Social Influence Flashcards
What is the definition of conformity
It is a form of social influence, occurs when someone’s behaviour or thinking changes because of group pressure
What was the aim of Asch’s study?
Asch’s aim was to see how people reacted under group pressure
What was the method of Asch’s study?
- There were 123 American men
- In a group of 6-9 men there was one naive participant (who didn’t know what the experiment was about) and the rest were confederates (who were hired by the researcher to purpously give incorrect answers)
- There was 1 standard line and 3 comparison lines and the group were asked to say out loud which comparison line was the same length as the standard line
What were the results of Asch’s study?
- Asch found that 24% resisted the urge to conform, 36.8% conformed in line with the confederates and 76% conformed at least once
What are the conclusions of Asch’s study?
Asch found that people will conform under group pressure and will agree with another person, even when they know the answer is a clearly incorrect in order to fit in.
What are 2 evaluations of Asch’s study
- One weakness is Asch only used males. This is a weakness because the results can’t say women would give the same results as well. Therefore the results can’t be generalised to women
- Another weakness is the study only uses Americans. This is a weakness because the results won’t apply to all nationalities. Therefore we can’t generalise the results to the wider population just because Americans act a certain way
Social Factors of Conformity
Group Size
The more people that there are in a group, the more likely we are to experience group pressure; conform more
Social Factors of Conformity
Anonimity
When we are anonymous, we are less likely to conform because our indentiities are hidden and we feel less pressure to conform to the opinions of others
Social Factors of Conformity
Task Difficulty
When the task is difficult, we are more likely to conform because we have less confidence in our answer, therefore we turn to others for guidance and the right answer
Dispositional Factors of Conformity
Expertise
When you have more intelligence, you have more confidence in your answers therefore conforming less under group pressure
Dispositional Factors of Conformity
Personality
- People with ELC believes that whatever happens to them is not their responsibility and they don’t infleunce the things that happen to them. People with ILC believe that they are responsible for the things that happen to them and they do influence the things that happen to them
- ELC —> More likely to conform and agree under group pressure
- ILC —> Less likely to conform, resisting the group pressure and sticking to their answers
What is the aim of Milgrims study?
His aim was to see if a normal person would deliver a potentially lethal shock to someone else if ordered to do so by an authoritive figure
What was the method of Milgrims study?
- 40 male volunteers (20-50yrs) were told they were taking part in memory research.
- They were paid for their time.
- The teacher (the participant) was told by the experimenter (actor) to give the learner (actor) shocks every time the learner got the answer wrong.
- The fake electric shocks started at 15v and went up to 450v (lethal).
- At 300V the learner would pound of the wall and after that they would stop responding
What were the results found from Milgrims study?
- 100% of people went to 300v
- 65% of people went to 450v
- Three participants had seizures (fits) caused by stress.
What were the conclusions from Milgrims study?
People will listen to an authority figure if they believe they aren’t responsible for the consequences. People obeyed because of the location, the pressure and the situation was new to them.
What are 2 evaluations of Milgrims study?
- A weakness of Milgram’s research is that some participants appeared to have realised it was fake. This is a weakness because if the participants realised the study was fake, they would show demand characteristics (impressing the researcher by changing behaviour)
- A weakness of Milgram’s research is that it only used male participants. This is a weakness because we cannot generalise the findings to females. We cannot say that females would have reacted in the same way. The study is androcentric.
What is the autonomous state?
Autonomous state is when people behave according to their own principles and feels responsible for their actions.
What is the agentic state?
Agentic state is where people act on behalf of someone else and therefore follow their orders. They don’t feel responsible for their actions.
What is the agentic shift?
- We are more likely to obey orders when we are in an agentic state/when we believe we are acting on behalf of an authority figure.
- When someone we believe to be a figure of authority gives us an order, we go from an autonomous state to an agentic state (an agentic shift).
2 evaluation points for Milgrims Agency Theory
- One weakness of this study is that it gives an excuse for people who blindly follow destructive orders. This is a weakness because it allows people to believe they aren’t responsible for their actions
- Another weakness is that is does not explain why there isn’t 100% obedience. In Milgrims study 35% did not obey fully. Milgrim did an interview with those 35% of participants and found that there were multiple factors as to why there was a lack of obedience in those participants, therefore social factors can’t fully explain obedience
What’s a dispositional factor
A dispositional factor are factors that affect behaviour because of your personalities and own characterisitics
What’s a social factor?
A social factor are factors that affect behaviour because of the characteristics of your environment
Adorno’s Theory of Obedience (Dispositional Factors)
What is authoritarian personality?
Authoritarian personality is a person who’s easily influences by authority. They follow and obey people above them but show dislike for people below them. May have experiences harsh parenting as a child
Adorno’s Theory of Obedience (Dispositional Factors)
How do people with authoritarian personality think
They have a rigid style of thinking; they’re very straightforward, believe in steriotypes and think something is either right or wrong, there’s no inbetweens
Adorno’s Theory of Obedience (Dispositional Factors)
What do people with authoritarian personality experience throughout childhood?
They tend to have experience a strict upbringing. Their parents show then conditional love; the child only recieves love if they behave in a way that pleases the parents. The child internalises these values and expects everyone to behave like that. At the same time they also develop hostility towards their parents
Adorno’s Theory of Obedience (Dispositional Factors)
What is scapegoating
People with hostility need to displace their anger onto something or someone else. Scapegoating is when people with authoritarian personalities tend to displace their anger on people socially inferior to them
2 evaluation points for Adornos Theory
- One weakness of Adornos Theory is he says that people develop authoritarian personalities based on strict parents but other research suggests it’s due to lack of education. This is a weakness because there is research that disagrees with Adorno’s Theory
- Adorno based his theory on research that used a questionnaire (F-scale). The F-scale has been criticised because it has a response bias (ppl don’t answer the questionarre truthfully). Therefore, Adorno’s theory may not be based on research findings that are valid.
What is prosocial behaviour
Behaviour which is beneficial to other people but not necessarily beneficial to the helper
What is bystander behaviour
The observation that the presence of others reduces the likelihood that help will be given to someone in need
What was the aim of Palivians Subway Study
His aim was to see if the appearance of a victim would impact whether they recieved help or not
What was the method of Palivians Subway Study
The victim (confederate) fell over on a subway in NYC. The participants (the people on the subway) were observed to see whether the victim was helped or not
What were the results founds from Palivians Subway Study
- When victim appeared disabled carrying a walking stick, participants helped 95% of the time
- When the victim appeared to be drunk, he was helped only 50% of the time
People offered help quicker when he appeared to be disabled compared to when he appeared to be drunk
What were the conclusions of Palivians Subway Study
Palivian concluded that the apperance of the victim influences whether they recieve help or not and how quick the help is given
2 evaluation points of Palivians Subway Study
- One strength of this study is the study took place in a natural setting (NYC subway). This is a strength because the participants behaviour would’ve been as close to real life as possible and there would be no demand characteristics
- One weakness is the participants were people who lived in New York, and they may behave differently to people from other countries or those who don’t live in big cities. This means their behaviour cannot be generalised to other places and cultures.
Social factors affecting collective behaviour
Social loafing, Culture
Dispostional factors affecting collective behaviours
Morality, Personality
Social factors of crowd and collective behaviour
Social Loafing
definition + explanation
- We behave differently when it comes to a task
- When we’re in a group, we will put less effort into a task compared to when we do the task individually
- One weakness of this explanation is people put equal amounts of effort into creative tasks (like mindmaps) so this doesn’t apply to all tasks
Social factors of crowd and collective behaviour
Culture
- Our culture influences whether we behave differently or not.
- Individualist contries (UK, Germany) are more likely to behave in ways they see as being best for them personally compared to collectivist cultures (China, Japan) are more likely to behave in ways they see as being best for the group. Therefore people in collectivist cultures are less likely to change their behaviours in a group because they are used to it
- One weakness of this explanation is that we shouldn’t make generalisations about whole cultures as people might vary within each culture
Dispositional factors of crowd and collective behaviour
Personality
- People with an internal LOC are less likely to change their behaviour within a group as they are independant and have their own rules
- One weakness of this evaluation is that it’s innapropriate to conclude whether someone is internal or external LOC based off of a questionnare
Dispositional factors of crowd and collective behaviour
Morality
- People with a stronger morality are less likely to change their behaviour because they’re concerned about others.
- One strength of this is that there’s evidence of morality shown in Milgrims experiment. Someone stopped 150V because he had high morals.
Social factors of prosocial behaviour
Cost of helping, presence of others
Dispositional factors of prosocial behaviour
Similarity to victim, expertise
Social factors of prosocial behaviour
Presence of others
- We are more likely to help others when we are alone compared to when there are people around. We believe someone else is going to help so we should just ignore the situation
- One weakness of this explanation is that research (such as Piliavin) has found that the amount of people present doesn’t impact whether we help or not.
Social factors of prosocial behaviour
Cost of helping
- The cost of helping includes possible danger to yourself, the effort needed, the time taken.
- The cost of not helping includes feeling guilty, blamed by others
- People weigh the costs and benefits of helping others, before making their decision and if the costs of helping outweigh the rewards, we’re less likely to help
- One weakness of this is it ignores other factors such as whether the situation is an emergency
Dispositional factors of prosocial behaviour
Similarity to victim
- We’re more likely to help someone if they share similar characteristics as us; religion, race e.t.c.
- People find it easier to empathise to those in need of help bc they think the victim is similar to them
- One strength of this explanation is there’s research supporting it. It was found that Man. United fans were more likely to help someone who was wearing a Man United shirt rather than a Liverpool Shirt
Dispositional factors of prosocial behaviour
Expertise
- Bystanders are more likely to help in a situation if they feel they have the skills and knowledge required to help
- One weakness is several people still offer help even if they don’t know what to do
Antisocial behaviour
Antisocial behaviour is behaviour which is harmful to others. This includes being aggressive, recklessness, doing things that cause distress to others
Collective behaviour
Collective behaviour is behaviour that that arises when we are with a group. We adopt the behaviour of the group and act differently from when we are alone
Deindividuation
Deindividuation is a psychological state where an individual looses their identity and takes on the identity of the group they’re in; more likely to be antisocial
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s deindividuation study?
His aim was to see if deindividuation impacts whether someone would hurt someone else
What was the method of Zimbardo’s deindividuation study?
Zimbardo copied Milgrims study but made a few changes:
- All the participants were females
- There were 2 groups; group 1 had name tags on and wore normal clothes. Group 2 wore large coats and wore hoods over their faces
What were the results of Zimbardo’s deindividuation study?
Zimbardo found that group 2 members were more likely to give electric shocks because they didn’t feel responsible for their actions and were anonymous
What was the conclusion of Zimbardo’s deindividuation study?
Anonimity and deindividuation increases the likelihood that people will act antisocially
2 evaluation points of Zimbardo’s deindividuation study
- One weakness of this study is it only used women as participants. This is a weakness because we can’t say men would have given the same results therefore we can’t generalise the results to men
- Another weakness is the participants may have realised the shocks were fake. This is a weakness because they may start showing demand characteristics. Therefore the study lacks validity
