Social influence

Question 1

What was Asch’s baseline procedure?

Answer 1

• Put participants in groups of 6 to 8, with only only one genuine participant and the rest confederates
• The participant was asked which line was the same length as the line in the picture
• All the confederates gave the same wrong answer

Question 2

What were Asch’s baseline findings?

Answer 2

• On average participants conformed with the wrong answers 36% of the time
• 25 % of the participants never conformed

Question 3

What three variables did Asch investigate with his line test and what did he find?

Answer 3

• Group size - up to 3 confederates caused conformity to increase but soon levelled off after
• Unanimity- found that a different wrong answer as well as the real right answer, reduced conformity.
  Incompetent answers also reduced conformity, one confederate stated that he had vision problems before the test and he gave a different wrong answer, this reduced conformity
• Task difficulty- As difficulty increased so did conformity

Question 4

How does Lucas et al. support and undermine Asch?

Answer 4

• Tested participants with hard math questions, the harder the question the more participants conformed
• However they introduce the factor of efficacy and how that will also impact conformity

Question 5

What are the three types of conformity explained by Kelman?

Answer 5

• Compliance - most basic level, literally just avoiding drama and effort
• Identification - You agree more with the person/people doing the thing rather than the thing itself, therefore if their opinions changed so would yours
• Internalisation - You fully adopt a belief/opinion, in your public and personal life

Question 6

What are the two explanations for conformity explained by Deutsch and Gerard?

Answer 6

• Normative Social Influence: you want to be liked
• Informational Social influence: you want to be right

Question 7

How does Asch’s experiment support NSI?

Answer 7

• Participants interveiwed after Asch’s study, some said that they conformed out of fear of disapproval
• When participants wrote their answers conformity fell to 12.5%

Question 8

How does Lucas et al. support ISI?

Answer 8

• As questions got harder conformity increased, showing how when they felt less confident that they were right they conformed

Question 9

What was Schultz et al. experiment into ISI and NSI?

Answer 9

• They used printed messages to encourage guests to use less towels to save energy
• The messages that said other guests were using less towels was most successful
• Demonstrating how in this situation NSI was a strong factor in causing conformity.

Question 10

Describe the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 10

• Zimbardo set up a realistic mock prison in the basement of Stanford university
• Participants were ensured to be psychologically sane, before participating, they were randomly assigned prisoner or guard, with uniforms
• They were encouraged to identify with their role, eg. prisoners had to apply for parole if they wanted to leave the study early and guards were reminded that they had complete power over the prisoners
• The only rules for the guards was to not put anyone in solitary confinement for over an hour and not to physically assualt any of the prisoners

Question 11

What were Zimbardo’s findings relating to social roles?

Answer 11

• The guards took up their roles with enthusiasm treating the prisoners harshly
• On the second day the prisoners rebelled and the guards retaliated with fire hoses
• The guards harrassed prisoners constantly proving their authority over them, eg. headcounts
• After the rebellion was put down they became subdued, depressed and anxious, some had to be let home early
• The experiment ended after 6 days rather than 14

Question 12

What similarities and differences can be drawn between the stanford prison experiment and Abu Ghraib?

Answer 12

• In Abu Ghraib, the US army committed serious human rights violations against Iraqi prisoners
• In both situations many of the people given an authoritive role, seemed to genuinely beleive that they were above the others.
• The difference is that the situation in Abu Ghraib would most likely not have happened as intensely if the Americans weren’t taught to hate Iraqis, after the twin towers

Question 13

How did ZImbardo exaggerate the results?

Answer 13

• Only a third of the guards actually abused their role, another third abided to the rules
• The other third tried to help the prisoners

Question 14

How could Zimbardo’s experiment be seen as lacking or not lacking in realism?

Answer 14

• Banuazizi and Movehedi argue that the participants were just play acting
• McDermott, argues the opposite, 90% of prisoners conversations were about real life, and prisoner 416 said in an interview that he genuinely believed the experiment was real

Question 15

How does Norma Jean Orlando’s experiment support Zimbardo?

Answer 15

• She selected staff at a psychiatric hospital to play psychiatric patients
• After 2 days several mock patients experienced psychological disturbance, many cried uncontrollably.
• The experiment had to end early because participants were losing their sense of self

Question 16

What was Milgram’s baseline procedure?

Answer 16

• 40 American men volunteered
• A participant with a confederate were told to pick lots to decide who would be the learner and the teacher, the draw was fixed
• The teacher (participant) would test the learners memory who would purposefully make mistakes, when he got it wrong the teacher was told by the experimenter to give him an increasing shock each time from 15 to 450 volts ( the shocks weren’t real)
• the shocks were labelled from slight shock to severe shock, danger
• At 300 volts the learner pounded on the wall and asked to leave
• At 315 volts the learner pounded on the wall again and then was silent for the duration of the experiment

Question 17

What were Milgram’s baseline findings?

Answer 17

• All participants continues to 300 volts
• 12.5% stopped at 300 volts
• 65% continued all the way
• Milgram also found qualitative data: such as participants trembling and sweating

Question 18

How does Beauvois et al. support Milgram’s findings?

Answer 18

• A french game show replicated Milgram’s study
• 80% of participants went to 460 volts
• Their behaviour was almost identical to that of what Milgram reported

Question 19

How do Orne and Holland undermine Milgram’s finding?

Answer 19

• They suggest participants knew the shocks weren’t real?

Question 20

How do Sheridan and King contradict Orne and Holland?

Answer 20

• They replicated Milgram’s experiment with real shocks on puppies, finding the same results

Question 21

How does Haslam et al. undermine Milgram’s conclusions?

Answer 21

• Social Identity Theory
• All participants who were given the fourth prod “you have no other choice but to continue” disobeyed, this demonstrates how pariticipants didn’t blindly obey
• The first prod “the experiment requires you to continue” allowed participates to identify with the scientific aim of the study

Question 22

How does Hoffling et al.’s experiment support Milgram?

Answer 22

• Unknown doctor called 22 nurses and asked them to administer an overdose of an unknown drug to patients, they weren’t allowed to talk to the other nurses
• 20 out of 22 obeyed

Question 23

How does Rank and Jacobson’s experiment undermine Milgram?

Answer 23

• Replicated Hoffling et al. with a known doctor, drug and nurses could consult with each other
• 2 out of 18

Question 24

How many people obeyed in Milgram’s variation when the experimenter left the room?

Answer 24

20.5%

Question 25

How many people obeyed in Milgram’s variation when teacher and learner were int the same room?

Answer 25

40%

Question 26

How many people obeyed in Milgram’s variation when experiment was conducted in run down offices rather than Yale?

Answer 26

47.5%

Question 27

How many people obeyed in Milgram’s variation when experimenter wore ordinary clothes?

Answer 27

20%

Question 28

How does Bickman support that uniform increases obedience?

Answer 28

• He conducted an experiment where a traffic warden, milkman and man in casual clothes told people on the street to pick up litter, the highest obedience was for the traffic warden then the milkman

Question 29

Are Milgram’s replications representative of different cultures?

Answer 29

• Although different countries have replicated Milgram’s study producing similar results, they have been mostly Western countries
• Bond and Smith identified very few replications in countries like India and Jordan, culturally different to the US

Question 30

What did Milgram suggest about agentic state?

Answer 30

• A situational explanation for obedience
• It is when you believe you are acting for someone else, therefore you convince yourself that you hold no responsibility for what is happening, the opposite of this is an autonomous state
• Milgram uses this to explain Adolf Eichmann who was in charge of Nazi concentration camps defense that he was only obeying orders
• Binding factors are used by people in an agentic state to diffuse responsibility, such as victim blaming

Question 31

What does Milgram suggest about legitimacy of authority?

Answer 31

• A situational explanation of obedience
• Most societies are structured in a hierarchal way, for example the police and courts have the power to punish
• This becomes a problem when there is destructive authority, eg. Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot

Question 32

What are is an example of historical obedience that could be explained by legitimacy of authority and agentic state?

Answer 32

• My Lai Massacre

Question 33

What are is an example of historical obedience that could not be explained by legitimacy of authority and agentic state?

Answer 33

• Police battalion 101 they were given the opportunity to not go through with it

Question 34

How does Milgram’s study support agentic state and legitimacy of authority as a situational explanation for obedience?

Answer 34

• Agentic state- participants asked who would be responsible if the learner was harmed, the answer was the experimenter- some still disobeyed anyway
• Legitimacy of Authority- When the experimenter wasn’t in uniform obedience dropped, also when the building was run down offices rather than yale

Question 35

WHat were the results in obedience of Milgram’s study in different countries?

Answer 35

• Australia: 16% of women
• Germany- 85%

Question 36

What experiment undermines, legitimacy of authority?

Answer 36

• Rank and Jacobson

Question 37

What does Adornon suggest causes an authoritarian personality?

Answer 37

Harsh parenting

Question 38

WHat are three personality traits that Adornon suggest authoritarian personalities have?

Answer 38

• They’re submissive to authority
• they show contempt towards people of lower social classes
• They veiw society as “weaker” than it used to be

Question 39

What did Adorno develop to test if you have an authoritarian personality?

Answer 39

• California F-scale

Question 40

What did Adorno find through the the F-scale?

Answer 40

• People who scored higher, more authoritarian personality, were the people who were more intolerant of lower social classes, and more obedient to higher authority
• He found they had a different cognitive style, they only saw in black and white

Question 41

How does Milgram’s experiment support and undermine, Adorno and his authoritarian personality?

Answer 41

• Elms, got a group of obedient and disobedient participants to take the California f-scale, obedient participants scored higher
• However when obedient participants were further interviewed they found that these participants didn’t have the characteristics that Adorno suggested, they didn’t have harsh parenting or glorify their fathers.

Question 42

How is the F-scale politically biased?

Answer 42

• Only measures extreme rightism
• However Christie and Jahoda highlighted the similarities between extreme leftism and rightism

Question 43

What does Julian Rotter suggest about people with external or internal LOC?

Answer 43

• External LOC means that you believe you have little power over your life, therefore you are less confident and then are less likely to resist social influence
• internal LOC means the opposite

Question 44

What was Gamson et al. research into social support?

Answer 44

• Participants were asked to produce evidence that would help an oil company run a smear campaign
• They were put into groups of 9
• 29 out of 33 groups disobeyed

Question 45

What was Albrechtt et al. research into social support?

Answer 45

• A french tv show paired up pregnant teen with a buddy to help them resist social influence to smoke
• 8 weeks after the programme participants were significantly less likely to smoke when compared with a control group
• However the effects were not long term after 1 year there was no difference in smoking behaviours between the 2 groups

Question 46

What was Allen and Levine amson et al. research into social support?

Answer 46

• Repeated Asch’s experiment with a dissenting peer, 64% of participants resisted conformity, compared with 3% when there was no dissenting peer
• When the dissenting peer had obviously bad eyesight, resistance was 36%

Question 47

What was Holland’s research into the relationship between LOC and obedience?

Answer 47

• Repeated Milgram’s study, and measured participants LOCs
• 37% of internal did not continue
• 23% of externals did not continue

Question 48

What was Twenge et al. research into the relationship between LOC and obedience?

Answer 48

• Meta analysis on data of American LOC studies over a 40 year period
• Found that disobedience was rising but so was external LOCs

Question 49

In what situations is the relationship between LOC and obedience, most valid?

Answer 49

unfamiliar situations

Question 50

What are the three factors in successful minority influence?

Answer 50

• consistency
• commitment
• flexibility, Nemeth argues this is the most important

Question 51

What was Mosivici et al. experiment into minority influence?

Answer 51

• a group of six were asked to veiw a set of 36 slides, and asked if they were green or blue
• There were two independent groups each with 2 confederates, in one group the confederates always answered green, in the other their answers varied but said green 24 times and blue 12
• With a consistent minority participants answered, green (the wrong answer) on 8.42% of the trials, however with an inconsistent only 1.5%, compared with a control group who answered wrong 0.25% of the time
• when participants wrote their answer they were more likely to agree with the minority

Question 52

What was Wood et al. meta analysis into minority influence?

Answer 52

• analysed 100 studies
• found that the most influential minorities were ones that were consistent

Question 53

What was Martin et al. experiment into minority influence?

Answer 53

• presented a message supporting a particular veiw to participants
• in one group participants heard a minority agree and in the other they heard the majority agree
• when exposed to conflcting views the group who head the minority were less likely to change their view
• this suggests that agreeing with a minority takes more thought and therefore the group truly felt they agreed

Question 54

What are the 6 steps of how minority influences social change?

Answer 54

1. drawing attention
2. consistency
3. deeper processing of the issue by the majority
4. Augmentation principle - people risked their lives for the cause
5. snowball effect
6. cryptomnesia - people have no memory of how the change came about

Question 55

How does Asch support minority influence?

Answer 55

When a dissenting peer was present conformity dropped

Question 56

How can NSI help minority influence?

Answer 56

Providing information about what other people are doing, like with Schultz et al. people want to be liked and feel like they are doing the right thing

Question 57

How does Milgram support minority influence?

Answer 57

With a teacher that also refused to give shocks obedience plummeted

Question 58

Describe Nolan et al. experiment into NSI influencing social change?

Answer 58

• Hung signs on homes telling them to reduce their energy, two groups, one mentioned how other people in the neighbourhood were also reducing their energy usage and the other didn’t
• The first sign influenced significantly more people to reduce their energy

Question 59

Describe Foxcroft et al. meta-analysis into NSI influencing social change?

Answer 59

• reviewed 70 studies on trying to reduce student’s alcohol intake using social norms
• found a small reduction in drinking quantity but no change in drinking quality

Question 60

How does minority influence change according to Nemeth?

Answer 60

Stimulates new ideas and open minds in a way majorities can’t

Question 61

How does Mackie et al. undermine nemeth’s theory that minority influence causes deeper processing?

Answer 61

• When you believe in something you expect everyone to agree with you
• therefore a majority view that you do not share causes deep thinking

Question 62

What is a barrier to social change suggested by Bashir et al.?

Answer 62

• Not wanting to be associated with the people in the minority
• they found that participants in their experiment were less likely to behave in eco friendly ways as they didn’t want to be associated with “tree huggers”