Social influence

Question 1

What are the three types of conformity

Answer 1

Internalisation
Identification
compliance

Question 2

Explain the three types of conformity

Answer 2

• Internalisation - This is when the individual fully accepts the other person or group idea and truly think what they think is true as well they also change their behaviour in private and public as well. And if the group pressured is remove they will still continue to conform
• identification - This is when the individual conforms with the role society wants them to play but will not fully internalise it therefore in private they may have different opinions
• Compliance - The individual will only conform as they want to fit in with the group or society and if the majority has conformed to a certain idea manly to not be looked down upon and in private their views are not the same

Question 3

Explain the two reason for conformity

Answer 3

NSI - This is when the person go with views of the majority hoping to be accepted

ISI - This occurs when the individual has a lack of information therefore will rely on someone else to gain that information and they may internalise this

Question 4

What is minority influence

Answer 4

This is when the minority influenced someone or a group of people by a consistent view

Question 5

What is group size and give an example

Answer 5

Group size can affect conformity this is because the more people there is the more likely someone is to agree with someone else views even though they don’t believe it themselves this can be because of ISI or NSI. A research was taken place and found that with one confederate only 3% of the real P’s conformed, with two confederates 12.8% of the real P’s conformed and with three confederates 32% of the real P’s conformed they tested this with more and it came back with the same results as 3 therefore showing it peaks at 3.

Question 6

Asch (confederates)

What is unanimity and give an example

Answer 6

Unanimity which is when their is a group idea that is dominant and this makes other people conform with them as-well. An example is from Asch experiment and when he told one of the confederates to give a correct answer throughout this made the conformity drop to 5% and then did this again where another confederate gave a different wrong answer and the conformity dropped to 9% implying that if you break the group unanimity the conformity will drop also

Question 7

Asch Line experimenmt

What is task difficulty and give an example

Answer 7

People tend to conform more when a task is more difficult and doesn’t have a definite answer. An example is from Asch original line experiment where he made the length between the lines much more insignificant and this increasing the rate of conformity, this can be because of informational social influence and this is when people agree with the majority view as the question asked dosen’t have a correct answer

Question 8

What is conforming to social roles

Answer 8

Conformity to social roles is when an individual adopts a particular behaviour and belief, while in a particular social situation

Question 9

conformity/social roles

Explain what Haney et al (1973) found about the Stanford prison experiment

Answer 9

Haney et al (1973) found strong evidence for conformity to social roles via prisoners and guards and the prison environment had a massive impact on their mental health where the prisoners became passive and depressed and the guards became oppressive and sadistic and the conformity was due to social situation then personal characteristics of the P’s.

Question 10

What was the aim of Milgram shock experiment (1963)

Answer 10

Milgram wanted to find out why people obey authority, what conditions foster obedient behaviour and what condition foster independent behaviour

Question 11

Explain the Milgram shock experiment (1963)

Answer 11

He asked psychology students to predict how P’s would behave if they were ordered to shock a stranger and they predicted no more then 3% would deliver the fatal shock of 450V

The P’s were asked to play the role of the ‘teachers’ and told to administer increasingly stronger electric shocks for every wrong answer, the confederates played the role of the ‘learner’ who the P’s though were real P’s as well

Question 12

How many people took part in the Milgram shock experiment

Answer 12

Consisted of 40 men (Gender bias, population validity)

Question 13

Results of the Milgram shock experiment

Answer 13

• 65% went all the way to 450 volts
• 22.5% stopped at 315 volts

Question 14

What is obedience

Answer 14

Change in behaviour to a person in authority

Question 15

Test if different factors affects obdience rate

Different way Milgram carried out the experiment

Answer 15

• Distance order - experimenter instructed the teacher by telephone 23% obedience
• Different setting - Experiment moved from Yale to a scruffy office 48% obedience
• Increased proximity - teacher was in the same room as the learner 40% obedience
• social support in disobedience - other teacher refused to give shocks 10% obedience

Question 16

Real life examples

Explain everyday examples of obdience

Answer 16

• A teacher tells a student to put “put your phone away” the students will obey because the teacher has legitiamte authoriity

Question 17

Milgram study

What are the two situational factors

Answer 17

• Legitimate authority
• Agentic state

Question 18

The state

Explain the two situational factors

Answer 18

• Legitimate authority - If person giving orders has legitimate authority, people transfer the resonsiliblity for their actions to the authority figure
• Agentic state - People act as agent of the legitamte authority and hold the authority figure responsible for their actions

Question 19

What is the authoritarian personality

Answer 19

This is a dispositional factor for obedience

Question 20

authoritarian personality

What year was the AP devised and why

Answer 20

• 1950
• To explain the events that led to the slaughter of the Jews in Germany during the second world war

Question 21

Adorno

How did people develop an authoritarian personality

Answer 21

According to Adorno this stemmed from a troubled child hood with hard practices such as punishment and this lead to the AP. People with an AP usually respect and listen to their superior while find people below them to be inferior. He also stated people with an AP are likely yo be more obedient with those in authority

Question 22

Two things affecting conformity or obidience

Answer 22

• Situational varables
• personal variables

Question 23

Group size ect

Give examples of resistance to social influence

Answer 23

• Group size - bigger the group size the more influential it is
• Gender - Some research suggest female conform more then male
• Internal locus of control - people with an internal LOC are in charge of themself and their own responsibility these people and are more likely to resist pressure to conform or obey
• External locus of control - Some people have an external LOC meaning they beleive outside factors will influence and control them and are more likely to conform and obey where as people with an i

Question 24

Sheridan and King

Explain the researcher that found difference of male and female conformity levels

Answer 24

• Sheridan and King (1975) and this supported Milgram shock experiment
• The researcher told the P’s to shock the puppies
• 100% of female went to max voltage
• 54% of male went to max voltage

Question 25

Explain the differences between conformity and obedience

Answer 25

• Obedience occurs within a social hierarchy where as conformity occurs between people of equal status
• Obedience often has a difference of behaviour between the authority figure where as in conformity the same behaviour can be seen within the social group

Question 26

What is minority influence

Answer 26

This is when a smaller group with a consistent view has a social impact on a bigger group

Question 27

What was the aim of Moscovici experiment on minority influence

Answer 27

His aim was to find whether consistency in the minority was an important factor in minority influence

Question 28

Green and blue slides - process

Explain Moscovici et al experiment on minority influence

Answer 28

• Done in a laboratory experiment (pros and cons)
• Female students (population validity) were randomly allocated to a consistent, inconsistent and control condition. The P’s were asked to name the colour of 36 slides all of which was blue but had different brightness
• In the consistent condition the confederates named all 36 slides as green
• In the inconsistent condition the confederates named 25 of the slides as green and 12 blue
• Minority influence was measured by the percentage of P’s that answered blue slides as green

Question 29

Explain the findings of Moscovici experiment on minority influence

Answer 29

• Consistent condition 8.42% of P’s answer were green and 32% gave the incorrect answer atleast once
• Inconsistent condition 1.25% of the P’s answer were green
• The consistent condition showed greater conformity to minority influence concluding that minority influence is more likely when the minority is more consistent therefore relating to social change a consistent minority may influence the majority

Question 30

What are the characteristics of influential minorities

Answer 30

• Consistent, draw attention to view and certanity
• take actions to support principle (protest)
• make sacrifices to maintain their view
• similar in age, class and gender to the population trying to influence

Question 31

How can flexbility and compromisability affect minority influence

Answer 31

• If consistent minority is seen as inflexible and uncompromisiable then it will be unlikely for them to change the views of the majority
• If consistent minority is seen as flexible and compromisiable then it will be likely for them to change the views of the majority

Question 32

Mock jury trial

Explain Nemeth experiment into flexbility and compromisability

Answer 32

• Groups of three was formed
• One confederate had to decide on the amount of compensation to be given towards the victim of the accident
• When the consistent minority (confederate) argued for a low amount and refused to change his position he had no effect on the majority.
• When the consistent minorty (confederate) compromised and moved some way towards the majority view the majority also compromised and changed their view

Question 33

conformity and obedience

What can Asch, Zimbardo and Milgram be used for

Answer 33

• Educate people about dangers of “blind” conformity and obedience to authority

Question 34

Steps proposed by Zimbardo and Leippe (1991) to resist pressure to conform or obey

Answer 34

• Trust your intuition
• Consider what could happen if you obey
• Figure out an escape plan

Question 35

Ross (1988) research into obedience

Answer 35

He stated that in milgram shock experiment obedience could have been reduced f there was an “exit button” that was visible and easy to access