Social influence Flashcards
How did Asch study social influence?
123 male US students in groups with confederates - line judgement task. Confederates gave wrong answers.
Average conformity rate of 32% on 12 trials. 75% conformed at least once.
Judgements of individuals are affected by majority, even when wrong.
What are evaluation points for Asch?
- accepted way of conformity research
- uneconomical and time consuming
- low ecological validity
- unethical - deception and stress
- high reliability as control group
Perrin and Spencer with UK engineering students - only 1 conformed as high self efficacy.
What is conformity?
Yielding to group pressure. Can decrease independence but helps society function. Easier to get along with others.
What are the 3 types of conformity?
Compliance - fit in. Public not private, weak and temporary to be accepted.
Identification - adjust to group as membership is desirable. Private and public but temporary.
Internalisation (true conformity) - public and private acceptance. Permanent.
What is informational social influence?
Desire to be right. Especially in new/ambiguous situations, look to others.
What is normative social influence?
Desire to be liked. Agree with others as fear rejection.
What are situational variables?
Features of environment that affect the degree to which people yield to group pressures.
What are examples of situational variables in Asch?
- Group size - conformity increases as majority increases, but only up to 7. When no objective right answer, more likely to disagree.
- Unanimity - when majority not unanimous, conformity decreases, If support, to 5.5% in Asch.
- Task difficulty - when difficulty increases, conformity increases. When lines similar, look to others.
What is conformity to social roles?
Behave right in different settings, not as strong as internalisation as behaviour changes. Predict social behaviour.
What did Haslam and Reicher do?
Replicate SPE - made sure was ethical, ended early too, males from various backgrounds. Guards not use authority, so initial system collapsed.
Different results!
What was the Stanford prison experiment?
21 male students, paid $15/day. Randomly given role and Zimbardo = superintendent in mock prison. Dehumanised, given uniforms. Guards given clubs, sunglasses.
Guards -> tyrannical + abusive. Prisoners -> submissive + 5 released due to anxiety.
Stopped after 6 days as forgot it was a study and conformed to social roles.
What are evaluation points for the SPE?
- situational hypothesis favoured
- roles override moral beliefs
- unethical
- low ecological validity and reliability
Why did Milgram research obedience?
Nazis in the Holocaust - Germans different to US.
How did Milgram study obedience?
40 US males from ad. At Yale, met by confederate wearing lab coat. Punishment and learning - learner always confederate and receive 15V increasing shocks. Given 45V shock to convince.
Wrong until 300V - kicked wall + silent.
Paradigm shift - dispositional to situational.
What are findings and evaluation points for Milgram?
Findings: obedience rate = 63% up to 450V and 100% up to 300V.
Many were in distress and 3 had seizures.
- basic method for valuable results
- unethical - deception, harm, no explicit right to withdraw
- paid to take part
- Milgram surprised
- low internal validity as not believe shocks
- unrepresentative so low external validity
- low ecological validity
What is the agentic state?
Way a person obeys an order - sees themselves as acting as an agent for authority figure, so not feel responsible.
What is the autonomous state?
Opposite of agentic - personally responsible for actions.
What is the Agency theory?
Socialised from young to learn obedience is needed for a stable society. Give up free will, de-individuated. Obedience occurring in hierarchies.
What are the situational variables affecting obedience?
- Proximity - aware of consequences. Closer in Milgram, obedience decreases.
- Location - increased in institutionalised setting. Yale vs run down building.
- Uniforms - lab coat in Milgram. Legitimacy when giving orders.
What is a dispositional explanation?
Internal - sees personal characteristics affecting degree to which people yield to authority.
(Basis of Milgram)
What is an Authoritarian personality?
Who has rigid, right-wing, conservative beliefs. Intolerant of ambiguity, submissive and hostile to lower status.
Who created the F scale?
Adorno et al - to measure Authoritarianism. Saw it being shaped in early life by hierarchal parenting. Less educated?
What did Elms and Milgram study in relation to Authoritarianism?
Found his participants who were very obedient scored higher on the F scale and different childhoods.
What are explanations of resistance to social influence?
Social support, locus of control, systematic processing, morality and personality.
