social influence Flashcards
what is conformity?
a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person / group of people (elliot aronson 2011)
what are the reasons for conformity and what are they? (NSI, ISI)
normative social influence: wanting to fit in
informational social influence: wanting to be right
what are the 3 types of social influence?
compliance
internalisation
identification
what is compliance?
shallowest level: person changes their public behaviour but not their private beliefs
what is internalisation?
deepest + most permanent level of conformity
person changes public behaviour and their believes, change occurs publicly and privately whether the group is present or not
what is identification?
moderate level;
conforms to behaviours and opinions of a group because there is something that they value, identify with the group and what to be part of it, beliefs are internalised in order to gain approval
what is NSI? and why do they conform?
normative social influence: when a person conforms to be accepted to feel that they belong to a group
it is socially rewarding and avoids social rejection
occurs w strangers and close friends
what is ISI? and why do they conform?
informational social influence: person conforms to gain knowledge or they believe someone is right
associated with internalisation
change in behaviour and belief (genuinely believes their beliefs are right)
how did asch’s study (1951) investigate conformity?
assessed what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even when the answer is certain
123 american men were tested in a group with a line X on a card, where they would have to identify out loud which line out of ABC were the same length as X
what were the baseline findings for asch’s study (1951)?
the genuine participants agreed w the confederates, conforming 36.8% of the time
there were individual differences, 25% never conformed or gave a wrong answer
what were the variables investigated by Asch?
group size
unanimity
task difficulty
how was group size investigated in asch’s study (1951)
Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates finding that conformity increased with group size, but levelled off after 3 confederates (conformity rose to 31.8%)
how was unanimity investigated in asch’s study (1951)
when the majority was unanimous when all confederates selected the same line, producing the greatest degree of conformity
but the genuine participant confirmed less often in the presence of a dissenter who disagreed with other confederates
how was task difficulty investigated in asch’s study (1951)
when the task becomes more difficult, conformity increases as naive participants assume that the majority are more likely to be correct
what are some limitations of ache’s study (1951)
(also ethical issues)
- the task and situation were artificial: participants knew they were in a research study and may have gone alone w what was expected
- all participants were american men, lacks population validity, his research show little about conformity in woman and people from other cultures
- ethical: deception
participants were deceived as they believed everyone were genuine participants
what is one strength of asch’s research? (1951)
he was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity
lucas et al. asked participants to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ math problems where the participants conformed with the wrong answers when the task was harder
what is research support for NSI?
asch’s study (1951) showed that some conformity subdue to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them (when participants were interviewed, they were self conscious of giving the correct answer and afraid of disapproval [when answers were written, conformity dropped to 12.5%])
what is research support for ISI?
Lucas et al. showed ISI shows conformity as the results were what ISI predicts: participants conformed more when the math problems were more difficult as the situation became more ambiguous and they did not want to be wrong
what is the definition of social roles?
the ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups, these are accompanied by the expectations we and others have of nest is appropriate behaviour in each role
describe zimbardo’s research (1973) on how he assessed conformity to social roles
- set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university: 21 men were randomly given the role of prison guard/prisoner and encouraged to conform to social roles through uniform and behaviour
- uniforms: prisoners were given a smock and cap and were only referred to as numbers (created a loss of identity therefore they would conform more)
- behaviour: guards were encouraged to okay their role by being reminded that they had.
power over the prisoners
what were the findings to social roles in zimbardos prison study (1973)
guards took up roles w enthusiasm, tearing prisoners harshly causing the prisoners to rebel 2 days in.
G’s harassed P’s by doing headcount’s and ate late hours of the night, they would stand in line and call out numbers. guards highlighted differences in social roles by creating opportunities to establish punishments
P’s became depressed and anxious, 2 were released on day 4. G’s identified more w role becoming more aggressive, Z ended the study after 6 days instead of. 14
what was one strength of Zimbardos prison study (1973)
Z had control over key variables:
E.g selection of emotionally stable participants
this increased the internal validity of study so we can be much more confident in drawing conclusions aft influence of roles on conformity
what is one limitation of SPE (1973)
lack of realism: participants were “play acting” than actually conforming to roles (one participant said he based his role off a brutal character from a film)
showing the findings say little about conformity to social roles in prisons
Z may have exaggerated the power of social roles: only 1/3 of the ally behaved in a brutal manner, most sympathised and offered cigs
showing Z had overstated his view
what was the baseline procedure for Milgram’s research (1963)
40 American men volunteered in a study supposedly on memory as a role of the teacher (ballots were rigged) the experimenter (confederate) instructed the teacher to give strong electric shocks (fake) to the learner (confederate) from 15-450 V. after 325 the learner gave no response The experimenter used prods such as “the experiment requires you to continue” “you have no other choice, you must go on”
what were the baseline findings for milgrams experiment (1963)
every participant delivered up to 300 volts, 65% continued to the highest voltage 450V and 12.5% stopped at 300V (they fully obeyed)
collected qualitative data: made observations of the participants e.g showed extreme tension, sweating trembling stutter or even seizures
what was the conclusion for milgrams study (1963)
German people are not different, Americans were willing to obey orders even if they were “harming another person”
