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Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

What is social influence?

A

How people influence each other

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2
Q

What is conformity?

A

Type of social influence involving a change of belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group

Change in response to real or imagined group pressure

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3
Q

Is conformity implicit or explicit instructions?

A

Implicit

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4
Q

What people does conformity happen around?

A

People with similar status

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5
Q

What are the types of conformity?

A

Compliance

Identification

Internalisation

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6
Q

What is compliance?

A

Agreeing in public but disagreeing in private

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7
Q

What type of change is compliance?

A

Superficial

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8
Q

What is identification?

A

Identifying as part of a group so conforming to behaviour of that group

Acting a certain way in a certain place

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9
Q

What is internalisation?

A

A person genuinely accepts group’s norms so opinions changed in public and private

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10
Q

What type of change is internalisation?

A

Permanent change

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11
Q

What did Asch test?

A

Compliance

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12
Q

What was the sample of Asch’s research?

A

50 (or 123) men

All men

All American

All same age (ish)

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13
Q

What was the procedure of Asch’s experiment?

A

Naive participant in a room of 7 confederates

Participant sat second to last

18 trials in total

Confederates gave the wrong answer 12 times

Look at 3 lines of different lengths and said aloud which they thought was the same length as the standard line (clear which was correct)

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14
Q

Why were participants sat second to last?

A

To rush their answer

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15
Q

What were the results of Asch’s experiment?

A

Experimental group = 36.8% complied for all 12 “wrong” trials

Control group = less than 1% gave the wrong answer

25% never conformed

75% conformed at least once

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16
Q

Limitation of Asch - cultural bias

A

Smith and Bond

Did meta-analysis of research in number of different cultures

Conformity high in Fiji at 58% (collectivist culture - family centred)

Lowest rates in Belgium at 14% (individualistic culture - self-centred)

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17
Q

Limitation of Asch - ethical problem

A

Lied to them

Told them it was a vision test

Reduces demand characteristics

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18
Q

Limitation of Asch - engineering students

A

Same experiment

Only 1 student conformed

More confident

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19
Q

Limitation of Asch - lacks ecological validity

A

Artificial situation and task

Participants knew they were in a research study (demand characteristics)

Task was trivial so no reason not to conform

Fiske
- groups weren’t like real-life groups

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20
Q

Limitation of Asch - gender bias

A

Only American men tested

Neto
- women might be more conformist because possibly more concerned about being accepted

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21
Q

Strength of Asch - research support

A

Lucas et al

Participants given answers that claimed to be from other students

Conformed more with wrong answers when questions were harder

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22
Q

What are the explanations of conformity?

A

ISI

NSI

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23
Q

What does NSI stand for?

A

Normative Social Influence

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24
Q

What is NSI?

A

Desire to be LIKED

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25
Q

When does NSI occur?

A

With strangers when rejection is a concern

Stressful situations when greater need for social support

With people we respect and want to be liked by

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26
Q

What type of process is NSI?

A

Emotional

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27
Q

What does NSI lead to?

A

Compliance

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28
Q

Strength of NSI - research support

A

Asch

Many confederates conformed rather than give correct answer because afraid of disapproval

When writing down answers, conformity fell to 12.5%

Conformity is desire to not be rejected by disagreeing

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29
Q

Limitation of NSI - individual differences

A

McGhee and Teevan

nAffiliators = strong need for affiliation

Students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform

NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others

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30
Q

Strength of NSI - supporting evidence

A

Linkenback and Perkins

Put posters about smoking and how majority of people didn’t smoke

Less people smoked on uni campus after posters had been put up

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31
Q

What does ISI stand for?

A

Informational Social Influence

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32
Q

What is ISI?

A

Desire to be RIGHT

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33
Q

When does ISI occur?

A

Situations that are new to a person so they don’t know what’s right

Ambiguous situations

Crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly

Where one person/group seen as more of an expert

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34
Q

What type of process is ISI?

A

Cognitive

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35
Q

What does ISI lead to?

A

Internalisation

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36
Q

Strength of ISI - research support

A

Lucas et al

Participants conformed more when maths questions were harder

For hard problems, situation was ambiguous so relied on answers given

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37
Q

Limitation of ISI and NSI - separating them

A

Unclear if NSI or ISI operate in studies and real life

Dissenter could reduce power of NSI or ISI

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38
Q

What are the factors affecting conformity?

A

Group size

Task difficulty

Unanimity - “rebel” confederate

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39
Q

How did Asch test group size?

A

Reduced number of confederates

When it was 3 confederates, went down to 31.8%

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40
Q

How did Asch test unanimity?

A

Added “rebel” confederate

Conformity rate reduced to 5.5%

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41
Q

How did Asch test task difficulty?

A

Made differences between line lengths smaller

Conformity increased

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42
Q

Limitation of factors affecting conformity - opposing evidence

A

Campbell and Fairey

Group size only has an effect when it’s an NSI situation

If ISI situation, only need 1/2 confederates for support

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43
Q

Strength of factors affecting conformity - engineering students

A

Repeated Asch’s study on engineering students

Only 1 out of 396 conformed

More confidence

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44
Q

Strength of factors affecting conformity - research support

A

Get people to write down their confidence in maths then gave them a very difficult maths question

More conformity

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45
Q

What does SPE stand for?

A

Stanford Prison Experiment

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46
Q

Who conducted the SPE?

A

Zimbardo

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47
Q

What was the aim of the SPE?

A

Investigate identification

To work out whether prison guards behaved brutally because they have sadistic personalities or whether it was the situation that created such behaviours

Whether prisons affect humans

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48
Q

What was the sample of the SPE?

A

24 participants

Only 21 made it through the whole experiment

All American male students

Tested for emotional wellbeing

Randomly allocated as prison guard or prisoner

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49
Q

What was the procedure of the SPE?

A

Fake prison set up in basement of psychology department

Prisoners and prison guards had uniforms (prison guards = uniforms, clubs, whistles, reflective sunglasses)

Prisoners only addressed by number

Prison guards came up with 17 rules but weren’t allowed to physically harm prisoners

Participants were arrested at their own houses, stripped and deloused

Observation

Paid $15 a day

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50
Q

What were the results of the SPE?

A

Guards quickly conformed to roles and were harsh to prisoners

Prisoners treated awfully and rebelled on second day, which was quickly suppressed

Guards kept treating prisoners awfully and harassed prisoners constantly, playing them against each other

Experiment ended on 6th day

Cleaned toilets with bare hands etc

3 prisoners left experiment

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51
Q

Limitation of SPE - ethical issues

A

R - couldn’t withdraw voluntarily, had to have a mental breakdown, paid $15 to stay

A - were kept anonymous but institute published, newspapers found participants

P - protected from physical (not mental) harm

I - prisoners didn’t know everything (i.e. being arrested at home)

D - lied to

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52
Q

Limitation of SPE - critical distance

A

Zimbardo didn’t keep critical distance

Placed himself as superintendent

Took superintendent role more seriously than psychological role

Refused to let one prisoners leave

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53
Q

Limitation of SPE - not realistic

A

Banuazizi and Movehedi

Present some details of SPE experimental procedure to large sample of students who had never heard of study

Vast majority of students guessed purpose of study was to show ordinary people assigned role of prisoner or guard would act like it

Prison not realistic enough - one participant claimed he had based role on character from film Cool Hand Luke

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54
Q

Counterpoint SPE - not realistic

A

Even when participants in SPE were unaware being watched, behaviour still conformed to “guard” or “prisoner” role

One prisoner asked for “parole” rather than asking to withdraw

McDermott
- 90% of prisoners conversations about prison life

Discussed how impossible it was to leave before “sentences” over

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55
Q

Strength of SPE - ecological validity

A

In Abu Ghraib (military prison in Iraq), Iraqi prisoners were abused and tortured by American soldiers

Situational factors such as lack of training, boredom and lack of accountability present in Abu Ghraib and SPE

Zimbardo noticed similarities between soldiers at Abu Ghraib and prison guards in his experiment

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56
Q

Strength of SPE - control over variables

A

Male participants in SPE psychologically and physically screened

24 most “normal” and “stable” used in study

Randomly assigned role

57
Q

Limitation of SPE - exaggeration of results

A

1/3 guards behaved brutally

1/3 guards keen on keeping fair prison rules

Rest actively helped and supported prisoners

58
Q

Limitation of SPE - counter evidence

A

BBC study

Prisoners given possibility of “promotion” after 3 days from prisoners group to guards group

As result, prisoners offered no challenge to guards in first few day

Guards failed to identify with their role

Made guards reluctant to impose authority and were eventually overcome by prisoners

59
Q

Limitation of SPE - investigator effects

A

Zimbardo gave guards general sense of how he expected them to behave

“Behavioural scripts associated with roles” were not sole source of guidance

60
Q

What is minority influence?

A

Small change

61
Q

What is social influence?

A

Societal beliefs change (large scale)

62
Q

What is consistency?

A

Minority hold the same belief over a long period of time

63
Q

What is commitment?

A

Personal sacrifice and effort, risk

64
Q

What is flexibility?

A

Minority compromises with the majority

65
Q

What is attention?

A

Minority group needs to get the attention of the majority

Media attention

66
Q

What is deeper processing?

A

Minority group has to give information

Links to ISI

67
Q

What is the augmentation principle?

A

Commitment

68
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

When the minority group has persuaded people

Links to NSI

69
Q

What is social crypto amnesia?

A

Forget anyone behaved any other way

70
Q

Strength of consistency - research support

A

Moscovici

Green/blue slides

When confederate was consistent, persuaded 8.42% of participants

When confederates was inconsistent, persuaded 1.25% of participants

71
Q

Limitation of minority influence - stereotypes

A

Bashir

Investigated why people resist social change even when they agree it’s necessary

Reason due to stereotypes of minority

Stops snowball effect

72
Q

Limitation of minority influence - opposing evidence

A

Foxcroft

Reviewed 70 studies which use NSI to try and change uni students drinking behaviour

Found it only produced a small reduction in drinking quality and no effect on drinking frequently

NSI doesn’t have long-term impact on social change

73
Q

Limitation of minority influence - problem with deeper processing

A

Mackie

Minority influence will struggle to get majority to properly think about “the message”

Only once majority have same viewpoint will it cause rest of population

Forces us to think about why so many people have same belief

74
Q

What is obedience?

A

Doing what you’re told

75
Q

Is obedience implicit or explicit instruction?

A

Explicit

76
Q

Who does obedience happen with?

A

People of higher status

77
Q

What was the sample of Milgram’s shock experiment?

A

50 American male participants - gender and cultural bias

78
Q

Who were the confederates in Milgram’s shock experiment?

A

Learner getting shocked

Experimenter wearing a lab coat

79
Q

What was the procedure of Milgram’s shock experiment?

A

Participant was the Teacher

Gave the Learner increasingly severe electric “shocks” each time he made a mistake

Shocks increased in 15V steps to 450V

If the Teacher wanted to stop, the Experimenter gave a verbal “prod” to continue

80
Q

What were the results of Milgram’s shock experiment?

A

No one stopped before 300V

12.5% stopped at 300V

65% continued to 450V

Participants showed signs of extreme tension - 3 had seizures

84% said glad they’d taken part

81
Q

Strength of Milgram - research support

A

Sheridan and King

Carried out similar procedure with puppy as the Learner

Most participants gave the puppy what would have been a lethal point

82
Q

Counterpoint Milgram - research support

A

Gender differences

100% of females

54% of males

83
Q

Strength of Milgram - supporting evidence

A

Hofling et al

Field experiment in a hospital

Nurse called by “unknown doctor” and told to give patient 20mg of drug unknown to nurse

21/22 nurses started to give drug until nearby nurse stopped them

84
Q

Strength of Milgram - real-life replication

A

Game of Death

Repeated Milgram’s experiment on TV audience who were asked to shock fellow contestants

Participant could see man being shocked

Crowd would cheer on participants

80% gave lethal shock to “unconscious” man

85
Q

Limitation of Milgram - ethical issues

A

Deceived participants by telling them it was experiment on “punishment and learning”

Difficult for participants to withdraw because the Experimenter prompted them to continue

Not protected from psychological harm because many participants reported feeling very stressed and anxious

86
Q

Counterpoint Milgram - ethical issues

A

Debriefed participants after the experiment

83.7% said they were happy to have taken part in the experiment

87
Q

Limitation of Milgram - lack of ecological validity

A

Tested obedience in a laboratory

Unable to generalise findings to real-life situations

88
Q

What are the situational variables of obedience?

A

Proximity

Uniform

Location

89
Q

What is proximity in relation to obedience?

A

Physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to

90
Q

What was the original proximity in Milgram’s experiment?

A

Teacher-Experimenter: in same room

Teacher-Learner: in adjoining rooms (couldn’t see, but could hear)

91
Q

What were the proximity variations of Milgram’s experiment?

A

Teacher forces Learner’s hand onto a plate to shock them – 30%

Teacher and Learner in same room – 40%

Experimenter gives orders over the phone – 20.5%

92
Q

What is location in relation to obedience?

A

The place where the order is issued

93
Q

What was the original location of Milgram’s experiment?

A

Yale university

94
Q

What were the location variations of Milgram’s experiment?

A

Basement – 48%

Participant said they didn’t trust the experimenter

95
Q

What is uniform in relation to obedience?

A

People in position of authority have a specific outfit that’s symbolic of their authority, which tells us who is entitled to our obedience

96
Q

What was the original uniform in Milgram’s experiment?

A

Lab coat

97
Q

What was the uniform variation of Milgram’s experiment?

A

Wore everyday clothes – 20%

98
Q

AO3 situational variables - ethical issues

A

R - prodded into continuing, paid

A - kept anonymous

P - felt guilty afterwards, 3 had seizures from stress, when debriefed 98% happy to have taken part

I - didn’t shocks weren’t real, thought testing memory, thought had 50/50 chance of being Teacher or Learner

D - lied to

99
Q

Limitation of situational variables (proximity) - opposing evidence

A

Hofling

Gave orders over the phone

21/22 nurses obeyed

100
Q

Strength of situational variables (uniform) - research support

A

Bickman

Milkman, security guard and businessman

Security guard had highest obedience, then businessman then milkman

101
Q

Limitation of situational variables - demand characteristics

A

Many of participants in Milgram’s experiment worked out procedure was fake

Even more likely participants realised it was fake shocks in situational variations of Milgram’s experiment (uniform)

102
Q

Limitation of situational variables - obedience alibi

A

Milgram’s findings are an excuse for obedience - suggesting it is the situation not the perosn who is responsible

Mandel
- offensive to Holocaust survivors
- suggest Nazi’s simply obeyed orders and were victims of situational factors beyond their control

103
Q

What is the dispositional explanation for obedience?

A

Authoritarian personality

104
Q

What is conventionalism?

A

Conform to social norms

105
Q

What is authoritarian aggression?

A

Feel aggressive towards people who don’t perform

106
Q

What is authoritarian submission?

A

Must be submissive to authority

107
Q

What was the sample of Adorno’s f-scale study?

A

2000 middle class Americans

108
Q

What was the procedure of Adorno’s f-scale study?

A

Completed the f-scale which tested their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups and fascism

109
Q

What are the reasons for an authoritarian personality?

A

Formed in childhood by strict rules

Absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards, severe criticisms of perceived failings

Love only given when you behave the correct way

Leads to resentment which leads to punishing those they feel are inferior

110
Q

AO3 dispositional explanation - Adorno’s f-scale study

A

Limitations
- demand characteristics/social desirability bias
- fascism and communism are similar

Strengths
- don’t have investigator effects

111
Q

Limitations of dispositional explanation - problem with sample

A

Cultural bias

Same class

112
Q

Strength of dispositional explanation - research support

A

Milgram and Elms

People who shocked to 450V in Milgram’s experiment had higher score on f-scale

Negative relationship with dad

113
Q

What are the psychological factors of obedience?

A

Agentic state

Legitimacy of authority

114
Q

What is the agentic state?

A

When a person acts on the behalf of an authority figure/person of a higher status

Actor doesn’t feel personal responsibility or guilt for their actions

115
Q

What is the autonomous state?

A

When you feel responsible for your own actions (feel guilty)

116
Q

What is the agentic shift?

A

When you shift form autonomous state to agentic state because of binding factors

117
Q

What are binding factors?

A

Reduce “moral strain”

Ignoring and minimising damage they’ve done

118
Q

What is an example of binding factors in an experiment?

A

Participant feels the pressure to stay in the experiment because they’ve committed to the experiment

119
Q

Strength of agentic state - research support

A

65% of participants in original experiment who shocked to 450V were arguably in agentic state

In one variation, additional confederate administered electric shocks on behalf of the teacher

Percentage of participants rose to 92.5%

Felt less responsible as responsibility was shifted (agentic shift)

120
Q

Limitation of agentic shift - lack of ecological validity

A

Lifton

People don’t continuously shift between autonomous to agentic state

Gradually move towards agentic state and that change may be irreversible

Found in German doctors at Auschwitz

121
Q

Limitation of agentic state - opposing evidence

A

Rank and Jacobson

16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug dose

Majority of nurses remained in autonomous state although doctor was obviously authority figure

122
Q

What is legitimacy of authority?

A

Legitimate authority’s instruction must be in accordance with the setting

Participant will trust the legitimate authority to tell them the rules of the situation

Legitimate authority figure typically has a uniform

When a person recognises their own and other’s position in a social hierarchy

123
Q

How is legitimacy of authority increased?

A

Visible symbols of authority

124
Q

What are the three legitimacies?

A

Setting

Order

System

125
Q

Limitation of legitimacy of authority - cultural differences

A

Only 16% of Australian participants shocked to 450V

85% of German participants shocked to 450V

126
Q

Strength of legitimacy of authority - real-world crimes

A

Kelman and Hamilton

Real world crimes can be explained

At My Lai war crime in Vietnam, soldiers killed people when they emerged from their homes with hands up and bombed buildings

Defence of soldiers was they were following orders

High ecological validity

127
Q

Strength of psychological factors - research support

A

Blass and Schmitt

Showed Milgram’s experiment to students and asked who was responsible

Stated experimenter was to blame because he had higher social position and was a scientist

128
Q

What are the two explanations for resistance to social influence?

A

Locus of control

Social support

129
Q

What is locus of control?

A

Whether things lie inside or outside your control

What we believe influences out life

On a spectrum

130
Q

What is an internal locus of control?

A

Believe everything that happens to you is because of what you do

131
Q

What is an external locus of control?

A

Believe that everything that happens to you is due to luck, fate or destiny

132
Q

Are people who are resistant to social influence and disobedient more likely to have internal or external locus of control?

A

Internal

133
Q

Strength of locus of control - research support

A

Looked at Milgram’s disobedient participants

Most have internal locus of control

134
Q

Limitation of locus of control - lack of ecological and temporal validity

A

Twenge et al

Analysed obedience over 40 years

People are becoming more external but more resistant to obedience

Theory lacks ecological and temporal validity

135
Q

What is social support?

A

People find it easier to disobey/not conform when there is a role-model of disobedience/non-conformity

136
Q

How did Asch’s unanimity variation show social support?

A

Conformity dropped when there was a rebel confederate

137
Q

Strength of social support - research support

A

Allen and Levine

Redid Asch’s line study but added confederate with really thick glasses

Asked them to say the right answer every time

36% of participants didn’t conform

138
Q

Strength of social support - supporting evidence

A

Variations of Milgram’s experiment

Teacher sees two other teacher’s rebel = obedience is 10%

Psychology (11 decks)

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