Social Influence Flashcards
What did Sherif (1936) do?
Put ps in dark room individually
Focused on a spot of light and asked how far and in what direction it moved.
Didn’t actually move.
Repeated in groups of 3 and people covered answers - low estimates heightened and vice versa.
Group norm established.
What is conformity?
Choosing a course of action favoured by majority/minority or course of action considered socially acceptable.
What is a group norm?
Standards/rules about how to behave in a social group or situation.
What is minority influence?
When a person/ small group influence the majority to change their attitudes or behaviours.
What is majority influence?
When a person changes their attitudes to fit in with a larger group.
What are the 3 levels of conformity?
Compliance, Identification, Internalisation
What is Compliance?
Publicly conforming to something the majority of people do, but privately keeping a different opinion.
What is Identification?
Changing your views and conforming to a particular situation, but the change of viewpoint is temporary.
What is Internalisation?
Deepest level of conformity involving a permanent change of views.
What was the sample of Asch’s 1951 study?
123 male American students.
What was the method of Asch’s 1951 study?
Ps in groups of 7-9, 1 genuine p and the rest confederates.
Showed cards one with a line labelled X and one with 3 lines ABC, one matched X.
12/18 trials confess deliberately incorrectly identified the line that matched X to see if the ps would conform.
What did Asch find in his 1951 study?
Ps gave same wrong answer as the confeds 37% of the time.
Statistically significant.
Large individual differences 5% conformed every time, 25% remained independent.
Evidence of compliance.
Why was there bad historical validity on Asch’s 1951 study?
It was 1950s America - anti communist McCarthyist era - people scared to be different. Very different now so findings can’t be generalised.
What was Moscovici studying in 1969?
Minority influence
What was the method of Moscovici’s 1969 study?
Groups of 6-4 ps and 2 confederates
Shown 36 blue slides of different shades and had to name the colour.
Part 1: confeds called all slides green = 8% conformed
Part 2: confeds called 24/36 green inconsistent argument = 1.25% conformed
What did Moscovici find in his 1969 study?
Providing a consistent argument and being committed to viewpoint helps minority influence.
What film did Clark use in his 1998 and 1999 studies?
12 Angry Men
Who were participants playing the role of in Clark’s studies?
Jurors
Who were the participants in Clark’s studies?
220 psychology student
What were the participants given in Clark’s study?
A booklet with evidence regarding the defendant’s guilt/ innocence. Varied whether or not information and counter arguments about defendant’s innocence was given.
When was the minority juror able to change participants minds in the Clark’s first study?
When they could provide counter evidence.
What did Clark conclude from his first study?
The information given by minority is important for changing a person’s viewpoint.
What were participants given in Clark’s second study?
A summary of the jury’s discussion in the film. Contained main counter argument by minority juror.
When would participants change their mind in Clark’s second study?
If they heard other jurors had changed their minds.
What did Clark conclude in his second study?
Minorities can influence others if they have publicly changed their view.
What are 2 positive evaluation points for Clark’s studies?
+ shows how psychology research has progresses - role play
+ large sample - population validity
What was the Stanford Prison Experiment trying to identify?
Social roles
Who took part in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Students, volunteer sample
