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Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

Cryptomnesia

A

The process by which minority behaviours become the majority view.

Population does not remember how/why the shift happened

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2
Q

Conversion

A

ISI

The majority internlise a new behaviour or belief

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3
Q

What are the factors for Minority influence to be successful?

A

Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility

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4
Q

Moscovici (Minority Influence) - Method

A

Groups of 6, 2 of which were confederates - consistently called the slides green
Ppts judged colour of (blue) slides

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5
Q

Why does research into minority influence lack external validity?

A

artificial scenarios which do not reflect real-life situations

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6
Q

Asch - method
Conformity %

A

3 lines to compare to line X
1 true ppt

75% of ppts conformed at least once
higher conformity on more difficult tasks

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7
Q

Asch - factors that influence comformity

A

Group size
Presence of another dissenter
Task difficulty
Ppt variables
Gender

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8
Q

How did the addition of another dissenter effect conformity rates? - Asch

A

Conformity dropped to 31.8% with 3 confederates, but any more made little difference

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9
Q

What happened if the confederate was inconsistent? - Asch

A

25% conformity
Naive ppt act more independently

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10
Q

strengths and weaknesses of Asch as a lab study

A

Controlled
Minimise extraneous variables
Replicable

Artificiality = low ecological validity

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11
Q

Types of Conformity

A
  1. Compliance
  2. Identification
  3. Internalisation
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12
Q

Types of Social Influence

A

Informational SI
Normative SI

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13
Q

Research support - NSI

A

Adolescents exposed to messages that peers their age weren’t smoking were less likely to smoke

Hotel guests told that 75% of guests reused towels, 25% decrease in towel usage

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14
Q

Reasons for non-conformity

A

Independence

Anti-Conformity

Social Support

External locus of control

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15
Q

Locus of control

A

Rotter
0 = internal, things happen as a result of our own actions

13 = things happen as a result of forces beyound our control

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16
Q

LOC evaluation - Holland - Shocks

A

37% of internals refused to go to max shock

23% of externals refused to go to the maximum shock

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17
Q

LOC - Twenge - meta analysis

A

Meta analysis
Young Americans increasingly likly to believe that their lives are controlled by forces beyonf their control

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18
Q

What is an external LOC correlated with?

A

Poor school achievement

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19
Q

LOC Study- Schurz -ultrasound

A

Ultrasound stimulation to a learner
56 ppts
20 steps, highest caused skin damage
80% went to the end

Not predictive of LOC

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20
Q

Authoritarian Personality

A

Struct coherence to conventional values
Belief in absolute obedience

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21
Q

Adorno - F-scale

How do those with an authoritarian personality view the world?

A

measure the different components of the authoritarian personality

Those with an authoritarian personality saw the world as black and white

Strict adherence to social hierarchies

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22
Q

Elms + Milgram method

A

20 obedient, 20 defiant ppts, 2 months after shock experiment
MMPI + F-scale
asked about upbringing and their attitudes towards experimenter + learner

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23
Q

Elms + MIlgram findings

A

MMPI showed little difference between obedient and defiant ppts

Obedient ppts had higher levels of authoritarianism

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24
Q

Why are dispositional explanations of obedience not a full explanation?

A

Prejudice and submissiveness could be caused by a poor stabdard of education as a child

Lacks internal validity - ignores situational factors

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25
Q

How was Adorno’s sample bias? - F-scale

A

2000 white, middle-class Americans

Lacks population + temporal validity

Not generalisable

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26
Q

Milgram - background

A

Social psychology professor at Yale inspired by trial of nazi, Adolf Eichmann, who claimed he was simply ‘following orders’

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27
Q

Milgram - Method

A

40 male volunteers
15-450 volts
ppts encouraged to keep going when the wished to withdraw

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28
Q

Milgram - what % went to 450V?

A

65% continued to 450 volts, where the learner became unresponsive

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29
Q

What percentage went to max shock with learner in the same room

A

40%

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30
Q

Agentic State

A

A stae where a person acts as though they are an ‘agent’ of another person

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31
Q

Autonomous state

A

People have control and act according to their own wishes

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32
Q

Agentic state vs cruelty - Zimbardo

A

Ppts may have used the situation to express their sadistic tendencies

Guards acting harshly despite no authority figure

Obedience may be caused by certain aspects of human nature

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33
Q

RS - Legitimacy of authority

A

Showed students a film of Milgram

Experimenter blamed due to legitimacy of authority

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34
Q

Real-World application of agentic state + legitimacy of authority

A

Improving leadership + communication skills

Encourage critical thinking + independent decision making

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35
Q

Criticisms of agentic state

A

ignore individual differences

Oversimplify complex social and psychological phenomena

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36
Q

Weaknesses of Zimbardos study

A

ignores individual differences
Guards behaviour inconsistent
Stereotypical
Lack of realism
Ethical Issues
Lack of rtw

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37
Q

Zimbardo Conclusions

A

Social roles have a strong influence on behaviours

Power may corrupt those who yield it

Institutions brutalise people and lead to deinstitutionalisation

Prsons exert psychological damage

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38
Q

What percentage went to max shock when in an office building

A

48%

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39
Q

What percentage went to max shock when hands were touching

A

30%

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40
Q

What percentage went to max shock when orders given over phone

A

20.5%

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41
Q

How did Yuille and Cutshall obtain their results

A

interview
degree of stress - 7-point scale
Asked about how the event affected them emotionally
those with highest stress levels had most accurate results

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42
Q

What % went to max shock when the experimenter was replaced by another ppt in ordinary clothes?

A

20%

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43
Q

What %b went to max shock when in a run down building?

A

48%

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44
Q

What % went to max shock in Milgrams original study?

A

65%

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45
Q

What % went to max shock when someone else administered the shock?

A

92.5%

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46
Q

What did Asch do?

A

Conducted several experiments in the 1950s to determine how people are affected by the thoughts and behaviours of others

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47
Q

The Asch Effect

A

The influence of the group majority on an individuals judgement

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48
Q

2 Types of social influence

A

Normative Social Influence

Informational Social Influence

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49
Q

3 Types of conformity

A

Internalisation

Identification

Compliance

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50
Q

What did Zimbardo do?

A

Conducted a famous experiment which he claimed to demonstrate the power of conformity in social roles

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51
Q

Compliance

A

Going along with a request or demand in public whilst disagreeing with the group’s viewpoint or behaviour in private

The change in people’s expressed views is temporary

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52
Q

Internalisation

A

When an individual changes their behaviour to fit in with a group publicly whilst also agreeing with them privately

The strongest from of conformity

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53
Q

Identification

A

When someone conforms to the demands of a social roles in society

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54
Q

Asch - line judgement task method

A

Lines a,b,c & X

One true naive ppt

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55
Q

Asch - line judgement task results

A

75% conformed at least once

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56
Q

Asch - 4 key factors which influence conformity

A

Size of the majority

Presence of another dissenter

Public or private nature of response

Task difficulty

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57
Q

Asch - what happened to conformity rates with the presence of another dissenter?

A

Dropped to near Zero

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58
Q

Asch - limitations

A

Lacks ecological validity

Deception - ethical issue

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59
Q

Asch - Strengths

A

Lab setting meant variables were strictly controlled
- replicable
- minimize influence of extraneous variables

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60
Q

How did confidence influence Asch Study?

A

Ppts who felt confident in their decisions did not succumb to group pressure as easily

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61
Q

Perrin + Spencer - Asch experiment on engineering sudents

A

Conformity rates were not as high as in Asch’s study, which may be down to the engineers being confident in their decision making

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62
Q

What did Eagly believe caused men and women to show different levels of conformity?

A

Social roles

Women are more likely to conform because they don’t like conflict

Men are less likely to conform because they are expected to show independence and assertiveness

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63
Q

Normative Social Influence

A

People conform to the group norm to fit in, feel good and be accepted by the group

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64
Q

Informational Social Influence

A

People conform because they believe the group is competent and has the correct information, particularly when the task or situation is situational

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65
Q

Social Role - definition

A

A pattern of behaviour that is expected of a person in a given setting or group

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66
Q

Social norm - definition

A

A group’s expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behaviour for its members - how they are supposed to behave and think

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67
Q

Script - definition

A

A persons knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting

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68
Q

How did Zimbardo collect his sample?

A

Advertisement in a California newspaper

70+ male volunteers - all underwent psychological testing and background checks

Narrowed down to 24 healthy male college students

Payed $15 / day

69
Q

Zimbardo - Where was the mock prison set up?

A

Basement of a psychology building at Stanford

70
Q

How long was Zimbardos experiment supposed to run?

A

2 weeks

71
Q

Zimbardo - what happened on day 2?

A

Some of the prisoners revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks

72
Q

Zimbardo - How did the guards start treating the prisoners?

A

The guards harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner, through a complete lack of privacy and basic comforts

73
Q

Zimbardo - what happened to the prisoners?

A

Began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness - began toerating the guards abuse?

74
Q

Zimbardos role in the mock prison

A

Superintendent

75
Q

Zimbardo - when did the exp end?
Why?

A

6 days due to the ppts deteriorating behaviour

76
Q

Zimbardo - role of social norms

A

Guards to be authoritarian
Prisoners to be submissive

When prisoners rebelled, they violated these social norms, leading to upheaval

77
Q

BBC Prison Study - Aim

A

Observe how dynamics between the group evolved over time

78
Q

BBC Prison Study - how many volunteers?

A

5 guards
10 inmates

79
Q

BBC Prison Study - what was measured daily?

A

Compliance, Stress & Depression Levels

80
Q

BBC Prison Study - what was set up to stop the study if necessary?

A

Ethics Committee

81
Q

BBC Prison Study - Results

A

The guards did not form a group, did not always use their authority and did not identify with their assigned role

The unequal system eventually failed as the guards had a weak group identity and the prisoners formed a strong group identity

82
Q

BBC Prison Study - days 1-3

A

All prisoners acted in a way that they thought would allow them to become guards

83
Q

BBC Prison Study - day 4

A

The prisoners group formed a stronger idedntity as they knew they couldn’t get promoted

84
Q

BBC Prison Study - day 6

A

Prisoners rebelled - ppts formed a democracy which eventually failed because of group tensions

Some ex-prisoners tried to establish a hierarchy

85
Q

BBC Prison Study - how did it end?

A

The ethics committee stopped the experiment early due to the ppts stress levels

86
Q

BBC Prison Study - Conclusion

A

The volunteers didn’t embody or stick to their assigned role

This implies flexibility of roles

87
Q

BBC Prison Study - strengths

A

No deception
Protection - ethics committee

88
Q

BBC Prison Study - limitations

A

Lacks ecological validity

Staged for TV

Lack of empowerment

89
Q

Obedience

A

The change of an individuals behaviour to comply with a demand by an authority figure

90
Q

Why do people comply?

A

Concern of consequence if they do not comply

91
Q

Inspiration of Milgrams experiment

A

Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Nazi war criminal

Claimed he was ‘following orders’

92
Q

Milgrams - Method

A

40 male volunteers, told they were participating in a study to improve learning and memory

Shown a device they were told would deliver electric shocks of different intensities

Volts increased in 15V increments

93
Q

Milgram - What % went to the max shock?

A

65%

94
Q

Milgram - % max shock in office building

A

48%

95
Q

Milgram - % max shock with learner in same room

A

40%

96
Q

Milgram - % max shock when hands were touching

A

30%

97
Q

Milgram - % max shock when orders given over phone

A

23%

98
Q

Milgram - strengths

A

Strict control of variables

99
Q

Milgram - limitations

A

Low ecological validity

Deception

Lack of protection

100
Q

Agentic state

A

An individual acts as though they are an agent of another person

101
Q

Autonomous state

A

People act according to their own wishes

102
Q

How was agentic state shown in Milgrams study?

A

Ppts admitted to feeling under ‘moral strain’

103
Q

Agentic shift

A

An individual shifts from autonomous to agentic state

104
Q

What 3 Factors did Milgram suggest may have caused the ppts to stay in the agentic state?

A

Insistence of authority

Pressure of location

Unwillingness to disrupt

105
Q

3 main situational factors of obedience

A

Proximity

Location

Power of uniforms

106
Q

What did the researchers wear in Milgrams study?

A

Lab coat

107
Q

Who proposed the idea of an authoritarian personality?

A

Adorno

108
Q

What does the F stand for in the F scale?

A

Fascist

109
Q

F-Scale evaluation

A

Easily manipulated - ppts may be able to 2nd guess

Correlates with education - provides an alternative explanation

110
Q

Independence

A

A lack of consisten movement either towards or away from social expectancy

111
Q

Anti-conformity

A

A consisten movement away from social conformity

112
Q

Asch - conformity levels with the presence of a dissenter from the start of the study

A

5.5%

113
Q

Asch - conformity rate when a dissenter joined later in the study

A

8.5%

114
Q

Cultural differences in LoC

A

Japanese people conform more easily than Americans also have higher levels of authoritarianism

115
Q

What type of LoC is more likely to resist obedience?

A

Internal

116
Q

What factor makes an internal LoC more likely to resist obedience?

A

Suspecting manipulation

117
Q

Conversion

A

The process where the majority gradually adopt a new minority viewpoint or behaviour.

The new belief becomes accepted both privately and publicly

118
Q

How does Conversion happen?

A

Informational Social Influence

119
Q

3 Main factors in Minority Influence

A

Consistency

Commitment

Flexibility

120
Q

When is commitment seen as stronger?

A

If the minority has to resist social pressure and abuse because of their viewpoint

121
Q

Systematic Processing

A

The minority viewpoint is carefully considered over time

122
Q

What is needed for permanent change?

A

identification

123
Q

Moscovici - Judge colour of slide - Results

A

Ppts conformed 8.42% of the time
32% agreed at least once
Confederates inconsistent - 1.25% conformity

124
Q

3 Things guards were given in Zimbardos study

A

Batons

Mirror sunglasses

Uniform

125
Q

Hoffling - Hospital study providing external validity to Milgrams study

A

Researcher phoned nurses and instructed to administer 20mg of Astroten, an unfamiliar drug

21/22 obeyed

126
Q

What evidence was there to suggest that the ppts in Milgrams study believed the shocks to be genuine?

A

2 had panic attacks

70% stated in the debrief that they believed it to be genuine

ppts showed signs of anxiety and distress - trembling, biting lip

127
Q

Puppy study - supporting internal validity of Milgrams study

A

15V shocks - students told volts increased

Puppy squealed

Most students went up to 450V

128
Q

3 Traits of authoritarian personality

A

Rigid beliefs in conventional values

Intolerance of ambiguity

Submissive towards authority figures

129
Q

Abu Ghraib study - Zimbardo evaluation

A

Guards abusive towards prisoners even though the guards were held accountable for their behaviour

130
Q

Uniforms of Prisoners in the Stanford Prison experiment

A

loose smock to wear and a cap to cover their hair

131
Q

How were the prisoners identifies in Zimbardos study?

A

by a number

132
Q

The effect of uniforms in Zimbardos study

A

Lead to de-individualisation, meaning they were more likely to confirm to social roles

133
Q

Milgrams - % max shock when in a run-down office

A

47.5%

134
Q

Milgrams - % max shock when learner in same room

A

40%

135
Q

Milgrams - % max shock when hands touching

A

30%

136
Q

Milgrams - % max shock when orders iven over phone

A

20.5%

137
Q

Milgrams - % max shock when in ordinary clothes

A

20%

138
Q

What did Adorno believe about absolute obedience?

A

Absolute obedience is a psychological disorder with its roots embedded in personality

139
Q

‘other’ groups

A

Minorities

140
Q

What is believed to cause an authoritarian personality?

A

Harsh parenting in childhood, where the parents gave conditional love.

Children acquire hostility and resentment towards this parents and displace it onto socially inferior - This is known as scapegoating

141
Q

Authoritarian personality definition

A

a type of personality that Adorno believed to be especially susceptible to obey authority

Such individuals are thought to be dismissive of those of a lower status and submissive towards those of a higher status

142
Q

Adorno Sample

A

2000 white, middle-class Americans

143
Q

Adorno - Aim

A

Investigate unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups

144
Q

2 examples of items on the F scale

A

‘Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues for children to learn’

‘There is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel great love, gratitude and respect for their parents’

145
Q

Cognitive style of an authoritarian personality

A

No fuzziness between categories of people, with fixed fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups

146
Q

Authoritarianism cannot explain a whole countries behaviour

A

Millions of individuals in WW2 Germany displayed obedient and antisemitic behaviour, but they can’t all have the same personality

More likely explanation that the Germans identified with the Nazi state, meaning AP cannot explain the atrocities of WW2

147
Q

Education vs Obedience + Authoritarianism

A

less-educated people are consistently more authoritarian and obedient than well-educated people.

148
Q

2 Explanations of resistance to Social influence

A

Social Support

Internal LoC

149
Q

Asch - social support

A

a dissenter doesn’t have to give the correct answer, but simply break the unanimity to free the individual to follow their own conscience

150
Q

Milgram - social support

A

10% conformity when joined by a disobedient confederate

151
Q

Social Support definition

A

the presence of people who resist social pressures to conform or obey and help others to do the same.

These people act as models for resistance to SI

152
Q

Evidence for social support as an explanation for resistance to SI - smoking

A

Pregnant adolescents with a buddy who advocated against smoking were less likely to smoke than their peers without a buddy

153
Q

The Rosenstrasse Illustration

A

Protest in Nazi Germany in 1943 where German women protested against the arrest of their Jewish husband.

Despite threats that they would be fired up on, the women collectively refused orders to disperse and their husbands were eventually set free

154
Q

Snowball effect

A

Over time, more and more people become converted, and there is a switch from the minority to the majority

155
Q

What does minority influence lead to?

A

Internalization or conversion, in which private attitiudes are changed as well as public behaviours

156
Q

Moscovici - investigatin the effect of minority influence - procedure

A

group of 6 people, 2 of which were confederates, asked to view a set of 36 blue coloured slides. the confederates consistently said green

157
Q

Moscovici - what % conformed to the minority?

A

8.42%

158
Q

Moscovici - % conformity with an inconsistent minority

A

1.25%

159
Q

Moscovici - % wrong answer with no confederated

A

0.25%

160
Q

Stimulated Jury - support for flexibility of minority influence

A

A group discussed compensation to be payed to someone involved in an accident

Inflexible confederate had no effect, as well as a Confederate who was flexible too early. only those who ccompromised later were successful

161
Q

2 types of consistency

A

Synchronic Consistency

Diachronic consistency

162
Q

Synchronic Consistency

A

Minority all saying the same thing

163
Q

Diachronic Consistency

A

All saying the same thing for some time

164
Q

5 steps of social change through minority influence

A
  1. Drawing attention to issue
  2. Cognitive conflict
  3. Consistency
  4. Augmentation principle
  5. Snowball effect
165
Q

Social change through majority influence

Social norms intervention

A

Young adults frequently misinterpret the frequency at which a behaviour occurs among their peers.

Social norms interventions communicate to a target population the actual norm concering such behaviour, in the hope that recipients will change their behaviour to bring it in line with the norm

166
Q

How does minority influence explain social change?

A

Nemeth states that minority influence causes people to engage in divergent thinking which leads to better decisions and creative solutions to social problems

167
Q

Why does minority influence only happen gradually?

A

there is a tendency for humans to follow the majority influence, meaning people are more likely to maintain the status quo than engage in social change

168
Q

Support for Normative SI - messages on door

A

Nolen et Al - hung message on door that most residents are trying to reduce energy usage

Saw a significant decrease in energy usage compared to the control who saw message with no reference to other people behaviour

Psychology (11 decks)

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