social influence Flashcards
what did Allport (1924) argue about group influence?
argued that ‘group’ is a convenient shorthand fiction. did not deny people behave differently when close/proximal. drew from behaviourism: different stimuli in the environment, greater number of stimuli
what does Allport argue that social psychology is?
argues that social psychology is only individual psychology applied to the more complex stimulus conditions of the social environment. focus on individuals attributes. ‘if we take care of the individuals, psychologically speaking, the groups will be found to take care of themselves’
what concept does Allport’s hypothesis miss?
misses the concept of a social norm. socially shared ways of looking at the world- not reducible to individuals in group, prescriptive
what do group processes involve?
involve conformity to social norm. social influence relates to the processes whereby norms form, maintain or change
what did Sherif (1935) look at in terms of conformity to norms?
looked at influence processes in terms of conformity to norms. group norms emerge through interaction, a shared way of ordering the world. looked at how individuals judgements change as a result of exposure to other’s judgements.
what experiment did Sherif carry out to investigate group norms?
participants to judge how far a light moved. used the ‘autokinetic’ effect. two conditions- 1. first judge movement alone, later in groups. 2. first in groups, then alone
what were the results of Sherif’s experiment on group norms?
condition 1- first judge movement alone, later in groups. initially a personal norm around which their estimates fluctuated. in group phase, conformed to a common position, a group norm. condition 2- first in groups, then alone. developed a group norm which then persisted when they made their judgements alone
what conclusions did Sherif make from the experiment on group norms?
judgements on light movement represent conformity to group norm. product of information sharing. provides framework for interpretation of reality. unaware of being influenced. ‘internalised’- continued to use it even when alone. associated with group as a whole- in some studies changed group members one at a time and norm persisted
what did Asch want to investigate about objective reality in the line judgement task?
wanted to show that if objective reality was ascertainable nobody would submit to influence. participants gave their judgement after hearing others (all stooges) give their opinions.
what were the results of Asch’s line judgement experiment?
the overall error rate (measure of influence)= 37%. not every subject made errors but only 25% did not make any error. 33% conformed on half or more
what is Deutsch and Gerrard’ (1955) dual process theory?
theoretical integration of Sherif and Asch studies. informational influence (Sherif). normative influence (Asch)
what is informational influence? (assumed to occur in Sherif’s study)
reflects need for information about reality. precondition? subjective uncertainty/lack of confidence
what is normative influence? (assumed to occur in Asch study)
mediated by desire to be liked and accepted. individual ‘goes along to get along’. occurs when group has rewards. public compliance (not private acceptance)
what does contemporary research suggest about group influence?
Turner (1991), groups are important in self-definition. identity with groups, we expect to agree with fellow members.
what did Platow et al (2005) find in their study about group influence on comedy?
groups watched comedy and hear others laugh. this impacts on their own behaviour, depending on how others are defined. if in same group, laughed and smiled more than if not in same group. this is because we expect to agree with in-group
