Social Influence

Question 1

What is compliance?

Answer 1

agree with the group externally but keep personal opinions. Temporary change in behaviour

Question 2

What is Identification?

Answer 2

Behaviour and private values change only when with the group. As membership is valued

Question 3

What is internalisation?

Answer 3

Personal opinions genuinely change to match the group. This is a permanent change

Question 4

What is Informational social influence (ISI)

Answer 4

If correct behaviour is uncertain, we look to the majority for guidance on how to behave because we want to be correct. ISI results in internalisation (permanent)

Question 5

What is normative social influence (NSI)

Answer 5

When the individual wants to appear normal and be one of the majority, so they are approved not rejected. NSI results in compliance, (supercial/temporary)

Question 6

What is evidence for NSI?

Answer 6

Asch (1951) when given an unambiguous line length test with confederates choosing incorrect responses, participants gave the incorrect response on 32% of trials. When interviewed, participants suggested they conformed to avoid rejection from the group (majority). Providing evidence for NSI.

Question 7

What is evidence for ISI

Answer 7

Jenness (1932) who asked participants first alone, then in groups, then make a second guess alone the number of beans in a jar (ambiguous task, no obvious correct answer). Individuals second private guess moved closer to the group guess (women were more conformist). Providing evidence for ISI.

Question 8

What was the methodology of Asch’s (1951) test

Answer 8

Participants deceived, asked to take part in a visual perception task and tested with 7-9 confederates. 1st card had a standard line, 2nd had three comparison lines, one the same length as the standard line. Group asked on 18 trials which comparison line was the same length as the standard line. On 12 critical trials confederates gave the wrong answer.

Question 9

What were the results of Asch’s study?

Answer 9

Conformity was 32%
0.04% in control group
75% conformed at least once
5% all 12 times

Question 10

What are the variables affecting conformity and the results from Asch’s study to prove them?

Answer 10

Group size: 3% with 1 confederate, 13% with two confederates, 33% with three confederates (no larger % with more)
Unanimity. If one confederate gives the correct response (disagreeing with the majority) conformity drops to 5.5% due to the role of social support
Task difficulty: when difference between line lengths is small conformity increases due to the role of ISI

Question 11

What was Perrin and Spencer’s (1980) test ?

Answer 11

Replication of Asch’s study with British engineering students. Found only one student conformed in 396 trials. Suggesting Asch lacks temporal validity (1950s Cold War in America) or engineering students are a biased sample.

Question 12

What was Rosander (2012 test)

Answer 12

Showed online confederates provided wrong answers to logic and general knowledge questions on Facebook and twitter, participants would conform, 52.6% conforming at least once, with conformity increasing on more difficult questions, but women did not conform more than men (modern study)

Question 13

Evaluate Asch’s study

Answer 13

Asch’s confederates were not actors, potential for demand characteristics from participants if aims were guessed

Only men were used in Asch’s study, therefore it may have suffered from beta bias, minimising gender differences.

Mundane realism: task used in Asch is not like the tasks performed in day to day life involving conformity, conformity may be different in crowds, business meetings and social gatherings with friends.

Question 14

What was the methodology of Zimbardos prison study

Answer 14

Fake prison created in the basement of Stamford university. 21 male students rated as physically and mentally stable chosen from 75 volunteers who responded to a newspaper advert. Random selection of 10 guards and 11 prisoners

Prisoners given a realistic arrest by local police, fingerprinted, stripped, deloused. And given a prison uniform and a number to dehumanise them. They had to follow strict rules throughout the day. Guards had complete control and given a uniform, clubs, handcuffs and sunglasses to avoid eye contact

Prisoners and guards conformed to their social roles quickly, but after two days prisoners revolted against the poor treatment by the guards. In day six the experiment was cancelled early due to fears for the prisoners mental health

Extreme behaviour of previously stable students suggest prison environments have the situational power to change behaviour to conform to socially defined roles

Question 15

What was Reicher and Haslam (2011) study?

Answer 15

Attempted recreation of Zimbardo with the BBC. Resulted in findings inconsistent with Zimbardo. Prisoners becoming disobedient/dominant over the guards who were unable to control their behaviour.

Question 16

Evaluate Zimbardos prison study

Answer 16

Prisoners and guards in the Stamford prison experiment may have been acting according to stereotypes of prisoners/guards in the media rather than conforming to social roles, this may have been due to demand characteristics

Zimbardo played a duel role in the experiment, head investigator and prison superintendent. This resulted in a loss of both scientific objectivity and concern for the ethical treatment of the participants that suffered emotionally

Zimbardo used his study to argue that the prison situation causes guards to become aggressive, however only 1/3 of the participant guards were excessively aggressive. Also while the prisoners started submissive they did rebel

Question 17

What is agentic state?

Answer 17

State of mind in which individual believes they don’t have responsibility for their behaviour as they are the agent of an authority figure. This allowing the individuals to commit acts they morally oppose. They may feel discomfort as a result of their actions but feel they are unable to resist the demands of the person in authority. Opposite to an autonomous state where an individuals actions are free from control.

Question 18

What is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 18

Individuals accept that other individuals who are higher up in the social hierarchy should be obeyed, there is a sense of duty to the, and these people have the right to punish/harm others such as in the case of the police force or the criminal justice system. This is learnt in childhood through socialisation processes (relationships such as parent/child, teacher/student). It’s accepted by most people that LOA is needed for society to function properly.

Question 19

What is evidence for agentic state?

Answer 19

Milgram (1963) professor occupies a high level in the social hierarchy (LOA) due to education and respect for science. Participants often agreed to continue with shocks after the professor clarified he was responsible supporting the idea for agentic state.

Question 20

What is evidence for Legitimacy of Authority?

Answer 20

Bickman (1974) demonstrated legitimacy of authority in the real world using a field study, as 39% of the public would pick up litter if asked by an investigator dressed as a security guard, but only 14% dressed as a milkman.

Question 21

Outline Milgram’s methodology

Answer 21

Milgram (1963) study to test obedience in response to the holocaust. 40 year male 20-50 year old volunteers to a newspaper advert for a study on memory. Participants were given the role of teacher and introduced to confederates professor in a lab coat and learner. Learner was strapped to a chair in another room and had electrodes attached. Participants told to deliver electric shock, becoming intense (15-450v) when the learner answered incorrectly. At 300V the learner made noise and refused to go on, after 315V the learner made no more noise, indicating unconsciousness or death. If participant/teacher resisted the professor encouraged them to continue

Question 22

What were the results of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 22

Results: participants distressed but obeyed. 100% to 300 volts, 12.5% stopped at 300 volts, 65% to full 450 volts

Proximity replication: learner is in the same room, obedience dropped to 40% holding hands on the shock plate 30%

Location replication: At office block in run down area. Resulted in drop of obedience in 47.6% due to lack of LOA

uniform replication. Professor replaced with confederate in normal clothes. obedience dropped to 20% lack of LOA

Question 23

Criticisms of Milgram’s study?

Answer 23

Critiqued for causing distress, lacking ecological validity and mundane realism and the possibility participants guessed the shocks were not real and playing along. Other studies addressed this.

Question 24

Outline Hofling (1966)

Answer 24

21/22 real nurses obeyed dr smiths phone call in order to give double the maximum dosage of an unfamiliar drug. This was a field study with a familiar task (high ecological validity and mundane realism)

Question 25

Outline Sheridan and king (1972)

Answer 25

Participants gave real shocks to a puppy, seeing the puppy suffer behind a one-way mirror. 54% of males and 100% of females gave full 450V shocks. This avoided the participant guessing aims

Question 26

What is authoritarian personality?

Answer 26

Obedience is due to personality (dispositional factor) rather than situational factors

Question 27

Outline Adorno (1950)

Answer 27

Studied personality with questionnaires. Questions revealed unconscious feelings towards minority groups. Developed F-scale (F for fascism). One of the nine factors measures was authoritarian aggression: tendency to be on the lookout for, and to condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values.

Question 28

What does scoring highly on the F-scale mean?

Answer 28

Those people show high respect for people with higher social status, had fixed stereotypes for other groups. Identified with strong people and disliked weak people.

Adorno suggested these people had their personality shaped early in life by strict authoritarian parenting with harsh physical punishments. Anger from this experienced was displaced (Freud) onto others, mainly minority groups.

Question 29

Outline Elmes and milgram (1966)

Answer 29

Interviews of participants who had taken part in the first 4 milgram studies showed those that had shocked to the full 450V scored higher on the F scale than those that refused to continue

Question 30

What are the negatives for Adornos F scale?

Answer 30

The link between authoritarian personality and following orders is correlational. It could be a third factor, such as lower income or poor education that result in both behaviours.

Origin the F scale lacked internal validity. All the questions were written in one direction, meaning that agreeing to all questions will label someone as authoritarian. This is known as response bias

Authoritarian personality can be seen as a left-wing theory and inherently biased, as it identifies many individuals with a conservative political viewpoint as having a psychological disorder

Question 31

Outline social support?

Answer 31

Seeing others resist social influence reduced pressure to obey and conform, increasing the individuals confidence. Either providing a disobedient role model (obedience) or creating a small alternate group to join (conformity). Breaks the unanimity of the groups and challenges the legitimate authority of the authority figure

Question 32

What is locus of control?

Answer 32

Rotter (1966) suggest a factor of personality is a sense of what controls their lives, this can be measured on a scale ranging from high internal to high external, locus of control. Someone with a high internal LOC feels their own actions control their lives, have responsibility to their actions, and these dictate the events in their lives, they are less concerned with social approval. Someone with a high external LOC feel their lives are controlled by external forces, such as others, fate, or the government. Most people are near the middle of the scale. A high internal locus of control results in an ability to resist pressure to conform or obey.

Question 33

Outline Holland (1967)

Answer 33

replication of Milgram, participants assessed for LOC. 37% of those with an internal LOC refused to continue to the highest shock level, compared to 23% of those with an external LOC.

Question 34

Outline Asch’s unanimity variation

Answer 34

Unanimity variation showed with social support conformity dropped significantly, from 32% of critical trials to just 5.5% of critical trials

Question 35

Outline criticisms of resistance to social influence

Answer 35

25% of people did not conform in a single trail of line length in Asch’s study, 35% of individuals request to obey the experimenter and shock up to 450V in Milgram’s research and most of the guards refused to conform to the social role of aggressive guard in Zimbardos study suggesting many people are able to resist social influence

Question 36

How does minority influence take place?

Answer 36

Requires individuals to reject majority behaviour beliefs, and be converted the views of a minority. The minority attempts to change views through information social influence, so this is likely a result in internalisation.

Question 37

Define consistency

Answer 37

Minority needs to demonstrate it is confident in its view, if they repeat the same message over time (diachronic consistency) the argument seems more powerful

Question 38

Define commitment

Answer 38

If the minority are willing to suffer for their views but still hold them, this is likely to cause members of the majority to take them seriously. This is known as the augmentation principle

Question 39

Define flexibility

Answer 39

If seen as dogmatic, minorities will not be persuasive, they need the ability to appear to consider valid counter arguments, and slightly compromise

Question 40

Outline moscivici (1969)

Answer 40

When showed blue slides, a participant majority were more likely to report sides were green if a confederate minority was consistent in calling the slides green 8.4% of trials, than inconsistent 1.25% (consistency)

Question 41

Outline nemeth (1986)

Answer 41

When a confederate was inflexible in arguing for a low level of compensation for a ski accident, 3 participants were less likely to change their amount than if a confederate was flexible

Question 42

What is social change

Answer 42

Change that happens in a society and not at an individual level. Minorities can change the position of members of majority via consistency, flexibility and commitment

Question 43

What is the snowball effect

Answer 43

When members of the majority slowly convert to the minority grows it attracts new members faster, until it grows so large it is now the majority

Question 44

What is social cryptomnesia?

Answer 44

After societal change, individuals who previously held the old view, refuse to admit they held the now unpopular view or resisted the new view. They do not give credit to the minority that changed society

Question 45

How does group membership affect minority influence

Answer 45

We are more likely to have our view changed by a member of an in-group we belong to than an out-group

Question 46

Outline Clark and Mass (1988)

Answer 46

Heterosexual minority groups were more able to change opinion of a heterosexual majority group about the importance of gay rights than a homesexual minority group. Showing effect of group membership.

Question 47

How has minority influence affect green issues?

Answer 47

Green issues such as climate change have developed due to better knowledge transmitted by informational social influence