Social influence Flashcards
what was the conformity rate in Asch’s baseline study
36.8%
what were the individual differences in Asch’s baseline study
- 25% never conformed
- 75% conformed at least once
findings in group size variation of Asch’s study
- curvilinear relationship between groups size and level of conformity
- two confederates - conformity = 13.6%
- three confederates - conformity = 31.8%
- above three - conformity levelled off
findings in unanimity variation of Asch’s study
- in the presence of a dissenter, conformity reduced on average to less than a quarter of the level it was when the majority was unanimous
findings in Task difficulty variation of Asch’s study
conformity increased
Asch evaluation
situation and tasks were artificial:
- P’s knew they were in research study - task was trivial (demand characteristics)
- Fiske (2014) - groups were not like real-life groups - lacks ecological validity
Findings have little application:
- only American men tested
- Neto (1995) - women might be more conformist
- Bond and Smith (1996) - collectivist cultures have higher conformity rates
- lacks population validity
evidence to support Asch’s findings:
- Lucas et al (2006) - p’s had to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems
- given 3 wrong answers
- P’s conformed more for the ‘hard’ questions
- supports task difficulty variation
Zimbardo experiment findings
- social roles are power influences on behaviour - most conformed strongly to their roles
- Guards became brutal, prisoners became submissive
- other volunteers also easily conformed e.g. Chaplain
Zimbardo experiment evaluation
control over key variables:
- all emotionally stable
- randomly allocated to their roles
- internal validity
lacked mundane realism:
- Movahedi (1975) - participants were play-acting
- one guard based their role on a character from the film Cool Hand Luke
Zimbardo exaggerated the power of roles:
- only a third behaved brutally, another applied the rules fairly and the rest supported the prisoners - giving cigarettes and reinstating privileges
Milgram baseline findings
- 12.5% stopped at 300V
- 65% continued to 450V
- Qualitative data - P’s showed signs of extreme tension - three had ‘full-blown uncontrollable seizures’
Milgram baseline evaluation
replications have supported his findings:
- French game show - contestants order to give shocks when ordered by presenter to other P’s
- 80% gave the maximum volts of 460V
Study lacked internal validity :
- Orne and Holland (1968) - P’s guessed the shocks were fake
- Perry (2013) - discovered only half believed the shocks were real
- demand characteristics
Counter:
- Sheridan and King (1972) - P’s gave real shocks to a puppy
- 54% of males and 100% of Females went up to fatal shock
findings were not due to blind obedience:
- Haslam et al. (2014) - those given the first three prods obeyed the experimenter and those that disobeyed were given the 4th prod
- SIT suggests first three required identification with scientific aims and the fourth required blind obedience
- shows findings best explained in terms of identification with scientific aims
What is internalisation?
- A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct
- far reaching and permanent change in behaviour
What is identification?
- A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be part of it
- don’t agree with everything from the majority
What is compliance?
A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it
Types of conformity evaluation
- research support for NSI (Asch - writing down answers)
- research support for ISI (Lucas et al)
- individual differences in NSI - nAffiliators
Milgram proximity variation
- teacher and learner in same room - 40%
- touch proximity - 30%
- remote instruction 20.5%
