social influence Flashcards
define conformity
the tendency to change our behaviour and attitudes in response to the influence of others
what are the three types of conformity
compliance, identification, internalisation
what is compliance (a type of conformity)
going along with a crows and changing behaviour in public but personal opinions don’t change
- a superficial change
what is identification (a type of conformity)
changing behaviour when you are part of a group, changing your private and public opinion but only temporarily
- short term change
what is internalisation (a type of conformity)
genuinely changing behaviour and opinions. change beliefs privately and publicly. attitudes are internalised
- long term change
what does the dual process model show
two reasons for why people conform
what are the two correct terms used to explain reasons people conform according to the dual process model
Normative social influence
informational social influence
what is normative social influence, give a brief explanation about why people do it
- the desire to be liked
- people conform to be accepted and belong to a group
- behave a certain way to gain approval
what is informational social influence, give a brief explanation about why people do it
- the desire to be right
- believe the majority viewpoint is correct and if its not at least individual will fit it
- see other people as experts
- lead us to change behaviour and attitudes as we want to be correct
what is the name of the study that demonstrates informational social influence
Jenness study
what occurred in the Jenness study
participants observed a jar of jelly beans and asked to write down how many they thought were in there. the participants could then discuss and change their answer
what is a social role and give an example
patterns of behaviour that is expected of a person who occupies a certain social position
such as a police officer or teacher
what is obedience
a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure
what are situational explanations
focus on external factors that affect the likelihood that someone will obey
what are dispositional explanations
focus on internal characteristics that will affect the likelihood that someone will obey
what are the two situational explanations
agency theory of obedience and legitimacy theory of authority
what is the autonomous state
a person believes they are in complete control of their actions and they accept responsibility for what happens
what is the agentic state
people may obey to do something they see as wrong because the individual believes they hand over the responsibility for the outcome of the action to the authority figure
what is moral strain
a state of mental discomfort or anxiety experienced in the agentic state when a persons actions conflict their personal morality
what is the agentic shift
moving between the autonomous state and the agentic state
give a strength of the agency theory (use a pec style paragraph)
- it has research support
- milgram found that teachers would obey easier when the experimenter suggest he would take responsibility for any harm
- this supports becasue the participants obeyed to do something wrong as they handed over the responsibility
give a weakness of the agentic state (using a pec style paragraph)
- it doesn’t take into account individual differences
- in Milgram’s study, 65% of people obeyed to 450 volts, therefore there were some people who didn’t obey to 450 volts.
- this means that not all people obey to the same extent or for the same reasons, meaning the agentic state is reductionist