Social influence Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 3 types of conformity?
A
Identification
Internalisation
Compliance
2
Q
Define Compliance
A
- A superficial change, but not privately changing personal behaviour.
- This stops when group pressure also stops.
3
Q
Define Identification
A
- compliance to a group one seeks approval.
- results in complying when with group to be accepted, but may not agree with norms when in private.
4
Q
Define ISI
A
- the desire to be right in a social group
- usually a permanent and internalised form of social influence.
5
Q
Define NSI
A
- the desire to be liked in a social setting
- usually temporary and public.
6
Q
What are some supports for ISI?
A
- Lucas et al’s study- as math questions got harder, more people conformed. Suggests that this stems from the desire to be right.
7
Q
what proves NSI?
A
Asch’s line study- when answers were written down privately, conformity decreased- showing that people are less likely to be normatively social influenced by others.
8
Q
What are the cons of using NSI and ISI?
A
- not sure how all of them work- might be that both work together in real life. Asch’s study showed that conformity decreased when there was one dissenting participant- which could’ve involved either interpretation of NSI or ISI.
- doesn’t take personality or free will into consideration- aka n-affiliators who are people who will not follow the norm in a social setting.
9
Q
briefly describe Asch’s study.
A
- 50 undergrad students
- presented with an X line (ref)
- then presented with 3 other lines, and asked to match up one of the three most similar in length to the X line
- group included confederates and naive participants.
10
Q
How was Asch study modified?
A
- Group size
- Unanimity
- task difficulty
11
Q
explain Asch’s study findings in terms of GUT
A
- the larger the group size, the higher the rate of conformity- 3 people had the biggest difference, and conformity increased by 31.8%
- The more unanimous the decision, the higher the rate of conformity. When dissenters were introduced, conformity dropped.
- as task difficulty increased, conformity also increased.
12
Q
What were the positives of Asch’s study?
A
- lab study, soo controlled EVs, so better reliability due to control over them.
- other research by Lucas et al supports research into task difficulty- as math questions in Lucas’s study got harder, conformity also increased, which showed that other psychologists also supported Asch’s study and didn’t find conflicting evidence.
13
Q
What were the negatives of Asch’s study?
A
- lab study, so artificial and less ecological validity.
- biased sample- only used white American men. So can’t be conclusive on Collectivist culture countries, women or people of other ethnicities.
14
Q
briefly describe Zimbardo’s study
A
- 50 male undergrad volunteers
- randomly assigned to roles of prisoners or guards
- then brought to mock prison, where prisoners were actually arrested in front of their houses.
- everyone was given uniforms, which created a sense of deindividualization.
- study ended in 6 days, whereas it was supposed to take place for 2 weeks.
15
Q
What are some positives of Zimbardo’s study?
A
- high level of control over key variables- eg: mental state of participants, and randomly assigned to roles.
- so this ruled out dispositional factors in the study, meaning it showed that the conformity to social roles was due to the social situation.
- real prison environment feel- many prisoners would refer to ‘how to decrease their sentences’ or had to be reminded that it wasn’t an actual prison. This shows that roles were internalised to the max, and the study was valid.
16
Q
What are some negatives of Zimbardo’s study?
A
- Exaggerated statistics- only around 1/3 of the guards were actually brutal, and this may show that the guards were ‘coached’ to be brutal.
- some argue that the prison setting wasn’t real enough, as some prisoners and guards said that their roles were based on movies and stereotypes of their roles. Shows that the results may not be conclusive.
- EHTICS: did not protect participants from physical and mental harm, and put them through abuse. Also did not give them informed consent- they were not fully informed about what will take place in the study.
17
Q
Briefly describe Milgram’s study on obedience.
A
- gathered participants from an ad- 40 male volunteers
- each volunteer was then introduced to a confederate.
- both drew for their roles, but it was fixed so that the confederate would always be the learner.
- the teacher had to shock the learner for every wrong answer- and increase voltage each time. (shocks were fake)
18
Q
Describe the results obtained from Milgram’s study.
A
- all went up to 300 volts
- 12.5% stopped at 300 volts
- 65% kept going to the max 450 volts
- qualitative data showed that participants were stressed and tense- biting nails, sweating, nervous laughter etc.
19
Q
what were the positives of Milgram’s study?
A
- supported by a french reality TV show- the day of death, where the study was replicated in front of an audience- 40% obeyed and went up to the full voltage. So this shows that the results obtained were not only because of a crowd.
- Sheridan and King’s study supported the study- where Participants gave real shocks to puppies- 100% of women and 54% of men obeyed up till the max shock- shows that results of MIlgram’s study were genuine and not because participants figured out the shocks were fake.
20
Q
what are some negatives of Milgram’s study?
A
- Participants could have shown demand characteristics due to not believing in the set up, so they simply play acted to fulfill the aims of research- makes the study less valid.
- SIT is an alternate explaination- where they could have only obeyed due to identifying with the aims of the research- eg when they only refused to follow orders blindly.
- ETHICS: participants were put through mental and physical distress, deceived, and right to withdraw was not given (but these BPS guidelines didn’t exist back then)
21
Q
How was Milgram’s study modified?
A
- Proximity
- Uniform
- Location
