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GCSE Psychology (AQA) 2023 Edited > Social Influence > Flashcards

Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

conformity

A

acting or thinking slimier to those around you due to group pressure

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2
Q

outline Asch’s study of conformity (9s)

A

A: to investigate group pressure in an unambiguous situation
M: -participants (123 male students) thought they were taking part in a study of visual perception
-participants were shown a standard line and three comparison lines, they were told to pick which line was the same as the standard line
-each participant was tested with a group of 6/8 confederates and the true participant was always sat at the end so they could hear everyone else’s answers first
-the first 12 trials the participants said the correct answer to gain trust
-the last 6 trials the confederates all gave the identical wrong answer
-Asch counted how many times the participant agreed with this wrong answer
R: when wrong answers were given:
-36% conformed overall
-76% conformed at least once
-24% never conformed
C:-majority of people are influenced by group pressure
- though many can resist
-this is due to normative social influence (need to be liked) and informational social influence (need to be right)

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3
Q

what is a weakness of Asch’s study of conformity (9s)

*Historically situated

A

P- results may only be relevant to 1950s America
E- 1950s America was a particularly conformist as politicians ensured that people followed the rules so people were afraid to behave differently
L- his research isn’t consistent over time and may only be apparent in certain conditions

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4
Q

what is a weakness of Asch’s study of conformity (9s)

*artificial task

A

P- task and situation was artificial
E- judging the length of a line with strangers isn’t an everyday task
L- results may not reflect everyday situations (especially when the consequences of conformity are more important)

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5
Q

what is a weakness of Asch’s study of conformity (9s)

*collectivist

A

P- Asch’s research is more reflective of conformity in individualist cultures (UK and America)
E- research has found that conformity studies done in collectivist countries (China) produce higher conformity rates as they’re more oriented to group needs
L- suggests that Asch’s findings are probably less reflective of conformity in collectivist cultures

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6
Q

social factor

A

explanation in terms of the social world around you

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7
Q

what are the social factors affecting conformity

A
  • anonymity
  • task difficulty
  • group size
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8
Q

how does anonymity affect conformity

social factor

A
  • reduces our concern (less pressure) about people disagreeing with our views
  • lowers conformity as we aren’t worried about what others will think of us
  • research has shown that when participants are friends/when with a group of friends conformity increases
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9
Q

how does task difficulty affect conformity

social factor

A

-as the difficulty of the task increases the answer becomes less certain so people will feel less confident about their own answer and look to others for the right answer
-people with greater expertise may be less affected by task difficulty

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10
Q

how does group size affect conformity

social factor

A
  • more people in a group=greater pressure to conform
  • two confederates: 13.6% conformity
  • three confederates: 31.8% conformity
  • more than three made little difference
  • when there’s no obvious answer (eg.musical preference) people don’t conform until the group size gets to 8/10 people
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11
Q

dispositional factor

A

explanation in terms of the individual’s personal characteristics

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12
Q

what are the dispositional factors that affect conformity

A
  • personality
    -Experties

- expertise

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13
Q

how does personality affect conformity

dispositional factor

A

Locus of control:
-personality dimension (on continuum)
-extent to which people believe they’re in control in their lives
Internal Locus:
-in control of what happens to them
-personal responsibility
-more likely to resist social influence
External Locus:
-feel they can’t control situations
-don’t feel in control of their actions (fate, luck)
-likely to conform/obey

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14
Q

how does expertise affect conformity

dispositional factor

A
  • increases your confidence in your opinions
  • more knowledgeable=conform less
  • research found that math experts were less likely to conform to other’s answers on math problems
  • older people consider themselves more knowledgeable=less likely to conform
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15
Q

obedience

A

response to a direct order from an authority figure

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16
Q

outline Milgram’s study of obedience

A

A: to investigate whether in certain circumstances a normal person would give somebody a potentially lethal electric shock if told to do so by an authority figure
M: -40 paid male volunteers (thought it was for a study on memory)
-a confederate was the “learner” while the participant always ended up being the “teacher”
-an “experimenter” (other confederate) directed the study
-experimented instructed the teacher to give the (fake) electric shock (15 increasing to 450 volts) to the learner every time he answered incorrectly on a memory task
-learner began to pound on wall and stop giving responses at 300 volts
-teacher was asked to continue when asked for guidance
R: -no participant stopped below 300 volts
-65% shocked to 450 volts
-caused participants extreme tension, even seizures
C: ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure even to the extent of killing someone

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17
Q

social factor of obedience: outline Milgram’s agency theory (9t)

A

Agency:
act as an agent (for someone else) because they assume that the person giving orders is taking responsibility
Agentic State:
act on behalf of someone else and would follow their orders blindly (person feels no responsibility for their actions
Autonomous State (free):
where they behave according to their own principles and feel responsible for their own actions
Agentic Shift:
moving from making own free choices to following orders (occurs when someone is in authority)
Culture (social hierarchy)
-some people have more authority than others because of their position in the social hierarchy
-depends on society and socialisation
Proximity:
-proximity increases the “moral strain” that a person feels which leads to an increased sense of personal responsibility
-Milgram: less obedient if the learner was in the same room as them

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18
Q

what is a strength of the social factor of obedience: Milgram’s agency theory (9t)
*research support

A

P- research support
E- Milligram’s electric shocks study
L- shows how people will be obedient even going against there conscience

19
Q

what is a weakness of the social factor of obedience: Milgram’s agency theory (9t)
*doesn’t explain all findings

A

P- doesn’t explain why there isn’t 100% obedience
E- 35% of participants didn’t obey fully
L- social factors can’t fully explain obedience

20
Q

what is a weakness of the social factor of obedience: Milgram’s agency theory (9t)
*real world aplication

A

P- it “excuses” people who blindly follow destructive orders
E- offensive to the holocaust survivors as it suggests that the Nazis just obeyed orders and ignores roles that racism and prejudice played
L- dangerous, as it allows people to think they aren’t always personally responsible

21
Q

dispositional factor of obedience: Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality (9t)

A

The Authoritarian Personality:
-exaggerated respect for authority ,more likely to obey orders
-look down on people of inferior social status, being different or threat to current order of hierarchy
-sees life very “black and white”
-belief in rigid stereotypes
Originates in Childhood:
-develops when a child experiences strict parenting/discipline
-child only receives love when they behave correctly
-the child fears there parents and so is overly obedient
-the child internalizes these values and expects all people to behave the same towards authoritative figures
-child also feels hostility towards parents but can’t express these feelings directly as they fear reprisals
Scapegoating:
-hostility felt towards parents for being critical is put onto people who are socially inferior

22
Q

what is a weakness of the dispositional factor of obedience: Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality (9t)
*lack of support

A

P- lack of support due to the flawed questionnaire
E- the F scale used has a response bias
L- challenges validity as it’s based on poor evidence

23
Q

what is a strength of the dispositional factor of obedience: Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality (9t)
*supporting evidence

A

P- supporting evidence
E- even though its only a coloration, Milligram conducted a follow up experiment, those that went all the way to 450 volts scored higher on tests of authoritarianism
L-suggests that there is an apparent link between obedience and the authoritarian personality.

24
Q

what is a weakness of the dispositional factor of obedience: Adorno’s theory of the authoritarian personality (9t)
*social and dispositional

A

P- its both social and dispositional
E- Germans were obedient but didn’t all have the same upbringing (otherwise we’d expect all Germans to be authoritarian)
L- shows that a dispositional factor alone can’t explain high levels of obedience

25
Q

prosocial behaviour

A

behaviour that is beneficial to other people and may not necessarily benefit the helper

26
Q

outline Piliavin’s subway study (9s)

A

A: to investigate if characteristics of a victim affect help given in an emergency
M: -103 trials -4 researchers
-“victim” (male student) staged a collapse on the subway and remained on the floor until help was coming
-38 trials: victim smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle of alcohol wrapped in a brown bag (drunk condition)
-65 trials: victim appeared sober and carried a black cane (disabled condition)
-victim dressed and behaved the same in both conditions
R: -disabled condition: helped at some point on 95% of the trials and 87% of the of the victims were helped in the first 70 seconds after they collapsed
-drunk condition: helped at some point on 50% of the trials and 17% of the of the victims were helped in the first 70 seconds after they collapsed
C: -characteristics of victim affects help given
-number of onlookers doesn’t affect help in natural setting

27
Q

what is a strength of Piliavin’s subway study (9s)

*high realism

A

P- high realism
E- participants weren’t aware that their behaviour was being studied so they responded how they would normally (natural)
L- results have high validity

28
Q

what is a weakness of Piliavin’s subway study (9s)

*urban sample

A

P- people studied were likely to be mainly people who lived in the city
E- they might have been accustomed to seeing beggars and may have become more used to ignoring someone in need
L- observed behaviour may not be typical of all people (info can’t be generalised)

29
Q

what is a strength of Piliavin’s subway study (9s)

*qualitative data

A

P- qualitative data was recorded
E- observers noted remarks from passengers which gives a deeper insight into why people didn’t help
L- has the value of both qualitative and quantitative data

30
Q

what are the social factors affecting prosocial behaviour

A
  • presence of others
  • cost of helping

- cost of helping

31
Q

how does presence of others affect prosocial behaviour

social factor

A
  • the more people present=less likely someone will help due to diffusion of responsibility
  • more likely to react and help another person if they are alone.
  • We look to others to guide us in our response
    -Piliavin ,amount present doesn’t always change bystander intervention
32
Q

how does cost of helping affect prosocial behaviour

social factor

A
  • too costly to help as we may injure ourselves, put ourselves at risk, be inconvenienced too much or lose time and money.
  • The rewards may be praise, social recognition, financial reward or simply avoiding guilt
  • cognitive conflict between these 2 costs and possible rewards (feeling good, praise and social recognition)
    -also depends on if the person believes its an emergency or not
33
Q

what are the dispositional factors affecting prosocial behaviour

A
  • similarity to the victim
  • expertise

- expertise

34
Q

how does similarity to the victim affect prosocial behaviour

dispositional factor

A
  • if you identify with the victim you are more likely to help
  • research by Levine et al. found that people were more likely to help a victim if they believed them to support the same football team
35
Q

how does expertise affect prosocial behaviour

dispositional factor

A
  • people with specialist skills are more likely to help in emergency situations
  • found that when a workman fell off a ladder registered nurses (high expertise) were more like to help than non medical students (low expertise)
    -however it was found that in emergencies decision to help was unaffected by expertise but it definitely affects the quality of help given
36
Q

crowd

A

large but temporary gathering of people with a common focus

37
Q

antisocial behaviour

A

behaviour that is harmful to others

-behaving aggressively and doing things that may distress others

38
Q

what are the social factors affecting crowd and collective behaviour

A
  • deindividuation
  • social loafing
  • culture
39
Q

how does deindividuation affect crowd and collective behaviour
(social factor)

A

group norms determine crowd behaviour
-may result in freeing the individual of personal norms and them becoming less aware of their responsibility for their actions

40
Q

how does social loafing affect crowd and collective behaviour
(social factor)

A

when working in a group, people put in less effort as you can’t identify individual effort
-Latane et al. found that when participants were asked to scream as loudly as they could, when they were in a larger group they individually made less noise than when they were on their own
-Diffusion of responsibility

41
Q

how does culture affect crowd and collective behaviour

social factor

A

individualists (US): focused on individual result
collectivists (Chinese): decisions are made with reference to the needs of the group, social loafing is likely to be lower
-Earley found that Chinese people put in the same amount of effort in a group task where individual effort can’t be identified as the group task where individual effort could be identified whereas the Americans put in less effort on the group task where individual effort couldn’t be identified

42
Q

what are the dispositional factors affecting crowd and collective behaviour

A
  • personality
  • morality

- morality

43
Q

how does personality affect crowd and collective behaviour

dispositional factor

A

internal locus of control enables individuals to be less influenced by crowd behaviour as they’re more likely to follow their personal norms than the social norms created by others around

44
Q

how does morality affect crowd and collective behaviour

dispositional factor

A
  • “morals” are our ideas of right and wrong
  • people with a strong sense of right and wrong helps resist pressure from group norms
  • in Milgram’s study a professor of religion was able to resist the pressure of “what everyone else was doing” due to his strong sense of moral responsibility
  • supported by historical evidence of individuals who stood up to crowd behaviour

GCSE Psychology (AQA) 2023 Edited (11 decks)

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