Social Influence Flashcards
Define Conformity
The tendency to change what we do, think or say in response to the influence of a real or imagined pressure from a majority group.
Define Obedience
Individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish if you do not obey.
What are the types of conformity and explain them?
Compliance- to appear to agree with others, whilst disagreeing in private.
Identification- to want to be perceived to belong, temporary change of behaviour, only in the presence of a group.
Internalisation- to agree with others both in private and in public.
What is Normative Social Influence?
Changing behaviour or opinions because we want to fit in and be liked by other people.
What is Informational Social Influence?
Agreeing with the opinion of the majority as we believe it is correct and we want to be correct.
Evaluate explanations for conformity
+study found that adolescents exposed to normative message that the majority of peers their age did not smoke were less likely to smoke. Shows conformity with majority view.
+Ps exposed with negative views of African Americans, that they thought was the majority view, later reported negative views of this.
-They are subjective as they (ISI and NSI) no not effect people in the same way.
-ISI and NSI work together and it can be difficult to disentangle the two, so hard to test each one.
What effects conformity?
-Group size
-Unanimity
-Task difficulty
Describe Asch’s Study
A- To see what extent people will conform to the opinion of the others, even in a situation where the answer is certain.
P- 123 American men were tested, each in a group of confederates. They saw the ‘standard line’ and 3 comparison lines. One was clearly the same length, others very different, and they had to say which was the same. Confederates gave wrong answers. The Participant was always sat last or 2nd to last.
F- Participants agreed with confederates incorrect answers 36.8% of the time. There were individual differences, 25% never gave wrong answers.
C- Group size, unanimity, and task difficulty change results.
Evaluate Asch’s Study
-Not generalisable as it was only American men, population validity, gender bias
-Not applicable as it was an artificial task.
-Lacks ecological and temporal validity
+Reliable as EV’s were controlled, lab study, high enternal vailidity
+Ethical issues were controlled with a debrief
Asch did different variations of his baseline study- what were they?
Group Size: varied the number of confederates from 1-15. Found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity; it increased with group size but only to a certain point.
Unanimity: introduced a confederate who disagreed. Participant conformed less- decreased to less than a 1/4 of what it was before.
Task Difficulty: increased difficulty by making the lines more similar to each other, increased conformity.
What were the 2 aims of Zimbardo’s ‘Stanford Prison experiment’?
- To test the dispositional hypothesis
- To show how the taking of social roles would lead to excessive conformity to those roles.
What was the method in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment?
-Interviewed them
-Took personality and psychological wellbeing tests
-Eliminated those with mental disorders, criminal records, and disabilities
- 24 white males, 18 actually took part
-Prisoner or guard was decided on a coin flip
Guards- a uniform, baton, mirrored sunglasses
Prisoners- oversized smock, no underwear, referred to by number
-Controlled observation
What were the findings of the Stanford Prison experiment?
-Conformed to social roles
-Guards were quite brutal
-Prisoners internalised their crime
Give some key events that occurred in the Stanford Prison experiment
-Humiliate and punish prisoners leading to a revolt
-Rights were re-defined as privileges
-Prisoners became institutionalised and has signs of mental and emotional distress
-5 prisoners released due to extreme emotional reactions
-Had pathological prisoner syndrome
-Stopped after 6 days
What can we conclude form the Stanford Prison experiment?
-Rejects the dispositional hypothesis
-Prison environment changed guards behaviour
-People conform to roles they are expected to play
-The roles given can shape our behaviour and attitude
Evaluate the ‘Stanford Prison experiment’
+ Had control over key variables so high internal validity
+ No bias, was guard or prisoner by chance
+ Real life application: chnaged prisons
+ Fully debriefed
-Lacks realism of a true prison, might have been acting based on stereotypes, demand characteristics
-May have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour
-Can’t generalise, only 24 white men
What was Milgram’s method?
-40 males (20-50 yrs)
-Shocks if learner gets answer wrong
-15v-450v
-Were told to carry on by experimenter no matter what
-Learner was a confederate
-65% went to 450v
-Learner would scream and then went silent at 450v
-Experimenter wore a grey a lab coat
-Participants were distressed, sweating
What were the findings of Milgram’s study?
-Everyone went to 300v
-12.5% stopped at 300v
-65% went to 450v
Evaluate Milgram’s study
+Research support- giving puppies real shocks in response to orders. Despite real distress from the puppy, 54% of men and 100% of women gave a lethal shock.
+Controlled lab experiment
+Debriefed to prevent any mental damage and deal with ethical breach
-May not have been testing what they intended to test- 75% believed shocks were genuine, so some may have been acting, responding to demand characteristics
-Unethical, no protection from harm, deception
-Lab study, cannot apply to real life
-Small sample, cannot generalise
-Lacks ecological vaildity
- Raises an issue with peoplw killing others just because they have been told to.
Milgram had 3 variations of his baseline study- what were they and explain them?
Location- Moved from Yale university to a run-down office building, obedience fell to 47.5%
Proximity- teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience dropped to 40%. Then experimenter gave orders over the phone, was not in the room, obedience dropped to 20.5%.
Uniform- The experimenter was called away to answer an ‘important telephone call’ and was replaced by a ‘member of the public’ (another confederate) wearing ordinary clothes, rather than a lab coat. Obedience dropped to 20%, because participants did not see the authority figure as legitimate.
Evaluate Milgram’s variations
+Bickman supports the influence of uniform: passers by were asked to do tasks e.g pick up litter, by either a security guard, milkman, someone wearing a jacket and tie, obedience was highest with the security guard.
+Controlled variables, increases validity
-Lack internal validity; P’s may have worked out it was fake so obedience was not truly measured.
What is the aim and conclusion of Milgram’s study?
Aim: To see if people will obey orders, even those requiring them to harm others.
Conclusion: People will obey orders from an authority figure (the experimenter, who was wearing a white lab coat), potentially fatally harming a stranger in doing so.
What are the situational variables affecting obedience?
-Uniform
-Proximity
-Location
What are the 2 social-psychological factors affecting obedience?
Agentic state
Legitimacy of Authority
Define ‘Agentic state’
When we perceive someone to be higher up in the social hierarchy, we are more likely to act as an agent for them, following orders as we believe it is there responsibility.
