Social influence Flashcards
1
Q
what are the three variables that effected conformity in Asch’s vision experiment.
A
- unanimity of group
-difficulty of task
-size of group
2
Q
what is the definition of validity
A
weather the study measured what it originally intended to measure
3
Q
what percent of ppts conformed every time is Asch’s vision experiment
A
37%
4
Q
Asch’s participants- vision exp:
-gender?
- how many?
- culture?
-age?
A
- males
-123
-American
-undergraduates
5
Q
what percent of ppts didn’t conform is Asch’s vision experiment?
A
25%
6
Q
size of majority: Asch exp
with up to 3 confederates, what did conformity rise to?
A
32%
7
Q
unanimity: Asch exp
- when another confederate gave the right answer, what did conformity fall to?
A
5.5% from 37%
8
Q
unanimity: Asch exp
-when another confederate gave a different wrong answer, what did conformity fall to?
A
9% from 37%
9
Q
difficulty of task: Asch exp
- when task was made harder did the level of conformity increase or decrease?
A
substantially increased, conformity that occurred was informational social influence.
10
Q
list the methodological issues in the Asch experiment.
A
-small sample size- can’t generalise findings to a wider population
- culture bias
-gender bias
-age bias
- lab study- controlled envirnoment
11
Q
what were the ethical issues in Asch’s experiment?
A
- deception- they were told it was a vision test
- psychological harm- embarrassment/trauma
12
Q
what is conformity?
A
yielding to group pressures
13
Q
what types of conformity are there?
A
-compliance
-internalisation
-identification
14
Q
define compliance
A
when you publicly agree with the group but do not privately agree
15
Q
define internalisation
A
-when your behaviour changes and you now publicly and privately agree after being convinced by the group.
-deepest form of conformity
16
Q
define identification
A
an individual makes the groups beliefs their own but only because they want to be accepted. The person internalises the view only as this is likely to lead to them being accepted. (compliance)
17
Q
define normative social influence
A
when we conform due to the desire to be liked, in order to gain approval from the group. This leads to compliance.
18
Q
define informational social influence
A
due to our desire to be right, we look to others who we believe to be correct and give us information on how to behave in novel (new) or ambiguous situations. This leads to internalisation.
19
Q
informational social influence evaluation:
A
strength-researh support: as an explanation for conformity, supported by Lucas et al, who found there was greater conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were more difficult than the easier ones. Peoples desire to be right causes them to conform.
-the variable of task difficulty in Asch’s experiment- conformity increased significantly
weakness: only tested on students, adults may conform differently.
20
Q
normative social influence strength evauluation:
A
strength: as an explanation for conformity, supported by researchers (Likenbach + Perkins) found that adolescents are less likely to smoke if they are told the majority of their peers do not smoke. Shlutz found that hotel guests reduce their towel usage by 25% if they are exposed that most hotel guests recycle.
21
Q
normative social influence weakness evaluation:
A
there are differences in behaviour depending on an individuals personality and needs. For example, nAfiliators are those with a greater need of affiliation, so are more likely to conform. Those who are less concerned about being liked are less effected by NSI.
22
Q
what is ecological validity?
A
if the study was a reflection of real life, e.g lab experiments lack ecological validity
23
Q
define validity
A
if the study measured what it originally intended to measure.
24
Q
what was the aim of Milgram’s study?
A
how the situational context could lead to ordinary people inflicting harm on others when instructed to by an authority figure.
25
what percent of ppts went to 450v in Milgram's study?
65%
26
what volts did every ppts go up to in Milgram's study?
300v
27
what are the 3 things that effect the situational factor?
-uniform
-proximity
-location
28
define the term dispositional
cause of behaviour due to the internal characteristics of a person, rather than outside forces.
29
what is an authoritarian personality
when you are likely to obey the commands of an authority figure and adhere to social norms
30
what questionaire tests weather you have an authoritarian personality, and who made it?
The F scale, made by Adorno
31
what are 3 factors affecting obedience?
-uniform
-proximity
-location
32
what were 4 of Milgram's variations?
-proximity
-location
-uniform
-fellow teachers disobey
33
what were 3 of Asch's variations?
-unanimity of majority
-difficulty of task
-group size
34
define the agency theory
We shift between the autonomous state and the agentic state. In the autonomous state, we are aware of the consequences of our own actions, however in the presence of an authoritative figure, we shift to the agentic state and this is where we shift the responsibility of our own actions to the authoritative figure, and therefore are more likely to obey.
35
define legitimacy of authority
Due to the social hierarchies we have been born into, we have been raised to accept rules and orders from those above us, in a position of authority. We willingly accept orders mostly based on appearance because we are afraid of the punishments. For example, someone in uniform is normally seen as a person with power, like a police officer.
36
what is the right wing personality (RWA)
describes someone who is highly submissive to their authority figures and adhere to social norms, they act aggressively when others violate these norms
37
what are the 3 personality variables for the right wing authoritarian personality?
-conventionalism: an adhere to (conventional) accepted norms and values
-authoritarian aggression: aggressive feelings toward people who violate these norms
-authoritarian submission: submission to legitimate authorities
38
weakness of the F-scale
-it's based on a questionnaire, ppts may have changed or lied about their answers due to social desirability. If they guessed the aims they may not want to admit to having an authoritarian personality as it could make them look bad. Therefore, lacks internal validity, wasn't a true measure.
39
what did Blass and Shmit do?
They showed students the Milgram study and asked them who they thought was responsible. Most students said the experimenter. This supports the agentic shift.
40
what did Kilham and Mann (1974) do?
They repeated Milgram's study in Australia where there is a tradition of challenging authority. Only 16% of Australian ppts went to 450v.
41
weakness of the dispositional explanation:
-evidence that suggests situational factors are more important.
- e.g Milgram's study uniform was the situational factor.
-obedience dropped from 65% to 20%
- therefore dispositional factors such as personality don't give us a complete explanation as to why we obey.
42
what did Elms and Milgram do?
-gave ppts from Milgram's original study (20 who went to 450v and 20 who didn't) a questionnaire consisting of the F-scale to see if there was any correlation between obedience and the authoritarian personality
43
How does Elms and Milgram's study support the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience?
-there is evidence to suggest those who went to 450v had higher results on the f-scale.
-this shows obedience to be dispositional as it's based on ones personality who are willing to take orders from an authority figure.
44
limitation of Elms and Milgram study:
there is a limitation of using this theory as an explanation for the Holocaust as not everyone would have the same personality.It could've been due to other factors such as their genuine dislike towards Jews
45
what is the locus of control?
the measurement of an individuals sense of control over their lives.
46
what are the two types of people from the locus of control?
internal and external
47
define an internal person from the locus of control
-a person who believes behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and efforts
-they have great self-confidence
- less need for social approval
- more intelligent
48
define an external person from the locus of control
a person who believes behaviour is caused by luck or fate
49
how does the locus of control relate to conformity?
-internals are more likely to resist as they have greater self-confidence, higher intelligence and have less need for social approval
-high internals are more likely to be leaders than followers
-internals are better able to resist social pressures as they feel more responsible for their acts than externals
50
outline a strength of the locus of control:
1. evidence for resisting social influence from Oliner & Oliner.
-they found that non Jewish people who rescued Jewish people during the holocaust were more likely to have an internal locus of control compared to the non Jews that didn't protect the Jewish ppl.
-high internals = less likely to follow orders
2. Holland repeated Milgram’s experiment and found that 37% of ppts who refused to continue to 450 volts had a high internal locus of control, compared to 24% of ppts with a high external locus of control
51
limitation of the findings from Oliner & Oliner (the locus of control),saving the jews
- there are many other factors that may have caused individuals to follow orders such as the authoritarian personality and individuals genuine dislike to Jews
- some people may have been scared to disobey as they are aware they could be punished
52
define social support
-the presence of others who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same
- these people give us the confidence to go along with our own opinions
- act as 'models' to show that resistance is possible
53
what are the 3 aspects of minority influence?
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
54
explain how consistency is important for a minority to be successful in convincing a majority
- it is essential for a minority to remain consistent with their argument
- the majority can't understand why the minority have a different view point so this creates conflict which causes anxiety
- to reduce the anxiety the minorities view point is examined
55
explain how flexibility is important for a minority to be successful in convincing a majority
- a minority must show some leeway with their position
- minorities are powerless compared to the majority so they must negotiate it through being flexible.
- the key is to show SOME flexibility but not TOO much otherwise you may come across as being weak.
56
explain how commitment is important for a minority to be successful in convincing a majority
- being committed shows certainty, confidence and courage.
- the minority must show more commitment than the majority
-this could cause majority members to be persuaded by the minority argument
- shows they care about their attitudes enough to risk punishment and disapproval
57
what are explanations for obedience?
- agentic state
- legitimacy of authority
- situational factors (location, proximity, uniform)
58
what are 4 of Milgram's variations
- proximity
- location
- uniform
- fellow teachers disobey
59
what is the issue with all of Asch's ppts being male?
Eagly and Carli (1981), who did a meta-analysis, found that women are more compliant than men, so the findings can't be generalised to a mixed population.
60
when Milgram's study was conducted away from the original location (a run down office block) what did obedience drop to?
from 65% to 48%
61
Why did obedience drop when the location was changed in Milgram's study?
Location removed the status and in turn removed the legitimacy of authority.
62
When the experimenter gave orders over the telephone instead of being present in the room in Milgram's study, what did obedience drop to? (proximity)
from 65% to 20%
63
Why did obedience drop when the proximity was changed in Milgram's study?
The closer they are the more authority there is.
64
When fellow teachers disobeyed in Milgram's study, what did obedience drop to?
from 65% to 10%
65
Why did obedience drop when fellow teachers disobeyed in Milgram's study?
It provides social support by giving more confidence to disobey and resist.
66
When the lab coat was removed from the experimenter in Milgram's study, what did obedience drop to? (uniform)
from 65% to 20%
67
Why did obedience drop when the lab coat was removed in Milgram's study?
Uniform removes the legitimacy of authority
68
what was the aim of Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment
to investigate whether prison brutality is caused by individual variables, or because people conform to social roles.
69
explain the procedure of Zimbardo's prison experiment
- used a mock prison, used 21 male college students who were screened for psychological normality
- ppts randomly assigned to the role of prisoner and guard, kept real life' as prisoners were arrested from their own homes
- Zimbardo investigated whether normal men would turn to violence if they were placed in a fake prison for 2 weeks. He converted the basement of his university into a fake prison and recruited 21 male participants to take part in a controlled observation. Some of the participants were assigned the role of prisoner, and the others were assigned the role of guard.
- guards were in khaki uniform, whistles, sunglasses so no eye contact was made
70
what were the findings of Zimbardo's prison experiment
- within a few hours guards began to harass prisoners and behaved in a brutal manner. Prisoners were dehumanised
-one prisoner had to be released after 36 hours because of uncontrollable crying and anger, and showed signs of depression
- Zimbardo ended the experiment on the 6th day as there was some real danger.
- people will readily conform to social roles especially strongly stereotyped ones.
-guards became brutal and prisoners became submissive
71
what are the strengths of Zimbardo's prison study
1) control over key variables, emotionally stable ppts were selected which ruled out individual differences. Behaviour of ppts had to therefore be because of the roles itself, increases validity as conclusions are more confident
2) mundane realism, ppts were arrested from own homes without warning and taken to local police station, reflects real life activity
72
what are weaknesses of Zimbardo's prison study
1) lacks ecological validity, demand characteristics, ppts new they were participating in a study (please U effect) to please experimenter
HOWEVER, Mark McDermott found that 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life, increasing validity
2) lacks population validity- sample only consisted of American male students, can’t generalise to other genders and cultures. Collectivist cultures such as China or Japan may be more conformist to their social roles bc they value the needs of the group over the individual, therefore findings are culture bound
3) ethical issues- psychological harm, not protected from stress, anxiety and embarrassment, e.g one prisoner was released after the first day due to psychological disturbance
73
what is social change?
When society adopts a new belief or way of
behaving. This then becomes widely accepted
as the norm
74
what are 5 stages that cause social change?
- drawing attention to an issue
- role of conflict: examine the minorities viewpoint
- consistency
- augmentation principle: if there are risks associated with putting forward the point of
view , then the views are taken more seriously.
- the snowball effect: when the minority gradually gain momentum and become the new majority
- social cryptomnesia- as minority view becomes majority view and social change occurs, people know change has occurred but don’t know how it happened
75
explain social norms intervention (social change through majority influence)
- behaviour is based on what ppl think other ppl do. This is the perceived norm and is very different to the actual norm
- social norms intervention aims to reduce this gap by telling people actual facts about any given behaviour
76
What are strengths and weaknesses of legitimacy of authority theory
Strength: supported by Milgram’s location and uniform situational variables in his experiment
- obedience increased when both of these were more prestigious and legitimate
- My Lai massacre, those in the army were aware those above them had the power to punish
Weakness: suggests that everyone obeys those higher in the social hierarchy, however in Milgram’s experiment 65% of pts went to the highest voltage while 35% didn’t
- suggests individual differences have an effect on obedience
77
How are the strengths of the agency theory shown in Milgram’s experiment
- ppts experienced distress when taking orders from researcher
- ppts were more likely to obey when the researcher took responsibility
- ppts were more likely to obey when they were further away from the victim
78
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the authoritarian personality theory
Strength: supported by findings from Elms and Milgram that show correlation between authoritarian personality and obedience using the F scale. Those who went to 450v from Milgram’s experiment were given the F scale and compared to those who didn’t obey
Weakness: correlational data, can’t assume causation. even though authoritarian personality scores correlate with obedience doesn’t mean that authoritarian personalities cause obedience
- not all obedience can be explained by having an authoritarian personality, the theory ignores situational variables that affect obedience
- f scale is a questionnaire which has social desirability
79
A01
What are the three stages for a minority to create conversion
1) conflict: the minority create a conflict from the majority
2) understanding: the majority try to understand the views of the minority
3) validity: majority see if the opinions of the minority are valid
- conversion is when the majority now holds the same views as the minority and have therefore internalised their views
80
A01
Explain Moscivicis experiment in consistency of minority influence
- recruited 192 female ppts
- aim was to see if a minority could influence a majority even if their answers were wrong
- 2 confederates, ppts were shown 36 slides of shades of blue, if confederates were consistent and said green two thirds of the trials, 8% of ppts also said green
- when inconsistent ppts said green 1%
- 32% of ppts agreed with the minority at least once
- shows that minority’s can have an influence on majority
81
A03
What are the weaknesses of Moscovicis minority influence study
1) lacks population validity, only females were tested. Conformity studies have shown men and females conform differently
2) lab experiment, lacks ecological validity, task was boring and unimportant, no consequences of giving wrong answer
82
A01
Explain what research Nemeth carried out for flexibility
- ppts split into groups of 4 and had to agree on amount of compensation they would give to victims of a ski lift accident, was 1 confederate in each group
- 2 conditions
1) minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change it’s position (inflexible)
2) minority argued for a low rate of compensation, but comprised by offering a slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible)
- found the inflexible had little to no affect on the minority, however in flexible condition, the majority was more likely to comprise and change their view
83
A01
What is a social norm
- unwritten rules for how members of a social group are expected to behave
84
A01
What are the weaknesses of Asch’s study
1) lacks temporal validity, research took place in 1940s/50s when conformity was arguably higher, directly after world war 2 and pre- civil rights and feminist movement
- observation has been labelled ‘a child of its time’ therefore can’t be generalised to everyday conformity now
2) ppts may have guessed the aim of the study due to easiness of task, response bias, demand characteristics, gone along with wrong answer as they thought that was what was required of them
85
What are 2 factors that help resist social influence/obedience
- social support (situational) , if there are other ppl who will agree, more likely to resist
- locus of control (dispositional) , internal locus of control, more control, if he thinks smt is wrong he wont conform to everyone else
86
How can locus of control be measured
- through a personality questionnaire developed by Rotter
87
What are the 3 situational explanations for obedience
- agency theory
- legitimacy of authority
- situational factors (location, proximity, uniform)
88
What is the dispositional explanation for obedience
- the authoritarian personality
89
What are the 2 explanations of resistance to social influence
- social support
- locus of control
90
A03
What are the strengths of Milgrams shock study
1) supports agentic state and legitimacy of authority- manipulation of location and uniform variables conclude that the agentic state and legitimacy of authority do influence obedience
2) Standardised procedures, such as pre recordings of the learners responses led to a high level of control and enabled replications, Blass found Milgram’s findings were reliable across 8 countries
3) research support Hofling et al- against hospital policy, real nurses obeyed ‘Dr smiths’ phone all order to give double the maximum dose of unfamiliar drug, 21 out of 22 nursery obeyed the unethical order, breaking hospital guidelines
-supports idea of legitimacy of authority and agentic state, effects seen in the real world
91
How were the prisoners referred to by the guards in Zimbardo’s study?
- by their assigned number rather than their name
- part of the process of deindividuation, the erosion if each prisoner’s individuality
92
What did research from Bickman show
- ppl are more likely to obey someone dressed as a security guard than when they are dressed as a milkman or in plain clothes
93
What is social crptomnesia
The minority attitudes, behaviours and beliefs become the majority
94
Explain how the My Lai massacre supports both the agentic state and legitimacy of authority
Agentic state: soldiers on the ground took orders from commanding high rank officers
- they denied personal responsibility for their behaviour as they were acting as agents for a higher authority
- agentic shift occurred when they joined the army
Legitimacy of authority: the army is an extremely structured hierarchy, offers above had the power to punish when failure to obey
- soldiers at My Lai accepted that Lt Calley was entitled to expect their obedience as he has the power to punish
95
A03
Evaluations of role of social influence in social change- research support
- Moscovici found a consistent minority opinion had greater effect on other people than an inconsistent opinion
- shows consistency as an important factor for social change, increases external validity
- however stating names of colours on slide is an artificial task, unreflective of real like
96
A03
Evaluations of role of social influence in social change- contradicting research
- Mackie (1987) found evidence to suggest that majority influence may create conflict if you do not share their views- when we find out a majority thinks something different we are forced to think hard about their arguments and reasoning
- suggests conflict is not limited to minority influence
