social influence Flashcards
What are the three types of conformity?
identification
Compliance
Internalisation
What is internalisation?
A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour.
What is identification?
A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don’t necessarily agree with everything the majority does.
What is compliance?
A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it.
What are the two explanations of conformity?
Normative social influence and Informational social influence
What is Normative social influence?
Explain the AO1 for milgrams baseline study
40 American males in a laboratory in Yale university
Confederate was always the learner and ppt was the teacher. Experimenter wore a lab coat
Teacher was made to give a shock to the learner every time the gave an incorrect answer
The vaults varied from 15v to 450v
What were the findings for milgrams baseline study?
12.5% stopped at 300v
65% continued to 450v
ppts showed extreme tension and anxiety
85% glad they participated
What were the conclusions of Milgram’s baseline study?
We obey legitimate authority even if it means we cause harm to others.
Certain situations encourage obedience
One strength is research to support Milgram’s findings…
French tv show paid ppts to give electric shocks. 80% gave max 460v to an ‘unconscious man’ behaviour was like that of milgrams, This supports Milgram’s OG finding about obedience to authority
What changes did the dispositional variations cause?
Proximity lead to obedience levels dropping from 65% to 40%
Touch proximity dropped to 30%
Remote instructions dropped to 20.5%
Locations saw obedience drop to 47.5%
Uniform saw obedience to 20%
One strength is support for the influence of situational variables…
Bickmans confederates dressed in different outfits and issued demands to people in new york.
it was found that people were 2x more likely to obey the confederate wearing a security outfit compared to a jacket
This is a strength as it supports milgrams argument through real-world examples.
Another strength is cross-cultural replication…
Meeus worked with ppts who were ordered to ssay stressful comments, 90% obeyed
Obedience fell when proximity fell. Showing that milgrams findings are not limited to just US males
However one limitaion of situational variables is low internal validity…
Holland suggested the variations were more likely to trigger suspicion. It was unclear that the results are due to obedience of the ppts of if they knew they were ‘play-acting’
One strength is evidence that authoritarian personality are obedient…
Elms and Milgram interviewed 20 obedient ppts from the original study. These participants scored higher on the f-scale compared to disobedient ppts. This shows that obedient people may share characteristics of authoritarian personality.
However, the F-scale showed that obedient participants had characteristics unusual for authoritarians…
They did not experience high punishment levels in childhood, suggesting it’s not a complex link.
One limitation is authoritarians can’t explain whole country behaviour…
Millions of Germans displayed obedient behaviour but this cannot represent all having the same personality. it seems unlikley that the majority had authoritarian personality.
Another limitation of the A.P is that the F-scale is biased.
Christ and Jahoda suggest that the F-scale aims to measure identity to extreme right-wing ideology. But right-wing and left-wing authoritarianism insists on complete obedience suggesting Adornos theory is not comprehensive
One strength is evidence for the role of support…
A programme to help pregnant teens stop smoking was helped by a ‘buddy’ (dissenting peer) , those with a buddy were less likely to smoke compared to a control group, This is a strength as real world situations shows the effect on a dissenting peer on helping young people to resist social influence
Another strength is support of LOC resisting behaviour…
Holland repeated Milgram’s study, measuring whether ppts were externals or internals, 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock. Resistance is partly related to their LOC, increasing validity.
However one limitation is not all research supports LOC…
Twenege analysed data from 40yrs showing people have become more independent but also more external.
One strength of situational explanations is research support…
most of Milgram’s ppts asked who was in charge if the learner was hurt, the experimenter replied themselves, the ppts then went on without objecting. This shows how participants act as an agent when they were not responsible for behaviour.
one limitation is agentic shift doesn’t explain research findings…
Rank and Jacobson found most nurses disobeyed a doctor when told to prescribe an excessive drug dosage.
Doctors are authority figures but nurses remained autonomous. Agentic shift can only explain some situations
One strength is legitimacy does explain cultural differences…
Countries differ in obedience. 16% of aus women obeyed and 87% of Germans obeyed also. This shows authority is more likely seen as legitimate in some cultures.
