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Psychology - Paper 1 > Social influence > Flashcards

Social influence Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of social influence?

A

The scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations e.g. conformity and obedience

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2
Q

What is the definition of conformity?

A

Type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to be in line with a majority. Often in response to real or imagined group pressure

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3
Q

What is informational social influence (ISI)?

A

Conforming to be right
Converted to that way of thinking
Likely in ambiguous situations
Feel others are more knowledgeable and need to reduce uncertainty

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4
Q

What is normative social influence (NSI)?

A

Conforming to be liked
To be accepted not rejected
Temporary
Gain acceptance
Unambiguous

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5
Q

What are the three different types of conformity?

A

Compliance
Identification
Internalisation

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6
Q

What is compliance?

A

Individuals go along with the group to gain approval
Doesn’t result in a change of underlying attitude, only in publicly expressed views

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7
Q

What is identification?

A

Elements of compliance and internalisation. Accepts behaviours and attitudes they are adopting as true, but do so to be accepted as a member of the group

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8
Q

What is internalisation?

A

Individuals go along with a group due to sharing their views. Both private and public acceptance of the groups views

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9
Q

Who did research into conformity?

A

Asch

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10
Q

What was Asch’s procedure?

A

123 male undergraduates
Asked to estimate which of three comparison lines was the same length as the target line
Tested in groups of 7-9, only one was real the rest were confederates
Real pps was placed last or second last
Two neutral trials at the beginning where the confederates answered correctly
18 trials in total - 12 critical and 6 neutral

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11
Q

What were Asch’s findings?

A

Conformity rate of 33%
1/4 didn’t conform on any critical trials
1/2 conformed on 6 or more trials
1 in 20 conformed on all 12 critical trials

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12
Q

How did Asch confirm that his study was unambiguous?

A

By doing a control condition with no fake pps - mistakes on 1% of the trials

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13
Q

What did Asch find when he interviewed the pps after?

A

Majority who conformed continued to privately trust their own perceptions and judgements but changed their behaviour publicly

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14
Q

What are the positives of Asch’s study?

A

High internal validity as high control - know that IV causes DV.

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15
Q

What are the limitations of Asch’s study?

A

Low mundane realism
Low ecological validity
Therefore hard to generalise onto entire population

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16
Q

What is the evaluation of Asch’s research?

A

Shows independence more than conformity - 2/3 didn’t conform
Affected by androcentrism - shows a beta bias

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17
Q

What three variables affect conformity?

A

Task difficulty
Group size
Unanimity

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18
Q

What did Asch find when he made the task more difficult?

A

Made lines more similar in length - conformity increased as it’s an ambiguous task. ISI not NSI

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19
Q

What did Asch find when he increased the group size?

A

Little conformity when majority was only 1 or 2 people
Under pressure from 3 people = 30% conformity
But further increases in size did not increase conformity

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20
Q

What did Asch find when he broke unanimity within the group?

A

Conformity dropped from 33% to 5.5%

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21
Q

What is the evaluation of factors influencing conformity?

A

Controlled lab setting - internal validity - lacks mundane realism
Gender bias - Eagley
Nomothetic - don’t acknowledge individual differences

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22
Q

What is the procedure of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

A

24 random male guards and prisoners
Basement of university
Guards wore reflective silver glass - can’t see eyes - inhumane - uniforms
Pps paid $15 a day
Prisoners blindfolded - no control - arrested outside house
Numbers not names
Stripped on entry

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23
Q

Who studied how pps conform to social roles?

A

Zimbardo

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24
Q

What were Zimbardo’s findings?

A

Prisoners - followed rules, didn’t have control, rebel/hunger strike
Guards - some dominant, others not, power
Zimbardo - prison superintendent and psychologist - may have forgotten aims of study
Guards felt guilt afterwards
Prisoners suffered
Evil>good

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25
What is the evaluation of Zimbardo's experiment?
Ethics - approved by committee and followed the guidelines, however pps were harmed - hunger strike, though Zimbardo banned physical violence and provided a debrief and counselling Gender bias (beta bias) - Eagley - meta analysis - females more likely to be influenced by opinions whereas males are more likely to hold their ground
26
How does Zimbardo's experiment have relevance to real life?
Abu Graib prison - POWS exposed to high levels of torture and abuse - strong correlations with the Stanford prison study
27
Outline Milgram's study into obedience to authority.
Took place in Yale university 'Randomly' assigned learner or teacher Shocks ranged from 15-450 volts 45 volts given to teacher at beginning to make it easier for them to give shocks to the learner Learner stopped answering after 315 volts
28
What were the qualitative findings of visible effects on the pps from Milgram's study?
Sweating Trembling Stutter Groan Bite their lip Dig fingernails in Nervous laughter
29
What were the quantative findings from Milgram's study?
No one stopped below 300 volts 9 stopped at 315 when the learner stopped answering 65% (16) went up to 450 volts
30
What were the prompts given by the researcher when the teacher hesitated?
Please continue/go on Experiment requires you continue Absolutely essential you continue Have no choice, you must go on
31
How does Hoffling's research add ecological validity to Milgram's lab study?
Fake doctors asked nurses to give double dose of a fake medicine and ask for signed permission later 22/23 real nurses did it Demonstrates obedience to authority
32
How might Milgram's study be seen as unethical?
Baumrid - Pps not properly protected from harm HOWEVER Debrief was given 1yr psychiatrist found no evidence of harm 83% of the pps glad they took part
33
What is the issue and debate for Milgram's study?
Gender bias - All male sample means androcentric bias HOWEVER Blass - 9 replication studies with a mix of men and women - 8/9 found no gender differences
34
What is a buffer?
Anything that distances you from consequences of your actions
35
What were the five different variations of Milgram's study?
Proximity Touch proximity Venue Remote authority Legitimacy of experimenter
36
What was the obedience rate for the proximity variation of Milgram's study?
40%
37
What was the obedience rate for the touch proximity variation of Milgram's study?
30%
38
What was the obedience rate for the remote authority variation of Milgram's study?
20.5%
39
What was the obedience rate for the venue variation of Milgram's study?
47.5%
40
What was the obedience rate for the legitimacy of the experimenter variation of Milgram's study?
20%
41
What is legitimacy of authority?
Seen as legitimate = justified in their position = more power in a situation
42
What does the agentic state suggest?
In normal situations, the autonomous individual makes their own decisions In presence of legitimate authority, agentic shift occurs and responsibility give to authority figure Become an instrument of authority and feel no personal responsibility
43
What are the two social psychological explanations of obedience
Legitimacy of authority Agentic state
44
What is the dispositional explanation of obedience?
Authoritarian personality
45
What is an authoritarian personality?
A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience
46
Why may a person have an authoritarian personality?
Harsh and punitive upbringing - fear of parents so excessively respectful to authority Little love - hatred of parents so anger and hate displaced onto others
47
What is the issue and debate for dispositional explanations of obedience?
Culture bias - Doesn't explain certain situations e.g. pre-war Germany - unlikely they all had an authoritarian personality and therefore alternative explanation much more likely
48
What is an F-scale?
A test to determine if you have an authoritarian personality
49
Who created the F-scale?
Adorno
50
How is Adorno's F scale supported by research?
Elms and Milgram - 20 obedient and 20 disobedient pps. Did several personality Q's and open ended (mother and father) questions Obedient pps scored higher on F-scale than disobedient Obedient less close to parents
51
What is a problem of using questionnaires in Elms and Milgram's obedience study?
Potential for demand characteristics Could lie Conclusions of F scale may not be valid
52
What is meant by the term 'resistance to social influence'?
Ways in which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice
53
What are some examples to resistance to social influence in research?
Asch - 67% trials resisted Hoffling - 1 nurse refused Milgram - 35% stopped before 450 volts Zimbardo - Not all guards conformed to their social role
54
What were Allen and Levine's 3 conditions and what were the results?
Asch type study: 1 - no support - 97% conformity 2 - one other supporter with normal vision who gave correct answers - 36% conformity 3 - one other supporter with thick glasses and gave some incorrect answers - 64% conformity
55
What is Locus of Control (LOC)?
Extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them
56
What is an Internal LOC?
You make things happen "look what I can do" "I can determine my future"
57
What is an external LOC?
Things happen to you "Why bother" "There is nothing I can do about my future"
58
Which type of LOC is more likely to conform?
External
59
Outline Spector's research supporting Rotter's LOC scale.
157 students Found individuals with the a high internal LOC were less likely to conform - only in NSI situations ISI - no difference suggesting that NSI is more powerful than ISI when considering LOC
60
What is minority influence?
An individual or small group of people influence a larger group to change their attitudes or behaviour towards an issue
61
Which four behavioural styles did Moscovici suggest made it more likely for a group to be successful converting the majority?
Commitment Flexibility Consistency Social relevancy
62
Which study supports the idea of consistency in change a majority groups behaviour?
Moscovici
63
Outline Moscovici's study into consistency.
6 women shown 36 blue-coloured slides of varying intensity State whether the slides were blue or green Group 1 - two confederates who said green consistently Group 2 - two confederates who inconsistently said green (24/36) Group 3 - no confederates Group 1 - 8.42% agreed Group 2 - 1.25% agreed Group 3 - 0.25 wrong
64
What does Sampson suggest is a limitation of the nomothetic lab research into social influence?
Lacks mundane realism - pps often not 'real groups' - normally don't know each other beforehand - unrealistic Real groups often more committed and devote their life to the cause
65
Who studied how flexibility effects minority influence?
Nemeth
66
Outline Nemeth's study into flexibility.
Mock jury (4 people - 1 confederate) Decide on compensation for someone who had been in an accident Confederate argued for low compensation and didn't change - no effect on majority Compromised and then the majority compromised
67
What is social change?
The process by which society changes it's beliefs, attitudes and behaviour to create new social norms
68
What acronym can be used to remember the steps of social change?
Dogs Chase Cats And Snakes
69
What does DCCAS stand for?
Drawing attention to an issue Cognitive conflict Consistency of position Augmentation principle Snowball effect
70
In relation to steps of social change, what is drawing attention to an issue?
Minority views different to majority then creates a conflict which they are motivated to reduce
71
In relation to steps of social change, what is cognitive conflict?
Conflict between the minority and majority groups Majority thinks about the ideas being challenged
72
In relation to steps of social change, what is consistency of position?
More influential if ideas proposed consistently as raises profile and constantly reminds the majority
73
In relation to steps of social change, what is the augmentation principle?
Show prepared to sacrifice - seen as more committed and therefore taken more seriously
74
In relation to steps of social change, what is the snowball effect?
Initially small but gets bigger and bigger until reaches the tipping point - wide scale social change occurs

Psychology - Paper 1 (4 decks)

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