Social influence

Question 1

What is conformity ?

Answer 1

A change in a person;s behaviour/attitudes due to real/imagined pressure from a person/group of people

Question 2

What are the types of conformity

Answer 2

Kelman - Internalisation : when a person truly accepts the norms of a group, long lasting change, public and private change of a person’s behaviour, norm becomes part of the way a person thinks, continues even away from the group
Compliance - Shallowest and shortest change, accept the norms of the group to fit in and be accepted, going along with others, privately a person’s behaviours/ attitudes haven’t changed, superficial change
Identification - Combination of identification and compliance, conform because we identify with other people or group, want to be like them/ adopt our values to reflect theirs, acceptance by the group then validates our own beliefs, public form of change not always private acceptance, change our values over time, begin to identify with other people and group

Question 3

Explanations for conformity

Answer 3

Duestch and Gerard - two process theory : two central human needs - The need to be right (ISI), the need to be liked (NSI)
Normative social influence - About norms, typical way group behaves, want be accepted by group so adapt our behaviour to the norms of the group to be accepted, seek out approval of others, emotional process, temporary change not permanent
Informational - who has the better information, uncertain of how to behave we will look to others who we think have the information we need, changed caused by wanting to do the right thing, cognitive, go along with majority, can result in permanent change, occurs in new, ambiguous and stressful situations

Question 4

A03 for types of conformity

Answer 4

+ Research support for normative social influence - Asch, conformed because feared disapproval
- Are Normative and Informational social influence separate from each other, Asch, didn’t want to stand out, unsure of the answer, operate at same time
- We may not aware of NSI, don’t always know the norms (Nolan et al - people’s energy saving behaviours influenced by their neighbours, pps said behaviour of their neighbours was the least important factor, even though they conformed with their neighbours)

Question 5

Asch conformity study

Answer 5

To study whether people would conform to group pressure
123 US male participants
tested in groups with confederates
2 slides of lines, which line is the same length as the standard line ?
groups of 6-8, one pps rest confederates
all confederates gave right answer first few times
Pre-decided point, all confederates would say the wrong answer
Conformed 33% of the time
25% never conformed
5% conformed every time
conformed because - didn’t want to be reject be the group, uncomfortable with disagreeing, didn’t trust own opinion as group was unanimous
people will conform due to group pressure even when they believe they are right

Question 6

Variables affecting conformity

Answer 6

Group size - conformity increased when group size increased up until a certain point, optimum group size 3 confederates and 1 pts (32%) conformity, conformity levelled out after this
Unanimity - ally introduced to agree with real pts, unanimity broken, conformity 5%, ally acts a role model who presented an alternative way of thinking, a confederate who disagreed with both the group and real pts, conformity 9%, conformity less likely if group’s unanimous position was broken, easier to resist individuals than a group
Task difficulty - original lines had obvious answer, later trials involved the lines being made more similar in length, increasing difficulty, conformity increased but percentage wasn’t reported, hard task look to others for guidance

Question 7

Asch AO3

Answer 7

+Paradigm method, go to way to test conformity, internal reliability
- Artificial task and situation
- Gender bias, only male pts, Neto - females socialised differently to males, respond differently to conformity, results cannot be generalised onto women

Question 8

What are social roles ?

Answer 8

The behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social position/status
Roles guide our behaviour
Socialised to conform to social roles, we are rejected by our group

Question 9

Zimbardo prison study

Answer 9

Study for conformity to social roles
Mock prison in basement of Stanford University
24 male volunteer students
participants were randomly allocated to either the role of a prisoner or a guard
Prisoners arrested at home and taken to real police station to be processed
taken to ‘prison’ given ID number and prison uniforms
Guard given uniform, sunglasses and a night stick
Refer to prisoners by their numbers
prisoners allowed 3 meals a day
Guards told to maintain order in the prison without using physical control
Study was due to last over a two week period
pts began to conform to social roles
Guards began to mistreat prisoners
Began to forget they were in a study, referring to themselves as ‘guard or ‘prisoner’
5 prisoners released early due to extreme reactions
Cancelled after 5 days
people will conform to social roles
Conform to characteristics believed to be associated with the role
justify their behaviour
don’t always need to understand/agree with what they are doing

Question 10

AO3 for Zimbardo’s study

Answer 10

+High controlled experiment, increases internal validity
- Ethics, protection from harm
+ Supporting research, McDermott - Pts acted like the prison was real to them, 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life

Question 11

What is obedience ?

Answer 11

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order
Social influence in response to a direct order from an authority figure

Question 12

Agentic state

Answer 12

When a person believes that someone else will take responsibility for their own actions
Person shifts from the autonomous state, where they believe they will take responsibility for their own actions, to agentic state, called the agentic shift
People are more likely to obey when they are in the agentic state as they do not believe they will suffer the consequences of those actions
Believe they are acting on behalf of their agent
Conditioned to obey people with more authority than due to being brought up in a social heirarchy
Milgram - teachers actions were guilt free because they didn’t make the choice to administer the shock but rather was directed by someone else

Question 13

Legitmacy of authority

Answer 13

Legitimate authority is perceived as having genuine authority therefore gives them the right to give orders and punish
Hierarchical society, conditioned to obey those higher than us therefore they take responsibility for u so we give up some autonomy to let them exercise some control over us
Milgram’s study - experimenter - white coat in a lab, yale university - image and prestige

Question 14

A03 for agentic state and legitmacy of authority

Answer 14

+ Research support, agentic state, when asked who was in charge pts would say the experimenter, took responsibility for their actions, find it hard to disobey the orders of the experimenter
- Doesn’t explain all examples of obedience - Police Battalion, German police during the war shot Polish civilians even though they were given the chance to be re-assigned to a different duty
+ legitimacy of authority, explains cultural differences in obedience studies as different cultures have different attitudes towards obedience, explains why obedience ranged from 16- 85%
- Doesn’t explain all disobedience, people still disobeyed within Milgram’s study, innate levels of disobedience can have a greater effect than legitimacy of authority

Question 15

What are the situational factors that affect obedience

Answer 15

Proximity
Location
Uniform

Question 16

Proximity

Answer 16

If the teacher and learner were in different rooms - Obedience : 65%
Same room - 40%
Remote - Conformity : 20.5%
Pts pretended to give shocks
Decreased proximity = psychologically distance from consequences of actions
increased responsibility = more likely to obey

Question 17

Location

Answer 17

Pts located in Yale - Obedience : 65%
Run down office building - Obedience - 47.5%
University gave the study legitmacy and authority, made pts more likely to obey
In office building, less prestige, pt

Question 18

Uniform

Answer 18

When in uniform - obedience 65%
The uniform of the scientist gives legitimate authority
When experimenter wore normal clothes - Obedience - 20%
Uniform symbol of authority which encourages obedience as is seen as legitimate
1969 - California police department change uniforms to civilian style to improve community relations, number of assaults on officers doubled, 8 years later changed back numbers dropped

Question 19

AO3 for situational factors of obedience

Answer 19

+ Research evidence : Bushman - female confederates gave orders to passers by, Guard 72%, Suit 48%, Beggar 52%
- Cross cultural support not always consistent, Smith and bond - Only 2 non western countries, others that were included not that culturally different from the UK, replication of Milgram’s study
+ Cross cultural support - Meeus and Raaijmakers : Pts were ordered to say stressful things to an interviewee, 92% obeyed, when person giving orders wasn’t present obedience decreased

Question 20

What are dispositional explanations for obedience

Answer 20

Adorno suggested that people are prejudice as a result of their personality
Certain personality types could lead to a person to become prejudice more easily
Interested in explaining why Nazi soldiers had obeyed orders
Carried out interview’s and conducted personality tests on 2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitude towards other racial group
F-scale : fascist scale
Pts who score high on the f scale had an authoritarian personality
Exaggerated respect for authority
More likely to obey orders and look down on people of inferior status

Question 21

How does the authoritarian personality ?

Answer 21

Very disciplined upbringing - Parents harsh and show little affection and issue severe punishments
Unconscious hostility - Consciously have very high opinions of their parents, unconsciously feel aggressive towards parents
Displacement - Displaced onto safer targets, weaker and unable to hurt them
Submissive to those of higher status and dismissive to inferiors

Question 22

What are the characteristics of authoritarian personality

Answer 22

Rigid cognitive style - Black and white thinking
general hostility towards other groups - dominating and bullying manner
intolerant of ambiguity - cannot tolerate behaviour that is ‘wrong’ in any way
Submissive attitudes towards authority figures - respectful to authority figures but also expect respect from those they perceive to be below them

Question 23

What is resistance to social influence

Answer 23

Ability to withstand social pressure to conform or obey authority
Influenced by situational and dispositional factors
Those around us not conforming we are more likely to resist - social support

Question 24

Social support and resisting conformity

Answer 24

Having social support breaks unanimity of majority, allows us to see an alternative way instead of conforming to the norms of the group
Social support = Role models for independent behavior
Example - Asch, ally conformity 5%

Question 25

Social support and resisting obedience

Answer 25

Act as a role model for disobedience Rest of the group can copy the role model, which frees the rest of the group from their own conscience Disobedient role model, challenges the legitimacy of authority figure, makes it easier for the rest of the group to disobey Example - Milgram, disobedient ally, 10% obedience

Question 26

AO3 for social support

Answer 26

+ real word research support, Teen Fresh Start USA, 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescents resist peer pressure to smoke, social support of slightly older mentor, those with mentor less likely to smoke than the control group + Research support for dissenting peers, Allen and Levine - conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in Asch type study, even if the dissenter had vision issues, free of group pressure +Historical events, Rosenstrasse Protest, German women resisted soldiers orders to leave, social support from women who gathered there

Question 27

Rotter Locus of Control

Answer 27

People differ in their beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions are dependent on what they do (internal locus of control) or an event outside their personal control (external locus of control) Highly internal - Greater resistance to social influence Low internal/Low external - Less resistance to social influence

Question 28

What are features of an internal LOC

Answer 28

Actions are largely a consequence of your own ability and effort Display independence in thought and behaviour Rely less on the opinion of others and better to resist social influence

Question 29

What are the features of external LOC

Answer 29

Believe they have no control over the things that happen to them Passive approach Less personal responsibility for actions and less likely to display independent behaviour Likely to accept the influence of others

Question 30

Characteristics of high internals

Answer 30

active seekers of info that is useful to them, don't rely on the opinions of others less vulnerable to social influence greater sense of self efficacy, self confidence Achievement orientated, more likely to become leaders Better ability to resist coercion from others example - stimulation of prisoner of war camp : internals better to resist the attempts of an interrogator to gain info

Question 31

AO3 for LOC

Answer 31

- Limited role of LOC, rotter stated was only a factor of resistance to social influence, other factors involved + research support, holland - repeated Milgram's baseline study and measured whether internals and externals, 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock 23% externals did not - Contradictory research, twenge - analysed data from American studies over a 40 year period, data showed that over time people have become more resistance to obedience but also more external

Question 32

What is minority influence

Answer 32

A form of social influence where the minority persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours

Question 33

Minority influence - Moscovici

Answer 33

Groups of 6 pts asked to judge a set of 36 blue coloured slides Slides varied in intensity Pts had to say whether slide was blue or green Groups had 2 confederates consistently said the slides were green Pts agreed with minority 8.42% of time

Question 34

Moscovici - Variations

Answer 34

2nd version where minority were consistent 'green' 24 times 'blue' 12 times Pts agreed with minority 1.25% of times 3rd version groups had no confederates - just had to decide colour of the slide Wrong 0.25% of time Certain traits helped minority influence

Question 35

Factors affecting minority influence

Answer 35

Consistency - Consistent in views increased interest, members of the group say the same thing (synchronic consistency) Same thing over time (diachronic consistency) , consistent minority allows members of majority to question their own views Commitment - Committed to the cause, engage in extreme behaviour to draw attention, actions present a risk will show more commitment, augmentation principle - assign greater influence if there are other factors present that normally produce a different outcome Flexibility - Nemeth : consistency can be off putting to the majority, seen as rigid, unwilling to compromise (dogmatic), minority prepared to adapt their point of view, reasonable and accept valid counterarguments

Question 36

How do these factors affect minority influence ?

Answer 36

Make the majority pay attention and think about minority views Alternative views allows members of majority to stop and think more likely to pay attention if they are consistent, committed and flexible encourage conversion of members of majority more conversion happens gathers momentum, snowball effect Minority view becomes majority view

Question 37

AO3 minority influence

Answer 37

- Artificial tasks, doesn't present how minority attempt to change majority view in real world - Does minority influence really work, people in society encouraged to fit in, minority groups will always be marginalised + Research evidence, Wood et al - meta analysis of 100 similar studies, minority who were more consistent were more successful, external reliability

Question 38

How does minority influence lead to social change

Answer 38

1. Drawing attention through social proof 2.Consistency 3.Deeper processing of the issue 4.Augmentation principle - personal risk demonstrates a strong belief and reinforces their message 5.The snowball effect 6.Social Cryptomnesia - people begin to forget the events that took place before and caused the change Example - Gay Rights

Question 39

AO3 for social change

Answer 39

+Minority influence explains change, Nemeth inspire thinking that encourages social change, alternative ideas, actively thinks, better decisions and more creative solutions - Perceived as deviants limits effectiveness, people don't like to be seen like this align with minority, reduced support, people fail to focus on the message itself - Research evidence for social norms intervention, Nolan et al - energy saving habits in California, hang messages on their front door 'most residents try to reduce their energy use' significant decrease in energy consumption

Question 40

Milgram's shock study

Answer 40

Observe whether people would obey a figure of authority when told to harm another person, influence of a destructive authority figure 40 male volunteers, randomly selected Pts 'teacher' Confederate 'learner' randomly allocated, pts had to ask the confederate a series of questions Confederate got answer wrong, pts had to give them electric shock Electric shocks incremented by 15 volts, ranging from 300V to 450V, 330 were marked as 'lethal' Pts thought the shock was real Experimenter role was to give a series of orders when pts refused to admit a shock prods - first 3 demanded obedience to science final prod obedience to the confederate 100% of pts went up to 300V 65% to 450V Only 12.5% stopped at 300V Majority of pts were prepared to give lethal electric shocks

Question 41

AO3 for Milgram's shock study

Answer 41

- lack of ecological validity, wouldn't not encounter in real life - Ethical issues - psychological harm, inflicted signs of psychological and physiological distress such as trembling, sweating, and nervous laughter + Real life application, research opened eyes to the problem of obedience and so may reduce future obedience in response to destructive authority figures, why Nazi's obeyed Hitler

Question 42

AO3 for authoritarian personality

Answer 42

+ Research support, Milgram conducted an interview with a sample of the original pts and had them complete the f-scale questionnaire, obedient pts scored higher on the f-scale then the disobedient - Flawed self report, response bias anyone who answered yes to each Qs would end up with a higher authoritarian score, validity - Not a full explanation, cannot explain all obedience, Germans highly obedient and prejudice behaviour even though did not have the same upbringing and same personality