Social influence Flashcards
What is Conformity
a change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
What can conformity also be known as ?
This can also be known as yielding (giving way) to group pressure.
What are the 3 types of conformity
internalisation, identification and compliance
What is internalisation
This is when an individual takes the views and values of another person or group and takes them as their own. (deep form)
Publicly and privately going along with the majority, due to adoption of the majority’s belief system.
Change is likely to be permanent because attitudes have been internalised (become part of the way a person thinks.)
Deepest type of conformity.
What is identification
Conforming because there is something about a group that we value.
We identify with the group so want to be part of it.
Publicly change opinions/values to achieve this even if not privately agreeing with everything the group stands for.
Moderate conformity
What is Compliance
‘Going along with others’
An individual will go along with the views of the group so that they can gain approval or avoid disapproval of the others in the group.
Publicly but not privately going along with the majority to gain approval.
Superficial/temporary type of conformity
(ISI) Informational Social Influence (the need to be right)
-We follow the behaviour of the group/majority because we want to be right.
-ISI is a cognitive process because it is to do with what you think.
-It leads to a permanent change in behaviour/opinion (internalisation).
-Most likely to happen in new situations or where there is some ambiguity.
-Also occurs in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume group is more likely to be right.
(NSI) Normative Social Influence (the need to be liked)
-What is ‘normal’ or typical behaviour for a social group.
-People do not like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social respect rather than be rejected.
-NSI is an emotional response rather than a cognitive one.
-It leads to temporary changes in behaviour/opinions (compliance).
-May occur in situations with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection, or with people we know where we are worried about social approval of our friends.
-May be more pronounced in stressful situations where we have greater need for social support.
what were Asch’s conformity experiment
The Asch conformity experiments were a series of psychological experiments conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950’s. The experiments revealed the degree to which a person’s own opinions are influenced by those of a group.
Asch found that people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.
What is a strength of conformity (Research support for NSI)
a strength of NSI is that evidence supports it as an explanation of conformity. An example is Asch (1951) who interviewed his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval. This shows that at least some conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them
What is a strength of conformity (Research support for ISI)
Another strength is that there is research evidence to support ISI from the study by Todd Luca (2006), who found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when the maths problems were difficult. This is because when the problems were easy the participants ‘knew their own minds’. This shows that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity because the results are what ISI would predict.
What is a counterpoint to research support for ISI ?
It is often unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in research studies/ real life. For example Asch (1955) found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant. The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI or they may reduce the power of ISI. Therefore is is hard to seperate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real life conformity situations.
What is a limitation of conformity (individual differences in NSI)
A limitation of NSI is it doesn’t predict conformity in every case. Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others (nAffiliators). McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform. Showing NSI underlies conformity more for some than others.
What was Asch’s baseline procedure
Showed participants 2 large white cards at a time.
1st card- standard line, 2nd card- 3 comparison lines
One of the comparison lines was obviously the same as the standard line.
Participants were asked which of the 3 lines matched the standard.
Who did Asch use in his experiment
The sample was 123 white male American undergraduates.
What were the baseline findings of Asch’s study
The naïve participant gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time.
Overall, 25% of participants did not conform on any trials, which means 75% conformed at least once.
Participants said they conformed to avoid rejection
What 3 variables did Asch test
group size
unanimity
task difficulty
What was a limitation of asch’s research (artificial situation and task)
-participants knew they were in a research study and may simply have gone along with it.
-The task of identifying lines was relatively trivial and therefore there was no real reason not to conform
-Fiske said ‘Asch’s groups were not very groupy’ (did not resemble groups that we experience in everyday life)
-This means that the findings do not generalise to real-world situations.
What was a limitation of asch’s research (Limited application)
-Asch’s participants were American men.
-Other research suggests women may be more conformist because they’re concerned with social relationships
-Us is an individualist culture and studies conducted in collectivist cultures found that conformity rates were higher
-This means that Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from other cultures
What is a strength of Asch’s study (research support)
-support from other studies for effects of task difficulty
-Lucas et al asked their participants to solve easy and hard maths problems
participants conformed more often when the problems were harder
-This shows that Asch’s research was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity
what is a counterpoint to research support in Asch’s research
Conformity is more complex, Luca et al- participants with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less. This shows that an individual-level factor can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables
What did Zimbardo want to find out?
Due to reports of brutality in prisons in America, Zimbardo wanted to answer the question:
‘Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities or is it the situation that creates the behaviour?’
what was the Stanford prison experiment procedure
Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university and selected 21 male students who were emotionally stable and randomly allocated them the role of prisoner or guard.
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s experiment
Guards took on their role enthusiastically treating prisoners harshly and prisoners rebelled believing this was what they were supposed to do. once their rebellion was put down the prisoners became subdued,depressed and anxious
What was the conclusion of Zimbardo’s experiment
social roles appear to have a strong influence on individuals behaviour. Guards became brutal and prisoners became submissive
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s experiment (control)
-One strength of the SPE is that Zimbardo and his colleagues had control over key variables.
-selection of the participants
-Emotionally-stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles of guard and prisoner
-Researcher ruled out individual personality differences as an explanation for his findings
-This degree of control over variables increased the internal validity of the study
What is a limitation of zimbardo’s research (Lack of realism)
-One limitation of the SPE is that it did not have the realism of a true prison.
-the participants were merely play-acting rather than genuinely conforming
-participants performances were based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave
-E.g one guard claimed he had based his role on the character cool hand luke
-This suggests that the findings of the SPE tell us little about conformity to social roles in actual prisons
Obedience
“Obedience is the performance of an action in response to a direct order. Usually the order comes from a person of a higher status or authority, who has the power to punish”.
Milgram’s work
In the beginning, Stanley Milgram was intrigued by the apparent contradiction between the ordinariness of Nazi high commanders and the terrible deeds of which they were accused. (Eichmann trial)
His research aim was to provide evidence for the “Germans are different” hypothesis
“GERMANS ARE DIFFERENT’ HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis has been used by historians to explain the systematic destruction of the Jews.
Milgram set out to test whether Germans have a basic character flaw which is a readiness to obey authority without question, no matter what outrageous acts the authority commands.
Milgram’s experiment- aim
Aim: To investigate the extent to which ordinary people would obey orders to harm an innocent fellow human being when instructed to do so by an authority figure.
Milgram’s experiment- procedure
-40 American men volunteered
-they drew lots to see who would be teacher and who would be learner
-The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher and the confederate was the learner
-The teacher was given a small shock themselves
-The learner had to remember pairs of words and each time he made an error he was given a shock
Milgram’s Results
65% of Milgram’s participants delivered the full (and fatal) 450 volt shock.
Even though the learner gave out an agonised scream at 285 volts, a refusal to answer at 315 volts and only ominous silence after that.
All the participants gave increasing shocks in the early part of the experiment ; none refused to do so before reaching 300 volts- intense shock.
Most participants groaned, protested, fidgeted, argued and in some cases, were seized by fits of nervous, agitated giggling.
What is a strength of Milgrams study ? (Supporting replication)
Numerous studies have replicated Milgram findings.
This includes a game show called Le Jeu de la Mort (The game of Death) a French TV show.
80% of participants delivered the maximum shock of 460V!
Even their behaviour was similar to Milgram’s participants e.g nail biting and nervous laughter.
What is a limitation of Milgrams study ? (Low internal validity)
Orne and Holland (1968) claimed that Milgram’s participants didn’t really believe they were taking part in a study in teaching and learning and that they were not really giving an electric shock.
Gina Perry’s (2013) research confirms this. She listened to tapes of Milgram’s participants and reported only half believed shocks were real.
Therefore the study lacks internal validity as participants were responding to demand characteristics.
What is a counterpoint to low internal validity in milgrams study
Sheridan & King (1972)
Conducted a similar experiment which actually shocked puppies. 54% of males and 100% of females gave what they thought were fatal shocks!!
What is another limitation to Milgram’s study ? (Alternative explanation)
Obedience lies in group identification.
In Milgram’s study the participants identified with the experimenter – they identified with the science of the study.
Obedience rates fell when the participants started identifying with the victim.
Haslam and Reicher (2012) Studied the participants behaviour in Milgrams study.
Strength of situational variable’s by Milgram (research support)
Bickman’s (1974) field experiment.
3 confederates dressed in different outfits and they asked passers by to perform various tasks .eg picking up litter.
People were twice as likely to obey confederate dressed in guard uniform compared to a man in a suit and tie.
What is a strength of situational variables by Milgram (cross-cultural replication)
Support for the findings of Milgrams work, from replication in other countries.
Meeus & Raaijmakers used more realistic procedure. Participants (Dutch) had to say stressful things I an interview to a confederate and 90% of people obeyed.
When person giving orders was not present obedience decreased.
Findings on obedience are not just found in America or males but across cultures and genders.
What is a counterpoint of cross-cultural replications in Milgrams situational variables
Smith and Bond (1998) make the crucial point that most replications are conducted though in Western, developed countries.
Smith and bond found just 2 studies carried out in non-westernised countries.
Other cultures like Spain, Scotland and Australia are not that different culturally from USA.
What is an limitation of Milgram’s situational variables (lack of internal validity)
Orne and Holland criticised Milgram for the lack of internal validity in the study (participants guessing the procedure was fake)
The lack of internal validity was even more likely in the variation studies especially when the experimenter was replaced with a ‘member of the public’.
Agentic state
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure
Autonomous State
The autonomous state is when we think and act freely and independently and feels a sense of responsibility for their own actions
We are therefore responsible for our own decisions and actions.
The Agentic Shift
The change in autonomy to agency
Occurs when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure and one who therefore has greater power.
They therefore follow and/or listen to this person.
