Social influence Flashcards
1
Q
social influence
A
- the scientific study of the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings and behavoiurs are affected by other people
2
Q
conformity
A
- the tendency to change what we do, think or say in response due to the influence of real or imagined pressure from others
3
Q
types of conformity
A
- compliance
- identification
- internalisation
4
Q
compliance
A
- conforming publicly but continuing privately to disagree
- shallowest form of conformity
5
Q
identification
A
- we act the same as the group because we share their values and want to be accepted
- the change of belief or behaviour is often temporary
- moderate form of conformity
6
Q
internalisation
A
- person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised and accepted the views of the group
- deepest form of conformity
7
Q
explanations of conformity
A
- normative social influence
- informational social influence
8
Q
normative social influence
A
- occurs when we wished to be liked by the majority group even though we may not agree with them
- following the crowd to fit in with the norm and be liked by the group
9
Q
informative social influence
A
- occurs when we look to the majority group for information as we are unsure how to behave or act
- conforms because they look to the majority for the right answer
10
Q
Asch’s study
aim + participants
A
- male american undergraduates, in groups of 6
- 1 real participant and 5 confederates
- aim - to investigate conformity and majority influence
11
Q
Asch’s study
procedure
A
- presented with 4 lines - 3 comparison and 1 standard line
- asked to state which line was the same as the standard
- real participant always answered last
- confederates gave the wrong answer 12 / 18 times
- asch observed how often the participant would give the same wrong answer as the confederates
12
Q
Asch’s study
results
A
- 36.8% conformed
- 25% never conformed
- 75% conformed at least once
- in a control trial, only 1% of answers were incorrect from the real participants
- eliminates eyesight as an extraneous variable
13
Q
variables affecting conformity
A
- group size
- unamity
- task difficulty
14
Q
Asch’s study
strengths
A
- high internal validty
- lab experiment
- supports NSI
15
Q
Asch’s study
limitations
A
- lacks ecological + population validity
- ethical issues
- lacked validity
16
Q
Zimbardo’s study
aim + participants
A
- 24 american undergraduate students
- aim - to investigate how people would conform to social roles in a simulated environment
- why good people do bad things
17
Q
Zimbardo’s study
procedure
A
- basement of Stanford University was converted into a simluated prison
- american students volunteered and were paid to take part
- randomly assigned guard or prisoner and both roles wore an uniform
- prisoners were referred to by their assigned number and guards were given mirrored glasses and handcuffs
- no one was allowed to leave
- behaviour of participants was observed
18
Q
Zimbardo’s study
findings
A
- identification occured very fast from both roles
- guards began harrasing and tormenting prisoners in very aggressive ways and enjoyed it
- prisoners would only talk about prison topics
- guards became more demanding of obedience and assertiveness towards the prisoners
- prisoners became more submissive
19
Q
Zimbardo’s study
strengths
A
- real life applications
- debriefing
- led to the formal recognition of ethical guidlines
20
Q
Zimbardo’s study
limitations
A
- lacks ecological validity
- lacks population validity
- loads of ethical issues
21
Q
explanations for obedience
A
- agentic state
- legitimacy of authority
- situational factors
22
Q
agentic state
A
- when a person believes that someone else will take responsibility for their actions
23
Q
autonomous state
A
- when a person believes that they will take full responsibility for their actions
24
Q
agentic shift
A
- when someone shifts from an autonomous state to the agentic state
25
legitimacy of authority
* how credible the figure of authority is
* people are more likely to obey them if they are seen as morally good or right and legitimate
* teachers, government, parents
26
situational factors
* an external influence which can impact the results of the experiment
* include appearance of authority figure, location / surroundings and proximity
27
Milgram's study
aim + participants
* randomly selected participants - 40 male volunteers
* aim - to observe whether people would obey a figure of authority when told to harm another person
28
Milgram's study
procedure
* a participant was given the role of teacher and a confederate given the role of learner
* particpant had to ask the confederate a series of questions
* when the answers were wrong, the participant was told to administer an electric shock, even when no answer was given
* electric shocks went up by 15V at a time, up to 450V
* participants were assessed om how many volts they were willing to shock the confederate with
* experimenters role was to give a series of orders when the participant refused to administer the electric shock
29
Milgram's study
findings
* all participants went up to 300V
* 65% went up to 450V
* no participants stopped below 300V, only 12.5% stopped at 300V
* vast majority of participants were prepared to administer lethal electric shocks to a confederate
30
Milgram's study
strengths
* debriefing at the aim of the study
* real life applications
* high internal validity
* highly replicable
* supporting studies confirmed external validity
31
Milgram's study
limitations
* ethical issues
* socially sensitive issue
* lack of internal validity
* lack of ecological validity
32
factors affecting obedience
* proximity
* location
* uniform
33
Milgram's study
proximity
* participants obeyed more when the experimenter was in the same room - 62.5%
* reduced to 40% when the experimenter and participant were in separate rooms
* reduced to a further 30% in the touch proximity condition
34
Milgram's study
location
* participants obeyed more when the experiment was conducted at a prestigious university
* increases the trust in the integrity of the experiment
35
Milgram's study
uniform
* participants obeyed more when the experimenter wore a lab coat
* uniform gives them a higher status and greater sense of legitimacy
* however, demand characteristics were particularly evident in thie condition
36
dispositional explanation
* internal explantion that explains why someone obeys
37
authoritarian personality
* when you believe that people should completely obey or submit to their authority figures, and suppress their own beliefs
38
explanation of resistance
to social influence
* locus of control
* social support
39
locus of control
* Rotter (1966)
* a measurement of an individual's sense of control over their lives
40
internal locus of control
* they believe their behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and effort
* often confrom and obey less because they take more responsibilty for their own actions
41
external locus of control
* they believe that their behaviour is caused by luck or fate
* more likely to act on behalf of another
42
social support
* everyday behaviours that communicate to an individual that they are valued or cared for
43
minority influence factors
* consistency
* commitment
* flexibility
44
Moscovici's study
aim + participants
* randomly selected participants and confederates
* aim - to observe how minorities can influence a majority
45
Moscovici's study
procedure
* lab experiment
* in groups of 6 - 2 confederates + 4 participants
* everyone was shown 36 blue slides, each a different shade
* confederates deliberately said they were green on 2/3 of the trails - producing a consistent minority view
* the number of times participants reported the slide was green was observed
* a control group was also used consisting of participants only
46
Moscovici's study
findings
* when the confederates were consistent with their answers, 8% of participants said the slides were green
* when the confederates were inconsistent, about 1% of participants said the slides were green
* shows that consistency is crucial for a minority to exert maximum influence on a majority
47
minority influence
consistency
* makes the opposition think that the views of the minority are real and serious enough to pay attention
* diachronic and synchronic consistency
48
diachronic consistency
* when the group remains consistent over time
* they do not change their views over time
49
synchronic consistency
* when the group is consistent between all the members of the group
* everyone in the group has the same views, and agree with and support each other
50
minority influence
commitment
* when the minority have so much passion and confidence, it suggests to the majority that their view must somehow be valid
* it encourages the majority to explore why
51
minority influence
flexibility
* they are less likely to be seen as extremists and attention seekers
* they are more likely to be seen as reasonable, considerate and cooperative
