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Social influence Flashcards

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1
Q

What is conformity

A

-yielding to group pressure
- it occurs when an individuals behaviour and / or beliefs are influenced by a larger group of people
- its also known as majority influence

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2
Q

What is compliance as a type of conformity

A
  • occurs when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions to those of the group to be accepted or avoid disapproval
  • its a fairly weak and temporary form of conformity
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3
Q

What is identification as a type of conformity

A
  • when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions to those of a group, because membership of that group is desirable
  • its a stronger form of conformity although it is often temporary
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4
Q

What is internalisation as a type of conformity

A
  • when individuals genuinely adjust their behaviour and opinions to those of that group
  • its known as true conformity
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5
Q

Who came up with the two explanations to conformity

A

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

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6
Q

What are the two explanations for conformity

A
  1. Informational Social Influence (ISI)
  2. Normative Social Influence (NSI)
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7
Q

Describe Informational Social Influence (ISI)

A
  • when humans have a need of certainty
  • when people are unsure about something, they look at the behaviours and opinions of others and shape their thoughts and behaviours around them
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8
Q

Outline the procedure into a study into ISI

A
  • Jenness’ sweet jar study
    +PROCEDURE
    1. p’s made individual guesses of number of jellybeans in a jar
    2. p’s then discussed their guesses throughout the group
    3. after discussion, group estimates were created
    4. p’s then made a 2nd individual guess
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9
Q

What are the findings into Jenness’ sweet jar study into ISI

A

FINDINGS
- p’s 2nd guess tended to converge towards the group estimate
- the average change of opinion was greater among women (women conformed more)

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10
Q

Strengths and limitations of Jenness’ sweet jar study into ISI

A

+ study is more ethically sound because deception was less severe
- it was a lab study so lacks mundane realism
- the study doesn’t tell us much about majority influence

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11
Q

Outline Asch’s study into conformity

A

PROCEDURE
- 123 male American university students took part
- they were in a room with 7-9 others who were all confederates who would say the wrong answer deliberately

FINDINGS
- out of 12 trials, 32% conformity rate to wrong answers
- 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer
- 5% conformed to all 12 wrong answers

CONCLUSION
- there are big individual differences to how people are affected by majority influence
- they were motivated by NSI in order to gain acceptance by the group

EVALUATION
- time consuming
- situation was unrealistic so lacked mundane realism
- unethical as it involved deceit
+ majority of people aren’t conformist but independant
- Only involved American male university students so doesn’t reflect wider range

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12
Q

What are three situational variables that affect conformity

A
  • size of group
  • unanimity
  • task difficulty
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13
Q

How can the size of the group affect levels of conformity

A
  • as the group size increases, so does conformity
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14
Q

How can unanimity affect levels of conformity

A
  • conformity rates have been found to decline when majority influence is not unanimous
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15
Q

How can task difficulty affect levels of conformity

A

as task difficulty increases so does conformity

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16
Q

Describe the findings and evaluation of Zimbardo’s prison experiment

A

FINDINGS
- there was de-indivduation between prisoners
- after 36hrs a prisoner had to be released as they suffered mentally
- the programme was stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14 as there was extreme harm happening
- both guards and prisoners were surprised at the behaviours they showed

EVALUATION
- extreme ethical issues as prisoners suffered physically, mentally and psychologically
- Zimbardo regarded his study as a failure as prison conditions since his study have become worse

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17
Q

Definition of obedience

A

type of social influence defined as complying with the demands of an authority figure

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18
Q

What are some ethical considerations towards Milgram’s experiment

A
  • there was psychological harm where participants had severe stress when shocking the learner
  • there was informed consent
  • participants were given the right to withdraw
  • participants were paid to take part
19
Q

What is the agentic state

A
  • Milgram proposed the theory
  • individuals are in an autonomous state when individuals have control and act to their wishes. they see themselves personally responsible for their actions
  • when an individual obeys an authority figure, they give up some free will so are in an agentic state
20
Q

External explanations for situational variables affecting obedience

A
  • proximity to a person
  • location/ environment the individual is in
    -uniform- if a person is wearing a uniform, people are more likely to obey
21
Q

What is the dispositional explanation

A

an internal explanation with the idea that certain personality characteristics are associated with higher levels of obedience

22
Q

Outline the authoritarian personality

A
  • proposed by Fromm in 1941
  • it explains those holding right-wing, conservative views and is a personality type characterised by a belief in absolute obedience
23
Q

definition of resistance to social influence

A

the ways in which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice

24
Q

definition of social support

A

the perception of assistance and solidarity available from others

25
Q

What does resistance to social influence involve

A
  • disobedience
  • non-conformity
26
Q

Which two ways does non-conformity happen by

A
  • independance- involving a lack of consistent movement either towards or away from social expectancy
  • anti-conformity- involving a consistent movement away from social conformity
27
Q

What is an example of social support

A

Variation of Asch’s experiment:
- if there was one dissenter/ disobedient confederate from the start, conformity dropped from 32% to 5.5%
- if the dissenter started later in the study, conformity still dropped to 8.5%
- it suggests social support received earlier is more effective than when its received later

28
Q

Definition of Locus of Control (LoC)

A

the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events in their lives

29
Q

What happens if people have a high internal LoC

A

they believe that they can affect the outcomes of situations

30
Q

What happens if people have a high external LoC

A

they believe things turn out a certain way regardless of their actions

31
Q

What does internal LoC refer to

A

that things happen as a result of individuals choices and decisions

32
Q

What does external LoC refer to

A

that things happen as a result of luck, fate or other uncontrollable external forces

33
Q

Which type of LoC does Rotter believe makes individuals more resistant to social pressure

A

internal LoC because they see themselves as more in control of a situation

34
Q

What is an example into LoC and resisting conformity

A
  • Spector (1983)
  • he gave Rotter’s LoC scale to 157 university students
  • he found students with high external LoC conformed more than those with low LoC but only in situations that produced normative social pressure
  • both types didn’t conform in situations that produced ISI
35
Q

What is systematic processing

A

when people are less likely to obey orders that have negative outcomes if they have time to consider the consequences of what they are being ordered to do

36
Q

How is morality involved in resistance to obedience

A

people who make decisions on whether to obey or not are based on moral considerations are generally more resistant

37
Q

How is personality involved in resistance to obedience

A

personal characteristics can help resist social influence
- individuals who can empathise with feelings of others are more able to resist orders

38
Q

Definition of minority influence

A

a type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject established majority group norms

39
Q

What is social cryptomnesia

A
  • the snowball effect
  • conversion starts off small with a few people but then builds up support
  • after a time, more people change views and the minority gains status, power and acceptability
40
Q

How can consistency help a minority influence

A
  • if a minorities view is persuasive and unchanging, it shows confidence in their believes
41
Q

How does commitment help a minority influence

A

if minorities stand up to opposition, people may re-evaluate their own view

42
Q

How does flexibility help a minority influence

A

if minorities are able to be moderate, co-operative and reasonable then they will be persuasive

43
Q

Definition of social change

A

the process by which society changes beliefs, attitudes and behaviour to create new social norms

Psychology (7 decks)

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