Social Influence

Question 1

What is conformity

Answer 1

Conformity is a form of social influence. It occurs when a person’s behaviour or thinking changes as a result of group pressure. This ‘pressure’ from others may be real or imagined and can come from just one person or a group of
people.

Question 2

Asch’s Study of Conformity AO1

Answer 2

Aim: To investigate the effect of group pressure on an individual’s opinion in situations where the answer is obvious (unambiguous)
Method: 123 American male students tested in a group of six to eight confederates.
Two large cards were shown, one with a single standard line and the other with three comparison lines.
Participants were asked to select the matching line.
Results: On the 12 critical trials the participant gave the wrong answer 1/3 of the time, agreeing with the confederates.
25% of the participants never gave a wrong answer.
Conclusion: Individuals are influenced by group pressure even when the answer is obvious

Question 3

Asch Study of Conformity AO3

Answer 3

One strength of Asch’s line experiment is that is has high reliability. This is because the study was a lab
experiment with high control meaning that it is easy to repeat the study in order to gain consistent results into
conformity.

One weakness of Asch’s research is that the task is artificial. This is because the task of matching line lengths
does not reflect everyday situations of conformity. This suggests the results of Asch’s line experiment may be difficult to generalise to real life situations of conformity.

Another weakness of Asch’s research is that the sample is not representative of all cultures. This is because the research was conducted in America which is an individualist culture. Collectivist cultures may have been
more likely to conform because they believe in the good of the group. This suggests the results of Asch’s line experiment into conformity may be difficult to generalise to all cultures.

Question 4

What are social factors

Answer 4

Social factors are external factors in the environment that will affect conformity rates

Question 5

What are the social factors that affect conformity

Answer 5

Group Size
Anonymity
Task difficulty

Question 6

Conformity Social factor 1: Group Size AO1

Answer 6

The more people there are in a group the greater the pressure to conform.
Asch found that with two confederates conformity was 13.6%, but with three confederates it was 31.8%.
Over three confederates made little difference.

Question 7

Conformity Social factor 1: Group Size AO3

Answer 7

One weakness of this explanation is that group size has different affects depending on the type of task. In Asch’s study there was an obvious answer but when there was no obvious answer then group size does matter. People do not conform with 1 or 2 others, but do conform when the group gets to 8 or 10 people. This suggests that the task may affect whether or not people conform in relation to group size.

Question 8

Conformity Social Factor 2: Anonymity AO1

Answer 8

Anonymity means that no one knows who you are.
Asch did a variation of his study where pps were able to write their responses down anonymously
He found that conformity rates decreased.

Question 9

Conformity Social Factor 2: Anonymity AO3

Answer 9

One weakness of anonymity as a social factor affecting conformity is that Asch used a group of strangers. Huang and Li (2016) found that the affect of anonymity changes if the group are friends who are expressing their opinions anonymously would conform more than if they were strangers. Suggesting that anonymity may not be the only factor to consider, and it is dependent on whether you know the people.

Question 10

Conformity Social Factor 3: Task Difficulty AO1

Answer 10

In one of Asch’s variations of his study, he made the task harder by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length.
He found that conformity increased
People feel less confident about their answer and look to the group for the right answer.

Question 11

Conformity Social Factor 3: Task Difficulty AO3

Answer 11

One weakness of Asch’s research into task difficulty is that the task is artificial. This is because the task of matching line lengths does not reflect everyday situations of conformity. This lowers the validity of the research into task difficulty as a social factor affecting conformity.

Question 12

What are Dispositional factors

Answer 12

Dispositional factors are internal factors that affect conformity such as personality.

Question 13

What are the dispositional factors affecting conformity

Answer 13

Personality
Expertise

Question 14

Conformity Dispositional factor 1: Personality (Locus of control) AO1

Answer 14

Those with an internal locus of control believe they control what happens to them and their behaviour is caused
by their own personal decisions and effort.

Those with an external locus of control believe that what happens to them is determined by external factors
such as the influence of others, luck or fate.

External LOC are more conformist because they take less responsibility for their actions compared to internal.

Question 15

Conformity Dispositional Factor 1: Personality (Locus of control) AO3

Answer 15

Research support personality as a dispositional factor affecting conformity was conducted by Burger and
Cooper (1979). They showed pps a set of cartoons and asked them to rate them in terms of funniness. A
confederate sat next to them, giving their ratings out loud for some of the cartoons. They found that those with an external locus of control conformed more to the confederates ratings than those with internal locus of control. This suggests that an individuals disposition can affect whether they conform.

Question 16

Conformity Dispositional Factor 2: Expertise AO1

Answer 16

Experience increases your confidence in your opinions and knowledge
This means that people may be LESS likely to conform if they have expertise
For example, Lucas et al (2006) found that when judging answers to maths problems, people who rated themselves good at maths were less likely to conform than those who were less confident

Question 17

Conformity Dispositional Factor 2: Expertise AO3

Answer 17

One weakness of expertise as a factor affecting conformity is that there is an alternative explanation. Group size is a social factor which suggests people conform due to how many people are present when someone is considering conforming whereas expertise argues that individuals conform due to a lack of opinions and knowledge. Therefore expertise may not be the only factor to consider when explaining conformity.

Question 18

What is obedience

Answer 18

A type of social influence that causes a person to act in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived
authority

Question 19

NAME THE Social Factors Affecting Obedience: Miligram’s Agency Theory

Answer 19

Agency and authority
Culture-The social hierarchy
Proximity

Question 20

Social Factors affecting obedience: Miligrams Agency Theory- Agency and Authority AO1

Answer 20

This is where people may move from being in a state where they take personal responsibility for their actions (an autonomous state) to a state where they believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure (agentic state). This is known as the agentic shift. When an individual is in the agentic state they lose sense of personal responsibility and see themselves as carrying out the wishes of a more
knowledgeable authority figure. If a person is in an agentic
state, they will be more likely to obey.

Question 21

Social Factors affecting obedience: Miligrams Agency theory- Culture The social hierarchy AO1

Answer 21

Societies have a hierarchy with some people having more authority than others. This hierarchy is agreed on by society.
The culture we live in socialises us to respect the social hierarchy.

Question 22

Social Factors Affecting Obedience: Miligrams Agency Theory-Proximity AO1

Answer 22

The closer people are to the victim, the greater the moral strain
– individuals have an increased sense of personal responsibility,
therefore are less likely to obey.

Question 23

Miligrams Agency theory evaluation AO3

Answer 23

One strength is that there is research support.
Blass and Schmitt showed a film of Milgram’s study to students who blamed the ‘experimenter’ rather than the ‘teacher’ for the harm to the learner.
Therefore the students recognised the legitimate authority of the experimenter as the cause of obedience.

One weakness is that agency theory can’t explain why there isn’t 100% obedience.
In Milgram’s study 35% of the participants didn’t go up to the maximum shock of 450 volts.
This means that social factors cannot fully explain obedience.

One weakness is that agency theory gives people an excuse for ‘blind’ obedience.
Nazis who were racist and prejudiced were doing more than just following orders.
This means that agency theory is potentially dangerous as it excuses people.

Question 24

What are Dispositional Factors Affecting Obedience: Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality (AO1)

Answer 24

The Authoritarian personality
Rigid cognitive style
Scapegoating
Originates in childhood

Question 25

Dispositional Factors Affecting Obedience: Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality- The Authoritarian Personality (AO1)

Answer 25

Adorno found that having an Authoritarian personality makes and individual more likely to obey
• These people have an exaggerated respect for authority
• They have a rigid cognitive style
• They look down on people of inferior social status (scapegoating)
Adorno believed that the authoritarian personality is rooted in childhood.

Question 26

Dispositional Factors Affecting Obedience: Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality-Rigid Cognitive Style AO1

Answer 26

A cognitive style is an individual’s way of thinking.
Those with an authoritarian personality like things to be ‘black and white’
Something is either good or bad
They believe in rigid stereotypes

Question 27

Dispositional Factors Affecting Obedience: Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality-Scapegoating AO1

Answer 27

Those with hostility have a need to displace their anger onto something else to relieve anxiety. People with an
authoritarian personality have a lot of hostility. As they disapprove of those with a low status, they show anger
towards them.

Question 28

Dispositional Factors Affecting Obedience: Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality-Originates in Childhood AO1

Answer 28

Originates from overly strict parenting and receiving only conditional love from parents.
Child identifies with parents’ moral values.
Also feels hostility towards parents which cannot be directly expressed for fear of reprisals.
They take out this hostility on inferior people

Question 29

Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality Evaluation (AO3)

Answer 29

One problem with the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience is that the research is based
on a questionnaire. This is a problem because people may have lied about their answers to prevent themselves
sin the best possible light. This reduces the
validity of the F Scale and the research into Authoritarian Personalities.

Another criticism of the authoritarian personality, is that the research is based on correlations. Correlations
only show a link between an authoritarian personality and levels of obedience. There may be a third factor such
as level of education, that may be responsible. This lowers the validity of the research into authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience

An alternative explanation of obedience is Milgram’s agency theory. This is a social explanation which
suggests that individuals obey due moving from an autonomous state to an agentic state where they believe an authority figure is taking responsibility for their actions rather than obeying because of their personality type.
Therefore, Adorno’s authoritarian personality may not be the only explanation of obedience.

Question 30

What is Proscial behaviour

Answer 30

Prosocial behaviour means to act in a way that promotes the welfare of others.
This includes bystander behaviour. The bystander EFFECT is when help is NOT given in a certain social situation so is
not prosocial

Question 31

Piliavin’s Study of Prosocial Behaviour (AO1)

Answer 31

Aim: To investigate bystander behaviour in a natural setting.

Method: A male confederate collapses on a New York City subway train, either appearing drunk or disabled (with a cane).
103 trials.
One confederate acted as a ‘model’ if no one else helped.
Two observers recorded key information.

Results:
‘Disabled’ victim (with cane) was given help in 95% of the trials.
‘Drunk’ victim was helped in 50% of the trials.
People were just as likely to offer help when the carriage was full rather than empty.

Conclusions:
The results show that certain characteristics of a victim determine whether prosocial behaviour will occur (helping behaviour)

Question 32

Piliavin’s Study Evaluation (AO3)

Answer 32

One strength of Pilivian’s subway study is that s has high ecological validity because it took place in a real
environment. This is because the study was carried out on a New York Subway and the passengers did not know
they were taking part in an experiment so their helping behaviour is true to real life. This increases the validity of
Piliavin’s study into prosocial behaviour

However, one weakness of Piliavin’s study into prosocial behaviour is that it has low control over extraneous
variables. This is because this is a field experiment in a real-life environment which makes it difficult to control
extraneous variables, such as whether people were in a rush, which could have affected prosocial behaviour. This
lowers the validity of Piliavin’s study into prosocial behaviour.

Another weakness of Pilivian’s subway study is that it raises ethical issues. One ethical issue is deception
because this was a covert observation, people did not know they were being watched and did not know the
collapsed man was an actor.This devalues Piliavin’s research into prosocial behaviour and decreases psychology’s reputation.

Question 33

What are the Social Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 33

Presence of others
Cost of helping

Question 34

Social Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Presence of others AO1

Answer 34

• One reason people may not help in situations is due to the bystander effect or bystander behaviour
• The more people there are present in a situation, the less likely people are to help
• This is because When others are present, the responsibility of helping is divided or shared amongst the group (diffusion of responsibility)

Question 35

Social Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Presence of others AO3

Answer 35

Research to support the presence of others as a social factor affecting prosocial behaviour was conducted by
Darley and Latane (1968). They conducted an experiment in which ppts were having a conversation over the
intercom and a ‘student’ had an epileptic fit. The ppt was more likely to get help if they were on their own in the conversation, compared to when they were in a group. This supports the presence of others as a social factor affecting prosocial behaviour because it shows that when other people are present, prosocial behaviour is decreased and responsibility is diffused.

Question 36

Social Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Cost of helping AO1

Answer 36

• Research has suggested that before helping someone, people weigh up the costs and rewards.
• The cost of helping someone could be possible danger, effort, the time it may take and possible
embarrassment.
• The costs of NOT helping someone could be guilt and blame from others
• Reward could be feeling good about yourself.

Question 37

Social Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Cost of helping AO3

Answer 37

One problem with the cost of helping is that it may not be the only factor considered in a situation. For example, Shotland and Straw (1976) found that when bystanders saw a man and a woman arguing in the street, more people helped when the woman yelled ‘get away from me, I don’t know you’ compared to when she yelled ‘Get away from me, I don’t know why I ever married you’. Suggesting that cost of helping may be too simplistic as the only factor affecting whether people help others

Question 38

What are the Dispositional Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 38

Similarity to victim
Expertise

Question 39

Dispositional Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour-Similarity to victim AO1

Answer 39

• When a bystander feels there are similarities between them and the person in need of help, research
suggests they are more likely to offer assistance.
• people find it easier to empathise with those in need of help because they think they are similar to us.
• This means we are able to put ourselves in their shoes and imagine how they are likely to be feeling in
the situation.
• By assisting them, we are then likely to feel better because our distress about their situation is reduced.

Question 40

Dispositional Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour-Similarity to victim AO3

Answer 40

Research to support similarity to victim as an explanation of prosocial behaviour was conducted by Levine et
al. Manchester United fans were more likely to help a runner who had fallen over if they were dressed in a Manchester United shirt as opposed to a Liverpool one. This supports similarity to victim as a dispositional factor affecting prosocial behaviour because it shows they empathised with the runner based on their similarity so offered assistance.

Question 41

Dispositional Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Expertise AO1

Answer 41

People with specialist skills are more likely to help in emergency situations that suit their expertise

For example, if someone was in trouble while swimming, someone who is an excellent swimmer (or lifeguard) would feel more confident in their ability to help due to their knowledge and experience.

Question 42

Dispositional Factors Affecting Prosocial Behaviour: Expertise AO3

Answer 42

Research to contradict expertise as an explanation of prosocial behaviour was conducted by Shotland and
Heinold (1985) who compared those who had received first aid training with those who had not. When faced with an emergency situation in which someone was bleeding a lot, the researchers found that both groups were equally as likely to help. This goes against expertise because it shows that individuals will still help even if they do not feel qualified to do so.

Question 43

What is crowd and collective behavior

Answer 43

Crowd and collective behaviour refers to how people behave when in a group setting.

Question 44

What is antisocial behaviour

Answer 44

Early research shows that when in a crowd, people show anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour is behaviour
which is harmful to others including aggression, noisey and rowdy. However, other research has shown that crowds
can behave prosocially and peacefully e.g. at sporting events, train stations, tourist attractions or even religious
gatherings.

Question 45

What are the Social Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 45

Deindividuation
Social loafing
Culture

Question 46

Social Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour: Deindividuation AO1

Answer 46

• Deindividuation refers to what happens when people lose their sense of individuality.
• Psychologists have found that people can become deindividuated when in a crowd because they feel like
they are anonymous.
• Within a crowd, it is hard to be identified
• This leads people to lose their inhibitions and sense of responsibility for what they do.
• When people are in crowds, they look to those around them to guide their own behaviour.
People feel they are anonymous within the group and no one knows who they are and so they think they cannot be punished

Question 47

Social Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour: Deindividuation AO3

Answer 47

Research to support deindividuation as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour was conducted by
Zimbardo (1969). Each group was required to deliver a
(fake) electric shock to another student (confederate). The groups were either individuated or deindividuated. It was found that they were more likely to give shocks to the learner if they were deindividuated. This supports deindividuation as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour because it shows they were more likely to perform harmful acts when they were anonymous

Question 48

Social Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour: Social loafing AO1

Answer 48

When working in a group people individually put in less effort as there is a diffusion of responsibility.
Being in a group reduces personal identity (deindividuation) and individual contribution is unknown.

Question 49

Social factors affecting crowd and collective behavior: Social loafing AO3

Answer 49

Research to support social loafing as a factor ffecting crowd behaviour was conducted by Latane (1979). In
his study, males were asked to shout as loudly as they could either on their own, with one other person or in a
group of six. When they were in a larger group they made less noise than if they were on their own. This supports
social loafing because it shows that individuals made less effort when in a large group as there was a diffusion of
responsibility.

Question 50

Social factors affecting crowd and collective behavior: Culture AO1

Answer 50

Individualist cultures (e.g. US and UK) focused on individual needs whereas collectivist cultures (e.g. China and Korea) focused on the needs of the group.
Social loafing is lower in collectivist cultures

Question 51

Social factors affecting crowd and collective behavior: Culture AO3

Answer 51

Research to support cultural differences in crowd and collective behaviours was conducted by Earley (1989).
US and Chinese participants were compared on two types of group task. In one group they were individualized
and in the other group they were deindividuated. Earley found that Chinese people put in the same amount of effort on a group task regardless of whether they could or could not be identified. This was not true of US participants. This support cultural differences in crowd and collective behaviour because it shows that collectivists cultures are less likely to social loaf than individualistic cultures.

Question 52

What are the Dispositional factors affecting crowd and collective behavior

Answer 52

Personality
Morality

Question 53

Dispositional factors affecting crowd and collective behavior: Personality AO1

Answer 53

• People with an internal locus of control believe they control the things that happen to them.
• People with an external locus of control, attribute the things that happen to them to factors outside of
their control.
• This means people with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform to crowd collective behaviours compared to those with an external locus of control.

Question 54

Dispositional factors affecting crowd and collective behavior: Personality AO3

Answer 54

Research to contradict personality as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour was conducted by
Bocchiaro et al (2021). Participants were tested to see if they would report researchers for conducting an
unethical study by speaking out despite the silence of the crowd. They found that people who were willing to speak out had similar scores on the personality test to those who didn’t speak out. This contradicts personality as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour as it shows there must be another factor as to why some people stand out from the crowd and others don’t.

Question 55

Dispositional Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour: Morality AO1

Answer 55

Morality is defined as their sense of what is right and wrong.
Those with greater moral strength are more likely to have their behaviour guided by these morals than be influenced by the opinions/behaviour of others.

Question 56

Dispositional Factors Affecting Crowd and Collective Behaviour: Morality AO3

Answer 56

One strength of morality as a dipositional factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour is that it is supported by evidence from real life cases. In Germany, 1943, Sophie Scholl was found guilty of spreading anti- Nazi literature. She stood up for what she believed in and went against the group pressure even though there was great personal cost because she was later executed for treason. This support morality because it shows people will stand out from the crowd if they believe this is the right thing to do.