Social Influence

Question 1

Social Influence

Define conformity.

AO1

Conformity

Answer 1

Conformity is a form of social influence when a person’s behaviour or thinking changes as a result of group pressure (can be from one or more people).

‘pressure’ may be imagined or real

Question 2

Social Influence

Outline Asch’s study of conformity.

AO1

Conformity

Answer 2

Asch’s aim was to investigate the effect of group pressure on an individual’s opinion in situations where the answer is unambiguous. His sample was 123 American, male students whom did not know the aim of the study. The participants were sat in a semi-circle in a group of 6-8 confederates. The men were shown two large cards, one with a single standard line and the other with three comparison lines. They took turns to call out which of the three lines they though was the same length as the ‘standard line’, with the real participant always answering second to last. Although the answer was fairly obvious, the confederates were intructed to give the same incorrect answer. Asch was interested in whether the participant would stick to what they believed was write or go along with the majority due to the pressure. There were 18 trials in total. The first few, the confederates gave the correct answer, but in the 12 critical trials, they all gave the same wrong answer. On the 12 critical trials, the participants gave the same wrong answer 36.8% of the time (same as the confederates). 75% of participants conformed at least once. Asch concluded that individuals are influenced by group pressure even when the answer is unambiguous.

Question 3

Social Influence

Evaluate Asch’s study of conformity.

AO3

Conformity

Answer 3

A strength of Asch’s study is that the procedure has high reliability. This is because it was conducted in a lab with high control over extraneous variables, which means it is easy to repeat the study in order to gain consistent results into conformity. Therefore the experiment’s results are reliable.
However, a weakness of Asch’s research is that it is not representitive of all cultures. This is because the study was conducted in America (the sample was only American men), which is an individualistic culture. Collectivist cultures may have been more likely to conform because they believe in the good of the group. This suggests the results of Asch’s line experiment into conformity may be difficult to generalise to all cultures.

- another weakness is the task is artificial

Question 4

Social Influence

Describe and evaluate group size as a factor effecting conformity.

AO1/AO3

Conformity

Answer 4

Group size is a social factor.
In one of Asch’s variations, he found this was true to a certain point.
* With 2 confederates, conformity was 13.6%
* With 3, conformity was 31.8%

The more people in a group, the more likely people are to conform. However, adding more than 3 confederates made little difference to conformity rates.

A weakness of this explanation is that group size has different affects depending on the type of task. Asch’s study had an obvious answer, whereas when there is no obivous answer, group size does matter. People do not conform with 1 or 2 other confederates, but do when it gets to 8 or 10. This suggests the task may affect whether or not people conform in relation to group size.

Question 5

Social Influence

Describe and evaluate anonymity as a factor effecting conformity.

AO1/AO3

Conformity

Answer 5

Anonymity is a social factor.
1. Asch did a variation where participants were able to write down their responses down anonymously.
2. He found that conformity rates decreased.

A weakness of this explanation is that Asch used a group of strangers. Huang and Li found that anonymity changes of the group are friends who are expressing their opinion anonymously would conform more than if they were strangers. This suggests anonymity may not be the only factor to consider, and it is dependent on whether you know the people.

Question 6

Social Influence

Describe and evaluate task difficulty as a factor effecting conformity.

AO1/AO3

Conformity

Answer 6

Task difficulty is a social factor.
1. Asch did a variation where he made the task harder by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length.
2. He found that conformity increased.
3. He concluded that people feel less confident about their answer and look to the group for the right answer.

A weakness of this explanation is that the task is artifical. This is because the task of matching line lengths does not reflect on every day life situations of conformity. The task was trivial and meaningless so participants may have conformed more compared to if the task had severe consequences. This lowers the validity.

Question 7

Social Influence

Describe and evaluate personality as a factor effecting conformity.
locus of control

AO1/AO3

Conformity

Answer 7

Personality is a dispositional factor.
Locus of control is a personality trait which refers to how much control a person believes they have over their behaviour.
* Those with an internal locus of control believe they control what happens to them.
* Those with an external locus of control believe that what happens to them is determinded by external factors (e.g. luck, fate, others).
External LOC are more conformist because they take less responsibility for their actions.

A strength of this explanation is that research by Burger and Cooper support it. They showed participants a set of cartoons and asked them to rate them in terms of funniness. Those with an external LOC conformed more to the confederate who said their answers out loud compared to those with an internal LOC. This suggests an individual’s disposition can affect whether they conform.

Question 8

Social Influence

Describe and evaluate expertise as a factor effecting conformity.

AO1/AO3

Conformity

Answer 8

Expertise is a dispositional factor.
Expertise increases your confidence in your opinions and knowledge.
This means people may be less likely to conform if they have expertise.

A weakness of this explanation is that there is an alternative explanation. Group size is a social factor which suggests people conform due to how many people are present when someone is considering conforming, whereas expertise argues that people conform due to lack of opinion or knowledge. Therefore, expertise may not be the only factor when explaining conformity.

Question 9

Social Influence

Define obedience.

AO1

Obedience

Answer 9

A type of social influence that causes a person to act in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority.

Question 10

Social Influence

Outline Agency and Authority as a factor affecting obedience.

AO1

Obedience

Answer 10

This is where people may move from being in a state where they take personal responsibility for their actions to a state where they believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure, who is perceived as being more knowledgable. This is known as the agentic shift. When a person is in an agentic state they lose their sense of personal responsibility. This means a person in an agentic state is more likely to obey.

Question 11

Social Influence

Outline the social hierarchy as a factor affecting obedience.

AO1

Obedience

Answer 11

Most societies are structured in a hierarchal way. Certain people have more authority than others. The higher people are on the hierarchy the more authority they have, and potentially more people are likely to obey to them as a result. We are taught from a young age to respect that legitimate authority.

Question 12

Social Influence

Outline proximity as a factor affecting obedience.

AO1

Obedience

Answer 12

Proximity refers to how far or close you are to someone.
Milgram did a variation of his experiment:
* When the teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience fell from 65% to 40%
* When the they had to force their hand onto the shock plate, obedience decreased to 30%

The closer people are to the victim, the greater the moral strain. Individuals have an increased sense of personal responsibility, therefore are less likely to obey.

Question 13

Social Influence

Evaluate Milgram’s Agency theory.

AO3

Answer 13

Research to support Milgram’s agency theory comes from Blass and Schmitt. They showed students a film of Milgram’s study and asked them to identify who was responsible for the harm done to the learner. They identified the experimenter as being to blame as he was the legitimate authority figure. This supports Milgram’s agency theory because it shows people recognise legitimate authority as a cause of obedience.
One weakness of the theory is that it excuses people who blindly follow destructive orders. Mandel claims it is offensive to holocaust survivors to suggest that Nazis simply obeyed orders. The theory ignores the prejudice and racism that would have occured in Germany at the time and would have played a part in genocide. This limits the use of Milgram’s thoery and is dangerous as it allows people to believe they are not fully responsible.

Question 14

Social Influence

Outline Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality as a dispositional factor affecting obedience.

AO1

Obedience

Answer 14

Adorno believes that personality type determines whether or not someone is likely to obey. In his research, he found that having an Authoritarian personality makes an individual more likely to obey because they have an exaggerated respect for authority, a rigid cognitive style and look down on people of inferior social status (scapegoating). He believed that the personality type is made rather than born, meaning it is rooted in childhood through things such as overly strict parenting or conditional love. This is because children learn their morals through identification with the parent of the same gender. So, a child who has strict parenting internalises these feelings and expects everyone to act the same way. At the same time, they feel hostility towards their parents because of the high standards, which leads them to take out their anger on those who are inferior.

Question 15

Social Influence

Evaluate Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality.

AO3

Obedience

Answer 15

A problem with the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience is that the research is based on a questionnaire. This is a problem because people may have lied about their answers to present themselves in the best possible light. For example, lying on questions as to not present themselves as fascist. This reduces the validity of the F scale and the research into authoritarian personalities.
Another criticism of the authoritarian personality is that the research is based on correlations. Correlations only show a link between levels of obedience and an authoritarian personality. There may be a third factor such as level of education. This lowers the validity of the research into authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience.

Question 16

Social Influence

Define prosocial behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 16

To act in a way that promotes the welfare of others.

the bystander effect is when help is not given

Question 17

Social Influence

Define bystander behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 17

Refers to actions a person may or may not take when they are a witness in an emergency situation.

the bystander effect is when help is not given

Question 18

Social Influence

Outline Piliavin’s study of Prosocial Behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 18

Piliavin’s aim was to investigate bystander behaviour in a natural setting. The study was a field experiment, and 4 researchers boarded a New York Subway train (always at the same stop), one of which staged a collapse 70 seconds after the train entered the carriage, and stayed on the ground until help came. They did 103 trials in total, 38 of which the male researcher smelled of alcohol and carried a bottle of alcohol in a brown bag (drunk condition) and 65 of which he appeared sober and carried a cane (disabled condition). He behaved the same in all other aspects. Two researchers were observers who noted what the people in the carriage did an how long it took before people began to help, and the fourth researcher was a model who would step in and help after a further 70-150 seconds if no other assitance had been offered. Piliavin found that the disabled person was helped 95% of the time, whereas the drunk man was only helped 50% of the time. 87% of the time on the disabled victim trial, they were helped in the first 70 seconds, which was only 17% for the drunk victim. People were just as likely to help when the carriage was full rather than empty. Therefore, Piliavin concluded that certain charactearistics of the victim determine whether prosocial behaviour will occur.

Question 19

Social Influence

Evaluate Piliavin’s study of Prosocial Behaviour.

AO3

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 19

One strength of the study is that it has high ecological validity because it took place in a real environment. This is because the study was carried out on a New York Subway and the passengers did not know they were taking part in an experiment so their helpign behaviour is true to real life. This increases the validity of Piliavin’s study into prosocial behaviour.
However, a weakness of the study is that it raises ethical issues. One ethical issue is deception because this was a covert observation, meaning people did not know they were being watched and did not know the collapsed man was an actor. Due to this, there is a further issue with lack of informed consent, from the participants. This devalues Piliavin’s rsearch into prosocial behaviour and decreases psychology’s reputation.

Question 20

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by presence of others as a factor affecting prosocial behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 20

This is a social factor
* People may not help in situations due ot the bystander effect
* The more people there are present in a situation, the less likely people are to help
* This is because in an emergency situation, we must assume full responsibility for helping a person in need. When others are present, the responsibility of helping is diffused amongst the group.

Question 21

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by cost of helping as a factor affecting prosocial behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 21

This is a social factor
* Research has suggested that before helping someone, people weigh up the costs and rewards
* The cost of helping could be possible danger, effort, the time it may take and possible embarassment
* The costs of not helping someone could be guilt and blame from others
* Rward could be feeling good about yourself.

Question 22

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by similarity to victim as a factor affecting prosocial behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 22

This is a dispositional factor
* When a bystander feels they share similarities between them and the person in need of help, research suggests they are more likely to offer resistance
* Examples include the same gender, age, etc.
* This is because people find it easier to empathise with those in need because they believe they are similar to them

Question 23

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by expertise as a factor affecting prosocial behaviour.

AO1

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 23

This is a dispositional factor
* Bystanders are more likely to help if they feel they have the skills or expertise required to be able to help them based on the situation
* Bystanders may still feel concern and distress observing someone else in trouble however when other people are present, they may believe that someone else might be more capable of helping

Question 24

Social Influence

Define crowd and collective behaviour.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 24

Refers to how people behave when in a group setting.

Question 25

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by deindividuation.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 25

Refers to what happens when people lose their sense of individuality. This could be because people can become deindividuated when in a crowd because they feel like they are anonymous. This means they are less able to monitor their own behaviour and judge whether their actions are right or wrong.

Question 26

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by deindividuation as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 26

Deindividuation is a social factor.
Psychologists have found that people can become more deindividuated in a crowd becasue they feel like they are anonymous. Within a crowd, it is harder to be identified and more so if their appearence is masked or they look like other people in the crowd. This leads people to lose their inhibitions and sense of responsibility for what they do, because they look to those around them to guide their own behaviour.

e.g. if the crowd is a hostile mob, people will adapt accordingly

Question 27

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by social loafing as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 27

Social loafing is a social factor.
Refers to the idea that individuals will put in less effort into completing a task when they are part of a group compared to when they are completing it alone. When a group are completing a task together, every individual is being helped which results in the diffusion of responsibility occuring as each individual does not have to work as hard. This results in each person ultimately contributing less towards the task.

Question 28

Social Influence

List 3 factors that might affect the likelihood of social loafing occuring.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 28

• When people are in a smaller group
• If individuals are completing a task or activity they think is important
• If the group is in competition with another group

Question 29

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by culture as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 29

Culture is a social factor.
The social norms within a culture affect collective behaviour. In collectivist cultures, such as China, people are prepared to work just as hard for the good of the group even when they do not need to, whereas individualistic cultures such as the USA, they are focused on individual needs and therefore may be more likely to partake in social loafing. This means it is diffciult to assume that collective cbehaviour will be the same across all cultures.

Question 30

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by personality as a factor affecting crowd and collective behaviour.
locus of control

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 30

Personality is a dispositional factor.
Subsequent research has found that people with an internal locus of control take greater responsibility for their own behaviour and thus are more likely to decide how to behave based on their own idea of what is right or wrong, unlike those with an external locus of control who are more likely to conform to groups behaviour.

Question 31

Social Influence

Explain what is meant by morality as a factor affecting social loafing.

AO1

Crowd and Collective Behaviour

Answer 31

Morality is a dispositional factor.
Whether a person engages in prosocial or antisocial behaviour may also depend on their sense of morality. Morality is defined as their sense of what is right and wrong. If they believe a crowd’s behaviour is morally justified, they are more likely to get involved.