Social Influence Flashcards
What is conformity?
- change in behaviour/ideals/beliefs
- usually to fit in with a group
3 types of conformity:
- compliance
- internalisation
- identification
What is compliance?
- temporary change in public behaviour
- private views maintained
Give an example of compliance:
- being quiet in class then loud when teacher leaves
What is internalisation?
- both public behaviour and private views change because of new information
Give an example of internalisation:
changing political views to fit in with friends
What is identification?
- behaviours and views change to fit in with a group
- temporary or permanent depending on desire to fit in
Give an example of identification:
starting smoking because your friends do
2 explanations for conformity:
- informational social influence
- normative social influence
What is informative social influence?
- agreeing with majority view
- often in unfamiliar situations
- other group perceived to be right
Give an example of informative social influence:
not knowing an answer to a question but agreeing with majority answer
What type of conformity does informative social influence lead to?
internalisation
What is normative social influence?
- agree with majority view to be accepted by group
- often caused by peer pressure
Give an example of normative social influence:
smoking due to peer pressure, privately disagreeing with it
What type of conformity does normative social influence lead to?
compliance
What did Asch’s research focus on?
variables affecting conformity
What did Asch find in the increased group size variation of his study?
- up to 3 confederates = conformity rose to 32%
- adding more after this made little difference
What did Asch find in the disrupted unanimity variation of his study?
- added confederate who disagreed with others
- resulted in reducing conformity & participant becoming more independent
What did Asch find in the increased task difficulty variation of his study?
- standard line and comparison lines are more similar length
- conformity increased (due to ISI as situation is ambiguous)
What did Zimbardo’s research investigate?
conformity to social roles
What is a social role?
the role people play subconsciously as members of society e.g. parent, child student
- has expectations of appropriate behaviour
What did Milgram’s research focus on?
obedience
How does uniform affect obedience?
- if dressed as authority figure, authority is perceived = more likely to obey
How does proximity affect obedience?
when further away from consequence of actions e.g. you can’t see the person your actions are affecting, more likely to obey as you can’t visualise consequence
How does location affect obedience?
when in a more prestigious location e.g. Yale uni, more likely to obey as you think experiment is more realistic
What is proactive interference?
old info interferes with new info
new info is forgotten
What is agentic state?
person is acting as an agent of someone else
no responsibility for actions
What is autonomous state?
aware of consequences & responsibility of actions
independent; acting on own behalf
What is agentic shift?
change from autonomous state to agentic state
What are binding factors?
aspect of situation that allow person to ignore or minimise damages of behaviour & reduce moral strain
What is legitimacy of authority?
where some people have positions of authority due to being entrusted by society with powers e.g. police & punishment
Outline research into cultural differences affecting obedience:
Milgram replicated in Australia = 16% went to 450V
Germany = 85% went to 450V
What are 2 explanations of resistance to social influence?
social support & locus of control
What is social support?
easier to resist social influence if other people present aren’t conforming
How can social support reduce conformity? Give a study that supports this:
if someone is present that’s not conforming, less likely to conform
Asch variation - disrupted unanimity - conformity dropped to 55% from 70%
How can social support reduce obedience? Give a study to support your answer:
if someone disobeys first, more likely to follow and disobey
Milgram two peers rebel - 3 teachers, 2 confederate teachers refused to continue shocks = obedience of last teacher dropped to 10%
What is a locus of control?
individual differences in people’s beliefs & expectations about what controls events in their lives
What is an internal locus of control?
- believe what happens to them is consequence of own behaviour
- more likely to resist social influence
What is an external locus of control?
- people believe what happens to them is controlled by external factors e.g. luck & fate
- less likely to resist social influence
What is minority influence?
where one small group influences a larger group
What are 3 processes used in minority influence?
commitment
consistency
flexibility
What is commitment?
minority should engage in extreme activities to draw attention to cause
What is the augmentation principle?
where minority take part in activities that put them at risk to increase majority interest
What is the snowball effect?
where consistency, commitment and flexibility interact and eventually cause majority to convert to minority
