Social Influence

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people’

Question 2

Majority influence

Answer 2

the most common form of conformity; when an individual or small group is influenced by a larger or more dominant group.

Question 3

Compliance (+ example)

Answer 3

When individuals adjust/change their behaviour, and the views, attitudes and beliefs they voice in public, so that they are in line with the majority. There is no change to privately held views, attitudes and beliefs and conformity only lasts while the group is present.

• It is a superficial and temporary form of conformity.
• An example of compliance would be a student during their first day at school pretending to find other students’ conversations interesting, even though they actually think they are really dull.

Question 4

Internalisation (+ example)

Answer 4

when individuals publicly and privately adjust/change their behaviour, views, and beliefs so that they are in line with the majority.

• An example of internalisation would be a student during their first day at school watching the other students’ closely and the eventually we dress and behave like them because we agree with and value their dress sense and behavior.

Question 5

Identification (+ example)

Answer 5

moderate type of conformity, we conform to the opinions of the group because there is something about the group that we value. We identify with the group because we feel that we are similar to that group and therefore change our views to be part of it. We also identify with those people who we admire and may look up to.

• We may agree with the group publically but disagree privately.
• An example of identification is when you become a vegetarian because all your friends are and you do like vegetarian food. However, you still like meat!

Question 6

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Answer 6

developed a two-process theory and thus identified two reasons for conformity: the desire to be accepted and the desire to be right.

Question 7

Informational social Influence (ISI)

Answer 7

The person conforms because they are unsure of the correct answer/how to behave, so they look to others for information.

• In most cases, the drive for conformity is the need to be right, and is often a sensible decision. If the majority are correct, then the conformer will be too. If they are wrong, at least they will not stand out.

Likely to lead to internalisation

Question 8

Informational social influence is most likely when:

Answer 8

• the situation is ambiguous (the answer may
not be obvious)
• the situation is more difficult or complex
• the situation is a crisis .i.e. rapid action is
required.
• We believe others to be expert’s .i.e. more
likely to know what to do.

Question 9

Normative Social Influence (NSI)

Answer 9

NSI is all about norms – what is normal or typical behaviour for a social group. Norms regulate the behaviour of groups and individuals so we do tend to pay attention to them.

Furthermore, people have a fundamental need to be liked and accepted by others and to be part of a group. We therefore avoid any behaviour that will make others reject or ridicule us. This can lead us to copy the behaviour of others in order to ‘fit in’.

• NSI is likely to lead to compliance.

Question 10

Normative social influence is most likely when:

Answer 10

With people who are similar to them and so conformity can be an effective strategy to ensure acceptance.

• likely to occur in situations with strangers when you may be concerned about rejection.
• NSI may be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have a greater need for social support.

Question 11

Strengths of ISI

Answer 11

Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult, Lucas found that conformity occurred more to incorrect answers when the mathematical problems were more difficult rather than easy. In fact this was especially true for those students who felt that they mathematical skills were poor.

• This study thus supports the ISI explanation of conformity because this explanation suggests that conformity is more likely to occur when the situation is ambiguous or difficult.
• In Lucas’s study, those students who were poor at maths looked to others who they felt had more knowledge and were thus right.

Question 12

Strengths of NSI

Answer 12

Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer because other people did.

• These participants feared rejection so agreed with the wrong answer. In Asch’s experiments, the answers to questions were not ambiguous or difficult but people still conformed due to NSI.

Question 13

Weakness of ISI

Answer 13

does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. For example, Asch (1955) found that students were not as conformist (28%) compared to other types of participants (37%) – such as people working in offices - suggesting that even if the situation may be ambiguous we don’t always look to others for support and thus will not always conform

Question 14

Weakness of NSI

Answer 14

Some research has shown that not every individual shows NSI. For example, some individuals who are not concerned about being liked are less affected by NSI.

• This suggests that the NSI explanation for conformity may lack population validity (it doesn’t apply to everyone).

Question 15

What are nAffliators

Answer 15

• These are people who have a greater need for ‘affiliation’

Question 16

ISI and NSI may work together in explaining conformity rather than separately

Answer 16

• For example, in Asch’s experiments, conformity was reduced when there is one other dissenting participant (i.e. when another participant disagrees with the majority). In this case the dissenter may reduce the power of NSI because he is providing social support to the participant or may reduce the power of ISI because the participant now has an alternative source of information from this dissenter.

Question 17

Many supporting studies for NSI and ISI as explanations for conformity are lab studies which lack ecological validity

Answer 17

• For example, in Asch’s studies, participants were asked to judge the length of lines. In the real world, people rarely judge lines so the task given in lab settings is not true to real life so how can we be sure that in a real life situation people will behave in the same way?

Question 18

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment: Aim

Answer 18

Sherif (1935) conducted an experiment with the aim of demonstrating that people conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous (i.e. unclear) situation.

Question 19

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment: Method 1

Answer 19

Sherif used a lab experiment to study conformity. He used the autokinetic effect – this is where a small spot of light (projected onto a screen) in a dark room will appear to move, even though it is still (i.e. it is a visual illusion).

• It was discovered that when participants were individually tested their estimates on how far the light moved varied considerably (e.g. from 20cm to 80cm).
• The participants were then tested in groups of three. Each person in the group had to say aloud how far they thought the light had moved.

Question 20

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment: Results of method 1

Answer 20

Sherif found that over numerous estimates (trials) of the movement of light, the group converged to a common estimate. The person whose estimate of movement was greatly different to the other two in the group conformed to the view of the other two.

• Sherif said that this showed that people would always tend to conform. Rather than make individual judgments they tend to come to a group agreement.

Question 21

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment: Part 2

Answer 21

In a follow up experiment, Sherif started the participants in groups where they agree on a group answer.

• When individuals were taken from this group and did the experiment on their own their answers were very similar to the group norm. This suggests they had internalised the group norm, that is, taken it in as their own view.

Question 22

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment: Conclusion

Answer 22

The results show that when in an ambiguous situation (such as the autokinetic effect), a person will look to others for guidance (i.e. adopt the group norm).

• This is an example of ISI

Question 23

Who devised the conformity experiment in 1951

Answer 23

Solomon Asch

Question 24

Aim of Aschs experiment

Answer 24

Solomon Asch (1951) conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform to a majority who gave obviously wrong answers in a non-ambiguous situation.

Question 25

Procedure of Aschs experiment

Answer 25

123 male US undergraduates participated in a ‘vision test.’ Using a line judgment task, Asch put a naive participant in a room with up to eight confederates.

Each person in the room had to state aloud their answer. The real participant sat at the end of the row and gave his answer last. There were 18 trials in total, and the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 trials.

Question 26

Results of Aschs experiment

Answer 26

On average, about one third (32 – 36%) of the participants went along and conformed to the clearly incorrect majority on the critical trials.

Also, about 75% of participants conformed at least once. In the control group, with no pressure to conform to confederates, less than 1% of participants gave the wrong answer.

Question 27

Conclusion of Aschs experiment

Answer 27

Most of the participants said that they knew their answers were incorrect, but they went along with the group in order to fit in, or because they thought they would be ridiculed. This confirms that participants complied due to NSI.

Question 28

Variables affecting conformity as researched by Asch: Group Size

Answer 28

Asch looked at the number of people in a group and whether this had an effect on the conformity rate. He found that there was very little conformity if there were one or two confederates in the majority. However, if there was a majority of three confederates, conformity rates went to 30%. However, after this further increase in the majority size did not affect conformity rates – showing that group size is important up to a point.

Question 29

Campbell and Fairey (1989) on group size

Answer 29

Group size will have an effect depending on the type of judgement being made and the motivation of the individual.
If the task is ambiguous, then conformity is likely to happen following the majority. If the task is clear, then conformity is likely to happen to ‘fit in’.

Question 30

Variables affecting conformity as researched by Asch: Unanimity of the majority

Answer 30

This simply means that when everyone in the group agreed with the same answer (regardless of whether this answer was right or wrong). However, If one confederate gave the correct answer, then conformity levels dropped significantly from 33% to 5.5%. If one confederate gave the wrong answer and it was not the same as the majority, then conformity rates dropped to 9% suggesting that you only needed one break in the unanimous decision for conformity rates to drop.

Question 31

Variables affecting conformity as researched by Asch: Task difficulty

Answer 31

his variable was measuring whether the difficulty of the task given to the pps had an effect on whether they would conform or not. In one variation, Asch made the differences between the line lengths much smaller (so that the ‘correct’ answer was less obvious). Under these circumstances, the level of conformity increased.

Question 32

Lucas et al. (2006)

Answer 32

They found that the influence of task difficulty is moderated by the self-efficacy of the individual. (the term self-efficacy refers to the idea that how competent/confident a person feels in carrying out a task). When exposed to maths problems in an Asch-type task, high self- efficacy participants, even under conditions of high task difficulty remained more independent than participants of low self-efficacy. This shows that situational differences (task difficulty) and personality differences (self-efficacy) are both important in determining conformity

Question 33

Evaluation of Asch’s studies and variables affecting conformity: Asch’s study may be a child of its time

Answer 33

Perrin and Spencer (1980) repeated Asch’s original study on engineering students in the UK and found that only one student conformed in a total of 396 trials – remember in Asch’s study 75% of his sample conformed at least once. Thus Perrin and Spencer’s study shows that conformity does not always occur.

Therefore Asch’s research lacked temporal validity.

Question 34

Evaluation of Asch’s studies and variables affecting conformity: Artificial situation and task

Answer 34

Fiske (2014), argues that ‘Asch’s groups were not very groupy’ since they do not resemble the groups that we are all part of in everyday life. Both these points about the actual task given and the group of confederates opens Asch’s study to criticism because we cannot thus generalise the findings to everyday situation especially when in everyday situations conformity may be important especially when we interact with people and groups in a more direct manner - we could thus argue that Asch’s studied lacked ecological validity.

Question 35

Evaluation of Asch’s studies and variables affecting conformity: Limited application of findings

Answer 35

Also, Bond and Smith (1996) point out that the men in Asch’s study were from the US which is seen as an individualistic culture where people are concerned about themselves rather than the group. Interestingly, when Asch’s study was carried out in more collectivist cultures such as China, conformity rates were higher. This finding makes sense since ‘collectivist cultures’ are more oriented to group needs.

We could thus argue that Asch’s research lacks ‘population validity’!

Question 36

Evaluation of Asch’s studies and variables affecting conformity: Ethical issues

Answer 36

The main ethical issue in Asch’s study was deception the real participant was not aware that the group formation was confederates. Also, he got the confederates to give wrong answers on 12/18 trials.

This deception could then lead to psychological harm for the participant because they would be confused on why everybody in the group is giving a clearly wrong answer.

Although Asch did debrief his participants, does this then justify the deceit used in this experiment

Question 37

What is obedience?

Answer 37

Obedience is a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming.

Eg during the Nazi regime

Question 38

Procedure of Milgrams obedience experiment (Participant selection)

Answer 38

• Milgram selected participants by advertising for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. This is known as a volunteer sampling method. There were 40 male participants in all that took part in his original study.
• The procedure was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher’. The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates

Question 39

Milgrams predictions before the study

Answer 39

Milgram had predicted before the study that 2% of people would shock to the highest level, but most people would quit very early on.

• In fact, prior to the study Milgram asked 14 psychology students to predict the participants’ behaviour. The students estimated that no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts.

Question 40

Strengths of Milgrams experiment: Good external validity

Answer 40

It still shows the relationship between the authority figure (in this case the experimenter) and the participant. Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflected real life authority.

Question 41

Social roles

Answer 41

the ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. Such as parent, student etc. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role

Question 42

Zimbardo et al (1974)

Answer 42

Stanford prison experiment: Aims to see whether people will conform to new social roles. Involved 24 pps (10 prisoners & 11 guards) chosen through volunteer sampling.

• Prisoners were arrested at their own homes, taken to the local police station and ‘booked.’
• The basement was set out as a prison, with barred doors and windows, bare walls & small cells.

Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards (as a researcher), and also acted as a prison warden or superintendent.

Both the prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles. Within days the prisoners rebelled, but this was quickly crushed by the guards, who then grew increasingly abusive towards the prisoners.

Question 43

How did deindividuation occur during the SPE (Prisoners)

Answer 43

When the prisoners arrived at the prison they were stripped naked, deloused, had all their personal possessions removed and locked away, and were given prison clothes and bedding.

• They were issued a uniform, and referred to by their number only. The use of ID numbers was a way to make prisoners feel anonymous.

Question 44

How did deindividuation occur during the SPE (Guards)

Answer 44

• All guards were dressed in identical uniforms of khaki, and they carried a whistle around their neck and a billy club borrowed from the police.
• Guards also wore special sunglasses, to make eye contact with prisoners impossible.

Question 45

Why did the SPE end

Answer 45

• Although the experiment was set to run for two weeks, it was terminated on day 6, when fellow postgraduate student Christina Maslach convinced Zimbardo that conditions in his experiment were inhumane.

Question 46

Findings of the SPE

Answer 46

Within a very short time both guards and prisoners were settling into their new roles. Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. The prisoners initially tried to rebel, however quickly became submissive after failing

• Zimbardo concluded that people quickly conform to social roles, even when the role goes against their moral principles.
• Furthermore, he concluded that situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour found, as none of the participants had ever demonstrated these behaviours previously.

Question 47

Strengths of the SPE

Answer 47

• When selecting participants, Zimbardo and his team chose the most emotionally stable, each participant was randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard meaning that there was no experimenter bias.
• It also meant that if the guards and prisoners behaved very differently but were in those roles through chance, then their behaviour had to be due to the pressures of the situation rather than their own individual personalities.
• As this study did have high control over lots of variables it increases the internal validity of the study

Question 48

The SPE and its relevance to Abu Ghraib

Answer 48

• Zimbardo argues that the same conformity to social role effect that was evident in the SPE was also present in Abu Ghraib.
• Zimbardo believed that the guards who abused the prisoners were actually victims of the situational factors at that time.

Question 49

The SPE and its relevance to Abu Ghraib

Answer 49

• Zimbardo argues that the same conformity to social role effect that was evident in the SPE was also present in Abu Ghraib.
• Zimbardo believed that the guards who abused the prisoners were actually victims of the situational factors at that time.

Question 50

Weaknesses of the SPE

Answer 50

• Reicher and Haslam (2006) in the BBC Prison Study - their findings were very different to those of Zimbardo and his colleagues. It was the prisoners who eventually took control of the mock prison and subjected the guards to a campaign of harassment and disobedience. They argued that the guards had failed to develop a shared identity as a cohesive group, but the prisoners did. They actively identified themselves as members of a social group that refused to accept the limits of their assigned role as prisoners.
• A major ethical issue was Zimbardo’s dual roles. When, a student who wanted to leave the study spoke to Zimbardo in his role as a superintendent. The whole conversation was conducted as if the student was a prisoner in a prison, asking to be ‘released’. Zimbardo responded to him as a superintendent rather than as a researcher with responsibility towards his participants.

Answer 51

Obedience is a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming. Eg during the Nazi regime

Question 52

Milgrams experiment

Answer 52

Aim: To investigate the level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure tells them to administer electric shocks to another human being.

Milgrams selected 40 male pps via volunteer sampling. The pps were always the teacher & the learner was a confederate (called Mr Wallace) who was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms – pps saw this happening. Mr Wallace was asked if he had any medical conditions and replied that he had a minor heart condition. Next, the teacher and researcher went into a room that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked from 15 volts (Slight Shock) to 375 volts (Danger: Severe Shock) to 450 volts (XXX).

If the pps asked to stop they were given one of four successive prods (eg ‘please continue’)

Question 53

Milgrams predictions before the study

Answer 53

Milgram had predicted before the study that 2% of people would shock to the highest level, but most people would quit very early on.

• In fact, prior to the study Milgram asked 14 psychology students to predict the participants’ behaviour. The students estimated that no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts.

Question 54

Milgrams studies result

Answer 54

All participants shocked up to 300 volts and 65% of participants shocked all the way up to 450 volts.
He concluded that normal ordinary people will obey authority even if their actions may be detrimental. Thus the hypothesis that the ‘Germans are different’ was not supported.

Question 55

What happened to participants during Milgrams study

Answer 55

Many participants showed signs of nervousness and tension. Participants sweated, trembled & stuttered. Quite a common sign of tension was nervous laughing fits (14 out of 40 participants), which seemed entirely out of place, even bizarre.

• Full-blown uncontrollable seizures were observed for three participants.

Question 56

Strengths of Milgrams experiment

Answer 56

It still shows the relationship between the authority figure (in this case the experimenter) and the participant. Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflected real life authority.

Case study: Hofling et al found that 21/22 nurses would exceed the max daily dose of a drug if a Dr asked them to

Question 57

Weaknesses of Milgrams experiment: Low internal validity

Answer 57

Orne and Holland (1968) argued that the participants behaved the way they did because they didn’t really believe in the set-up and guessed that they were not really giving electric shocks to the ‘learner’ meaning that the study is not measuring what it intends to measure thus lacking internal validity.

• Perry’s (2013) research confirms this. She listened to tapes of Milgram’s participants and many of them expressed doubts on whether the shocks were real or not.
• Baumrind (1964) was extremely critical of the ways Milgram deceived his participants. For example, Milgram made his participants believe that the roles of teacher and learner were purely randomly allocated when in reality the participant was always the teacher. Baumrind believed that deception was seen as a betrayal of trust that could damage the reputation of psychologists and their research.

Question 58

Situational variables: Proximity

Answer 58

In Milgram’s original study, the teacher and learner were in an adjoining room, so the teacher could hear the learner but not see him. In the proximity variation, they were in the same room and the obedience rate dropped from 65% to 40%.

In another variation, the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto an ‘electroshock plate’ when he refused to answer a question. In this touch proximity condition, the obedience rate dropped further to 30%.

Question 59

Situational variables: Location

Answer 59

In another variation, Milgram changed the location of the obedience study. He conducted a variation in a run-down building rather than the prestigious university setting where it was originally conducted (Yale University).

Obedience levels fell to 47.5%. This is still quite a high level of obedience but is less than the original 65% in the baseline study.

Question 60

Situational variables: Uniform

Answer 60

In the original baseline study – the experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority, Milgram carried out a variation in which the experimenter was called away because of a phone call right at the start of the procedure.

The role of the experimenter was then taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ ( a confederate) in everyday clothes rather than a lab coat. The obedience level dropped to 20%, the lowest of the variations.

Question 61

Bickman (1974)

Answer 61

3 male researchers gave orders to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in New York. The researchers were dressed in one of three ways: in a suit, a milkman’s uniform, or a guard’s uniform.

Bickman (1974) found that participants were most likely to obey the researcher dressed as a guard (80%) than the milk man or civilian (40%). This study supports Milgram’s conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of its wearer and is a situational factor that is likely to produce obedience.

Question 62

Miranda et al (1981)

Answer 62

Miranda et al (1981) found high obedience rates in Spanish students (90%). This suggests that Milgram’s conclusions about obedience are not limited to American males but apply to females and other cultures too (Milgram did repeat his study on American females and found the same level of obedience as his males participants). Supports Milgrams variations

Question 63

Weaknesses of Milgrams variations: Smith and Bond (1998)

Answer 63

Smith and Bond (1998) did point out that Milgram’s study was replicated in developed societies which are similar to the US such as Spain and Australia meaning that we may not be able to apply these findings across all countries since developing countries will have different norms and values to developed countries. This then means that Milgrams findings about proximity and location may not be applied across the world.

Question 64

Weaknesses of Milgrams variations: Orne and Holland

Answer 64

The participants had worked out that the whole procedure was a ‘set-up’ and thus fake and the participants may have realised this through the four prompts used. In fact, in the variations of Milgram’s research when the experimenter is replaced by ‘a member of the public’ obedience rates went down to 20% - even Milgram recognised the situation as so contrived that some of the participants may have worked out the truth (hence why 35% did not shock to the full 450 volts).

Question 65

Weaknesses of Milgrams variations: David Mandel (1998)

Answer 65

David Mandel (1998) argues that using these situational variables almost makes them an excuse or ‘alibi’ for evil or bad behaviour. In his opinion, he sees these variables as a feeble excuse to the survivors of the holocaust

Question 66

Autonomic state

Answer 66

When acting as independent individuals, people are aware of the consequences of their actions and make decisions knowing they will be held account for the consequences.

Question 67

Agentic shift

Answer 67

The change from an autonomous (independent) state to the agentic state is known as the agentic shift.

Milgram (1974) suggested that this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority. This other person has greater power because of their position in a social hierarchy

Question 68

Agentic state

Answer 68

When in an agentic state (state in which a person carries out orders with little personal responsibility) an individual sees themselves as under the authority of another, not responsible for the actions they take. In this state they will often carry out an order without question.

Question 69

Binding factors

Answer 69

These bindings factors include aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore the damaging effects of their behaviour and thus reduce the ‘moral strain’ they are feeling and shifting the responsibility to the victim (e.g. why did he agree to take part and he was foolish to volunteer). This helps the person feel calm and in control because they feel that what they are doing is not their fault and that they are merely agents following orders – the fault lies in the victim and authority figure

Question 70

Strengths of Agentic state explanation

Answer 70

Blass and Schmitt (2001) showed a film of Milgram’s study to some students and asked them who was responsible for harming the learner Mr Wallace. The students blamed the experimenter rather than the participant. The students also indicated that the fact that the experimenter was a scientist – at the top of the hierarchy thus had authority – the participants were merely agents and following orders from the scientist.

Question 71

Weaknesses of the agentic state theory

Answer 71

This theory does not explain many other research findings such as why some of the pps did not obey the authority figure in Milgrams/Hoflings study. Clearly the agentic state theory is not explaining why people who are ‘agents’ still do not obey.

Mandel explained one incident where Nazis chose to shoot civilians in Poland, even though they were not given orders to do so and were therefore not acting as agents.

Question 72

Legitimate Authority

Answer 72

Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way. This means that people in certain positions hold authority over the rest of us such as parents, teachers, police. Also, from early childhood, we are socialised to obey certain legitimate authority figures. This refers to the amount of social power held by the person who gives the instruction. We are taught that we should obey such people with legitimate authority because we trust them, or because we fear punishment.

Question 73

Strengths of legitimate authority

Answer 73

Kelman and Hamilton (1989) argue that the My Lai massacre can be understood in terms of the power of the hierarchy of the US Army. The My Lai massacre took place in 1968 during the Vietnam War. 504 civilians were killed, women were gang-raped. The soldiers blew up buildings, burnt the village and killed all the animals. Only one soldier was found guilty and faced charges – his defence that he was only doing his duty to follow orders

Cultural differences: Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated Milgram’s study in Australia and found 16% went to the full voltage. However, Mantell (1971) who replicated Milgrams’s study in Germany found an 85% obedience rate. Both these studies show the cultural differences in perceived legitimacy of authority and how different cultures have different upbringings thus strengthening the legitimacy of authority explanation.

Question 74

Weaknesses of legitimate authority

Answer 74

In real life there have been examples of legitimate authority figures who have abused their power. Harold Shipman, as a doctor, was a well known example; because he was a trusted, justified authority figure he was able to kill over 200 patients without suspicion.

Question 75

Adorno (1950)

Answer 75

Proposed a dispositional explanation of obedience. Dispositional explanations of behaviour claim that individuals personality characteristics determine their behaviour, not situational variables in the environment

Question 76

Traits of an authoritarian personality according to Adorno

Answer 76

Servile towards people of perceived higher status
Hostile towards people of lower status

Question 77

Resistance to social influence: social support

Answer 77

The pressure to conform can be reduced when there is at least one dissenter - the dissenter does not have to be correct, but they should not conform to the majority

• Aschs study: conformity rales dropped to 5.5% when there was one correct dissenter and 9% when the dissenter is incorrect
• Allen and Levine (1971): Found there was a decrease in conformity when there was one dissenter
• In one of milgrams variations the obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when joined by a disobedient confederate

Question 78

Gamson, Fireman and Rytina (1982)

Answer 78

Volunteers were put into groups of 9 and met with a (fake) company called MHRC, who were asked to discuss the firing of a petrol manager. Halfway through the cameraman asked the pps to argue in favour of MHRC. Finally the pps were asked to sign a consent form allowing the film to be shown in a court case.

32/33 groups rebelled in some way during the group discussion. The pps established a strong group identity in which the members agreed that the demands of the authority were unreasonable.

Question 79

Strengths of social support

Answer 79

There is strong research support eg Asch, Milgram and Gamson

Gamsons study has high ecological validity, however lab studies (eg asch) have low ecological validity

Question 80

Weakness of social support

Answer 80

Strong when explaining disobedience in a group size of under 10, however a population of 100s is unlikely to be influenced by one dissenter - therefore, the small groups do not represent the real world population

Question 81

Locus of control

Answer 81

A persons perception of the degree of personal control they have over their behaviour

Question 82

External locus of control

Answer 82

See the future and their actions as resulting largely from factors outside their control

Question 83

Internal locus of Control

Answer 83

Feel a stronger sense of control over their lives. They also actively seek information and are more likely to resist influence

Question 84

Support for locus of Control

Answer 84

Oliner and Oliner (1988) interviewed two groups non-jewish people who lived through the holocaust. They found that the people who rescued the Jews from the Nazis were more likely to have an internal locus of control

Question 85

Weakness of locus of Control

Answer 85

Twinge (2004) analysed obedience studies over 40 years and found that over time people have become more resistant to obedience but also show more external locus of Control. Therefore, Rotters locus of control May lack temporal validity

Question 86

Minority influence

Answer 86

Type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject established group norms
Achieved through conversion

Question 87

Behavioural characteristics of the minority: Consistency

Answer 87

Minority influence will be persuasive if the minority is consistent with its opinor/ behaviour, show confidence in its belief and appear unbiased

If the minority approach is consistent then others may begin to reassess their beliefs

Question 88

Moscovici (1969)

Answer 88

To see if a consistent minority would affect the majority

172 female participants were put in groups of six and were shown shades of blue. Two of the six participants were confederates and in one condition (consistent) the confederates said all 36 slides were green; in the second condition (inconsistent) the confederates said 24 of the slides were green

Consistent condition: 8.2% of real participants agreed
Inconsistent: 1.25% agreed with the confederates

Question 89

Weaknesses of moscovicis study

Answer 89

Low population validity
Low ecological validity

Question 90

Behavioural characteristics of the minority: commitment

Answer 90

The greater the commitment the others may be influenced by the minority, and they may then join the minority

Augmentation principle: shows how the minority can change the majority because if the minority is doing something quite risky but shows commitment, then the majority will show more interest

Question 91

Xie et al (2011)

Answer 91

Xie et al. (2011) discovered a ‘tipping point’ where the number of people holding a minority position is sufficient to change majority opinion. In fact Xie found that you need about 10% of the minority population to influence the majority.

Question 92

Behavioural characteristics of the minority: Flexibility

Answer 92

Mugny (1982) suggests that flexibility is more effective at changing majority opinion than rigidity of arguments. Because minorities are generally powerless compared to majorities, the minority must therefore negotiate rather than enforce their position upon the majority. However, a minority that is too flexible or too rigid risks being seen as either weak and inconsistent or dogmatic.

Question 93

Nemeth (1986)

Answer 93

Nemeth (1986) believed that consistency was not the most important factor in minority influence, suggesting that it can often be misinterpreted as a negative trait. She set about investigating the idea of flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities who exert pressure.

Question 94

Strengths of minority influence

Answer 94

Martin et al. (2003) gave participants a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured their support. One group then heard a minority group agree with the initial view whilst one group heard the majority agree. Pps were finally exposed to a conflicting view and attitudes were measured again. It was found that pps were less willing to change their opinions if they had listened to the minority group rather than the majority – this study shows the power of minority influence in terms of views being more deeply processed and had a more enduring effect.

Question 95

Weaknesses of minority influence

Answer 95

Although minority influence research has real value, it may not apply to real life situations which can be much more complicated. For example, Nemeth (2010) claimed that it is still difficult to convince people of the value of the dissent since people may accept the minority opinion on the surface but may become irritated by this view fearing lack of harmony and as a result we attempt to belittle the dissenting view to contain it

Question 96

Why do people develop authoritarian personalities:

Answer 96

Adorno (1950) thought that people developed these personalities due to receiving extremely harsh discipline from their parents during their upbringing, usually involving physical punishment. This creates feelings of hostility which are directed towards weaker others who cannot fight back and are therefore safe. They cannot take out their anger on their parents because they fear them, so instead they act in a submissive way towards them. They then extend this submissive behaviour to all authority figures.

Question 97

F-Scale

Answer 97

Adorno (1950) developed a questionnaire to measure authoritarian personalities called the F (Fascism) scale. Participants are asked to rate how much they agree with statements such as ‘obedience and respect for authority are important virtues children should learn’ and ‘rules are there to follow, not to be changed’.

Adorno tested more than 2000, middle-class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups and found that there was a relationship between authoritarian personality and scoring high on the F- scale

Question 98

Strengths of authoritarian personalities

Answer 98

Miller (1975) who found individuals who scored high on F-scale were more likely to obey an order to hold some electric wiring whilst completing a test. This study shows that you will obey authority even if harming yourself suggesting that this must be due to your personality.

Elms and Milgram (1966) carried out a follow up study using participants who had previously taken part in one of Milgram’s experiments. The selected 20 obedient participants who had continued to deliver electric shocks all the way up to 450 volts, and 20 disobedient participants. Each participant completed an F scale. Participants were also asked a series of open-ended question about their relationship with their parents.

There were higher levels of authoritarian traits among the obedient participant. Obedient participants were more likely to report being less close to their fathers, and to describe them in negative terms. This study shows that the authoritarian personality is a strong dispositional explanation of obedience to authority and provides good research support in that there is definitely a link between the F scale and obedience.

Question 99

Weaknesses of authoritarian personalities

Answer 99

It does not explain why the majority of the population in a country such as Germany are very obedient but not all Germans can possess an authoritarian personality. An alternative to this explanation is the Social Identity Theory which explains obedience whereby the Germans people identified with the anti-Semitic Nazi state, and scapegoated the ‘outgroup’ of Jews.

A limitation of the authoritarian personality explanation is that it is based on flawed methodology. For example, Adorno introduced the F- scale questionnaire to measure the obedient personality. There are many problems with the questionnaire itself. For example, each item on the questionnaire is worded in the same direction meaning it is fairly easy to get a high score on the authoritarian personality. Moreover, the questions are all closed meaning there is no room for explanation. Furthermore although Adorno did interview his participants about their childhood experiences, he already knew their score on the questionnaire meaning that he would have showed interviewer bias.

Question 100

Social change

Answer 100

When a whole Society changes and adopts new beliefs/ ways of behaving which then becomes the norm. It is commonly the result of minority influence

An example of this is the social change in attitudes towards homosexuality. Although it was an impressionable offence in the UK until 1967, however public attitudes have changed over time

Question 101

The stages of social change

Answer 101

1. Drawing attention to the issue - Social proof eg marches
2. Consistency of position - Has to be all the time
3. Deeper processing - others start paying attention
4. The augmentation principle - carry out ‘wow’ deeds
5. The snowball effect - pass it on
6. Social cryptoamnesia - The change has occurred and is accepted, but people forgot where the change came from

Question 102

Example of social change

Answer 102

The suffragettes

Question 103

Social change - Asch

Answer 103

When one confederate gave a different answer the conformity rates decreased even if the answer was incorrect

Can help normative social influence (NSI)

Question 104

Social change - Obedience research

Answer 104

Milgrams reserach has shown how one disobedient individual can reduce obedience rates

Zimbardo suggested that obedience can be used to create social change through the process of gradual commitment

Question 105

Social change - Moscovici

Answer 105

Moscovicis research demonstrated the need to be committed, flexible and consistent to bring about social effects

Question 106

Strengths of social influence in social change:

Answer 106

Nolan (2008): He hung messages on doors of houses in San Diego every week for a month, with a message that most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage. A control group has a message just to save energy. The group that referred to others has a decrease in energy usage

Question 107

Weaknesses of social influence in social change

Answer 107

Nemeth (1986): The effects of minority influence are most likely indirect and delayed as the effects may not be seen for some time
Bashir et al (2013): Participants may not behave in certain ways due to stereotypes of the minority group. For example, environmentalists are stereotyped as ‘tree huggers’

Question 108

Weaknesses of social influence in social change

Answer 108

Nemeth (1986): The effects of minority influence are most likely indirect and delayed as the effects may not be seen for some time
Bashir et al (2013): Participants may not behave in certain ways due to stereotypes of the minority group. For example, environmentalists are stereotyped as ‘tree huggers’