Social Influence

Question 1

Compliance

Answer 1

• The person conforms publicly but continues privately to disagree
• It is the shallowest form of conformity

Question 2

Identification

Answer 2

• The person conforms publicly as well as privately because they have identified with the group and they feel a sense of group membership
• The change of belief or behaviour is often temporary

Question 3

Internalisation

Answer 3

• The person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised and accepted the views of the group
• It is the deepest form of conformity

Question 4

Normative Social Influence

Answer 4

This is really just following the crowd in order to fit in with the ‘norm’ and be liked by the group.

Question 5

Informational Social Influence

Answer 5

A person will conform because they genuinely believe the majority to be right as we look to them for the right answer.

Question 6

Solomon Asch (1956) Line Experiment - Procedure

Answer 6

• 123 American male students who thought they were taking part in a study of visual perception
• PPTs placed in groups with between 7-9 others, who were confederates.
• Had to say which comparison line. A, B or C was the same as stimulus line
• On 12/18 ‘critical’ trials the confederates gave identical wrong answers
• Real PPTs were always answering last or last but one

Question 7

Solomon Asch (1956) Line Experiment - Findings

Answer 7

• On 12 critical trials, 37% of the responses made by true PPTs were incorrect
• 25% never conformed on any of the trials • Control: 1% inaccurate response

Question 8

Distortion of action

Answer 8

Didn’t want to ‘stand out’ so conformed to group publicly but not privately.

Question 9

Distortion of judgement

Answer 9

Doubted their accuracy.

Question 10

Group size

Answer 10

Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates, thus increasing the size of the majority. Conformity increased with group size, but only up to a point, levelling off when the majority was greater than three.

Question 11

Unanimity

Answer 11

The extent to which all members of the group agree. In Asch’s study, the majority was unanimous when all the confederates selected the same comparison line. This produced the greatest conformity in naïve Pp.

Question 12

Task difficulty

Answer 12

Asch’s line-judging task is more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer. Conformity increases because naïve Pp assume the majority is right.

Question 13

Evaluation of Asch’s study

Answer 13

• Artificial situation and task - low external validity. Demand characteristics may have occurred
• Limited application of findings - only men from US an individualist culture (care about themselves). Collectivist cultures (i.e. China – care about others)have found higher conformity rates

Question 14

Social roles

Answer 14

The parts people play as members of various social groups e.g parent, child, teacher etc. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role, e.g caring, obedient or aggressive

Question 15

Social Identity theory

Answer 15

We favour our own group (in group) over any group to which we do not belong (out group).

Question 16

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 16

Attempts to explain the violent and brutal conditions often found in prisons had previously used dispositional attribution
- The condition of prisons are due to the nature of the prison guards and the prisoners.

Question 17

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Procedure

Answer 17

25 male volunteers
• Study into ‘prison life’
• Healthy
• Randomly allocated to ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’
• Local police recruited
• Blindfolded, sprayed with disinfectant, given numbers to memorize
• Referred to by number and supervised all the time
• Given work shifts
• Lined up to be counted
• The guards wore khaki shirts and trousers, dark glasses and carried wooden batons
• The guards were allowed to make up the rules

Question 18

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Guards

Answer 18

• Within a very short time both guards and prisoners were settling into their new roles, the guards adopting theirs quickly and easily.
• Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner, apparently enjoying it. Other guards joined in, and other prisoners were also tormented.
• The prisoners were taunted with insults and petty orders, they were given pointless and boring tasks to accomplish, and they were generally dehumanised.

Question 19

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Results

Answer 19

• The guards took to their roles with such eagerness that the study had to be discontinued after six days instead of the proposed 14
• The prisoners rebelled, ripped their uniforms and swore at the guards – who retaliated with fire extinguishers…
• Some prisoners exhibited passive behaviour, depression, crying and anxiety

Question 20

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Conclusions

Answer 20

• The “prison environment” was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behavior
• (none of the participants who acted as guards had shown sadistic tendencies before the study)
• People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play
• Especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of prison guards
• The roles that people play shape their attitudes and behavior.

Question 21

Gamson (1982)

Answer 21

29 out of 33 Pp rebelled when asked to support the oil company. 88% rebelled.

Question 22

Holland

Answer 22

Repeated Milgram’s study. Measured if internal or external
37% of internals didn’t continue to highest shock level. Only 23% of externals didn’t continue.

Question 23

Commitment

Answer 23

Minorities can exert influence by showing dedication, i.e. being willing to make sacrifices and take risks if necessary.

Question 24

Flexibility

Answer 24

Majority opinions shifts more if the minority is flexible, accepting and considering valid counter arguments.

Question 25

Consistency

Answer 25

According to minority influence research, the influence of a minority is most effective when it is consistent:
- DIACHRONIC CONSISTENCY, where a person maintains a consistent position over time.
- SYNCHRONIC CONSISTENCY, where there is agreement among members of the minority group.

Question 26

Moscovici (1985)

Answer 26

• His sample consisted of 172 female participants who were told that they were taking part in a colour
  perception task.
• The participants were placed in groups of six and
  shown 36 slides, which were all varying shades of blue. The participants had state out loud the colour of each slide.
• Two of the six participants were confederates and
  in one condition (consistent) the two confederates said that all 36 slides were green; in the second condition (inconsistent) the confederates said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue.

Question 27

Evaluating Moscovici’s study

Answer 27

• Lacks ecological validity as they were in a laboratory setting
• Biased sample – gender biased as all ppts were female
• Lacks mundane realism – choosing colours has no real bearing on real life
  consequences, people may take more care not to be influenced if it affected their life

Question 28

Evolutionary theory

Answer 28

• The tendency to form attachments is INNATE
• This tendency is present in both infants and mothers