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Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

What is conformity?

A

the process of yeilding to the majority influence

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2
Q

How did myers define conformity?

A

‘a change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group presence’

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3
Q

What is compliance?

A

publicly conforming to behaviours or views of others but privately maintaining one’s own view
results in superficial change
the behaviolur will change when the group is no longer around

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4
Q

What is internalisation?

A

a real change of private views to match those of the group
change is permenant because attitudes have been internalised - change occurs when the group is no longer around

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5
Q

What is identification?

A

adopting the views of behaviour of a group both privately and privately because you value membership of of that group
the change is temporary and not maintained when leaving the group

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6
Q

What is normative social influence?

A

the need to be accepted by other people - the want to be liked and respected so you agree with people to get approval
it is likely to lead to compliance

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7
Q

What is informational social influence?

A

the need to feel confident that our ideas and beliefs are correct - tend to seek other’s opinions that we think are right
may lead to internalisation

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8
Q

What study supports informational social influence?

A

lucas et al = asked students to give math answers that were easy/ more difficult - there was more conformity on the more difficult ones

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9
Q

What study supports Normative social influence?

A

Asch = interviewed ps and found that they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval

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10
Q

What is an issue with normative social influence and informational social influence?

A

induvidual differences are ignored - Asch found that students are less likely to conform than other people
also people who are less concerned about being liked are less likely to conform

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11
Q

What was Asch’s aim?

A

to investigate whether induviduals would yeild to majority influence and show how easily is is to influence someone

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12
Q

What was Asch’s experiment?

A

1 p with 6-8 confeds in group
123 ps in total - all white american undergarduates
believed they were taking part in a vision test
shown a display of 3 lines and had to compare these lines to a new line of which was similar
each person gave an answer - the p was always last or last but 1 = creates majority pressure

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13
Q

How did Asch increase validitity with the ps answers?

A

the displays were arranged so that there can be no possible doubt as to the correct answer

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14
Q

What were the critical trials?

A

12/18 confeds gave the same wrong answer - ps were observed for conformity

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15
Q

What was Asch’s findings?

A

error rate in control = 0.7%
error rate in critical trials = 32%

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16
Q

What % of ps in Asch’s experiment conformed at least once?

A

74%

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17
Q

What % of ps in Asch’s experiment never conformed?

A

26%

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18
Q

What reasons did ps give for conformity in Asch’s experiment?

A

i thought my eyes decieved me
i didnt want to spoil the experiment
i did not want to be ridiculed by the rest of the group and feel like an outsider

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19
Q

What was Asch’s conclusion?

A

in unambiguous situations, there is still pressure to conform to the majority - most people experienced NSI and some experienced ISI

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20
Q

What are the 3 variables affecting conformity?

A

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

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21
Q

How does group size affect conformity?

A

creates majoirty pressure
the no. of confeds needed to produce conformity seemed to be 3
2 confed conformity = 14%
3 confed conformity = 32%
after 3 there was little increase in conformity

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22
Q

How does unanimity affect conformity?

A

if 1 confed gave a different answer whether it was right or wrong, conformity dropped to 5%

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23
Q

How does task difficulty affect conformity?

A

when the task was made more difficult by making the lines more similar in length, conformity increased due to ISI

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24
Q

What are the issues with Asch’s experiment?

A

lack ecological validity
lacks population validity - ethnocentric, culture biased
andocentric - focuses on men
poor temporal validity - war just happened people are more likely to conform
unethical - not full informed consent due to deception, uncomfortable situation
study of anti-conformity = high % didnt conform was ignored

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25
Q

What are social roles?

A

‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. They are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in these roles

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26
Q

What was Zimbardo’s aim?

A

to investigate how readily people conform to the expectations they have about social roles

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27
Q

How did Zimbardo sample his participants?

A

selected 21 men students who were well adjusted = did a psychological test to prevent ethical issues
volunteer sample = used an advert in a newspaper
paid 15$ and day for 2 week simulation
randomly allocated to roles of guards and prisoners - avoids bias as same may be more naturally demanding

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28
Q

Where did zimbardo’s study take place?

A

stanford university in a mock prison in the psychology department basement

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29
Q

What uniforms did the guards have?

A

khaki uniforms
dark glasses and wooden battons

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30
Q

What uniforms did the prisoner’s have?

A

blindfolded, stripped, sprayed with disinfectant
given smocks to wear and given a prison no.
dehumanised and loss of identity = more likely to conform to role

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31
Q

What happened during zimbardo’s experiment?

A

guards treated the prisoners harshly that the study stopped after 6 days
prisoners started to rebell after 2 days
some prisoners became depressed and anxious
prisoners didnt believe they were allowed to leave = they thought it was real

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32
Q

What did zimbardo conclude from his experiment?

A

people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play and that role shapes a person’s attitudes and behaviours
the ‘prison’ environment was an important factor in creating the guard’s brutal behaviour

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33
Q

What are the possitives of zimbardo’s experiment?

A

high levels of control on selection of ps = ruled out induvidual personality differences affecting the results
90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life = high internal validity

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34
Q

What are the issues with zimbardo’s study?

A

ps were play-acting rather than conforming = acting based on stereotypes and characters from films
may have exaggerated the power of the situation to influence behaviour = only 1/3 of guards were harsh, 1/3 were helping the prisoners
replications found different results - prisoners took more control
unethical - humiliation, distress,
zimbardo played the cheif = bias and unethical

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35
Q

What is obedience?

A

the result of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct order from an authority figure

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36
Q

What is situational attribution?

A

inferring that a person’s behaviour is caused by something about the situation they are in

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37
Q

What is dispositional attribution?

A

inferring that the reason for a person’s behvaiour is something aboutn themselves such as their personality

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38
Q

What was the aim of milgram’s study?

A

to find out whether people would obey an unjust order from a person who is an authority figure and to see if situational or dispositional factors led the person to obey

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39
Q

What was the procedure of Milgram’s study?

A

40 male volunteers each paid $4.50
decieved into thinking they were giving electric shocks - they were told that the epxt. concerned the role of punishment in learning
ps had a teacher role and confed was the learner who had to memorise words
the teacher (p) would administer a shock when the learner was incorrect - went up to 450Volts
the researcher would use prods to make the p continue giving shocks

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40
Q

What did milgram find?

A

all ps went to 300Vs
65% went to 450v
most ps were stressed and wanted to stop and showed some signs of extreme anxiety

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41
Q

what did milgram conclude?

A

under certain circumstances, most people will obey orders that go against their conscienece and it is caused by situational factors

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42
Q

What were all the variations of milgrams study?

A

venue moved to derelict building
teacher and learner in same room
teacher had to force learner’s hand onto electric plate
two other ‘teachers’ (confeds) who refused to continue
teacher paired with confed assistant
experimenter on the phone

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43
Q

What was the obedience rate of the venue moving variation?

A

47.5%

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44
Q

What was the obedience rate of the teacher and learner in same room variation?

A

40%

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45
Q

What was the obedience rate of the teacher forcing learners hand on electric plate variation?

A

30%

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46
Q

What was the obedience rate of the there was two other teachers variation?

A

10%

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47
Q

What was the obedience rate of the teacher has assistant variation?

A

92.5%

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48
Q

What was the obedience rate of the experimenter oon the phone variation?

A

20.5%

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49
Q

What is the good thing about milgrams study?

A

the findings have been replicated in a french documentary

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50
Q

What are the issues with milgram’s study?

A

lacks internal validity - ps may not have believed that they were giving electric shocks, pretending to obey
lacks ecological validity - artificial, doesnt reflect real life obedience
lacks population validity - american, ethnocentric
unethical - harm, deception, informed consent, withdrawal
volunteer sample - may have gathered a certain group of people

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51
Q

What are the two explainations for obedience?

A

legitimacy of authority
agentic state

52
Q

What is legitimacy of authority?

A

the percieved right of an authority figure whose role is defined by society and they exert power over the behaviour of others
demonstrated in milgrams original study
people assume that the authority figure knows what they are doing

53
Q

What are the positives of the legitimacy of authority?

A

milgram - found its the main reason for obedience
can explain cultural differences in obedience - australians ob. rate = 16% and german ob, rate = 85%
can explain real-life war crimes - given orders

54
Q

What is the agentic state?

A

people obey a destructive authority because they do not want to take responsibility for their behaviour
allows the person to ignore and minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour - reduces ‘moral strain’

55
Q

What is an autonomous state?

A

people are aware of the consequences of their actions and behave voluntarily

56
Q

What is the agentic state?

A

follow an authority figure and dont take responsibility for actions

57
Q

What is the good thing about the agentic state?

A

milgrams studies support the role of the agentic state in obedience - the experimenter takes responsibility

58
Q

What is an example of the agentic state having a bad influence?

A

Rank and Jacobson - 16/18 nurses disobeyed the rules from a doctor to give an excessive drug dose to a patient

59
Q

What are binding factors?

A

aspects of the situ that allows ps to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour, reduced the moral strain

60
Q

What is the 3 situational factors that affect obedience?

A

proximity
location
uniform

61
Q

How does proximity affect obedience?

A

how close we are to the person giving demands affects our willingness to obey

62
Q

Which 3 of milgram’s variations tests proximity?

A

teacher and learner in the same room
experimenter left the room
teacher put learners hand on electric plate

63
Q

How does location affect obedience?

A

where the obedience is taking place and how much authority is linked with the location

64
Q

What variation of milgram’s shows location?

A

changing venue to run-down offices obedience dropped

65
Q

How does uniform affect obedience?

A

what the authority figure is wearing links to legitimacy of authority

66
Q

What was brickman’s study on obedience and uniform?

A

x3 outfits - casual, milkman, guard
asked people to do different tasks
ps were x2 more likely to obey the guard than the casual

67
Q

Why does uniform cause obedience?

A

it encourages obedience as it is a widely recognised symbol of authority - legitimacy of authority

68
Q

What are the good things with bickman’s uniform study?

A

lots of research to support = valid
cross-cultural replications of milgram and it applies to women

69
Q

What is the issue with Bickman’s uniform study?

A

low internal validity - used fake scenarios

70
Q

What is legitimacy of authority?

A

an explaination for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us
the authority is justified by the induvidual’s position of power within a social hierachy

71
Q

What is the consequence of legitimacy of authority?

A

people are permitted power to punish others

72
Q

What is a destructive authority?

A

problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive eg: milgrams study

73
Q

What is a good thing about legitimacy of authority?

A

explains cultural differences in obedience
kilhan and Mann - 16% of women (aus) went up to 450V
Montell - 85% of women (german) went up to 450V

74
Q

What is the issue with legitimacy of authority?

A

cannot explain all obedience or disobedience - Rank and Jacobson - most disobedient against authority
some people may be naturally more/less obedient

75
Q

What is a dispositional factor of obedience?

A

an explaination that highlights the importance of the induvidual’s personality

76
Q

What is ardorno’s authoritarian personality?

A

the reason people obey is because they have a specific personality type that makes them very obedient

77
Q

What are the qualities of an authoritarian personality?

A

has extreme respect for autority and are submissive
hostile towards those they consider inferior
prejucdiced, traditional views, conventional attitudes
inflexible outlook

78
Q

What is the believed origin of the authoritarian personality?

A

started in childhood as a result of harsh parenting, strict discipline, high standards ans severe criticism
creates hostility towards parents that child can’t express due to fear

79
Q

How did ardorno investigate the authoritarian personality?

A

2000 middle-class white americans
assessed attitudes towards different things using the F- scale (facism scale)
high scores = tended to have authoritarian personality and ‘black and white’ thinking
found a strong positive correlation between authoritarian and prejudiced

80
Q

What is a good thing about ardorno’s f-scale?

A

there is evidence to support - milgram’s study, most obedient went up to 450V

81
Q

What are the issues with ardorno’s f-scale?

A

correlational - cant make conclusions and may not be valid
cannot explain why people are prejudiced/ obedient all the time

82
Q

What is resisting to social influence?

A

the ablility of people to remain independent despite pressures to conform or obey

83
Q

What is social support?

A

the presence of people who resist pressures to conform/obey can help others to do the same
those people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible

84
Q

How does social support resist conformity?

A

the pressure to conform is reduced if other people are not conforming
Asch - different ans, comformity dropped
induvidual feels more confident in their own decision

85
Q

What is a dissenter?

A

someone who doesn’t agree with the group

86
Q

What are the issues with social support resisting conformity?

A

Asch - lab expt = lacks ecological validity, doesnt reflect everyday conformity
research only included males - lacks population validity
tested when anti-conformity was discouraged - lacks temporal validity

87
Q

How does social support help resist obedience?

A

pressure is reduced if another person disobeys, they act as a model for the ps to copy, that frees them to act from their own conscience

88
Q

What is an example of social suppport help resisting obedience?

A

milgrams - two confed joined p, obedience decreased - 10%

89
Q

What are the good things about social support resisting obedience?

A

Gamson - 29/33 groups of ps disobeyed when there were others who also disobeyed
Gamson - high level of realism, scenario was real-life issue = sacking someone, results may reflect everyday obedinec - externally valid
free from deman characteristics - ps were unaware that the study was taking place

90
Q

What is the issue with social support resisting obedience?

A

there may have been other reasons for disobedience

91
Q

What is the locus of control?

A

refers to induvidual differences in people’s beliefs and expectations about what controls events in their lives (where they locate the control in their life)

92
Q

What is an internal locus of control?

A

believes that what happens to them is a consequence of their own behaviour

93
Q

What are the qualities of an internal locus of control?

A

more self-confident
less need for social approval
accepts responsiblity for actions
less likely to conform and obey

94
Q

What is an external locus of control?

A

believes ‘things happen to them’ and are uncontrollable
luck and fate are important factors and they believe that their actions have little impact

95
Q

What are the qualities of an external locus of control?

A

lower self esteem
less control in life
more likely to conform and obey

96
Q

What are the good things of the LOC?

A

civil rights activists had higher internal LOC - resising social influence
meta-analysis = those with external LOC were easily persuaded and more likely to conform
replication of milgram = internal LOC 37% went up to 450V, external LOC 23% went up to 450V

97
Q

What is the issue with the LOC?

A

does not take into account that people might react differently in different situations
it is too simplistic

98
Q

What is minority influence?

A

refers to situations where one person or a small group of people influence the beliefs and behaviours of other people

99
Q

Who came up with the LOC?

A

rotter

100
Q

What 3 things are needed for minority influence to occur?

A

commitment
flexility
consistency

101
Q

How does commitment aid minority social influence?

A

the minority should make personal sacrafices to show that they are not acting out of self-interest

102
Q

How does flexibility aid minority social influence?

A

consistency can be interpreted negatively - seen as rigid, dogmatic and inflexible
this is off-putting to the majority
the minority should be prepared to adapt their POV and accept reasonable counter-arguments and comprimise
there needs to be a balance between consistency and flexibility

103
Q

How does consistency aid minority social influence?

A

the minority keeps the same argument to try and persuade others - makes the majority think that you know what youre talking about

104
Q

What is synchronic consistency?

A

all minority say the same thing

105
Q

What is diachronic consistency?

A

they remain consistent over time

106
Q

What is the ‘snowball effect’?

A

using methods of minority influence makes the majority to think about the argument. this processing persuades people as they have been ‘converted’
the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion
so gradually the minority view becomes the majority view

107
Q

What are the postives of the 3 methods for minority social influence?

A

research to support - Mosscovici
Martin = using all 3 can cause people to think more deeply about the argument and be persuaded

108
Q

What is the issue with the 3 methods of minority social influence?

A

research is not clear - other factors in real life that can affect if someone is persuaded

109
Q

What was Mosscocivi’s research on minoirity influence?

A

6ps (2 confeds) to look at 36 coloured slides that varied in intenisty, the slides were all blue
the 2 confeds consistently said that the slides were green
IV = the consistency of the confeds
consistent confeds = 36 slides were green
inconsistent confeds = 24/36 slides were green

110
Q

what was mosscovici’s findings on consistency?

A

control green % = 0.25% people said green
consistent confed = 8.4% people said green
inconsistent confed = 1.25% people said green

111
Q

What are the issues with Mossocvici’s research?

A

very artificial task - lacks ecological validity
ignored the fact that the results may be majority influence not minority - the ps may have been conforming to each other = less internal validity

112
Q

What was Nemeth and Brilmayers study on consistency and flexibility?

A

mock jury - 3ps, 1 confed
had to decide on the amount of compensation to be given to a victim of a ski accident
minority (confed) remained consistent and refused to comprimised

2 conditions:
consistency and no comprimise = no effect
consistency and comprimise = effect

113
Q

What is the issue with Nemeth and Brilmayer’s study?

A

lab study = lacks ecological validity

114
Q

What are the good things for Nemeth and Brilmayer’s study?

A

task was realistic
supported by other studies - high internal validity

115
Q

What is social change?

A

change occurs when whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things. is is a shift in personal opinion = conversion

116
Q

What does Zeigeist mean?

A

social change occurs only when the society is ready for the change

117
Q

What are the 6 stages of social change?

A

drawing attention
consistency
deeper processing
the agumentation principle
the snowball effect
social cryptoamnesia

118
Q

How does drawing attention lead to social change?

A

it draws attention to the situation by providing social proof of the problem

119
Q

How does deeper processing lead to social change?

A

people begin to think about the issue and internal conflict begins

120
Q

What is the agumentation principle?

A

incidents when induviduals have risked their lives for the social change to occur

121
Q

What is social crytoamnesia?

A

people have a memory that change has occured but don’t remeber how it happened

122
Q

How is conformity involved in social change?

A

campaigners use NSI to persuade people to change their behaviour
draws attention to what the majority is doing

123
Q

How is obedience involved in social change?

A

you need a disobedient role model to reduce obedience - Milgram’s variation

124
Q

What study supports social change and conformity?

A

Nolan = investigated whether social influence processed led to a reduction in energy consumption in a community
by hanging messages on front doors = conformity leads to social change through NSI

125
Q

What are the issues with social change research?

A

difficult to establish if minority had a part to play in big social changes
ignores that people can conform and not agree/ agree and not conform = possibly due to stereotypes

Psychology A level (10 decks)

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