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AQA A Level Psychology > Social influence > Flashcards

Social influence Flashcards

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1
Q

Define conformity

A

A change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure

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2
Q

Identity the 3 types of conformity

A

Compliance
Identification
Internalisation

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3
Q

Define compliance

A

Shallowest level of conformity
Individual changes behaviour to FIT IN with group/avoid rejection
Do not privately agree with behaviour/belief but do agree publically
Due to normative social influence (NSI)

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4
Q

Define identification

A

Individual adopts the behaviour/belief of group
Accept group’s norms out of desire for a relationship/association with the group

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5
Q

Define internalisation

A

Deepest level of conformity
Individual accepts behaviour/belief of majority publically AND privately - become part of their belief system
Due to informational social influence (ISI)

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6
Q

Identify the 2 explanations for conformity

A

Informational social influence (ISI)
Normative social influence (NSI)

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7
Q

Define NSI

A

Conforming to the majority to avoid rejection
Driven by desire to be liked
Leads to compliance

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8
Q

Define ISI

A

Conforming to majority because of a desire to the correct in situations where right action/belief is uncertain
Leads to internalisation

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9
Q

Who studied conformity?
What did he do?
What did he find?

A

Asch (1951) - line judgment study

Groups of 8-10 male college students
Only one actual ppt - all other were confederates
Ppts shown standard line + 3 comparison lines - ppts had to identify which line matched standard line
6 control trials - confederates gave correct answers
12 critical trails - confederates gave same incorrect answer unanimously

75% ppts conformed at least once
5% ppts conformed every time
Overall conformity rate in critical trials - 32%

Suggests people will conform due to NSI - conform for social approval, avoid rejection

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10
Q

Evaluate Asch’s study

KEY POINTS:
Ethical issues
Methological issues

A

Ethical issues:
- Deception + lack of informed consent
+ Debriefing was used to gain retrospective consent and ppts were informed of right to withdraw their results at that point

Methological issues:
- Poor external validity (low population validity, low ecological validity, low temporal valdity
- Low internal valdity - demand characteristics possibly present as ppts may have worked out what study was about

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11
Q

3 variables affecting conformity (Asch’s variations)

A

Group size - increasing size of majority (no. of conferderates) increased conformity (up to a point(

Unanimity - Asch arranged for a confederate to give different answer to majority and/or sam answer as real ppt. This reduced conformity

Task difficulty - Asch made real answer less obvious by having lines of similar length, increasing task difficulty increased conformity

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12
Q

Who investigated the power of social roles?

A

Zimbardo (1973) Stanford prison study

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13
Q

Procedure of Zimbardo’s study

A

24 U.S male student volunteers
Randomly allocated role of prisoner or guard
Prisoners:
- arrested from home, deloused, given uniform, ID number
- given some rights e.g. 3 meals a day, 3 supervised toilet trips a day, 2 visits a week
Guards:
- given uniform, clubs, whistles, wore reflective sunglasses
Zimbardo took role as prison superintendent

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14
Q

Findings of Zimbardo’s study

A

Experiment planned to last 2 weeks, but was stopped after 6 days
Many guards had become abusive
After rebellion was put down, prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious

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15
Q

Conclusions of Zimbardo’s study

A

Situation had influenced people’s behaviour
Guards, prisoners + researchers all conformed to roles within prison

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16
Q

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s study

KEY WORDS:
3 ethical issues
3 methological issues

A

ethical issues:
- protection from harm + psychological harm
- right to withdraw (pressurised to stay)
HOWEVER - would have lacked realism if allowed to leave, therefore validity of a prison without this
- lack of informed consent (consent gained but unlikely sufficiently infomed)

methological issues:
- Zimbardo played ‘dual role’ - became to involved - his behaviour may have influnced way in which event unfolded
- criticized for likely demand characteristics
- reasonably poor ecological validity - not a real prison - difficult to generalise

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17
Q

Who investigated obedience?

A

Milgram’s (1963) electric shock study

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18
Q

Sample of Milgram’s study

A

40 male ppts
Aged between 20-50
All American - New Haven area
White, middle class
Volunteers

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19
Q

Procedure of Milgram’s study

A

Drew starts to assign role of leaner + teacher - it was rigged, ppt always teacher, confederate always learner
Ppts told that confederate/leaner had heart condition
Shocks on scale of 15V - 450V in 15V increments
Learner gave mainly wrong answers on purpose
If ppt refused to administer shock - series of prods used by experimenter
Teacher + learner in separate rooms
NO SHOCK ACTUALLY ADMINISTERED - ALL FAKE

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20
Q

Findings of Milgram’s study

A

65% ppts continued to full 450V
100% of ppts continued up to 300V

21
Q

Evaluate Milgram’s study
KEY WORDS:
3 ethical issues

A
  • protection from harm + psychological distress
  • right to withdraw
  • deception + lack of informed consent (ppts unaware shocks were fake, thought study was into ‘learning’ not conformity)
22
Q

What are the 3 situational VARIABLES of obedience (from Milgram’s study)

A

Effect of location
Proximity
Uniform

23
Q

Effect of location (Milgram’s study) variation

A

Location changed to run-down building
Obedience levels dropped by 17.5% (65% at Yale vs 47.5% run-down office)
Status of location changed ppts perception of legitimacy of authority of the investigator

24
Q

Proximity (Milgram’s study) variation

A

When teacher + learner in same room - obedience levels decreased
When experimenter leaves room - obedience levels decreased

25
Q

Uniform (Milgram’s study) variation

A

Obedience levels decreased if lab coat not worn by experimenter

26
Q

What are the 3 situational EXPLANATIONS of obedience

A

Legitimacy of authority
Agentic state
Binding factors

27
Q

Legitimacy of authority

A

When a person recognises their own + other’s position in a social heirarchy
Legitimacy is increased by visible symbols of authority e.g uniform (Milgram - lab coat vs no lab coat)
Legitimacy of setting can contribute - Yale vs run-down office

28
Q

Agentic state

A

When a person acts on behalf of an authority figure/person of higher status, the actor feels no responsibly/no guilt for actions
Person shifts into an ‘agentic state’ (opposite of autonomous state, where people act according to their own principles)

29
Q

Binding factors

A

When aspects of the situation mean the individual is able to take away their own ‘moral strain’ and ignore their damaging behaviour

30
Q

How is authoirtarian personality measured?

A

Using the F scale

31
Q

Is the authoritarian personality a dispositional or situational explanation of obedience?

A

Dispostional (internal factors which influence our actions e.g. personality traits, biological makeup)

32
Q

Authoritarian traits - developed from strict, rigid parenting

A
  • Highly conformist
  • Dogmatic
  • Conventional
  • Very high respect for authority figures
  • Very obedient towards people of perceived higher status
  • Very hostile (unfriendly) towards people of perceived lower status
33
Q

Authoritarian traits - developed from strict, rigid parenting

A
  • Highly conformist
  • Dogmatic
  • Conventional
  • Very high respect for authority figures
  • Very obedient towards people of perceived higher status
  • Very hostile (unfriendly) towards people of perceived lower status
34
Q

Evaluation of the authoritarian personality of obedience

A

Little supporting research - much more research for role of situational factors
Explnation problematic - relies on self-report - F scale = questionnaire data NOT VALID EVIDENCE BASE
Difficulties establishing cause + effect between AP parenting style and obedience:
- based on retrospective data
- level of education may determine authoritarianism and obedience

35
Q

What are the 2 ways of resisting SI?

A

Locus of control
Social support

36
Q

Internal locus of control

A

More likely to resist pressure to conform
Less likely to obey (resist SI) than those with an external locus of control
Belive they control their own circumstances

37
Q

Evaluation of locus of control

A

Reasonable level of supporting evidence - Holland (1967):
- found 37% people with an ILOC refused to obey max shock level in Milgram-type study
- compared to 23% with an ELOC
Oliner + Oliner (1988) interviewed 2 groups of non-Jews who lived through the holocaust in Nazi Germany
- interviewed 406 people who had rescued + protected Jews and 106 who had not
- found rescuers more likely to have an ILOC

38
Q

Social support (presence of an ally)

A

Non-conformity more likely if others are seen to resist SI
Seeing other disobey/not conform gives an observer confidence to do so
Different types of social support depending on type of SI being resisted:
- disobedient role models (obedience) challenge legitimacy of authority figure
- having an ally (conformity) breaks the unanimity of the group in conformity situations

39
Q

Evaluation of social support

A

Presence of an ally giving wrong answer in a variation of Asch’s study/disobedient role model who refused to shock in variation of Milgram’s study - demonstrates the effect of social support, as conformity levels were reduces

Not just social support, other factors also involved in resistance e.g. dispostion (ILOC + high-self esteem), gender

40
Q

What are the 3 types of minority influence?

A

Consisistency - keeping to a view
Commitment - defending a view
Flexibility

41
Q

Research support for consistency

A

Research support of consistency: Moscovoci (1969)
- told 172 female ppts they were taking part in a colour perception task
- ppts had to state aloud colour of each slide
- 2 of 6 ppts were confederates - in 1 condition, the 2 confederates said all 36 slides were green
- in 2nd condition - confederates said 24 slides were green + 12 were blue
- real ppts agreed and gave wrong answer ‘green’ 7% more of the time in the 1st condition

Over time, commitment to a majority view will increasingly convert people, and there will become a ‘tipping point’ via the snowball effect

42
Q

What is social change?

A

Change which occurs in a society, not at individual level

Minorities bring about social change by being consistent, committed and flexible

43
Q

What are the social influence processes in social change?

A

Drawing attention through social proof
Consistency
Deeper processing of issue
Augmentation principle
Snowball effect
Social crypto-amnesia

44
Q

Consistency

A

Contributes to social change when a minority repeatedly gives same message
This makes majority reassess their belief + consider issue more carefully

45
Q

Augmentation principle (commitment)

A

Commitment contributes to social change when a minority shows they are willing to give up something for their belief, the majority take their argument more seriously (so may adopt as their own)

46
Q

Social crypto-amnesia

A

People have a memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened

47
Q

Evaluation of social processes

A
48
Q

Evaluation of social influence processes in social change?

A

AQA A Level Psychology (7 decks)

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