social influence Flashcards
what does conformity mean
changing an individuals behaviour and view as a result of group influence
what does internalisation mean
taking on the majority view because we think it is correct. Leads to a permanent change in behaviour. Individual behaviour changes both publically and privately
what does compliance mean
superficial type of conformity. Pubically agrees but not privately and it isn’t a permanent change of views
what does identification mean
individuals act the same way as others in a group because they value it and want to be a part of it. Public and private acceptance but is usually temporary and goes away when the individual leaves the group
what is informational social influence
-used to explain internalisation
-people may be unaware of how to behave in social situations
- they seek information from others and therefore conform to others and their attitudes so that they do the right thing.
- people assume the majority is right so therefore they will also be right if they do the same thing
-this results in internalisation as it is both publically and privately
-most likely when the situation is ambiguous
what is normative social influence
- explains compliance
-conformity arises from the need to be accepted by others - people do not believe the majority but do what they are doing to fit in
- likely to lead to compliance as they might share different views privately
evaluation of normative and informational influence
+supporting research form Lucas (2006) asks students to give answers to mathematical problems. There was greater conformity for difficult questions. shows they were conforming when they didn’t know what to do
+ real life application- when people listen to political speeches and take on that view because they are unsure whats right
evaluation of just normative social influence
+ supporting research from Asch (1956) found that pps conformed in 37% of critical trials when asked to complete a line judgment task. - lab-based and not representative of real life- not the type of thing you do in everyday life
explain Asch research
AIM
see if minority conformed to majority to answer with an obviously wrong answer. 123 males form USA participated ina lab experiment that they though was on visual perception
CONCLUSION
pps conformed in 37% of critical trials
75% conformed on at least one trial and 25% never conformed
explain aschs variations
-size of majority- when group size was reduced to just two confederates there was almost zero conformity. groups with three or more in the majority yielded the highest rates of conformity. conformity rose from 12% with two confederates and 32% with three confederates. However, there was little difference when adding more than three Confederates
-unanimity of the majority- repeated but asked one of the confederates to go against the majority and give the correct answer. Conformity rates dropped by 25%
-nature of the task- when the task was more difficult there was a higher rate of conformity.
evaluation of variables affecting conformity
-weakness is issues with determining group size and its effects. Studies only use a limited range of majority sizes
evaluation of asch
-temporal validity- 1950s were an era known for its pressure to conform. results could be different if carried out today. reduces validity as may not apply to today’s society
-unethical as pps reported feeling anxious
- pps deceived so ethical issues
- study was a lab experiment so lacked ecological validity and cannot be generalised in a real life setting
+high reliability as highly controlled easier to repeat the experiment
- study lacks population validity as 123 american men were used and can’t be generalised to other cultures
explain zimbardo
AIMS
-investigate the extent to which people would accept their social roles and conform to the roles
healthy male volunteers were used after being given an assessment and were randomly assigned either a guard or prisoner
treated like every other criminal in first prison but then was moved to stanford unis basement made to look like a prison
FINDINGS
the guards harassed the prisoners and conformed to their percieved roles so much that the experiment had to be cut short ofter 6 days
prisoners rebelled against the guards after only 2 days and gurds used fire extinguishes to stop the rebellion
pps became depressed and anxious- one person released after a day
two pps released on the fourth day
evaluation of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment
+ many controlled in the study and pps were psychologically stable- increseases internal validity
- ethical issues as pps were distressed, pps asked to withdraw and zimbardo said no
- lacks ecological validity although prison was invented and designed to look like a prison- it wasn’t an actual prison, prisoners may be play-acting and creating demand characteristics
+high rreliability as variables were controlled
-individual differences
explain milgrams study
AIMS
aimed to see if people would obey an authority figure.to electrocute someone if they answered a question wrong
40 male pps responded to an advert at yale uni and were paid $4.50
pps were ‘randomly’ allocated either a learner or teacher. But actually the confederate was always the learner and the pps was always the teacher
the experimenter prodded the pps if they wanted leave an not give the shocks
up to 450 volts which is deadly and it did say this on the machine
CONCLUSION
milgram thought that only 2% of people would go up to 450 volts when actually all pps went up to 300 volts and 65% went up to 450 volts
