram’s study?
People obey orders from authority - family school workplace. People obeying orders from officers of the law.
What is the validity of Milgram’s study?
Low ecological validity - environment and task were both artificial.
Orne and Holland said that pt’s didn’t really believe they were shocking people - demand characteristics.
However Milgram interviewed the pt’s who said they thought the situation was real - high levels of mundane realism.
Did Milgram’s study break ethical guidelines?
Deceived as to the true aim, so no informed consent.
Pt’s were fully debriefed and were not physically harmed.
Loss of uniform variation - Milgram.
The experimenter appeared to be an ordinary member of society - obedience dropped to 20%. Uniforms encourage obedience as they are recognised symbols of authority. If someone wears a uniform we expect that they are entitled to obedience.
