Social Influence Flashcards
Types of conformity
- Compliance
- Internalisation
- Identification
Compliance
Individual goes along with the majority view and behaves the same in order to be liked by the group. Individual doesnt change their underlying view and may behave diff when they arent with the group
pretending
Internalisation
Individual truly believes in the views of the majority at a deep level. Will accept majority views both publicly and privately.
Identification
Individual might accept the infleuce from the majority because they want to be associated with that group. They are adopting the attitudes and views of the group because they feel its right and true but they do it to be liked by the group
forcing to
Explanations for conformity
- Normative social influence (NSI)
- Information social influence (ISI)
Normative social influence
- We need social approval and fear rejection
- Conforms because they want to be accepted by majority of the group
- Because they want to be liked by the group
Informational social influence
- All humans need to feel confident their perceptions/beliefs are correct
- Happens when somn accepts info from others as evidence about reality
- More likely when situation is ambiguous or where others are experts
- Comply in behaviour and changes their behaviour
Social factors that affect conformity
- Group size
- Task Difficulty
- Anonymity
What does group size refer to?
More likely to conform if group majority is large. Group of conforming people in the group needs to be more than 3 people
What does task difficulty refer to?
We look to others to guide our decisions when completing challenging rasks or making hard decisions because we lack confidence in our own judgment (eg of ISI)
What does anonymity refer to?
In public, there is a chance of people ridiculing us if they disagree with our opinion, therefore we are more likely to express them if we are anonymous
Reduces concern with other people agreeing with us and we don’t need to worry
* Anonymity lowers chance of conformity - not completely tho because it reduces NSI
What are dispositional factors that affect conformity?
- Personality
- Expertise
What does personality refer to?
If you have a low IQ, low status in a group or low self esteem you are more likely to conform to group pressure - cuz these traits linked to insecurity in social situations and look to others for guidance on how to bahave to be liked or because they may know more
What does expertise refer to?
Conformity less likely when we have more confidence in our own abilities/opinions. Explains why older ppl less likely to conform than younger, cuz as we get older, we feel more certain about our knowledge and feel less pressure to conform
Aim of Asch’s Line experiment
To see how far ppl would conform in a group even if they knew an answer was wrong
Method for Asch’s Line experiment
- Asch tested ptcps using a “line matching” task where ptcps had to guess which line was closest in size to a standard line - answer was obvious
- Confederates chose wrong answer
- Real participlnt was always the last to answers so they could hear other ppls responses
- Observed whether real ptcp also chose wrong answer to fit in
What percent did the real ptcps conform? Why did they conform?
- 36.8%
- Due to NSI because ptcps wanted to fit in the group to be accepted
What did Asch conclude?
Ppl conform to fit in with a group even when they know he group are giving incorrect judgment
DV
IV
of Aschs Line Experiment
- DV = How often real ptcps conform
- Responses of confederates (actors)
Strength of Aschs Study
- Laboratory experiment = high control over extranous variables that coul’ve impacted the outcome of the findings. Important cuz it means he could confidently conclude that ppl conform due to group pressure even when answer is wrong - shows us a cause and effect r/s for NSI
- Standardised procedures in laboratory setting - others able to replicate to check for reliablility
Weaknesses of Asch’s conformity study
- Lab setting = lacks ecological validity - environment unnatural and atificial = diff behavious = so results may not reflect how conformity could occue in everday settings
- Task itself is a contrived task, lacks personal significance and real life application, results may not predict how ppl respond to real life situations
- Culturally biased - all american (individualistic cultures), collectivist countries have higher rates of conformity as they place greater value to the whole group > individual = findings cant generalise to all countries as culture is a factor that affects conformity levels
What is obedience?
Following orders of an authority figure
What is agency?
the responsibility we feel for our own actions
What is the agency theory?
idea that smn will obey an authority figure when they believe authority figure will take responsibility for what they’re being told to do
What is Milgram’s Agency Theory?
- Situation without an authority figure = we are in an **Autonomous state **= natural state when we behave and react to our own wishes and feel responsible for them
- When we obey an authority figure, we are in an Agentic state, we dont take responsibiility for what they’re asking us to do, take orders blindly
- Shift from automous state –> agentic state is called the agentic shift
Milgrams Obedicence study 1963 - Electric Shock, what did Milgram want to explore
Whether ordinary ppl would obey a person in authority even when required to injure an innocent person