social influence Flashcards
what is conformity?
when a persons behaviour or thinking changes as a result of group pressure
asch’s study (aim, method, results, conclusion)
aim - to investigate group pressure in an unambiguous situation
method - 123 American men, two cards - standard line and 3 comparison lines.
12 trials where the confederates gave the wrong answer
results - participant gave the answer wrong 1/3 of the time
25% never got it wrong
conclusion - people are influenced by group pressure, although many can resist
2 evaluation points of asch’s study
p: one weakness is that the results may only be relevant to 1950’s America.
e : the 1950’s was a particularly conformist time in America. People were scared to behave differently than the majority.
t : therefore the asch effect is not consistent over time, it may only be apparent in certain conditions.
p : another weakness of this research is that the task and situation are artificial.
e : being asked to judge the length of a line with a group of strangers does not reflect everyday life where people conform.
t : therefore the results may not generalise to everyday situations
what is a social factor
you conform because there are traitors of your surroundings that make you feel stronger pressure from other people
what is a dispositional factor
you conform because yoI have a more conformist personality or are less confident
what are the 3 social factors of conformity
group size
anonymity
task difficulty
conformity : what is the social factor group size?
the more people there are in a group, the greater the pressure to conform to the group opinion
asch found that with two confederates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, with 3 it rose to 31.8%. However, adding more confederates made little difference
conformity: evaluation point of group size
one weakness with this explanation is that the group size has different effects depending on the type of task
conformity :what is the social factor anonymity
in asch’s study, participants said that they confirmed because they didn’t want the others to think that they were silly. If group members had anonymity they might feel less group pressure. Asch researched this and found people gave less incorrect answers
conformity :evaluation point of anonymity
one weakness is that asch’s research involved a group of strangers. Other research shows that if group members are friends the effect of anonymity changes.
conformity : what is the social factor task difficulty
if comparison lines are more similar to standard this makes the task harder, this causes conformity to increase
conformity : evaluation point of task difficulty
this is a weakness because people with better expertise were less effected by the task difficulty
conformity : what are the 2 dispositional factors
personality
expertise
conformity : what is the dispositional factor personality
high internal locus of control means that they will conform less.
conformity : evaluation point of personality
one weakness is that locus of control does not seem to have an effect on conformity in familiar situations
conformity : what is the dispositional factor expertise
experience increases your confidence in your opinions and knowledge so it is no surprise that people with greater expertise tend me be less conformist
conformity : evaluation point of expertise
one weakness with this explanation is that focusing on one single factor to explain conformity is simplistic. Being an expert may not always change your conformity
