Social influence Flashcards

Question

What other study supports that group size doesn't increase conformity after 3-5 ppl

Answer 1

Hogg and Vaughan said conformity reaches its full extent with a group size of 3-5

Answer 2

when one confederate disagreed with the majority, conformity of the ppt dropped significantly

Answer 3

When the comparison lines were made more similar in length conformity increased as it was harder to tell, so this suggests an increase in informational social influence

Answer 4

High internal validity because it was a lab experiment with strict control over extraneous variables

Answer 5

The study was done in 1950 in america so societal context may have influenced results e.g. people were afraid to be different in this time period due to the communist threat in america i.e. mcarthyism

Answer 6

24 male American undergrad students, they volunteered to be in the study and were paid

Answer 7

To see how readily people conform to social roles they are assigned with in a simulated environment and essentially why good people do bad things

Answer 8

The basement of the Stanford university psychology building was converted in a prison simulation

Answer 9

The pps were assigned roles as guards or prisoners. Prisoners were only reffered to as their assigned number. No one was allowed to leave. Guards worked 8 hour shifts. Prisoners could only go in the hallway and to the toilet, guards would enforce this. Physical violence was not permitted.

Answer 10

the guards and prisoners had different uniforms, the guards had props like sunglasses and whistles and handcuffs

Answer 11

He acted as a guard but was mainly there for observing.

Answer 12

Identification occured quickly for both prisoners and guards in their roles. Guards began to aggressively harass and torment prisoners, afterward admitting they enjoyed doing so and enjoyed their new found power and control. Prisoners believed the prison was real. The prisoners became more submissive and the guards became more assertive.

Answer 13

Prisoners would only discuss prison issues (forgetting about their real lives) and snitch on other prisoners to the guards to please the guards. This is significant evidence that the prisoners were acting this way because they believed the prison was real and not because of demand characteristics. Some even sided with the guards when other prisoners broke rules.

Answer 14

Was schedueled for 2 weeks but was terminated after 6 days

Answer 15

It has real life applications, it changed the way US prisons are run e.g. beehive style prisons are not used anymore because they reinforce the difference between guards and prisoners.

Answer 16

yes because male american students were used so results cannot be generalised to other cultures or for women. e.g. collectivist cultures such as japan or china may have had different results because the emphasis on the group rather than the individual

Answer 17

demand characteristics may explain the results, guards later claimed that they were acting, or even replicating guard behaviour they had seen in films

Answer 18

lack of fully informed consent as zimbardo himself didnt know how far the prisoners would take the roles. pps were also not protected from psychological harm, one prisoner had to be released because of excessive screaming and crying.

Answer 19

When a person believes that someone else is responsible for their actions. Like if your boss tells you to unlock the front door, you do it because you are acting on behalf of your agent, and believe if someone breaks in they will take responsibility.

Answer 20

Agency theory suggests agentic shift is when someone goes from autonomic state (believing they are responsible for their own actions) to believing someone else is responsible for their actions (agentic state)

Answer 21

This describes how legitimate a persons authority is seen as, based on how morally good or bad they seem as a person, as well as their legitimacy in terms of authority, which explains why people are more likely to obey someone if they are wearing a high vis

Answer 22

To observe whether people would obey an authority figure when told to harm someone

Answer 23

40 american men selected by random sampling

Answer 24

pps were told that they were 'teachers' and that the 'student' was another ppt in the study (it was a confederate acting) they were instructed to ask the student a question and if they got it wrong they had to electrute the student, with the voltage increasing each time. 330 volts was marked as lethal. the experimenter in the room who had given the instruction gave prompts such as 'continue' or 'administer the shock'

Answer 25

All ppts went up to 300 V, 65% went to 450 V. Only 12.5% stopped at 300. The vast majority were willing to give lethal shocks to the confederate.

Answer 26

Proximity of authority, the experimenter being in the same room increased obedience. Location- pps obeyed more when the study was conducted at a prestigeous university such as Stanford. Uniform-pps obeyed more when the researcher was wearing a lab coat, possibly because this increased legitimacy of authority.

Answer 27

-The pps were debriefed at the end and made aware of the real aim of the study - Real life applications of obedience, e.g. nazi germany. - high internal validity as 70% of pps believed the shocks to be real - Highly replicable and has been repeated around the world with similar results -External validity (Hofling et al found that in a study, 95% of nurses followed the doctors orders of giving a patient double the dosage of medication prescribed on the bottle

Answer 28

-Lack of internal valdiity- argument that because it was conducted at stanford the results may have been more due to trust than obedience - Deception (informed consent could not be given) and psychological harm - lack of ecological validity, shooting someone in the face is different to flicking a switch

Answer 29

How credible the authority figure is perceived as being. Milgrams study the researcher was perceived as genuine and credible so obedience can be justified more, e.g. this is why kids would be more likely to listen to a parent or teacher than a random person

Answer 30

authoritarian personality

Answer 31

people with certain characteristics are more likely to be obedient, this is measured using the F scale

Answer 32

you believe you should fully submit to authority figures and supress your own beliefs.

Answer 33

psychodynamic theory, that an adults personality stems from childhood. so if a child has very harsh discplinarian parents they idolise their parents but subconciously resent them, and displace their anger onto other groups or individuals.

Answer 34

Doesn't explain authoritarian personality across whole political spectrum as it measures an individuals likeliness to sympathise with fascism, but doesnt take into account authoritarian personality on left political extremism such as communism

Answer 35

Low, because it can't explain many real life examples of obedience. it is highly unlikely all nazi soldiers had an authoritarian personality

Answer 36

locus of control is a measure of an individuals sense of control over their life, so to what extent they believe their life is in their own control or is due to external factors such as fate or god

Answer 37

they feel they have very limited control over their own lives and it is due to something external like fate

Answer 38

they believe they have total control over what happens in their life

Answer 39

less because they take responsibility for their own actions and see themselves as more in control, whereas external locus of control obey more because they believe someone or something else is responsible for their actions and they are acting for their agent and put responsibility onto them

Answer 40

they are more likely to be leaders than followers

Answer 41

"i got this award because it was meant to be-it was my destiny"

Answer 42

"i got this award because i worked hard for it"

Answer 43

those who scored highest for having external locus of control were most likely to be persuaded and to obey

Answer 44

other studies have shown factors such as social support and past experiences have a greater effect on conformity and obedience than locus of control

Answer 45

minority influence

Answer 46

lab experiment, ppts were in a group where there was two confederates as the minority and 4 ppts as the majority. they were shown 36 slides of different shades of blue and were asked to state if they were blue or green. The 2 confederates said they were green 2/3 of the time, so the study was trying to determine what percentage of confederates would agree.

Answer 47

when the confederates were consistently saying green, 8% of ppt's said the slides were green

Answer 48

Moscovici (if they are so determined to stay consistent it makes the other members think there is something worth changing their views for)

Answer 49

consistency, commitment and flexibility

Answer 50

yes, shows the minority are rational and compromising so the majority are more likely to change their viewpoint, supported by Nemeth 1986

Answer 51

Nemeth 1986, a group had to negotiate how much insurance money to pay someone, the confederates that were flexible were more convincing and changed the view of the majority more

Answer 52

have real life applications as can show minority groups how to have the most significant impact

Answer 53

doesn't reflect complexities of real life minority influence as artificial tasks were used, lacks ecological validity as has limited real life application

Answer 54

- uniform increases legitimacy as shown in milgrams study. -location, if the location is linked to higher status and legitimacy then obedience is increased, milgrams study had higher obedience at yale university than a run down office. also, a person is less likely to obey if they are unable to see the negative consequences of their actions.