Social influence Flashcards
What variables affect conformity according to ASCH?
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
How does group size affect conformity according to Asch?
Varied number of confederates
Conformity increased with group size
Conformity stopped increasing at 3 confederates (31.8% conform)
How does unanimity affect conformity according to Asch?
Presence of non conforming person either giving correct answer or a different wrong answer
Conformity was less
How does task difficulty affect conformity according to Asch?
The harder the task, the more likely the participant to conform
What are some strengths into investigating variables affecting conformity?
Research support - Lucas et al asked participants to do easy and hard math problems, found results similar to those of Asch, but found conformity is more complex than he thought
What are some limitations into investigating variables affecting conformity?
Artificial situation and task - Lead to demand characteristics
Limited application - participants were american men. Americans are part of an individualist culture
Ethical issues - Deception
What are types of conformity according to Kelman?
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
What is internalisation according to Kelman?
Person genuinely accept group norms, private + public change, it is permanent
What is identification according to Kelman?
Conform to group because there’s something they value about the group - publicly change, don’t privately agree with everything
What is compliance according to Kelman?
Going along with others in public, but not privately changing personal opinions. Only results in a superficial change
What are the two explanations of conformity according to Deutsch and Gerard (Two-process theory)
Informative social influence
Normative social influence
What is informative social influence according to the two-process theory?
It is about who has better information you or the rest of the group. Permanent change in opinion/behaviour
What is normative social influence according to the two process theory?
People agree with the opinions of others because they want to gain the social approval to fit in. Temporary change in behaviour
What are some strengths of the two process theory?
Research support for NSI - Asch
Research support for ISI - Lucas et al
What are some limitations of the two process theory?
Individual differences in NSI - Does not predict conformity in every case
What is Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment?
75 people applied - given tests to find out their personality and history of crime before being picked
Participants were paid $15 a day to take part
10 prisoners + 11 guards
Prisoners got arrested at their own homes with no warning - invasion of privacy, they were referred to by a number
If a prisoner wanted to leave they had to apply for parole
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Guards took up the roles with enthusiasm - used divide and rule tactics and harrassed prisoners constantly
Prisoners rebelled after two days - after it failed they became depressed and anxious with one going on hunger strike
Guards identified more and more closely with their role and their behaviour became increasingly brutal and aggressive with some enjoying the power they had
What are some strengths of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Control - ZImbardo and his colleagues had control over key variables - selection of participants
What are some limitations of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Lack of realism - Did not have the realism of a true prison - Psychologists argue they were merely play acting - Demand characteristics
Exaggerates the power of roles - Power of social roles to influence behaviour is exaggerated - only one third of guards actually behaved in a brutal manner
Ethical issues - Informed consent, Deception, right to withdraw
What was Milgram’s investigation into obediance?
Procedure - 40 american men volunteers who became the teacher, they assess obedience to legitimate authority
Findings - 12.5% stopped at 300V, 65% continued all the way to 450V All participants continued to 300V
Conclusions - Milgram concluded american participants were willing to obey orders even when they might harm another person
What were some strengths of Milgrams study?
Research support RWA - Milgram’s findings were replicated in a French documentary made about reality TV, deception, results were identical to those of Milgram
Sheridan and King conducted a study using a procedure like Milgram’s - they gave real shocks to a puppy in response to an experimenter - behaved the same 54% men and 100% of women gave the shock
What were some limitations of Milgrams study?
Low internal validity - Milgram’s may not have been testing what he intended to test, reported 75% of participants said they believed the shocks were genuine, Orne and Holland argued that participants behaved due to play acting and Perry’s research confirms this by listening to the tapes of the study - participants responding to demand characteristics
Alternative interpretation of findings - Milgram’s conclusion about blind obedience may not be justified, Haslam et al showed milgram’s participants obeyed when the experimenter delivered the first three verbal prods no more. Shows that social identity theory may provide a more valid interpretation of milgrams findings (Social identity theory participants in milgrams study only obeyed when they identified with the specific aims of the research
What were the situational variables of obedience as investigated by Milgram?
Proximity - Touch proximity, the teacher had to force the learners hand onto an electroshock plate, remote instruction, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher by the phone, obediance reducted to 20.5%
Location - Conducted a variation in a run down office block - obediance fell to 47.5%
Uniform - Baseline - grey lab coat, Experimenter called away - experiment taken over by an ordinary member of public, obediance dropped to 20%
What are some strengths of Milgram’s investigation into situational variables
Research support - Bickman had three confederates dress in different outfits and asked passerbyers to do tasks, supports uniform as an effect on obedience
Cross cultural replications - findings have been replicated in other culture
What are some limitations of Milgrams investigation into situational variables?
Participants may have been aware the procedure was faked - due to the extra manipulation of variables so behaved in response to demand characteristics
What are the two situational explanations for obediance?
Agentic state
Legitimacy of authority
What is the agentic state in investigating situational explanations for obedience?
No personal responsibility for behaviour, acting for an authority figure
What is legitimacy of authority in investigating situational explanations for obedience?
More likely to obey to those of authority, they have more power over us. an individual position in social hierarchy
What is a limitation of the agentic state explanation for obedience?
Does Not explain research findings about obedience, why the participants in milgram’s study obeyed in some situations but not in others. Participants felt powerless, bindings factors to ignore the effect of their behaviour
What is the authoritarian personality in explaining obedience?
Adorno argued that people with an authoritarian personality show an extreme respect for authority and are more likely to obey them
What was Adornos research into the authoritarian personality?
Procedure - studied 2000 MC white americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups and used the F scale to find out personality
Findings - people with authoritarian learnings identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the weak - they were very conscious of status and showed extreme respect, deference and servility to those of higher status
What are some limitations of Adornos research into the Authoritarian personality?
Lacks ecological validity - limited explanation as it cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country’s population
Political bias - The F-scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right wing ideology
What are the two explanations of resistance to social influence?
Social support
Locus of control
What is social support in explaining resistance to social influence?
Presence of people who resist pressure to conform or obey can help others to do the same, these people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible
What is locus of control in explaining resistance to social control?
Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives
Internal locus of control believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them
External locus of control believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces
What is a strength of social support?
RWA for social support - Social support given to teens who smoked, those with one were less likely to smoke than a control group
Research support for dissenting peers - Gamson’s participants were told to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign, they were in groups so could discuss what to do - he found higher levels of resistance
What is a strength of locus of control
Holland repeated milgrams baseline study and investigated what personality type the participants were - internal LOC 37% did not continue to the highest level - external LOC 23% did not continue
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence where the minority people persuade others to adopt their beliefs or attitudes - leads to internalisation
Who investigated the process of minority influence and in what study?
Moscovici and in his study ‘blue slide,green slide’
What do the minority have to be in order for the majority to convert?
Consistent
Committed
Flexible
What does the minority being consistent in minority influence lead to?
Leads to increased amount of interest from other people as it makes them rethink their own views
What does the minority being commited in minority influence lead to?
When the minority participate in extreme activity it draws attention to their views and makes the majority look at their views
What does the minority being flexible in minority influence lead to?
The minority must be open to adapting their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counterarguments
What are some strengths of investigating minority influence?
Research support for consistency - Moscvici
Research support for deeper processing - Martin et al presented a message supporting a particular viewpoint and measured participants agreement, one group heard minority agree, another heard a majority group agreed then they both heard conflicting views
What are some limitations of investigating minority influence?
Artificial tasks - Tasks involved in minority influence are often just as artificial as Asch’s line study
