social influence

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of pressure from a person or group of people

Question 2

what is unanimity?

Answer 2

the extent to which all the members of a group agree

Question 3

what is asch’s baseline procedure?

Answer 3

• 123 american males were tested
• each saw two cards, one with the X line which was standard, and the other with comparison lines A B C
• on each trial, participants had to say out loud which line was the same length as X
• only one genuine participant, others were confederates

Question 4

what were asch’s baseline findings?

Answer 4

• the genuine participants agreed with confederates incorrect answers 36.8% ( conformed 1/3 of the time)
• 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer (never conformed)

Question 5

what variables, investigated by asch, might increase conformity?

Answer 5

1. group size - he found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate (with 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8%)
2. unanimity - genuine participant conformed less if there was a dissenter (rate decreased to less than 1/4 to when majority was unanimous)
3. task difficulty - informational social influence occurred ( conformity increased)

Question 6

what are the limitations of aschs study?

Answer 6

1. task and situation were artificial. participants may show demand characteristics as they knew they were in a study. Susan Fiske says the groups didnt resemble everyday life experiences. cannot generalise findings to real world situations.
2. Limited application. Participants were men. Neto says women are more conformists because they want social relationships to be accepted. Studies in collectivist cultures (China) shows higher conformity rates - Bond and Smith. Aschs findings tell us little about conformity in other cultures + genders.
3. Ethical issues. Participants were deceived due to thinking confederates were participants. however the cost of the ethical issues dont outweigh the benefits gained from the study.

Question 7

what are the strengths of Aschs study?

Answer 7

1. research support. Research from others on task difficulty. Lucas et al. asked participants to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems. They were given answers from three other fake students and found conformity to the wrong answers rose when problems were harder. Asch was correct in claiming task difficulty affects conformity.
   HOWEVER Lucas et al. found conformity is complex. Those with higher confidence conformed less in hard tasks than those with low confidence. Shows that individual factors can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables.

Question 8

what is internalisation?

Answer 8

when a person genuinely accepts group norms, private and public change of opinions and behaviour

Question 9

what is identification?

Answer 9

when we act the same way as a group because we value it and want to be part of it. A public change but not necessarily private change.

Question 10

what is compliance?

Answer 10

A superficial and temporary type of conformity. Simply going along with others on a decision but privately disagreeing.

Question 11

what is informational social influence?

Answer 11

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want ti be right as well. It leads to internalisation.

Question 12

what is normative social influence?

Answer 12

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked. It leads to compliance

Question 13

what are strengths for normative social influence?