social influence Flashcards
Conformity
a change in a persons behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people .
types of conformity
compliance , identification , internalisation
compliance
just going along with something .
behaviour is simply to fit in with the group and be accepted once away from the group behaviour and opinion is back to normal.
Identification
conforms to the behaviours of a group because there is something they value about the group.
identify with the group in public , they MAY also hold the same views privately. TEMPORARY and not MAINTAINED
Identification
a person genuinely believes and accepts a group norm .
this change is permanent
public and private acceptance of views
behaviours and beliefs are present even when away from the group.
what were the three things in Asch’s variation
group size , unanimity , task difficulty
group size in Asch’s study
the number of members within a social group.
changed the number of confederates in the experiment from 0 to 15 .
conformity increases to a certain point number of confederates increased from 0-3 so did conformity . increasing confederates after this made little difference to conformity levels .
unanimity in Asch’s study
the degree to which the group members agree with each other.
introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other . sometimes the disagree confederate would give the correct answer . other times another incorrect answer would be given .
conformity reduces if the correct answer was given conformity dropped to 5% if another incorrect answer was give , conformity dropped to 9%.
task difficulty in Asch’s study
how obvious the correct answer is.
visual perception task was made harder by making the line more similar in length .
Conformity increase .
what are the two process models
the need to be right , the need to be liked
what is informational social influence
its a cognitive process
occurs when a person is in a new situation and wants to do the right thing .
results in people publicly and privately accepting opinions and behaviours. conforming via internalisation
Asch and ISI
-when tasks were made more difficult ( by making the lines closer together ) there was an increase in conformity rates .
- this is because people thought that the others were right , and so conformed because the task was difficult .
what is normative social influence
is concerned with emotions . Humans have a desire to be accepted and a fear of rejection .
occurs when: you seek approval of strangers .
Asch and NSI
when participants were interviewed at the end of the study , a number of them said that they had agreed with the rest of the group because they wanted to fit in .
this was despite them knowing that the answer that they were giving was wrong .
What are social roles
Social roles are the parts people play as members of various social groups.These are accompanied by expectations that we and others have of what’s appropriate behaviour in each role .
what is conformity to social roles
This is called identification . a person changes their public behaviour and private beliefs but only while they are in the particular social.
people learn how to behave in certain situations by observing the social roles of other and conforming to this behaviour .
what did Zimbardo’s study show in relation to whether people are “evil”?
ordinary people will do unimaginable things given certain enviroments.
how many volunteers participated in the prison study?
24
why was there no difference between the guards and the prisoners to begin with?
randomly allocated
what are the symbols of power?
sunglasses
uniform
baton
handcuffs
whistle
how did the guards dehumanise the prisoners?
called by numbers not names
tights on their heads
chain on foot
why was the prison study different from Milgram’s in term of experimental input.
Zimbardo had a dual role
he played the superintendent and researcher
how many days did it take for the guards to get the prisoners to do the sexual acts
4 days
how many days did it take for the study to be stopped and why ?
6 days , thing got sexual
what did the Stanford prison study investigate
conformity to social roles
what is obediences
when an individual follows a direct order from a person who is usually a figure of authority
what is destructive obediences
when an individual obeys an order to do something immoral which causes the individual carry out the order distress and regret.
how did milligram recruit his participants
by placing an adverts in local papers and sending out flyers
which three people were involved in milligrams procedure .
experimenter
teacher
learner
what proportion of participants does 65% refer to
participants who went all the way to the top of the shock scale
what are situational variables
features of an environment that impact the degree to which individuals obey
what are the situational variables that impact obedience levels
proximity
location
uniform
what did the obedience rate change to when the teacher and learner were in the same room.
40%
in one variation what did the teachers have to do to the learners hand
force it on the electroshock plate
what was rate of obedience when the teacher had to force the learners hand
30%
when the experimenter was in a different room to the teacher ad gave the order over the phone what was the obedience rate
20.5%
how did proximity of authority figure impact on the rate of obedience
the further away the teacher is from the experimenter , the less likely they are to obey
how does the proximity of the victim to the person carrying out the order impact on obedience
the closer the teacher is to their actions the less likely they are to obey.
where was milligrams original study conducted
yale university
how did Milgram change the location of the experiment
completed the experiment in a rundown office block
what happened to the rate of obedience when the experiment occurred In a rundown office
it fell to 47.5%
how does location impact on rates of obediences
a prestigious / formal location makes people more likely to obey orders
in the OG experiment what uniform did the experimenter wear
a grey lab coat
how was the condition changed in Miligrams variation
an ordinary member of the public in everyday clothes replaced the experimenter .
what was the rate of obedience in the uniform variation
20%
how does uniform impact the rate of obedience
wearing a uniform increases the rate of obedience
what are the explanations of obedience
1-situational variables
2- legitimacy of authority
3- agent state
4- authoritarian personality
what is legitimacy of authority
is an explanation for obedience which suggests people are more likely to obey people who they perceive to have authority over them .
its justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy .
what is an agent shift
people willing to give up some of their behaviour to people they trust to exercise their authority appropriately .
what is the problem with legitimacy of authority when it becomes destructive
it leads to people being ordered to behave in ways that are callous , cruel , stupid and dangerous
how was destructive authority shown in miligrams study
when the experimenter used prods to order participants to behave in ways that went against their consciences
how did Milgrams original experiment create an authority that was legitimate.
legitimate location at Yale university , grey lab coat worn by experimenter
what is the agent state
a social psychological explanation for obedience .
other people influence the likelihood that someone is going to obey
what is the autonomous state
is acting in accordance with moral duty .
how does an individual feel in the autonomous state
they feel responsible for their own actions and therefore the individual behaves according to their own principle
what happes when an individual acts as an agent
they are not an unfeeling puppet . they experience high anxiety which is a moral strain , they know what they are doing is wrong but feel powerless to disobey the authority figure.
what was the result of one variation of milgrams study where a confederate administered the shocks on behalf of the teacher
the percentage off participants who administered the full 450 volts rose dramatically , from 65% to 92.5%
Who proposed the idea of an authoritarian personality
Fromm but Adorno used it as an explanation of obedience
what was the procedure of authoritarian personality
Adorno et al (1950) investigated the cause of obedient personalty in a study of more than 2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitude towards other racial groups .
what scale was used by Adorno et al .
f- scale (facist)
what did Adorno et al find
people with authoritarian leanings scored higher on F-scale identified with strong people were disrespectful and had hatred for the weak .
Authoritarian people had no fuzziness between categories of people
where does the Authoritarian personality originate from
- harsh parenting was thought to result in this personality .
-extremely strict discipline ; expectation of complete loyalty ;impossibly high standards ; severe criticism of perceived failures ; conditional love
what is a strengths of the authoritarian personality.
-Research support : milligram and elms conducted interviews with individuals involved in Milgram’s original study. Participants who were highly obedient were significantly more authoritarian on the f-scale then disobedient participants. suggests there is a link between authoritarian personality and obediences.
what are some limitations of the authoritarian personality.
- Limited explanation :
individual personality explanations of obedience cannot easily explain the behaviour of a country majority. not likely that all germans who were obedient, racist and anti-semitic , had an authoritarian personality. this limits Adorno’s theory because its clear that an alternative explanation is much more realistic ; social identity theory. Majority go German ppl identified with anti-semitic nazi state and scapegoated the ‘outgroup’ of jews . limits applicability of the theory.
what is resistance to social influence
refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressures to conform to the majority or to obey the authority
what is the ability to withstand social pressure is the influenced by
situational factors - social support
dispositional factors - locus of control
what’s one reason that people resist the pressure to confront
if they have an ally , someone supporting their views . having an ally builds confidence and allows individuals to remain independent
