Social Influence Flashcards
What is Conformity?
Conformity is a change in a person’s behaviour/opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people.
What are the 3 types of Conformity?
- Compliance (shallow)
- Identification (Intermediate)
- Internalisation (deep)
What is Compliance?
- Compliance is a type of conformity
- This is where an individual externally agrees with a group/person’s beliefs but internally keeps their own beliefs.
What is Identification?
- Identification is a type of conformity
- This is where an individual admires a person/group so takes on their beliefs even though they don’t fully agree.
What is Internalisation?
- Internalisation is a type of conformity
- It is the deepest type of Conformity as the individual’s beliefs/behaviours genuinely change permanently.
What are the 2 explanations for Conformity?
- Informational Social Influence (ISI)
- Normative Social Influence (NSI)
What is Informational Social Influence (ISI) ?
- ISI is one of the two explanations for conformity.
- In situations where the correct behaviour is uncertain, we look to the majority for guidance on how to behave because we want to be correct.
What is Normative Social Influence (NSI) ?
- NSI is one of the two explanations for conformity.
- It occurs in situations where the individual wants to be a part of the majority to seem normal, and to not be rejected.
What is the supporting evidence for NSI (Asch) ?
- Participants would choose the wrong answer in an UNAMBIGUOUS line test if confederates picked the wrong answer.
- When interviewed after the experiment, participants said that the reason they conformed was in order to avoid rejection from others (NSI).
What is the supporting evidence for ISI (Jenness) ?
- Participants asked to first guess ALONE how many Jellybeans in a jar (AMBIGUOUS TASK)
- Then participants discussed with a group of confederates their answers (confederates guessed much higher/lower numbers than participant)
- Participant then asked to guess again, this time gave an answer much closer to what the confederates were saying.
What is meant by 12 ‘Critical trials’ In Asch’s Conformity Experiment?
The 12 Critical trials refers to the 12 times the confederates gave the wrong answer purposely.
What were the results in Asch’s Conformity experiment?
- Conformity was 32%
- 75% Conformed at least once
- 5% Conformed all 12 times
What were the 3 Variations of Asch’s Conformity experiment?
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Task difficulty
What were the results in the ‘Group Size’ variation of Asch’s experiment?
- 3% Conformed if there was only 1 confederate
- 13% Conformed if there were 2 confederates
- 33% Conformed if there were 3 Confederates
- (After 3 confederates the % of those that conformed didn’t go much higher)
What were the results in the ‘Unanimity’ variation of Asch’s experiment?
- If a confederate disagreed with the majority just before the participants answer, Conformity dropped to 5.5%
- This is because the participant received some social support to disagree too.
What were the results in the ‘Task Difficulty’ variation of Asch’s experiment?
- When Asch made the difference between the lines much smaller, Conformity increased as the task became more Ambiguous.
- This is more due to ISI than NSI.
Bulletpoint the setup of Zimbardo’s experiment on Conformity to Social Roles.
- Fake prison set up in the basement of Stanford University.
- 21 Males selected from 75 volunteers.
- 21 Males split up in to 10 Prisoners & 11 Guards.
- 10 Prisoners were realistically arrested by local police (stripped,deloused,fingerprinted) and were given uniforms with numbers to dehumanise them.
- Guards given Clubs, Handcuffs & Mirrored sunglasses.
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s study?
- Guards and Prisoners Conformed to their social roles quickly
- Guards abused their power & Prisoners expressed hate towards the Guards.
How long was it until Zimbardo’s experiment was cancelled, and why?
- In 6 days the experiment was cancelled.
- This was due to the fears for the Prisoners mental health as a result of the poor treatment from Guards.
Bulletpoint the setup for Milgram’s experiment on Obedience.
- Participant was always the Teacher and Confederate was always the Learner (rigged Hat draw).
- Learner was in a seperate room from the Teacher and was strapped to a chair with electrodes attached.
- Learner had to answer questions testing Memory & Teacher had to deliver an electric shock if Learner answered incorrectly.
- Shocks ranged from 15v to 450v.
- Teacher was unaware that the shocks were fake.
How were Partcipants Deceived in Milgram’s Obedience Experiment?
- Participants were told it was a Memory study (however it was really a test for Obedience).
What were the Results in Milgram’s Obedience Experiment?
- All participants continued to 300V
- 12.5% stopped at 300V
- 65% continued all the way to 450V
Who conducted Supporting Reasearch for Milgram’s Obedience Experiment?
Hofling et al.
What were the results of Hofling’s Study?
- 21 out of 22 nurses Obeyed orders taken over the phone from “Dr Smith” to prescribe double the Maximum dosage of an unfamiliar drug to a (confederate) Patient.
What are the 3 Situational Variables affecting Obedience (Milgram) ?
- Proximity
- Location
- Uniform
What was the Obedience Rate in the original Milgram experiment?
62.5%
What was the Obedience Rate when the Teacher was in the same room as the Learner (closer Proximity) ?
40%
What was the Obedience Rate when Milgram’s Experiment took place in a run-down office (Less Prestiguous Location) ?
47.6%
What was the Obedience Rate when the Experimenter was wearing normal clothes (rather than a Lab Coat) ?
20%
Who conducted supporting research for Uniform affecting Obedience ?
Bickman
What were the results of Bickman’s experiment?
- Obedience rate in suit = 19%
- Obedience rate in Milkman uniform = 14%
- Obedience rate for Security Guard = 38%
What is the Agentic State?
- Agentic State is a state of mind where an Individual believes they are NOT responsible for an action.
What is the Autonomous State?
- The Autonomous State is a state of mind where an Individual feels fully responsible for their actions.
What is Legitimacy of Authority?
Legitimacy of Authority is the idea that individuals accept that other individuals who are higher up in the Social Hierarchy should be Obeyed.
How does Milgram’s Experiment demonstrate the power of Legitimacy of Authority?
The Experimenter occupied a high level in the Social Hierarchy, due to having an extensive education.
How does Milgram’s Experiment demonstrate the Agentic state?
Participants would often continue delivering shocks to the Learner once the Experimenter clarified that he was responsible.
What is the Agentic Shift?
The Agentic Shift refers to the shift from the Autonomous state to the Agentic state.
Who came up with the F scale?
Adorno
What is the F scale?
- The F scale is a questionnaire
- It aims to measure how Authoritarian an individual is.
What were the Characteristics of individuals that scored high on the F scale?
- Showed high respect for people of higher social status
- Had fixed stereotypes for other groups
- Inflexible/dogmatic
- Identified with ‘strong’ people and disliked ‘weak’ people
What did Elmes & Milgram find?
Those that shocked to the full 450V scored higher on the F scale than those that refused to continue.
What is the Authoritarian Personality?
The Authoritarian Personality refers to a person who has extreme respect for Authority, and is more likely to be obedient to those of a higher social status.
What is Social Support?
- Social Support is when a person sees another individual resisting pressures to conform.
- This makes it easier for that person to also resist the pressure to conform.
Who came up with the Locus of Control?
Rotter
What does someone with a High Internal LOC believe?
An individual with a High Internal LOC believes they are fully in control of their life and that their actions dictate their life events.
What does someone with High External LOC believe?
An individual with a High External LOC believes that external forces dictate their life (such as other people, fate or the government).
What 3 attributes must a Minority adopt to make change?
- Consistency
- Commitment
- Flexibility
What is the Augmentation Principle?
The Augmentation Principle is the idea that Minorities are more convinving if they have made a sacrifice (links in to commitment)
What is Social Cryptoamnesia?
- Social Cryptoamnesia is where individuals who previously held the now unpopular view refuse to admit they held that view.
- Or they refuse to admit they resisted the new view when it was still small.
