Social Influence Flashcards
What are the 3 main forms of social influence?
Conformity
Obedience
Minority Influence
What are the 3 differences between conformity and obedience?
- conformity is going along with group pressure whereas behaving as you are instructed too
- Conformity No one directly applies orders they are implied but in Obedience they are instructed by authority figures
- In conformity it is done to fit in whereas to avoid punishment/consequences
What are the 3 types of conformity?
Compliance
Internalisation
Identification
Describe Compliance
The most shallowest form of conforming
Publicly conforming to fit in but privately maintains own views and ideas
The change is temporary
Describe Internalisation
A true change of ones private views and public behaviour to match a group due it seeming correct, The conformity is usually permanent
Describe Identification
When the individual is exposed to others views to change both publicly and privately as they identify with the source of these views and being part of it is desirable.
They do this to feel a sense of group membership but the change may be temporary when the desirability disappears.
what was the conclusion to Asch’s study ?
when the confederates gave the incorrect anwser to the lines in the 12 out of 18 trials :
26% never conformed
74% conformed at least once
4 people conformed 10 times or more
describe normative social influence
to conform based on the desire to be in a group
because the group has the power to exclude those who don’t conform leading to heightened self awareness and and embarrassment.
leads to compliance
describe informational social influence
conformity based on a desire to be right
especially when placed in an ambiguous situation. so we copy others actions believing they know more than us
leading to internalisation
how does the conformity theory help in real life ?
e.g people conforming to use drugs or alcohol under normative social influence which causes economic and social impact due to the cost it causes to society
what 3 factors affect conformity?
The group size
the unanimity of the group
and the task difficulty
Summaries the procedure of Milgram’s obedience study
40 volunteer male participants had to be a learner or a teacher
the learner would be strapped to a chair with electrodes
the Teacher would read out questions and provide an electric shock if incorrect
What were the findings of milgrims study?
100% went to 300 volts
and 65% went to 450 volts
ordinary people are likely to follow orders by an authority figure
Thus authority figures seem to have a lot of social power.
What are the ethics evaluation points of milgrims study
Participants where not given the right to withdraw
They where deceived to believe it was a study of learning but it was actually a study of obedience
they thought the electric shocks were real so suffered from psychological harm
However if deception is necessary to get accurate results of peoples behavior
The debrief people said 84% glad they took part .
Debrief allowed for the deception to be overcome
Describe the validity of Milgram’s study
Only used an androcentric population
so results lack generalizability to women So low internal validity
Poor ecological validity due too the lack of mundane realism the task provides, The task was artificial so not an accurate depiction of behavior
what was the dispositional explanation for obedience ?
an authoritarian personality - An idea that some people are more obedient due to their upbringing
what was the Rorschach projective test?
The idea that those with a harsh childhood would obey quickly and have a strong respect for authority
This would create repressed hostility which would be displaced feelings into others
The elements of these types of behaviour where measured by the F scale to measure an authoritarian personality
why does social support help to resist against social pressure?
the presence of an ally gives the ally more social power against a group or authority figure
As they can now punish the source through disapproval
evaluate the resistance against social pressure
- Is Asch’s study where a non conformist ally would consistently give the correct answer or the alternative incorrect answer
It both brought down conformity rates down from 32% to 25%
So social support affects conformity and increases independent behaviour - Milgram’s study
when disobedient confederate teacher was introduced the amount of participants who went up to 450 volts went from 65% to 10%
So social support can increase independence to social influence
Name an example of social support helping with social pressure
Albert th AL
evaluated a programme that helped pregnant teens to stop smoking
1 group had a buddy and one did not
Group with buddy was less likely to smoke
Has high ecological validity as it has mundane realism
What is minority influence?
A minority influence is where a small group of people seek to change the attitudues and behaviour of a larger group
How is the influence of a minority different to the influence of a majority?
the process of social change through a minority influence takes a lot longer but it tends to be a more true conversion (peoples opinions and views become internalised)
what behavioural styles must a minority influence adapt?
Consistent, flexible and show commitment
why is commitment important for a minority?
If a minority’s message is constant it creates more certainty.
The majority is more likely to believe them if the message is unchanging
What were the findings of Moscovivci’s study?
When the confederates were consistnet 8.4% of the participants called the colour green
when they were inconsistent 1.3% called the colour green
why must minorities be flexible?
As they cannot be dogmatic
As the majority will feel as if their freedom is being taken away so they must adapt
what were the findings of Nemeths experiment?
when the one confederate raised the price of the compensation amount to pay to the ski lift vicitm the other participants were willing to meet them
or else the minority’s message will be rejected
why is commitment important for minorities
This shows that minorities are willing to take risks and become a role model for the behaviour they wish the majority would adopt
THis shows it must be something worth listening to and people will be more likely to accept it
what is the effect of dissociation?
By Mungy and Perez
The idea that the views of the main group are assimilated into the main group by social crypto amnesia
This is where the majority to forget the original view point came from a minority and adopt it as there own
