social influence Flashcards
types of conformity
internalisation - going along with others as their point of view is consistent with yours. private and public acceptance
compliance - going along with others to gain approval/avoid disapproval.
little to no private attitude change
identification - we identify with a group, so want to be part of it. publicly change behaviour.
evaluation of conformity
normative - you conform as you want to be liked or respected by the group
evaluation - ASCH (1951): when answers were written down conformity dropped to 12.5%
Schultz et al. (2008)- 25% reduction in need for fresh towels when told 75% of guests reuse.
informational - you conform as you think the group has superior knowledge
evaluation - LUCAS ET AL.(2006): greater conformity to incorrect maths answers when problems were difficult.
what was the aim of asch’s study in 1951
to investigate the effects of conformity to a majority, when the task is ambiguous.
procedure of the ASCH’S STUDY(1951)
- 123 male undergraduates from 3 us collages
- one naive pp and a group of 6-8 confederates
- show 2 white cards - one with a single line
- the other with three lines with 3 lines in various sizes
- ## 12/18 trials confederates give incorrect answers (critical trials )
findings of asch’s study
control trials - in ordinary circumstances people make mistakes 1% of the time
critical trials
- pps give incorrect answers 36.8% of the time. 75% conformed at least once
social roles
The parts individuals play as members of various social groups, which meet the expectations of that situation.
Example social roles include: parent, child, student, passenger etc. with expectations such as; caring, obedient, hard working.
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s Study in 1973?
to see whether a person would conform to the social roles of a prison guard or officer, when placed in a mock prison environment and to test the dispositional explanation of conformity
what was the procedure of Zimbardo’s study?
- 21 healthy male volunteers
-randomly allocated role - participants were blind folded and taken to the mock prison
- given uniforms and numbers not names
- guards wore khaki shirts and trousers , dark glasses and carried wooden batons
- guards allowed to make rules
Findings of Zimbardo’s study
guards behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner. Prisoners were taunted with insults
prisoners- rebellious and ripped their uniforms. swore at the guards.
study was meant to last 2 weeks only lasted 6 days
evaluation of Zimbardo’s study?
replication - Reicher and Haslam (2006) replicated Zimbardo’s study in th UK. Participants did not conform to social roles. Guards refused to impose to social roles
individual differences - Guards did not all act the same. 1/3 of guards behaved brutally - 1/3 applied rules fairley and 1/3 helped the prisioners
ethics - critisised for not protecting participants from harm
what was the aim of Milgram’s Obedience study 0in 1963?
to test whether ordinary americans would obey an unjust order and inflict pain on another person because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure.
Milgram’s study - procedure
40 american males age 20-50 who responded to an advert in the newspaper - they were paid $4.50 for participating
greeted by two confederates, one was an experimenter in a lab coat the other was he learner.
participants allocated the tole of teacher - stat infront of a shock generator in a seperate room
the learner had to respond to a set of word pairs.
each wrong answer = a shock
the learner deliberatly gave 3 wrong answers - made no comment or protest till 300v
there were 4 main prompt used if participant was hesitant
- ‘please continue’ , ‘the experiment requires that you continue’ , ‘it is absolutely essential that you continue’, and ‘you have no other choice, you must go on’
how many people continued to 300 V
ALL continued to 300 v
how many refused to carry on past 300V ?
5 refused to carry on.
26(65%) continued to 450v.
Evaluation of Milgram (1963)
Ecological Validity - some have criticised milgram by saying his study did not reflect real life situations.
Hofling (1966) repeated the study in a real life setting (a hospital) and got similar results - obedience is high in real life
ethics - milgram deceived participants and made it so they were unable to withdraw .
many ppts showed obvious signs of stress and guilt.
internal Validity - Orne and Holland argue that the participants did not believe the experiment was real. some suggest they only shocked them as they were getting paid.
what are the 5 explanations for obedience?
Agentic State - when you obey orders of an authority figure and do not feel responsible for their actions.
proximity - when learner is in same room obedience dropped. if instructions were given over the phone obedience drops.
location - less credible locations e.g. run down office block rather than prestigious university causes obedience to drop .
uniform - lab coat indicates status. when experimenter did not wear one obedience dropped.
legitimacy of authority - uniform and location demonstrate legitimate authority. people will obey when the person giving instructions has power because of these things
evaluation of Milgrams variations
agentic shift - someone else administred the shock - 92.5 %
location and legitimate authority - conducted in run down office block - 48%
dispositional explanations of obedience
authoritarian personality - Adorno et al. (1950) created the F scale to measure authoritarian personality in 2000 WHITE MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS.
findings of authoritarian personality
showed respect to authority with fixed distinct stereotypes
- positively correlated to the prejudice towards others
inflexible in their outlook
more likely to obey authority figures
treated harshly as children - hostility towards parents
displace this hostility later in life onto minority groups (psyhodynamic explanation)
evaluation for Dispositional Explanation
Milgram support
- 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher on the F scale compared to 20 disobedient participants, supporting influence of authoritarian personality
limited explanation
- unrealistic to assume that all members of one country could have an authoritarian personality but rather they just identified with the Nazi’s anti-Semitic views.
resistance to social influence
social support
those with social support can be more confident and will not fear rejection or ridicule. they are more likely to resist social influence and remain independent.
evaluation of social support
conformity support
- resistance to conformity increased from 3% to 64% when there was social support in a similar study to Asch.
real world application
- Albercht et al. (2006) found that those with a ‘buddy’ during the Fresh Start USA campaign, were less likely to smoke than those without a ‘buddy’ .
locus of control
A persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour.
measured along a dimension of ‘high internal’ to ‘high external’
