Social Influence Flashcards
1
Q
All Situational Factors
A
- Majority Influence and Conformity
- Deindividuation
- Culture
- Authority Figures
2
Q
Majority Influence
A
When the majority of a group tries to influence others in the group to conform their beliefs
3
Q
Conformity
A
Yielding group pressure
4
Q
Collective Behaviour
A
The behaviour of 2 or more individuals who are acting collectively together
5
Q
Crowd Behaviour
A
Refers to a group of people who have came together for a common purpose (Football Match)
6
Q
Pro-social Behaviour
A
Positive behaviours that benefit members of society
7
Q
Anti-social Behaviour
A
Negative behaviours that go against members which harms them
8
Q
Obedience
A
Following orders from an authority figure
9
Q
Normative Conformity
A
Where people yield to group pressure because they want to fit in and are concerned about being rejected by the other in the group
10
Q
Group Norm
A
Specific ideas or assumptions held by a particular group about what is considered acceptable behaviour within that group.
11
Q
Asch Line Study
A
- Participants were put into groups and shown a series of three lines on a card. One line was on another card and a participant had were asked to match it
- The answer was clear but all the participants were confederates apart from one person
- 1/3 of the real participants gave the wrong answer
12
Q
Informational Conformity
A
People conform because they want to be perceived as correct and so follow the lead of others
13
Q
Gustave Le Bon
A
- When in crowds people lose their sense of self, responsibility and morality - they have a group mentality
- It unconscious, therefore driven by instinct
14
Q
Steve Reicher
A
- Crowds have a common social identity - they all share similar background and culture/interests
- They shared social identity and they viewed the passers-by as a part of their ‘‘in-group’’ and someone else as their ‘‘out-group’’
15
Q
In-group
A
Someone who is part of your group
16
Q
Out-group
A
Someone who is not in your group
17
Q
Deindividuation
A
When people are in a crowd and they lose their sense of individuality and the feel more anonymous. This can happen when you wear a costume (HALLOWEEN)
18
Q
Collectivist Culture
A
The needs of society are placed before the needs of the individual. The society of this culture see themselves as interdependent
19
Q
Individualistic Culture
A
The needs of an individual are placed before the needs of society. People of this culture see themselves as independent
20
Q
What culture shows more pro-social behaviour
A
Children from a collectivist culture show more pro-social behaviour as they will work as a collective (big group). They show more altruism
21
Q
Authority Figure
A
Someone we perceive as having more power than us
22
Q
Milgram’s Agency Theory
A
Milgram proposed a theory that people obey orders that they know to be ethically wrong because they have from being in an autonomous state where they have power over their actions, to an agentic state where they act as agents to the authority and therefore not responsible for their actions
23
Q
Milgram’s Electric Shock Experiment
A
- He conducted a controlled experiment on obedience
- It involved participants teaching a word list to a learner and then administer an electric shock if the wrong answer was given
- A researcher wearing a lab coat sat in the same room as the participants and prompted the p’s to administer shocks even if the learner did not want to carry on.
- The learner was a confederate and never got shocked (p’s did not know)
- 65% obeyed all the way up to 450v
24
Q
Criticisms of ALL Situational Factors
A
- DEINDIVIDUATION does not always lead to violence. Deindividuation can be a positive experience like at a music festival
- Not everyone CONFORMS in the same way. Psychologists tend to generalise it to one whole culture
- Milgram’s results on OBEDIENCE can be seen as too deterministic. P’s had little free will over the decision
- Too much research on Culture is age biased. It focuses too much on the role of children in that culture
- Themes focusing on situational factors suggests our behaviour are simply determined by what is happening around us and that we do not resist this
25
Research Study: BICKMAN Experiment 1
Aim - To investigate the degree of social power the uniform has on people
Hypothesis - A uniformed guard has more social power than a low levelled powered uniform such as a milkman
Experiment 1:
Method - Field Experiment, took place in Brooklyn
Design - IMD as P's saw 3 levels of authority
Materials - 3 Uniforms
Sample - 153 adults pedestrians (Opportunity Sample)
Procedure:
- 4 males experimenters aged 18-20 and were similar in all aspects
- There were not told the purpose of the experiment and were told to act in the same way regardless the uniform
3 situations:
- Picking up a bag - E would stop the person and point to a small paper bag and tell them to pick it up
- Dime and Meter - Asks him to give him a dime
- Bus stop (no standing) - E chose the person standing alone at a bus stop. He had to tell them to stand on the other side because its a no standing area.
Results - No significant differences between the civilian and milkman across 3 scenarios. Guard was obeyed the most
26
Research Study: BICKMAN Experiment 2, 3A, 3B
Experiment 2:
- Field Experiment
- 48 pedestrians
- Dime and Meter scenario was used
- Guard and Civilian was used
- Surveillance Condition, the E stood with the participant next to the parking meter, while the confederate stood near the car
- Non-Surveillance Conditions, the E approached the participant in the street, asked for a dime and walked away
Results - Surveillance had no effect on obedience. The guard was more obeyed
Experiment 3A:
- Data gathered using a questionnaire
- 29 different scenarios, including the first three
- Guard, Milkman and Young man
Results - Some new scenarios were more legitimate. Uniform did not make it more legitimate
Experiment 3B:
- Asked to predict what they would do in the scenarios
Results - P's did not think the guard would have more power than the other uniforms
27
Research Study: BICKMAN Criticisms
- P's selected by opportunity sample. Could affect unknown behaviours. Lack validity
- Culturally Biased. Only based on results in America
- Unethical as p's did not know what they were being studied on
- Gender Biased. All experimenters were males
- Little control over extraneous variables. Experimenters were unable to control weather which could have effected the mood of p's
28
All Dispositional Factors
- Self Esteem
- Locus of Control
- Morality
- Authority Personality
29
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is how we perceive ourselves. Someone with a low self-esteem will have a low opinion on themselves therefore more likely to conform. Someone with a high self-esteem will feel confident in who they are and how they behave - less likely to conform
30
Locus of Control
How much control a person feels they have over their own life (internal and external factors)
31
Internal Locus of Control
- People who have internal locus of control believes they have the ability to control their decisions about their own lives and any success or failure is due to choices they have made
- More confident and more motivated
- Less likely to get involved in crowd behaviour
32
External Locus of Control
- People with external locus of control believe they have very little or no control over their own lives and how other people act around them
- Believe they have no option but to obey
- More likely to get involved with crowd behaviour
33
Morality (Kohlberg's 6 stages)
Preconventional:
1. Punishment - Children are focused on the consequences rather than the actions
2. Benefit - Action is based on what benefits them but will return the favour
Conventional:
3. Approval - Children do things with good intentions and want to be praised
4. Obedience - Action is based on obeying and maintain order in society
Post-conventional:
5. Lawful - People do things in society that are deemed to be acceptable
6. Abstract Ethics - People do things that require deep thoughts about ethics
34
Morality
Understanding what is right and what is wrong
35
What stage of Moral development is the most antisocial
Stage 2 in Kohlberg's Moral Development (Benefit) is the most egocentric. The children care more about the consequence rather than the action they have done.
36
The Influence of the Brain
Argoskin Et Al found a positive correlation between self-esteem and grey matter. People with low self-esteem tend to have reduced amounts of grey matter in the hippocampus.
Correlation between damage to the prefrontal cortex and faulty moral reasoning
37
Authoritarian Personality
A personality type that is very obedient to authority
38
Adornos Authoritarian Personality
- see the world in black and white
- offer blind obedience to those in higher authority
- very conformist
- prejudiced to those they see as inferior
39
Authoritarian Personality link to Upbringing
Very strict and rigid upbring leads to an authoritarian personality. They would see there parents as a person in authority and constantly obey. Milgram's shock theory links to Adorno's theory
40
Criticisms of ALL Dispositional Factors
- Dispositional explanations focus too much on the individual making generalisable difficult
- Dispositional explanations of conformity and obedience are reductionist - they ignore the influence around them
- Kohlberg's research is not generalisable as it is culturally biased
- LOC may not be a good explanation for behaviours in crowds as your LOC can change depending on the situation
- Kohlberg's research is gender biased
41
Research Study - NATCEN
Aim - Investigate what had triggered the 2011 Tottenham Riots
Hypothesis - Wanted to know, who, what, why did it happen
Sample - 36 interviewees, sample was diverse
Procedure:
- Data was gathered 5 weeks after the riots had taken place
- Gained consent from all p's and assured confidentiality
- P's were interviewed alone or in groups
Results:
- Interview data proposed that a wide range of people were involved in the riots.
- Four different types of involvement - watchers, rioters, looters, non-involved
- Different factors made people more likely (nudge) or less likely (tug) to get involved
42
Research Study: NATCEN Criticisms
- Researchers relied on the participants memory
- A distrust of authority may have affected participants honesty
- Participants may have been affected by social desirability
- The researchers may have had difficulty in recruiting participants making it hard to generalise the results
43
Minority Influence
The idea that small groups of people can change the opinions and beliefs of larger group of people
44
Moscovici
Said that a minority could only change the views of a majority if the message was consistent, they were committed and if the argument was persuasive
45
Snowball Effect
Members of the minority slowly change the opinion of a majority. (knock on effect)
46
How a Majority affects social change (Stigma and Discrimination)
Evidence has shown that the majorities can be extremely powerful at changing the minority's negative belief
