social influence Flashcards
definition of compliance
a person who goes along with other peoples behaviours or attitudes but does not believe them to be correct
reason of compliance
they go along with the beliefs to keep the peace but gain approval
comply publicly but private opinion doesnt change
definition of identification
individuals adjust their behaviours and opinions to a certain group as membershio is desirable
definition of internalisation
individual accepts the group and believes the views to be correct
what are the two reasons people conform
ISI - informational social influence
NSI - normative social influence
what is ISI
informational social influence
need for certainty/ need to be right
when uncertain they look to others when in an unfamiliar situation
what is NSI
normative social influence
humans have a need to be liked
agreeing with the majority view because we want to be liked
fear rejection from the group
what is an nAffiliator
a type of person who has a need to be liked
what is a limitation of NSI and ISI
everyone has different levels of wanting to be liked and to be right so will affect different people differently
people who are less sure of themselves will turn to others
what did Asch study
conformity
what was the aim of Aschs study
to what extent would people conform to others opinions
what were the three variables that Asch studied
group size
unamity
task difficulty
how did Asch study group size x conformity
varied the group size from 1 to 15 participants
completing the line task
what did Asch find when studying the impact of group size on conformity
conformity increases with group size but only up to a certain point
with a group size up to three conformity rose to 38% but as group size kept increasing conformity slowed
how did Asch study task difficulty
increased the difficulty of the line judgement in the task by making the stimulus and comparison lines more similar
became hade for the genuine participants to see the difference
what were Aschs findings with task difficulty x conformity
conformity increased as the situation became more uncertain for the participants so more likely to turn to others for the right answer
ISI
how did Asch study unanimity
introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates and answered incorrectly
what were Aschs findings with unanimity and conformity
by introducing a dissenter conformity dropped
appeared to free the participant to express their independent views
what was Aschs conclusion about unanimity
the influence of the majority depends about being unanimous.
limitations of Aschs research
lacks ecological validity
gender issues
lacks cultural validity
strengths of Aschs research
research support
why does Aschs research lack ecological validity
the participants were conforming to strangers opinions
in a real life situation they are more likely to be affected by family/ friends
line task is an irrelevent task to their lives
had to apply findings to real life
what is a social role
parts people play as members of social groups
what was the aim of Zimbardos experiment
to investigate wether guards / people behave brutally is because they have a saditstic personality or that they conform to their social role
how many men took part
21 american men who were emotionally stable
how did Zimbardo give each participant a role
randomly assigned the participants
after he assesed their mental stability
why did the guards and prisoners wear uniforms
for deindividuation
participants have a lessened sense of responsibility and gained anonymity
what were the findings of Zimbardos study
- guards conformed to their roles and behaved brutally towards the prisoners
- prisoners rebelled within two days
- Zimbardo cut the study short due to psycholgical distress amongst prisoners
what were Zimbardos conclusions
argues that the situation makes people act the way that they do and that social roles have a strong influence on behaviour
what is a strength of Zimbardo’s experiment
high control over key variables
- selection of participants
- interviewed and assesed mental stability
- individual personality differences were controlled
- increases internal validity
what are the limitations of Zimbardos research
lack of realism - play acting and showed demand characteristics
exaggeration of the power of social roles - only 1/3 of guards actually behaved brutally
what is the aim of Milgrams research
to asses obedience levels
how many participants took part
40 american men
volunteers
what was milgrams method
each participant was allocated into a group with a learner and experimenter
participant is the teacher each time
told to give increasingly strong electric chocks
what were Milgrams findings
every participant gave all shocks up to 300V
12.5% stopped at 300V
65% were fully obedient
what were milgrams variations
proximity, location, uniform
what were Milgrams findings with variation of proximity
changed so the learner and teacher was in the same room
obedience dropped to 40%
what were Milgrams findings with variation of location
location changed from Yale university to run down office block
obedience dropped to 47.5%
what were Milgrams findings with variation of uniform
origional experimenter leaves and is replaced by a person wearing regular clothes
obedience drops to 2-%
what is the limitation of Milgrams research
lacks internal validity
- would have behaved differently in a real life scenario
- didnt believe the set up
- obedience in a contract
what are the strengths of Milgrams research
has ecological validity
- participants believed the set up and behaviour was true
- findings have been repeated in real life scenerios
charles hoffing and the nurses
variations
- systematically changed them to see the effect
- procedure was repeated with over 1000ppt
limitations of Aschs research
- only studied white american males
lacks culutral and gender validity - task was artifical
cannot be generalised to real life - lacks temporal validity
1950s McCarthyism
who was in charge of Nazi death camps
Adolf Eichman
why are people obedient
agentic state and legitimacy of authority
what is an agentic state
people experience an agentic shift and move from their autonomous state to agentic state
- act as an agent to the person we received orders from
what is moral strain
when we obey an order that goes against our conscious
why might people continue with the orders despite expierncing moral strain
binding factors
aspects of the situation that allow the person to minimise the damage
justification for the action
what is legitimacy of authority
suggests we are more likely to obey people who we percieve to have authority of us
why are we obedient to people in positions of power
we experience an agentic shift and act as an agent for them
strengths of agentic state
- research support from Milgram
participants who were obedient to the authority figure didnt feel any personal guilt
strength of legitimacy of authority
explains culutral differences
in some culutures authority is more likely to be accepted
limitation of agentic state
refuting evidence
experiment 16/18 nurses disobeyed a doctor
remained in automnomous state
limitation of authoritation personality
individual differences
- milgrams study was not 100% obedient
some people are more disobedient than others - personality differences
what was Adornos interest about Nazi
why Nazi soldiers were so willing to kill members of a minority group
what was Adornos procedure
2000 middle class white Americans
F-scale personality test
what did the findings of the test mean
higher score = higher authoritatian = more obedient
what is the authoritarian personality
- submits blindly to authority above them
- is authoratative to people below them
- strict obedience to social rules
what is the theory of the cause of an authortiatian personality
- strict upbrining
what are the limitations of authoritarian personality
political bias
- f scale test is politically bias and extreme right wing views
- limited explanations
cannot explain obedient behaviour in majority of the country
extreme and rare personality
what are the strengths of authoritarian personality
- research support
Milgrams participants took Fscale test - 20 most fully obedient
all 20 scored highly and had a ore authoritarian personality
what is Locus of control
a persons perception of a personal control over their own behaviour
what does it mean to have an internal LOC
a person who beleives that their life is determined by their own desicions and efforts
how does having an internal LOC affect social influence
more resistant t social influence as they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs
what does it mean to have an external LOC
a person who believes that their life is determined by external factors out of their control
how does having an external LOC affect social influence
more likely to be influenced by others
what are some examples of social support
Ach found that the presence of a non conformist lowered conformity
strength of LOC
research support
- Holland 1967 repeated Milgrams study
- 37% of internals did not continue
23% of externals did not continue
internals showed greater resistance
what are the limitations of LOC
.- can only explain a limited range of situations
- Rotter et al found LOC is only valid in new situations #
- contradictory research
- Twenge 2004 analysed data of obedience of 40yrs
over time people have become more resistant and more external
what are the three behaviour traits that a minority group need to adapt
consitent, commitment and flexibility
what is a strength of minority influence
peoples opinions are changed privately not pubicly
Moscivici variations, allowed people to write down answers
agreement with minority was higher
what was moscivis aim
to demonstrate the effect of the minority
Moscovicis method
36 blue cards
groups of 6
2 confederates
shout out what colour the card was
Mosocivis findings
confederates constitently said that the slides were green
the true participants agreed on 8.42% of the trials
what are the stages of social change
drawing attention
consistentsy
deeper processing
augmentation principle
snowball effect
social cryptonesia
what does drawing attention mean in social change
draws attentioin to the problem so that the majority are aware of it
what does consistency mean in social change
where the group remain the same with their views across a long time
what is synchronic
where everybody in the minority has the same views
what is diachronic
where the views are the same over time
what does deeper processing mean in social change
activism means that people think about the message
what does augmentatian priciple mean in social change
individuals will risk their lives to demonstrate their dedication to their beliefs
what does snowball effect mean in social change
when the minority convert the majority at a fast ratr so that the minority view becomes the majority
what does social cryptomnesia mean in social change
people are aware that change has occurred but cant remember how it happened
what are the limitations of social change
takes a long time
deeper processing may not play a role in minority influence
how many days did the bus boycott last
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