Social Influence 2 Flashcards
What is an agentic state?
When a person carries out someone else’s instructions.
How does agentic state theory work?
People do not feel responsible for the actions they take.
Who devised agentic state theory?
Milgram.
What is an autonomic state?
When you make decisions for yourself and are aware your actions have consequences.
What is an agentic shift?
When you change into an agentic state.
What did Blass and Schmitt find in their study?
Students would blame the experimenter rather than the participant when shown a film of the Milgram study.
Who do you follow orders from?
People higher in the social hierarchy.
What is a weakness of agentic state?
- Not everyone obeyed in the Milgram study, despite the agentic state.
- Rank and Jacobson: only 2/18 nurses would give a drug overdose prescribed by doctor.
What event did Mandel research?
German Reserve Police Battalion shooting civilians in Poland, when they could do other duties if preferred.
Why does legitimate authority work?
- Conditioned from childhood to obey.
- They have the power to punish.
- Uniform shows that they have this power.
What were the findings of the Bickman study?
- 80% obeyed a confederate in a guard uniform.
- 40% obeyed civilian clothing.
What are strengths of legitimacy of authority?
- My Lai Massacre: Following orders.
- Explains cultural differences (16% obey in Australia, 85% in Germany).
What are weaknesses of legitimacy of authority?
- Can be used for destructive purposes.
- Justifies war crimes.
What are authoritarian personality traits?
- Servile to people of higher status.
- Hostile to people of lower status.
- Inflexible beliefs.
- Conformist (follows the rules).
- Dogmatic.
Who proposed Authoritarian Personality Theory?
Adorno.
How did Adorno measure people with an authoritarian personality?
High score on the F-scale linked to people with authoritarian personality.
What did Milgram and Elms find?
Follow up interview with people from the Milgram study, obedient people scored higher on the F-scale.
What did Altemeyer find about the F-scale?
People who scored higher on the F-scale were more likely to obey an order to shock themselves if they make a mistake on a questionnaire.
What is a weakness of authoritarian personality?
- Limited explanation: Germans were very obedient but not all had high F-scale.
- F scale questionnaires had questions worded in the same direction, making a high score easy to get.
- Interview to find out about their life was done after finding the F scale, which lead to interviewer bias.
How many guards resisted the pressure to be sadistic to the prisoners in the Zimbardo experiment?
2/3.
What is social support?
Having an ally increases the confidence of someone to stand by their own view.
What were the findings of Asch’s conformity with social support?
36% conformity normally; 5.5% with a correct confederate; 9% with an incorrect confederate.
What were the findings of Milgram’s social support study?
65% obedience reduced to 10% with a disobedient confederate.
What did Gamson et al. find in their study?
25/33 groups had a majority refuse to sign a consent form to use the film.
What are strengths of social support?
- Backing research (Asch).
- Gamson et al had high ecological validity.
What are weaknesses of social support?
Real groups are a lot larger.
Who proposed locus of control?
Julian Rotter.
What are external locus characteristics?
Believe their future is up to luck.
What are internal locus characteristics?
Believe they are in control of their future, resist social influence, tend to be more intelligent and confident.
What are strengths of locus of control?
- Oliner and Oliner: People who rescued Jews from Nazis had more internal locus of control.
- Holland repeated the Milgram experiment, 37% with internal did not continue, 23% with external did not continue.
What are weaknesses of locus of control?
- Over time, people have become more resistant to obedience, but have an external locus.
- Lacks temporal validity.
What affects the effectiveness of minority influence?
- Consistency.
- Commitment.
- Flexibility.
What did Moscovici’s study involve?
- 172 females.
- 36 slides with varying shades of blue.
- State blue or green.
- 2/6 were confederate.
- When confederates always said green, 8.2% agreed (consistent).
- When confederates said 24 green 12 blue, 1.25% agreed (inconsistent).
What did Xie et al. find about minority influence?
10% minority needed to influence majority.
What did Nemeth find in his study?
- Agree on compensation for ski lift accident victims.
- One minority group argued for low rates and did not change.
- One minority group argued for low rates and compromised with a slightly higher rate.
- Minority had a greater effect in condition 2.
What did Martin et al. find about minority influence?
When participants listened to a minority group agree with a view, they were less likely to change their opinion later than if they listened to a majority group at first.
What is a weakness of Moscovici’s study?
Had low ecological validity.
How do environment/health campaigns use social influence?
Exploit NSI, by making people think everyone agrees with them.
What is obedience on social influence?
When one person disobeys others are more likely to.
What is the snowball effect?
As the minority group grows, the majority pays more attention leading to more growth and eventually the minority becomes the majority.
What are the five stages of minority influence?
1) Drawing attention.
2) Showing consistency.
3) Majority has deeper processing.
4) Augmentation principle (if minority suffers they are taken more seriously).
5) Snowball effect.
What happens after social change?
Social cryptoamnesia.
What is social cryptoamnesia?
Where the majority forget the root cause of the social change, helping to maintain the change.
What is an example of social change?
Civil rights in the US for black people.
What are strengths of NSI in social change?
- Nolan: hanging up signs to save energy, more effective when it said others were doing it too.
What are weaknesses of social influence in social change?
- Minority influence is usually indirect and delayed.
- Minority groups have negative stereotypes which need to go.
