social influence

Question 1

briefly explain what is meant by ‘conformity’ (3)

Answer 1

• conformity is a form of social influence that results from exposure to the majority position and leads to compliance with that position
• it’s the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes, and values of other members of a reference group
• for example, a person who alters their behaviour merely to fit in with a peer group is said to be conforming

Question 2

briefly explain what is meant by ‘compliance’ (3)

Answer 2

• compliance occurs when an individual accepts influence because they hope to acheive favourable reactions from those around them
• an attitude or behaviour is adopted not because of its content, but because of the rewards or approval associated with its adoption
• compliance doesn’t result in any change in the persons underlying attitude

Question 3

briefly explain what is meant by ‘internalisation’ (3)

Answer 3

• internalisation occurs when an individual accepts influence from the majority because of an acceptance of their views
• examination of the majority’s position may convince them that they (the individual) are wrong, and the majority is right
• this can lead to an acceptance of the majority both publicly and privately

Question 4

briefly explain what is meant by ‘identification’ (3)

Answer 4

• identification occurs when an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a group
• by adopting the group’s attitudes and behaviours, they feel more a part of it
• although the individual accepts these as right and true, their reason for accepting them is simply to be accepted as a member of the group

Question 5

give an example of compliance (1)

Answer 5

• an example of compliance is where a boy joins in with a group’s delinquent behaviour because he doesn’t want to be ridiculed for not behaving in the same way

Question 6

give an example of internalisation (1)

Answer 6

• an example of internalisation is where a boy joins in with a group’s delinquent behaviour because he accepts the belief that they need to hit back because of police victimisation

Question 7

give an example of identification (1)

Answer 7

• an example of identification is where a boy joins in with a group’s delinquent behaviour because he wants to be seen as a member of a tough group from a tough estate

Question 8

explain normative social influence (5)

Answer 8

• normative social influence is a form of influence whereby an individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social disapproval
• human beings are a social species, and therefore have a fundamental need for social companionship and a fear of rejection
• they are motivated to gain approval and acceptance and avoid disapproval and censure from their reference group
• for this type of influence to occur, the individual must believe they’re under surveillance by the group
• as a result, they conform in public but may not change their attitudes when in private (only compliance)

Question 9

explain informational social influence (5)

Answer 9

• informational social influence is a form of influence, which is the result of a desire to be right, looking to others as2 a way of gaining evidence about reality
• human beings have a need to feel confident that their perceptions and beliefs are correct.
• therefore they may sometimes need to rely on the opinions of their reference group
• this is more likely when the situation is ambiguous, or when they believe the others have more knowledge about the situation than they have
• as a result, they may not just comply in public, but may also change their underlying attitudes in line with the group position (internalisation)

Question 10

outline what Asch did in his study of conformity and the findings of this study (6)

Answer 10

• Asch tested 123 male US undergraduates, who were seated around a table with other ‘participants’ and shown three lines of different lengths
• their task was to say which of the three lines was the same length as a standard line
• the participants always answered second to last, while the other ‘participants’ were actually confederates who were instructed to give all the same wrong answer on 12 of the 18 trials
• on the 12 ‘critical’ trials, participants conformed to the incorrect judgements given by the confederates approximately 33% of the time
• there were individual differences in conformity rates, with one quarter of the participants never conforming at all, and 1 in 20 conforming on all 12 critical trials
• in a control condition, where participants made their judgements without the distraction of confederates giving wrong answers, they made mistakes only 1% of the time

Question 11

explain the role of group size as a variable affecting conformity (5)

Answer 11

• Asch found that there was very little conformity when the majority consisted of just one or two confederates
• when the number of confederates increased to three, the proportion of conforming responses also increased, up to about 30%
• further increases in the size of the majority didn’t significantly increase this level of conformity
• Campbell and Fairey (1989) found that group size has a different effect depending on the type of judgement being made
• for example, they found that where there is no objectively correct answer and the individual is concerned about fitting in, then the larger the majority size, the greater the conformity

Question 12

explain the role of unanimity as a variable affecting conformity (4)

Answer 12

• when the unanimity of the group was broken in Asch’s study, conformity levels dropped significantly
• for example in the participant was given the support of a confederate who gave the right answers throughout, confomrity levels dropped from 33% to 5.5%
• in another condition, where a confederate gave an answer that was a different wrong answer to the one given by the majority, conformity levels also decreased to 9%
• Asch believed that it was breaking the group’s unanimous position that was the major factor in conformity reduction

Question 13

explain the role of task difficulty as a variable in affecting conformity (4)

Answer 13

• when Asch made the task more difficult by making the differences between the line lengths much smaller, the level of conformity increased
• Lucas et al. (2006) found that the influence of task difficulty was moderated by the individual’s confidence in their own abilities (their self-efficacy)
• they found that high self-efficacy participants remained more independent in their judgements than low self-efficacy participants, even under conditions of high task difficulty
• Asch believed that situational differences (task difficulty) and individual differences (self-efficacy) are both important in determining conformity

Question 14

Outline zimbardo’s study of conformity to social roles and the findings of this study (6)

Answer 14

• Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University in California
• 24 psychologically and physically healthy male students were randomly assigned to play the role of either prisoners or prison guards, and given appropriate uniforms to wear
• their behaviour in the simulated prison was planned to be observed for two weeks, with Zimbardo himself playing the role of prison superintendent
• Zimbardo observed that over the first few days of the study the guards grew increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners, such as waking them in the middle of the night and forcing them to clean the toilets with their bare hands
• the participants appeared to forget that this was only a psychological study, and they conformed to their social role as either a prisoner or guard even when the ywere unaware their behaviour was being observed
• after 5 prisoners had to be released early because of their extreme reactions, the study was terminated after only 6 days rather than the 2 weeks it had been planned to run for

Question 15

outline how one study of conformity to social roles was carried out (4)

Answer 15

• in Reicher and Haslam’s 2006 study, a specially created ‘prison’ was built to examine the behaviour of prisoners and guards
• 15 participants were divided into 5 groups of 3, who were matched as closely as possible on key personality variables
• within each group of 3, one participant was randomly chosen to be a guard, and the other 2 prisoners
• the study was to run for 8 days

Question 16

outline the findings of one study of conformity to social roles (4)

Answer 16

• Reicher and Haslam (2006) found that participants didn’t conform automatically into their assigned roles, as had happened in Zimbardo’s study
• over the course of the study, the prisoners increasingly identified as a group and worked together to challenge the authority of the guards and establish a more egalitarian set of social relations within the prison
• the guards also failed to identify with their new role, and were reluctant to impose their authority on the prisoners
• this led to a shift of power and the collapse of the prisoner-guard system

Question 17

define obedience to authority (2)

Answer 17

• obedience refers to a type of social influence whereby somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with a percieved authority
• there is also the implication that the person receiving the order is made to respond in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise have done without the order

Question 18

outline what Milgram did in his study of obedience and the findings of this study (8)

Answer 18

• in Milgram’s study participants were told that they would play the role of ‘teachers’ who would be required to administer electric shocks of increasing severity on a ‘learner’ (confederate) if the learner got answers wronog on a task involving remembering word pairs
• in the voice feedback study, the learner (sitting in another room) mainly gave wrong answers
• the shocks were not real, although the participant was led to believe that they were
• the learner didn’t respond to the shocks until 300v, at which point they founded on the wall and then gave no response to the next question
• if the participant asked to stop at any point, the experimenter gave him a series of verbal ‘prods’, such as ‘you have no choice you must continue’
• Milgram found that in the voice feedback study, all 40 of the participants went to 300v, the point at which the learner first objected to receiving the shocks
• at this point, 5 of the participants disobeyed the experimenter and refused to carry on giving the shocks
• although other participants stopped at voltages beyond this, the main finding was that 26 of the 40 participants continued to the maximum shock level of 450v

Question 19

explain the role of proximity as a variable affecting obedience (4)

Answer 19

• in one of the proximity experiments in Milgrams study, the experimenter left the room after giving the participant instructions about how to conduct the study
• if the participant raised concerns about what they were doing, they spoke to the experimenter by telepjone
• Milgram found that the vast majority of participants (79%) defied the experimenter when his orders were given by telephone compared with when the experimenter was physically present (35%)
• this indicates that it’s much easier for participants to behave disobediently when the experimenter is physically absent than when he is physically present

Question 20

explain the role of location as a variable affecting obedience (3)

Answer 20

• when Milgram conducted his original study in the laboratory at Yale University, he found that 65% of participants gave the maximum 450v shock
• however, when he repeared the study inthe less prestigious location of a run-down office in Bridgeport that had no obvious affiliations with Yale, he found that 48% of participants administered the maximum shock
• this shows that although the location of the study was an important factor, it didn’t have a major impact on how obedient participants were

Question 21

explain the role of uniform as a variable affecting obedience (4)

Answer 21

• research has shown that uniforms can have a powerful impact on obedience since power and authority can be symbolised in the uniform itself
• for example, Bushman (1988) carried out a study in which a female researcher dressed in a ‘police-style’ uniform, as a business executive, or as a beggar
• she stopped people in the street and told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired parking meter
• more people obeyed when the female researcher wore the uniform (72%) , compared with when she was dressed as a business executive (48%) or a beggar (52%)

Question 22

outline the role of the agentic state in obedience (4)

Answer 22

• the agentic state is when the obedient individual attributes responsibility for their actions to someone else, particularly a figure of authority
• they see themself as an agent responsible for carrying out someone elses wishes
• people may adopt an agentic state because they need to maintain a positivee self-image. once their actions are no longer their responsibility, it no longer reflects their self image, and they can therefore perform actions they wouldn’t otherwise
• at the end of Milgram’s study, when obedient participants were asked why they had continued to administer electric shocks, a typical response was ‘i wouldn’t have done it by myself, i was just doing what i was told’

Question 23

outline the role of legitimacy of authority in obedience (5)

Answer 23

• a legitimate authority is a person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation
• the perception of legitimate authority is the first condition needed for a person to shift to the agentic state
• there is a tendency for people to accept definitions of a situation that are provided by a legitimate authority
• if an authority figure’s commands are of a potentially harmful or destructive form, then for them to be perceived as legitimate they must occur within some sort of institutional structure
• this explains why participants were more likely to behave obediently when Milgrams study was conducted at Yale University than when it was conducted in run-down office buildings

Question 24

briefly explain what is meant by the ‘authoritarian personality’ (2)

Answer 24

• the authoritarian personality is a distinct personality pattern identified by Adorno et al. (1950)
• people with this type of personality are rigid thinkers who obey authority, see the world as ‘black and white’, and enforce strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies

Question 25

explain the dipositional explanation for obedience (4)

Answer 25

• dipositional explanations say that behaviours such as obedience are caused by an individual’s own personal characteristics rather than situational influences within the environment
• Adorno et al. (1950) identified a specific personality type they called the authoritarian personality as a way of explaining why some people require such little pressure in order to obey
• the authoritarian personality is believed to develop when children grow up in a family which places a strong emphasis on obedience
• the children acquire the same authoritarian attitudes through a process of learning and imitation

Question 26

outline and evaluate one research study relating to the authoritarian personality explanation of obedience (6)

Answer 26

• Elms and Milgram (1966) studied participants who had been either defiant or obedient in Milgram’s studies of obedience
• the participants completed the California F scale to measure their levels of authoritarianism
• they found significant differences between obedient and defiant participants that were consistent with the idea of the authoritarian personality, such as obedient participants reporting being less close to their fathers during childhood and more likely to describe them in negative terms
• this suggests that obedience could be explained in dispositional as well as situational terms
• however, Elms and Milgram also found that many of the fully obedient participants reported having a very good relationship with their parents, rather than having grown up in the overly strict family environment associated with the authoritarian personality
• another limitation of the study is that it seems implausible that, given the large number of participants who were fully obedient in Milgram’s study, the vast majority would’ve grown up in such a harsh environment with a punitive father

Question 27

explain the role of social support in resisting social influence (6)

Answer 27

• social support is the perception that an individual has assistance available from other people, and that they’re part of a supportive network
• Asch found that in one of his studies of conformity in which an ally also gave the right answer, conformity levels dropped sharply from 33% to 5.5%
• the most important aspect of social support appears to be that it breaks the unanimous position of the majority
• by breaking the unanimity of the majority, an ally raises the possibility that there are other, equally legitimate ways of thinking or responding
• in obedience, research has shown that people are generally more confident in their ability to resist pressures to obey if they can find an ally who is willing to join them in opposing the authority figure
• disobedient peers therefore act as role models on which the individual can model their own behaviour

Question 28

explain the role of locus of control in resisting social influence (6)

Answer 28

• locus of control refers to out perception of personal control over out behaviour
• people with a strong ‘internal’ locus of control believe what happens to them is largely a consequence of their own ability and effort, whereas people with a strong ‘external’ locus of control believe that what happens to them is determined by external factors, such as the influence of others or luck and they have a sense that things ‘jusr happen to them’ and are largely out of control
• research shows that people high in internality rely less on the opinions of others, and are more likely to display independence in thought and behaviour
• this means they are better able to resist social influence
• people high in externality tend to approach events with a more passive and fatalistic attitude than internals and are less likely to display independent behaviour
• this means they’re more likely to accept the influence of others and less able to resist social influence