social influence

Question 1

what are the three different types of conformity

Answer 1

1. compliance
2. internalisation
3. indentification

Question 2

what is compliance

Answer 2

the individual conforms publicly to the views or behaviours expressed by others in the group but continues to privately disagree. This type of conformity tends to be temporary and shallow

Question 3

what is internalisation

Answer 3

deepest level of conformity and is also known as conversion. It is when the views are taken on at a deep and personal level as they become apart of the persons own views

Question 4

what is identification

Answer 4

accepting the influence because they want to be associated with another person or group

Question 5

what are the explanations for conformity

Answer 5

Normative Social Influence- the desire to be liked and therefore people conform because we think that others will approve and accept us

Information Social Influence- desire to be right so we look at others who we believe are correct to give us information

Question 6

what variables affect conformity in Asch’s study

Answer 6

group size, unanimity of the majority and the difficulty of the task

Question 7

outline Asch’s study

Answer 7

Sample: 123 Male US undergraduates were tested

Procedure: ppts seated around the table and asked to look at 3 lines of different lengths and they took turns to say which of the three lines they thought was the same length as the standard line. The real ppt always answered 2nd to last. The answer was unambiguous every time, but the confederates were told to give the same incorrect answer on 12 of the 18 trials. To confirm that the lines were unambiguous Asch had a control condition were there were no confederates giving wrong answer and ge found that 1% of ppts made mistakes.

Findings: on the 12 critical trials the average conformity rate was 33%. Asch also discovered individual differences in conformity rates. 25% ppts never conformed on any of the critical trials. 50% conformed on 6 or more of the critical trials and 1 in 20 conformed on all the critical trials. When Asch interviewed the ppts after he found that the ppts who conformed had continued to privately trust their own perception and judgements but changed their public behaviour to avoid disapproval from other group members. Therefore, it was normative social influence at play.

Question 8

explain how group size can affect conformity

Answer 8

Asch found very little conformity when the majority consisted of 1 or 2 confederates. When the majority had 3 confederates the conformity jumped to 30%.

Campbell and Fairey suggest group size may have a different effet depending on the individuals motivations. When there is no objective right answer and the person is concerned with fitting in with the larger to group the more likely they are to be swayed. However, when there is a correct answer and the ppt wants to be correct they only need one or two people to sway with them.

Question 9

explain how the unanimity of the majority affect conformity

Answer 9

When the real ppts were given the support of either another real ppts or a confederate the conformity levels dropped to 5.5%

If the confederate gave an answer different to the majority and the ppt they conformity rates dropped to 9%.

This led Asch to conclude that it was breking the groups unanimous position that was the major factor in conformity reduction.

Question 10

explain how the difficulty of the tast affects conformity

Answer 10

The differences between the line lengths were much smaller and the conformity increased

Lucas et al (2006) found situational differences like the difficulty of the question and self-efficacy to be important

Question 11

evaluate Asch’s study

Answer 11

-not generalisable as all white, American, undergraduate males studied we don’t know about women or different cultures

+ very reliable as highly standardised e.g. length of lines the same for all, difficulty of q’s the same and the point where the ppt answers the same

+ an application would be in school when a teacher assesses a child individually

-lacks validity e.g. ecological, temporal and demand characteristics

-ethics e.g. deception and no informed consent but + debrief and right to withdraw

Question 12

outline research into social roles

Answer 12

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison observation

Sample: Male, 24 of the msot stable paid $15 a day for 2 weeks randomly assigned to prisoner or guard

Procedure: prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and on entry to the prison was deloused and given unform including a chain on their ankles and assigned a number. The guards were given the role and given uniforms, clubs, whistles and wore reflective sunglasses. The guards referred to the prisoners as those numbers. Prisoners were allowed certain rights including 3 meals a day and three supervised visits to the toilet a day. Zimbardo made himself the prison superintendent.

Findings: On the first day the prisoners had already started to taunt the guards on the night shift so the day shift guards came and punished the harshly. Over the next few days, the guards grew increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners. They woke them at night and forced them to clean the toilets with their bare hands and made them to other degrading activities. The ppts appeared at time to forget that it was a psychological study and one even asked if he could have parole. Five prisoners had to be released early because of extreme reactions.

Conclusion: The study demonstrated that both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles and that the power of a situation to influence people’s behaviour.

Question 13

evaluate zimbardos study

Answer 13

-not generalisable as it was all higher educated, USA, volunteer, psychological stable males

-reliability is low as the variables aren’t controlled and the results different as there were three types of guards the nice ones the tough but fair ones and the tyrannical ones.

+ practical applications like reform of prisons and how the guards are trained

+ ecological validity of the study

-Zimbardo was a superintendent and ppts were paid so demand characteristics were high

-ethics they were deceived (arrested in their own homes), no informed consent due to deception, there wasn’t protection from harm as many has psychological breakdowns and the right to withdraw was blurred due to ppt asking for parole.

Question 14

outline research into obedience

Answer 14

Aim: investigate what level of obedience would be shown when ppts were told by an authority figure to administer electric shocks. Milgram wanted to know if “Germans were different” or if everyone is capable of such evil.

Sample: 40 males, volunteers paid $4.50

Method: ppts were introduced to Mr Wallace who is a confederate, and they were asked to pick a piece of paper with their roles on and Mr Wallace was always made to be the leaner as it was rigged and the ppts was always the teacher. The ppts watched Mr Wallace get strapped to the electrodes and asked if he had medical conditions and he said yes. Ppts was given a sample shock of 45 volts. The teacher was instructed to deliver a shock each time Mr Wallace made a mistake and with each successive mistake to up the voltage. The confederate was told to give mainly wrong answers and up until 300v he “received” the shocks in silence and then he started kicking against the wall and then he falls silent after crying out in pain about his heart.

If the ppt asked to stop the experiment, there was 4 standardised prods and only if the ppt refused to continue after the 4th prod was the experiment stopped.

Results: 65% of the ppt went to the max 450V and 100% went to 300V. There was trembling and sweating observed by the ppts and 3 ppts even had uncontrollable seizures

Question 15

evaluate Milgrams research

Answer 15

-low generalisability as all ppts were male, American from New Haven, white, 20-50 years old volunteers.

+ reliability as there was a lot of standardisations like prompts, the pre-experiment, recording of Mr Wallace getting shocked

+ greater understanding of why the Holocaust happened and raises awareness and helps individuals question authority

+ supporting research Hoffling study on the nurses

-ethics as the ppts were put through a lot of stress and the right to withdraw was blurred as there were 4 prompts for them to carry on

Question 16

what three situational factors affect obedience

Answer 16

proximity, obedience and uniform

Question 17

evaluate situational factors as an explanation for obedience

Answer 17

• lacks validity as Perry (2012) discovered that many of Milgram’s ppts had been skeptical at the time about whether the shocks were real. Taketo Murata divided the ppts into doubters and believers and he found the believers were more likely to disobey and only give low intensity shocks
• low ecological validity Mandel- Police Battalion 101 received an order to carry out a mass killing of Jews. Their commanding officer made an offer that they could do another task if they wanted to. Despite the close proximity to the victims which should decrease obedience only a small minority took the different job

+ temporal validity as Blass (1999) carried out a stat analysis of all of Milgram’s studies and later studies in 1985 and found no difference in obedience levels in the conditions. Burger in 2009 found the levels of obedience to be almost identical to those found by Milgram 46 years earlier.

-individual differences as they all had the same situational factors but not all of them obeyed 100% of the time meaning there must be another explanation at play as well.

Question 18

what is the agentic state

Answer 18

when people work within a social system involving a hierarchy as they automatically see themselves as an agent to others and they no longer feel responsible for their actions.

Question 19

why do people adopt the agentic state

Answer 19

People adopt an agentic state as they need to maintain a positive self-image . Actions performed under an agentic state are from their perspective virtually guilt free and maintain their image of themselves

Question 20

what are binding factors

Answer 20

When a person is in a social situation there is always an etiquette present that in some way controls the way, they behave. In Milgram’s study the ppts agreed to do the experiment and therefore the ppt must breach commitment to leave. Therefore the ppt fears they will seem arrogant and rude and the behaviour is not taken lightly. These worries help bind the subject into obedience.

Question 21

what is needed for a person to shift into an agentic state

Answer 21

The first condition needed for people to shift to the agentic state is the perception of a legitimate authority figure.

Question 22

evaluate agentic state and legitimacy as an explanations for obedience

Answer 22

-Real life examples contradicting agentic state like Lifton (1986) found in his study that German doctors working at Auschwitz who had ordinary medical professions before had turned into men and women capable of carrying out lethal experiments on prisoners suggest that instead of agentic state being the reason for this that in fact it was the carrying out of evil acts of evil over a long period of time that changes a person’s thinking and behaving.

-some people believe that following orders that are evil is just providing evil people with a way to innocently express their sadistic impulses. As the Stanford prison experiment showed clearly, as guards inflicted rapidly escalating cruelty on increasingly submissive prisoners despite the fact there was no obvious legitimate authority nearby.

+ obedience in the cockpit study. Tarnow (2000) provided support for the legitimacy of authority through a study of aviation accidents when he found an excessive dependence on the captain’s authority and expertise. A second officer claimed even though he noticed the captain taking risks he said that he just assumed the captain knew what he was doing.

Question 23

explain how a persons personality can make them more likely to obey

Answer 23

Individuals with the Authoritarian personality was rigid thinkers who obeyed authority and saw the world as black and white.

Question 24

outline Elms and Milgrams research into obedience and the authoritarain personality

Answer 24

Sample: 20 obedient ppts from Milgram’s study and 20 defiant ppts from Milgram’s study

Method: each ppt completed the MMPI scale and the California F scale to specifically measure their levels of authoritarianism. Ppts were also asked a series of open q’s including q’s about their relationship with their parents during their childhood and their attitudes towards the experimenter who the authoritarian personality is.

Findings: Researchers found little difference between obedient and defiant ppts on MMPI variables. However, they did find higher levels of authoritarianism among those ppts classified as obedient compared with the defiant. Obedient ppts reported being less close to their fathers during childhood and were more likely to describe them negatively.

Question 25

evaluate Elms and Milgrams research into the authoritarian personality

Answer 25

+ research evidence: Dambrum and Vatine used an immersive virtual environment where the actor taking the role of the learner was filmed, recorded and displayed on a computer screen. Ppts were informed the experiment was a simulation and that the shocks were not real. Despite this ppts still responded like the situation was real and there were clear and significant correlations between ppts’ RWA scores, and the maximum voltage shock administered to the victim.

-Dispositional factors can’t account for obedience of entire social groups as the chances of everyone in the group having an authoritarian personality and having issues with harsh parenting as a child.

-Education may determine authoritarianism and obedience as Middendorp and Meloen has generally found that less educated people are consistently more authoritarian than the well-educated. Milgram also found that ppts with lower levels of education tended to be more obedient than those with higher levels of education.

-Criticisms- many ppts in Elms and Milgram’s study reported having good relationships with parents.

Question 26

what things have an effect on how likely someone is to resist to social influence

Answer 26

social support and LOC

Question 27

explain how social support can help someone resist to social influence

Answer 27

Asch’s research into conformity showed us how difficult it is to go against the majority because humans have the strong need to be accepted and right.

Asch found that the presence of social support enables an individual to resist conformity pressure from the majority. In the variation when social support was present conformity reduced to 5.5% from 33%.

Research has shown that individuals are generally more confident in their ability to resist the temptation to obey if they can find an ally who is willing to join them in opposing the authority figure

Milgram’s study: in one variation the ppt was one of a team of 3 where the other two were confederates. The confederates one after another refused to continue shocking the learner and their defiance had a liberating effect on the ppt with only 10% continuing to the maximum shock level.

Question 28

describe what an internal locus of control looks like in a person

Answer 28

A strong internal locus of control is associated with the belief that we control events in our life and that what is happening to a person is largely a consequence of their own effect and they are more likely to display independence in thought and behaviour. This means they’re better at being able to resist the social influence

Question 29

describe what an external LOC looks like in a person

Answer 29

People with an external locus of control tend to believe what happened to them is determine by external factors like luck and fate. People with high externality tend to approach things with a more passive attitude and take less personal responsibility for their actions and are less likely to display independent behaviour and more likely to accept the influence of others.

Question 30

evaluate social support as an explanation for resisting social influence

Answer 30

+ Allen and Levine looked at whether social support that was not particularly valid would still be effective. In one condition the confederate wore very thick glasses and the other had normal vision. Both conditions reduced the amount of conformity, but the more valid social support (the one with good vision) had much more of an impact showing that social support is always helpful but more so if they are perceived as offering valid social support.

+ ecological validity for social support the Rosen Strasse protest: German women protested where the gestapo was holding 2000 Jewish men most of whom were married to non Jewish partners and the women stood toe to toe with the gestapo who threatened to open fire on the women. Despite the threats the women’s courage prevailed and the Jews were set free.

Question 31

evaluate LOC as an explanation of resisiting social influence

Answer 31

-Twenge et al found that young Americans were becoming increasingly more external than they used to be but they are also becoming more resistant to obedience. This is conflicting to the idea that people with external LOC are less likely to resist social influence.

+ Avtigis carried out a meta-analysis of studies of the relationship between LOC and different forms of social influence including conformity. This showed a positive correlation for the relationship between score of internality/externality and scores on the measures of persuasion test, social influence and conformity. It showed the individuals that scored higher on external LOC tend to be more easily persuaded.

+ Elms and Milgram set out to investigate the background of disobedient ppts by following them up and interviewing a sub sample of those involved with Milgram’s experiment. Milgram found that the disobedient ppts had a high internal LOC. This matters because it supports the idea that internality results in the ability to resist obedience. It shows that LOC is an important factor in resisting social influence.

Question 32

what three things do a minority need to be in order to make an influence and what is the research to support it

Answer 32

consistent, commited and flexibility

Consistent:

When people are first exposed to a minority with a differing view, they are considered automatically wrong. But is the minority adopting a consistent approach others will come to reassess. Wood et al carried out a meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence and found that minorities who were perceived as being especially consistent were particularly influential.

Commitment:

Its difficult to dismiss a minority when it adopts an uncompromising and consistent commitment to its position. commitment is important as it suggest certainty in the face of a hostile majority. Joining a minority is difficult so the minority showing commitment makes it easier to persuade the majority.

Flexibility:

Mugny suggest that flexibility is more effective at changing majority opinion than rigidity of arguments. Because the minorities aew typically powerless compared to the majority they must negotiate their position with the majority rather than try and enforce it.

Question 33

what is diachronic synchrony

Answer 33

when the minority stays consistent in their views over time

Question 34

what is sychronic consistency

Answer 34

where all people in the minority say the same thing

Question 35

evaluate the criteria a minority needs to be in order to make an influence

Answer 35

+ research support for flexibility: Nemeth and Brilmayer studied the role of flexibility in a simulated jury where the group members discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski accident. When the confederate put forward and alternative view and refused to change his position this had no effect on the other group members but when they compromised and therefore showed a degree of flexibility did exert an influence on the rest of the group.

+ in a variation of Moscovici study ppts were allowed to write their responses down so their responses were private rather than stated out loud. Surprisingly private agreement with the majority was greater in these circumstances. It appears that members of the majority were being convinced by members of the minorities argument and changing their own views but were reluctant to admit it publicly.

Question 36

outline Moscovici’s research into minority influence

Answer 36

Procedure: 172 females from America made up the sample. Each group was comprised of 4 naive ppts and 2 confederates. They were shown a series of blue slides that varied only in intensity and were asked to judge the colour of each slide. In the consistent exp. The 2 confederates repeatedly called the blue slides green. In the inconsistent condition they called the slides green on 2/3 and blue on the remaining 1/3. In the control condition comprising of 6 naive ppts and no confederates the ppts called the slides blue throughout.

Findings: the consistent minority influence the naive ppts on over 8% of the trials. The inconsistent minority influences the naive ppts on 1.25% of the trials.

Question 37

evaluate Moscovici’s research into minority influence

Answer 37

• Not generalisable as all of the sample were women from America so we don’t know how different genders and cultures would respond to the minority influence in this trial

+ reliability of the study as it is highly standardised with all the slides kept the same, the number of confederates kept the same

+ practical applications now that we can understand how a minority needs to behave in order to have an effective influence and how minorities can cause social change

• Low ecoligcal validity as its highly unrealistic and a lab exp.
• Ethics as there was deception with the confederates and aim of the trial and therefore no informed consent.

Question 38

what is the research support for proximity affecting obedience in Milgrams study variants

Answer 38

Both teachers and learner were in the same room. Obedience levels fell to 40%

Teacher was required to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate obedience fell to 30%

Experimenter gave orders over the phone and obedience fell to 21%

Question 39

what is the research support for location affecting obedience in Milgrams study variant

Answer 39

Location:

In a rundown office block in Connecticut and obedience levels did drop but not significantly to 48% from 65%

Question 40

what is the research methods for the effect of uniform on obedience in Milgrams study variant

Answer 40

Bushman (1988) female researcher dressed wither in a police uniform, business exec or a beggar stopped people in the street and told them to give change to a male researcher and 72% obeyed the police uniform, 48% the business exec and 52% obeyed the beggar.