Social Influence Flashcards
What is compliance
When a person publicly changes their behaviour to agree with others but secretly believes their own views
What is identification
When an individual adopts the behaviour and attitudes of a group the identify with and want to be associated with. Demonstrate same beliefs as group in public and private
What is internalisation
If you change and adopt a new set of beliefs or behaviours that become part of your own personal values and are not dependant upon being part of a group, you have internalised them.
e.g making friends with a vegetarian and becoming vegetarian too, then falling out with friends but continue to be a vegetarian
What are 3 types of conformity
Compliance
Identification
Internalisation
What is informational social influence
Explanation of conformity suggests individuals conform because they want to be right and don’t want to seem foolish by getting something wrong.
Individuals often look to others to help decide correct choice or decision.
If an individual doesn’t know what to do they may copy others around them because they thought that was the right thing to do
What is normative social influence
This explanation suggests individuals conform because they want to be liked and accepted by a group. This is because people generally want to behave in a way that is typical for that group.
there is a strong influence on a person to do something if there whole group does it, doing or thinking something different can leave the person feeling embarrassed
Evaluate explanations of conformity
Supportive evidence - for explenation people conform because of informational social influence. Study asked students to answer easy and difficult maths questions, and were shown incorrect responses. Greater conformity found to the difficult questions, particularly with those who said they where bad at maths. Suggests more likely to agree with others when faced with a difficult task and uncertain about a correct answer.
Supporting evidence - for explenation people conform because of normative social influence. Study found adolescents given simple message that most people their age did not smoke, were less likely to start smoking than those who were not given the message. Another study showed hotel guests who where told 73% of guests more likely to reuse their towels, reused their towels. Suggests people conform to the behaviour of others because of a desire to fit in with and be the same as a group similar to themselves
Critisicm- individual differences in conformity behaviour exist. Not everyone is affected by social influence to the same extent. One study showed students less likely to agree with others who have the wrong answer to length lines compared to controls. Some people are less concerned about being liked by others and being accepted so react differently to the pressure to conform. This is a problem for scientific credibility as science adopts a nomothetic approach which aims to identify general explanations for behaviour.
Explain Asch research into conformity
123 male American students individually tested with a group of 6 or 8 confederates
Task to say which line out of 3 was the same as target line, it was very clear which was right. At the beginning all confederates gave correct answer then confederates began to give wrong answers
74% participants conformed with the wrong answer at least once
People feel strong pressure to be the same as others and conform even if it’s incorrect
Asch - how does group size affect conformity
2 confederates lead to 13% participants conforming
3 confederates lead to 32% conforming
A group of just 3 people is enough conformity pressure on an individual
Asch - how does unamity affect conformity
In original study all confederates unanimously gave wrong answer, in variation one confederate gave correct answer and conformity rates fell to 5%
A majority has influence largely because of unanimity. If a group is non unanimous conformity rates fall drastically
Asch - how does task difficulty affect conformity
Asch variation of study increased difficulty of which line similar, this increased conformity
If a task is difficult more likely to conform however this is also down to individual differences
Evaluate Asch research
Strength - practical applications. Understanding decision making of jurors and understanding why people gain in harmful behaviours (smoking)
Weakness - research culturally biased only American participants. Individualistic culture where people are more concerned with themselves than a wider society group where membership is more valued. Other research found conformity rates in collectivist societies to be higher than the US. Asch research can not explain conformity in all cultures.
Weakness - criticised unethical. Participants believed confederates where participants like them, they were also deceived about the true nature of the study. Participants experienced stress and embarrassment when confederates gave wrong answers
Why do people conform to social roles
A social role - different positions people occupy as a member of society e.g parent, teacher, nurse, patient.
Each of these have certain expectations of behaviour as attitude. Conformity to these social roles means how long we show the expected behaviour once we adopt a social role
What is Zimbardos investigation into conformity social roles
Mock prison made in basement of Stanford university. Advert asked volunteers to take part in prison role play for 2 weeks, most emotionally stable volunteers chosen and randomly allocated prisoner or guard
Prisoners unexpectedly arrested in their homes, blindfolded, strip searched and given a uniform and number. Only referee to by number. Guards had uniform, handcuffs, keys and were told they had absolute power over prisoner even when deciding when they could go to the toilet.
After first few days guards became controlling and abusive. They woke prisoners up in middle of the night and made them clean toilets with their bare hands and carry out humiliating tasks. Prisoners rebelled and guards reacted with increasingly severe behaviour, prisoners then became depressed, 5 prisoners left early due to extreme responses. One prisoner asked to withdraw from study, another hunger strikes. After 6 days role play terminated
Concluded people rapidly conform to social role they occupy, behaviour strongly influenced by social situations
Evaluate zimbardos research
Weakness - serious ethical issues. It followed guidelines of convent however participants were exposed to considerable psychological harm and the study continued even when it was clear participants were experiencing unacceptable levels of stress. Zimbado had thought about Ethics, showing how difficult it can be to anticipate ethical issues when conducting experiment
Strength - research well controlled in examination of conformity to social roles. Able to show behaviour seen was caused purely by social roles occupied. Participants randomly allocated so behaviour demonstrated could be confidently attributed to role not individual. Confident on conclusions people conform to social roles
Challenging evidence that people readily conform. Critics claimed participants were showing demand characteristics and play acting rather than actually conforming. They were behaving in response to strong indications within the research m. We can not be confident people conform to social rules
Explain milgrama research into obedience
40 men volunteered. A learner was attached to electrodes which delivered an electric shock and told to remember words. Participant seated in another room and had to give increasingly powerful electric shocks if learner messed up. Learner shouted when given shocks and made no response after 315 volts. When participant wanted to stop researcher told them to continue. 65% of participants gave shocks up to 450 volts
Study found people find it difficult to refuse to obey authority, they loose sight of their morals. He then researched how different situational variables affect obedience such as proximity location and uniform
Explain how proximity has an affect on obedience
Proximity - degree of physical closeness. If teacher and learner in close proximity only 30% gave max voltage
If researcher gave orders over the phone only 20.5% gave shocks
How does location have an affect on obedience
Original study conducted at university, so more people thought it was legitimate. Changed the research to a shabby study and only 47.5% gave max voltage
How does uniform affect obedience
Bickman found in an experiment where the public where asked to do soemthing by a security guard, a milkman and someone in normal clothes
Security guard obeyed 76%
Milkman obeyed 47%
Ordinary clothes obeyed 30%
Uniform gives a legitimate sense of authority
Evaluate milgrams research
Weakness - many people argue participants did not really believe they was giving shocks and so study was not a valid demonstration which is why participants gave such high levels of shocks.
However supportive evidence as researchers got participants to give actual electric shocks to a puppy 77% obeyed and gave what they believed to be a fatal electric shock to a puppy. This suggests milgrams findings are accurate as participants gave high levels of obedience even when shocks where genuine
Weakness - high levels obedience wouldn’t take place out of a lab setting as that’s artificial and in natural. However in hospital 21 out of 22 nurses followed orders of a doctors that went again hospital procedure. Suggests milgrams findings are correct and seen everydsy
How does legitimacy of authority explain obedience
Society structured in a hierarchy that accepts certain roles have control over situations and people. We are socialised into following orders from authority figures. We believe police officers and bouncers have the authority to tell us what to do as they have legitimate authority over us and their social roles are important for maintaining order.
Legitimacy of authority is often signalled by wearing a uniform. These positions have the authority to punish people people who do not obey
Evaluate legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience
Supporting evidence - supported by Milgrams. Maximum levels of obedience attributed to the authority of Yale university, this was further supported when obedience levels fell in a less authorities setting
Supportive evidence - from research in natural settings. Supported by data of aviation accidents and near misses. Flight voice recorder evidence showed excessive obedience to the captains authority, crew also said they accepted what the captain says as they believe they know best. Bickmans research also found people more likely to obey people in uniform. This is because uniform implies a sense of legitimate authority
Explain the agent if state as an explanation of authority
We usually act in an autonomous state where we make desicions for ourselves and act on our own morals. We accept responsibility for action. Milgram said if we interact with an authority figure we feel they have greater power than ourselves and they have full responsibility for whatever they tell us to do. Once we enter the agentic state binding factors keep us in it and inhibit the return to an autonomous state. We appear rude if we go against social conventions so this promotes us to be obedient
Evaluate the agentic state as an explenation of obedience
Supportive evidence - from research conducted in controlled setting. Milgram participants asked who was responsible for hurting the person they gave shocks too, when the researcher assured it was them who was responsible the participants continued. When asked why they did it participants said they was uncomfortable and said they didn’t want too the researcher told them to do it. Supports idea individuals are obedient because they enter agentic state
Weakness - ifea challenged by real life accounts of German doctors working at auschwitz. They gradually irreversibly changed from ordinary concerned doctors for sick people to criminals who carried out vile and lethal experiments on helpless victims. Researchers propose rather than agentic shift it was the repeated carrying out of malevolent and aggressive acts that changed the way individuals behave
Explain how the authoritarian personality explains obedience
The explanation focuses on how obedience can be explained due to an individuals personality rather than situational factors.
Adorno suggested it establishes during childhood and is the result of harsh parenting from strict discipline and unreasonable high standards. Parents show conditional love. The psychodynamic approach explains that negative emotions are instead displaced onto weaker people. Therefore develop hatred to those inferior
Describe research into the authoritarian personality type
Middle class white Americans involved in a study to investigate their attitudes to other racial groups. The F scale is used to measure whether someone has the authoritarian personality type or not. It involved asking participants to rate items such as ‘obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues a child can learn.
Found people who scored high had authoritative tendency’s and were identified with ‘strong’ people and dismissive of ‘weak’
Very conscious of own social status
Showed extreme respect to authority
What are features of an authoritative personality type
Being highly submissive to authority figures
Showing contempt for people with status
Believing a country needs strong leaders and traditional values
Being uncomfortable with uncertainty
Evaluate the authoritive personality type as an explenation for obedience
Supporting evidence - one study used immersive virtual environment in which participants were aware the shocks and reactions of the learner were simulated. This was to overcome participant suspicions the shocks weren’t genuine in Milgram research. Positive correlation between participants score on authority and voltage they were willing to give
Weakness - Milgram argued although personality may influence on whether people obey authority. The situational context is more important. His research showed level of obedience varied in relation to the proximity of the victim and the authority figure to the participant, location and presence of other disobedient confederates. A dispositions explenation of obedience cannot account for the variation in obedience levels in different situations
Why are some people resistant to social influence
Social support
Locus of control
What is social support
The physical and emotional comfort given to you by other people
Explain social support as an explanation for resisting conformity
When we are the only one who thinks or feels differently to a group it is uncomfortable to go against a majority so we might conform.
If another individual is not in agreement with the others this gives support to an individual who has a different opinion. The dissenter does not even have to be present the same opinion as an individual trying to resist the group. The other person breaks the unanimity of the group as they offer potential for different, legitimate ways of thinking that give an individual confidence to act upon their own judgement
Evaluate social support as an explanation for resisting conformity
Supportive evidence - from Asch found conformity rates fell from 32% to 5% when one confederate gave the correct answer. Strongest support came from a confederate who gave the correct answer in the first position in the group. Resistance to conformity heavily dependent upon having an ally in the group who also resists.
Challenging evidence - where no social support was shown in Asch’s first study the most common behaviour was still to resist the social influence to conform to the group. This casts doubt upon the influence of social support in resistance and instead implies it may only be a partial explanation for resisting social pressures to conform
Explain social support as a reason for resisting obedience
Social support through witnesses another person take stand and refusing to obey can help an individual resist the pressure to obey. The disobedient person acts as a role model and can help the individual cope with the awkwardness involved in contravening social conventions of obeying a person with legitimate authority
Evaluate social support as an explanation for resisting obedience
In one version of Milgram study one confederate refused to give any more electric shocks. The rate of obedience fell from 65% giving max shocks to 10% supports ifea social support helps resist obedience
Real life incident shoes social support resists obedience. German women protested in Berlin against Gestapo. They ordered the women disperse and threatened to shoot them. Women refused to obey and contained fo make their demands, eventually they for their own way
What is the locus of control
The extent you feel in control of the events that influence your life
What is an internal locus of control
People who think things happen to them are the results of their own behaviour and they have an internal locus of control
What is an external locus of control
Someone who blames others for things
What locus control
Do most people have
Most
People sit along a continuum with internal at one extreme and external st the other
How does locus of control explain resistance to conformity and obedience
People with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressure to conform or obey as
Less likely to rely on others, believe they are responsible for own actions
Able to withstand comfort of resisting the pressure to conform or obey
More confident and less need for social approval
Evaluate locus of control as an explenation of resisting conformity or obedience
Supporting research - Milgram original study 37% of internal locus control revised to carry on highest shock whereas 23% external locus of control continued
Supportive evidence - study compared locus of control and responsiveness to normative and informational influences in 157 grad students. Results showed those with internal locus of control less likely to conform. Supports idea internal locus of control links to resisting conformity.
Who conducted research into minority influence
Moscovi
Explain moscovis research into minority influence
172 female participants told they were taking part in a colour perception task
In each group of 6 females, two were confederates. The task was to identify the colour of 36 blue slides that varied in intensity
In one condition the confederates consistently said the slides were green, in a second inconsistent condition the confederates said green on two thirds of the trials and blue on another third
In the consistent condition participants agreed the slides were green on 8% of trials
32% of participants said green at least once
In the inconsistent trial participants agreed the slides were green only 1% of trials
Concluded in order for a minority to have influence on a majority, they must be consistent
Evaluate moscovis research
His lab experiment criticised for being too artificial. In every day life minority’s often very passionate about the views they hold which cannot be unlikely to be the case for the confederates in Moscovis study. Changing the majority viewpoint usually takes many years and this study was over a short period of time. Suggests study can not provide accurate reflection of how minority groups operate in real world
What are the three processes involved in minority influence
Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility
Explain how consistency affects the minority influence
Members of minority group must all propose the same messaged / they must be synchronised with each other
They must continue to have same opinion over time as this helps to puncture the certainty of the majority who feel the minority may have a point worth considering
Explain how commitment affects the minority influence
Sometimes minority’s campaign to promote their message in dramatic and dangerous ways. It is important the campaigns appear to put the minority group at some risk to demonstrate their level of commitment to the cause
When the majority pays attention to selfless and risky acts this is more likely to integrate the groups opinion into their own personal viewpoint due to the personal sacrifice made
Explain how flexibility affects the minority influence
If the minority is totally rigid and dogmatic or narrow minded in its stance, others will not take them seriously and might regard them as fanatical
Evaluate research into minority influence
Supportive evidence for consistency - Mosovici’s study showed the confederates who consistently said the slides were green persuaded the majority to agree with them 8% of the time whereas the inconsistent minority had hardly any effect on the majority. A meta analysis of about 100 other studies also found that a minority that was consistent was most influential
Supporting evidence for flexibility - in simulated jury set up, a confederate who disagreed with the majority and refused to alter his position had no effect on the majority opinion about the amount of compensation that should be paid to someone after a ski lift accident. A confederate who offered s different opinion to the majority but was prepared to shift a little towards the majority was able to influence others to agree with him
Critisicm - most research is artificial and staged, agreeing with others about the colour of slides is not indictatice of other situations of being exposed to the minority opinions. This means what the researxh has found about minority influence may not apply very well in other more real life settings where a minority group try to persuade the majority to change their minds, so we are less confident about the role of consistency and flexibility in minority influence
What are some examples of social change
Shape of the earth
Drinking alcohol and driving
Homosexuality
Having children outside marriage
How does social change come about
Minority influence
Conformity
Obedience
What is obedience
It occurs when we are ordered to do something by someone with authority over us and we do as we are told
What is conformity
A form of social influence where an individual changes their thoughts or behaviour so that they are the same as the group
What is minority influence
When an individual or small group changes the behaviour of a large group
