Social influence Flashcards
What are situational variables?
Proximity in kilograms study the teacher could hear the learner but not see him in the proximity varian where they were in the same room the obedience rate dropped from 65 to. 40 in this version the teacher had to force the learner hand on to the electric shock plate if he refused to place it there himself obedience then dropped to a further 30
On the remote version the experimenter left the room and gave the instructions over the phone the obedience rates then dropped to 20
What is conformity ?
A type of social influence involving a change in belief of behaviour in order to fit in with a group.
What is compliance ?
Is the most superficial form of conformity and occurs when you publicly change your feeling s, beliefs but not privately.
E.g when I went to uni my flatmate were all vegetarian so didn’t eat meat even though I liked it.
What is identification ?
Involves both the public and private changing of feelings or belief but only when in presence of a specific social group your private views change.
I am a vegetarian at uni but eat meat at home.
What is internalisation?
This is the deepest form of conformity. And often results in long term behaviour changes to both public and private feelings beliefs or behaviour it’s usually based on information
I am vegetarian in and out of uni because my flatmate mates told me the benefits of being a vegetarian and why it’s better
What is informational social influence ?
It is an explanation for conformity that is driven by our wish to be correct. It occurs when we lack information can ambiguous situations about something and look to others for guidance
Sherif 1935
No correct answer to the autokinetic
What is normative social influence ?
An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked this may lead to compliance
Asch 1951 very obvious correct answer
They looked to other for approval
Likely lead to compliance
ISI has research support
Answered easy and difficult math problems greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult most true maths ability was poor
People conform when they feel they don’t know the answer isi we assume others know better then us and must be right
Suggest more people conform when it’s hard
ISI affects people differently
Asch found that students were less conformist 28 percent than other participant 37 percent per ring and Spencer 1980 similar study with engineering student very little conformity you are less likely to conform when your off expertise of that area this is a weakness as it means you can’t generalise it to other people
People who aren’t a expertise in that area Perrin and Spencer also did a similar study with engineering students and also found little conformity suggest people of expertise conform less
ISI and nsi are oversimplified
Deutsch two process approach claims that behaviour is either due to nsi or isi but often both processes are involved
E.g Asch conformity reduced with a dissenting participant by reducing nsi social support or Isi more info not always possible to know whether nsi or Isi is at work they may operate independently
This is limitation as it doesn’t show all the processes involved when conforming. Conformity is reduced with a dissenting participant by reducing social support or more info the two process approach claims that behaviour is either due to nsi or Isi.
Asch findings
On average the real participants conformed to the incorrect answers on 37 of the time.
74 % of the participants conformed on at least one critical trial and 25 of the participants never conformed
In the control group no pressure to conform to confederates less than 1 of participants gave wrong answer
Asch procedure
The confederates had agreed in advance what their responses would be when presented the task. The real participant did not known this and was led to believe the other seven participants were also real like them selves. Each person in the room had to state aloud which comparison line a b or c was most like the target line
Group size effect on conformity
The bigger the group the more likely to conform however when it got to 15 conformity rate dropped down. Found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity. Conformity increased with group size but only to a certain point with three confederates conformity to wrong answers rose to 31.8%
Unanimity effect on conformity
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates . Geniune partcipants conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter rate decreased 25 percent
Task difficulty effect on conformity
The harder the task the more likely to conform. Asch found that the harder the task the greater the conformity he found that in all cases conformity increased
Collectivist culture
People who are more collectivist view the self as over lapping with interconnected to others. Collectivism emphasises maintaining relationships and social harmony
Individualist culture
People who are more individualistic view the self as distinct and separate from others individuation emphasis personal goal pursuit and autonomy
Generalisabilty
All Asch participants were male other research suggest women conform more
Study was done in us
Don’t know if other culture conform less or more
Low ecological validity
Line judgement task
Artificial
Which does not reflect conformity in everyday life
Can’t generalise to real life
Zimbardos prison experiment method
Prisoner daily routines were heavily regulated there were 16 rules to follow enforced by guards working in shifts three at a time
Deindividuation losing a sense of personal identity was created
Prisoners names weren’t used only their numbers
Guards had their own uniform wooden club handcuffs key and mirrors shades they were told they had complete power over the prisoners for instance deciding when they can go to the toilet
After the rebellion happened prisoners became subdued anxious and depressed signs that they were becoming institutionalised. Three prisoners were released early because they showed signs of psychological disturbance.
One prisoner went on a hunger strike the guards attempted to force feed him and punished him by putting him in the hole a tiny dark closet
Zimbardo partcipants
21 male university students who volunteered in response to a newspaper advert. The partcipants were selected on the basis of their physical and mental stability and were paid fifteen dollars a day to take part. The partcipants were randomly assigned to one of two social roles prisoners or guards.
To increase realism prisoners were arrested in their homes and delivered to prison blindfolded strip searched delisted and issued with a uniform and number.
What is meant by internal validity?
There was some control over variables. Emotionally stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles or prisoner or guard. Therefore, findings cannot be due to individual personality differences. It must be due to the pressure of the situation.
What is meant by demand characteristics ?
Some of the guards figured out the aim of the experiment. It has been argued the partcipants were just play acting. Their performance was based on stereotypes. However zimbardo argued that the situation was very real. 90% of conversations were about prison life.
Dispositional influences
Fromm 1973 accused zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation. Only a minority of guards behaved in a brutal manner. About a third wanted to apply the rules fairly. The rest tried to help prisoners and sympathised with them . This suggests that some personality influenced that as they didn’t all conform. Zimbardos conclusion were over stated the diffference in the guards behaviour indicated that they were able to decide between right and wrong despite the situational pressures to conform.
Some of the guards were hostile and dehumanising towards the prisoners and were not prevented from treating them unreasonably. For example , they controlled when when they could go to the toilet and woke them in the midddle of the night to stand on parade.
This is an ethical problem as they were not protected from harm as this caused some of the prisoners stress.
What is obedience ?
What was milgrams aim?
Why the German population had followed the order of hitler and slaughtered over ten million Jews gypsies and members of other social groups in the holocaust during the Second World War ?
What was milgrams procedure ?
Partcipants drew lots for their role. A confederate mr Wallace was always the “learner “ while the true participant was always the “teacher” . An “experimenter “ another confederate wore a lab coat. Participants were told they could leave at any time .
