Social Influence Flashcards

Question

What happened in the other study Clark (1989/99) did on minority influence?

Answer 1

Clark focused on the impact of behaviour, or people defecting to the minority position. Student participants were given a 3-page summary of the Jury's discussion in the film. They contained the main counter-arguments presented by the minority juror (that the defendent had been able to produce an identical 'rare' knife, that the man could not have seen or heard the murder due to old age and disabilities so took too long to get to the window, the old woman wasn't wearing glasses and had very bad eyesight). Clark presented different scenarios to the students in whcih he showed varying numbers of defectors from 1-6. Clark asked the students to use a 9-point scale to give their opinion of whether or not the man was guilty.

Answer 2

He found that participants were influenced by the number of defectors to the 'not guilty' position. When they heard the 4 or 7 jurors had changed their mind to agree with Henry Fonda they were more likely to adopt the 'not guilty' position themselves. 7 defectors had no more influence than 4. Clark argued that after 4 people have changed their minds,a 'ceiling of influence' is reached, meaning that more defectors do not produce more influence.

Answer 3

1. The participants were not misled, and were subjected to little by way of stress or discomfort. 2. The task was a simulation of a realistic situation in which social influence takes place- that of jury decision making

Answer 4

1. The costs of making an error for participants in this research were much lower than in real-life jury service, where it is likely that decisions would be accompanied by much more soul searching. It is questionable how far the results of this role-play can be generalised to real-life jury service.

Answer 5

Working at stanford university he set up a mock prison in the basement of the university over the summer vacation. He wished to see if the brutality found in many American prisons at the time was a consequence of the personality of the guards or identification with the social roles in which they were placed. He recruited 24 male students from volunteers, selecting those who were most stable. He randomly allocated each student to the role of prisoner or guard. Prisoners were arrested at their homes early on Sunday morning, taken to the prison, search, de-loused and dressed in smock uniforms. THey were referred to by number. The guards were given uniforms, a 'night stick' or truncheon and dark glasses. They were instructed to keep the prisoners under control but to use no physical violence.

Answer 6

Within a day the prisoners rebelled and ripped of their numbers. THe guards responded by locking them in their cells and confiscating their blankets. As the experiment continued, the punishments imposed by the guards escalated. Prisoners were humiliated, deprived of sleep and made to carry out roll-call in the night. One, who went on hunger strike in protest, was force ded and locked in a dark cupboard. The prisoners rapidly became depressed and passive with some showing serious stress-related reactions to the experience. The role play, which had been intended to go on for 2 weeks, was called off after 6 days. The findings were interpreted as showing the power of the situation to influence conformity, and how ordinary, stable individuals can abuse power and behave in violent, anti-social ways if placed in a situation that facilitates this.

Answer 7

A study carried out and broadcast on tv in a series called The Experiment. Volunteers responded to an advert in the national papers asking 'How well do you really know yourself?' and 15 males aged between 22-22 were selected from 500 applicants, following a battery of psychological tests. The were randomly allocated to roles of 9 prisoners and 6 guards and placed in a purpose-built prison at Elstree film studies.

Answer 8

The guards were unwilling to impose authority over the prisoners who rapidly took control of the prison. Following the breakdown of authority in the prison, both groups attempt to establish a fair and equal social system. When this failed, a small group of prisoners took power in the prison and the experiment was called off. Reicher and Haslam have suggested that the findings of their study indicate that tyranny may become acceptable when law and order established by the group breaks down and groups experience feelings of powerlessness.

Answer 9

He argued that there are substantial differences between the two studies, notably that most of the prisoners in Reicher and Haslam's study were much tougher and more streetwise in comparison to his own prisoners. In this 'prison' all participants wore microphones and were constantly aware that they were being filmed, rather than being observed through hidden cameras as in Zimbardo's study.

Answer 10

The finds indicate that research can only really be understood within the social and cultural context that it takes place. Social roles in the twenty-first century are less clearly defined and authority is seen in a different light from in the 1970's.

Answer 11

Asch manipulated the size of the group of confederates carrying out the conformity trail by using 1,2,3,4,8,10 and 15 in the group. - Conformity was low when there was one confederate and one real participant, with only 3% changing their view (Note, this condition in not majaroity influence) - Conformity climbed to 33% when there were 3 confederates and 1 real participant. It did not increase much beyond this regardless of group size. - In some conditions, a greater majority of 15 led to slightly lower levels of conformity, perhaps because participants became increasingly suspicious - IN a final version, when one confederate agreed wih the real participant, conformity dropped dramatically, implying that people are able to to remain independent in a group situation when they have a small amount of support.

Answer 12

That conformity seems to be at its maximum with a three-to-five person majority.

Answer 13

They argued that Asch's classic studies of conformity reflected the social and historical aspects of 1950's America where pressures to conform were very strong.

Answer 14

25 years later, they replicated Asch's study using the same line task with different groups. In one condition, 33 male students were used. In another, 20 male students who were on probation were used. In this condition, the confederates used were probation officers who supervised the young people and carried out the sentence. They also studied 16 young, unemployed West Indian men with a mean age of 19 years. The found striking differences in conformity to Asch 's original study and between the different groups involved.

Answer 15

- IN male students not on probation, conformity was almost non-existent, with only 1/396 trials producing a conforming response. - The young men who were on probation showed very similiar rates of conformity to those found by Asch, implying that conformity still takes place when people are placed with those who have power or authority over them. - High rates of conformity were found when young West Indian participants were placed in groups with a majority of confederates who were white. Not that this study was carried out in 1981, where racial equality was much less well established in the UK.

Answer 16

Using a modified version of Asch's task, which is more ambiguous and has a less obvious answer, he used 40 students. Like Perrin and Spencer, he found no evidence of conformity and concluded from this that the conformity effect shown in Asch's study was an 'unpredictable phenomenon, not a stable tendency of human behaviour'.

Answer 17

Together, the finding of these studies suggest that conformity is much lower in the Western world today than it was in the middle of the last century.

Answer 18

Those where personal independence and achievement are valued. Examples of individualistic cultures are North America and Germany.

Answer 19

Those where there is a high degree of independence between people. Examples of collective cultures are Japan, China and Israel.

Answer 20

They carried out a meta-analysis of research, using Asch's method for studying conformity in a number of different cultures. They found significant variations in the level of conformity in different places. Conformity was highest in Fiji, an island in the Pacific, at 58% on critical trails. The lowest rate of conformity was found in Belgium, at 14%. One explanation for this refers to the differences between individualist and collectivist cultures. Belgium is an individualist culture, whilst Fiji is highly collectivist. They also compared the average conformity rates for individualistic and collectivist cultures, and found the rate was just over 25.3% in individualist cultures, and 37.1% in collectivist cultures.

Answer 21

That the characteristics of the culture and the qualities that are valued and encouraged as children are brought up may be a significant influence on how much people are prepared to conform with others. In individualist cultures, autonomy, independence and individuality is valued, whereas in collectivst cultures more importance is attached to the social group and interdependence is stressed.

Answer 22

They suggested that people who were unable to see each other were less prone to conforming with the (invisible) majority.

Answer 23

They investigated cross-cultural differences in conformity, comparing face to face communication and computer meditated communication. They found the expected cultural differences in face-to-face communication, with conformity being higher in collectivist than individualist cultures. However, in computer mediated communication there were no cultural differences implying that conformity is less likely when people are unable to see each other.

Answer 24

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Answer 25

Hogg and Abrahams (1988)

Answer 26

1. Normative social influence | 2. Informational social influence

Answer 27

The person conforms because of their need to be accepted by and belong to the group. This may be because belonging to the group is rewadring and the group has the power to punish or even exclude those who do not fit in and toe the line. They may personally and privately continue to disagree but conform on the surface (compliance)

Answer 28

Different motives and needs drive this type of social influence. In many social situations, people may be unsure of how to behave, or unclear as to what they think or feel about an issue. In this case they may conform with others and copy their actions because they do not know what to say. In this case, the drive for conformity is the need to be right. If the majority are acting in a particular way than conformity may be a sensible decision.

Answer 29

This approach has become known as the dual-process dependency model as it suggests that people conform of two reasons (dual) because of their dependency on other people. The two types of dependence are social approval (acceptance) and information.

Answer 30

This explanation has been criticised as it does not acknowledge the importance of a sense of belonging to a group. Many studies have shown how conformity to group norms can persist long after the group no longer exists. As participants in an experiment cannot fear group exclusion, this implies that factors other than dependency on the group may be important.

Answer 31

The pressure to conform with the norms set by a group because we have defined ourselves as a member of that group.

Answer 32

On referent informational influence and the importance of relationships and emotional ties with other group members, as well as being based on Tajfel and Turner's social identity theory.

Answer 33

His minimal group experiments were the first to show the importance of group membership and belonging. Teenage boys aged 14-15 living in Bristol were randomly allocated to one of two groups on the basis of their preference for one artist or another. They then played a game in which they were able to allocate points that could be exchanged for money, to their own and the other group. THe boys consistently choose to allocate more points to their own group, even when they could gain more points and rewards by allocating equal amounths. Tafjel argued that there was a tendency to favour one's own group and discriminate against other out-groups.

Answer 34

He suggested that as well as a personal identity, we each have a social identity. People define themselves by the social groups they belong to. These groups serve as reference groups to us and have powerful influences on our behaviour.

Answer 35

The tendency for group members to see strong similarities between themselves and other members of their groups and to see large differences with other social groups.

Answer 36

People classify themselves as belonging to particular social groups. This process of self-categorisation leads members to feel part of that group and to see strong differences between themselves and other groups (The meta-contrast principle) Groups provide norms or rules to regulate the behaviour of members. These norms are internalised or taken in as ideas or standards about ways of behaving by members. Group members use the norms of their group to regular their behaviour when they are with the group, but can also refer to group norms and abide by them when other group members are not there.

Answer 37

1. Helps to explain why people may often conform to group norms in the absence of the group (Rohrer's study showed this) 2. Supported by studies (Hogg and Turner)

Answer 38

They asked for participants private responses to a conformity task similar to that of Asch. Private responses remove the need for participants to conform for normative reasons as others cannot show disapproval or rejection when they do not see the response. Under these conditions, people only conformed when the majority consisted of members of their 'in-group' rather than an 'out-group', supporting the idea that we conform with members of our own reference group.

Answer 39

1. By providing persuasive arguments | 2. By showing defecting behaviour

Answer 40

People listen to what is said and change their views if they are convinced by the evidence presented. In Clark's 1989 study, majority members were likely to adopt the minoritiy verdict when the sole dissenter could produce evidence to change their minds, but unlikely when they could not. This shows clearly that information is an important part of minority influence.

Answer 41

Minorities can produce change through their behaviour. When people see others changing their views and adopting a minority viewpoint, they are more likely to follow, perhaps without examining the arguments themselves.

Answer 42

Latane and Wolfe's (1981) social impact theory and Tanford and Penrod's (1986) social influence model.

Answer 43

That both minority and majority influence involve a number of people that they divide into sources (people who provide the influence) and targets (people who may be influenced). Latane refers to social influence as a 'series of forces operating in a social field.'

Answer 44

1. Strength, namely the importance, power or status of the person/people providing the influence. 2. Immediacy, namely the psychological, physical or social distance of the person providing the influence 3. The number of people providing the influence. Latane and Wolf argue that as the influence increases in number it gathers progressively more influence, thus three people have more impact than two etc.

Answer 45

As the number of people increases, the impact made by each person gets less and less, which Latane and Wolf call a 'negatively accelerating positive function.' A single individual taking a minority position will produce lots of impact and influence. When they are joined by a second person arguing the same, their personal impact is slightly less and each one after that has a lesser effect.

Answer 46

Switching on a single light in a dark room has a dramatic effect. Switching on a second light has slightly less impact although it may still have an effect. By the time the tenth light bulb is switched on the effect in minimal.

Answer 47

They measured the impact of strength and immediacy on social influence. They placed participants in groups of three, consisting of two naive participants and one confederate who argued for a minority position. Their task was to rate 40 university applicants for places. Immediacy was manipulated by having the confederate 4 feet away (high immediacy) or 10 feet away (low immediacy) and strength was manipulated by having the confederate acting as a student (low strength) or as an expert (high strength)

Answer 48

They found the expert confederate had more impact than the student confederate, but only in the low impact setting when they were physically further away. There was no difference in the importance of strength in the high impact setting when the confederate was close by, implying that immediacy may be the most important factor in minority influence.

Answer 49

Social influence theory agrees with social impact theory that minority influence increases as the size of the minority increases and that each additional member or defector to the minority adds less to the cumulative impact. Three defectors have more influence than two etc.

Answer 50

Where Tanford and Penrod differ from Latane and wolf is in their claim that a ceiling of influence is said to be reached when there are three or four defectors. According to Tanford and Penrod, four people in a minority will have an equal amount of influence to five or even ten. It may even be that further defectors weaken rather than strengthen the minority position.

Answer 51

Complying with an order from another person to carry out an action. The person who gives the instruction usually has power or authority (although this can be imagined)

Answer 52

He advertised for male volunteers by placing an advert in a local paper, which offered $4.50 as payment for taking part in a study of 'memory and learning'. Forty respondents from a range of occupations and backgrounds were selected and individual appointments were made to attend the laboratory at Yale University.

Answer 53

Participants arrived at Yale, and were greeted by an experimenter, a 31 year old teacher in a white coat, and a middle-aged man, Mr Wallace, a confederate. They drew lots to allocate roles, and it was rigged so the real participant was always the teacher, and the confederate was the learner. The 'teacher' was told it was his job to 'teach' the learner a series of word pairs and then test their recall. THe learner was to indicate, by means of a switch, which words had originally been paired. If he answered correctly they would proceed to the near pair but if he made an error, the teacher was instructed to adminster an electric shock starting at 15V and increasing by one increment each time. The 'teacher' was given a sample electric shock to convince them the procedure was real. The learner was strapped into a chair, electrodes applied, and an electrode past applied to prevent burns. The experimenter said "the shocks may be painful, but they are not dangerous." The teacher and the learner were placed in separate rooms, able to hear but not see each other.

Answer 54

They had a series of switches ranging from 15V to 450V, increasing in 15V increments. There were written labels on the generator including slight shock (15v-60v), moderate shock (75-120V), strong shock (135-420V) and finally XXX (435-450V)

Answer 55

When the experiment started, the learner gave a predetermined set of responses to the test, with roughly 3 incorrect answers for every correct answer. s the shocks became higher, the learner's screams (which were pre-recorded) became more dramatic. At 180V he complained of a weak heart, at 300V he banged on the wall and demanded to be allowed to leave, at 315V he refused to answer and became silent. When the teacher objected to the produce, the experimenter responded with a series of 'prods' which were standardized. Many participants showed sign on extreme tension, shaking, sweating and stutter, and 14/40 showing nervous laughing fits. Many of the participants argued with the experimenter but continued to obey.

Answer 56

"Please continue", "Please go on", "The experiment requires that you continue, teacher", "It is absolutely essential you continue teacher" and "You have no other choice. You must go on."

Answer 57

All 40 participants went to 300V, and 65% administrated the maximum shock of 450V. Nevertheless, a full 35% of participants managed to defy the considerable pressure of the experiment.

Answer 58

Before Milgram carried out the study, he had asked a variety of groups, including psychiatrists and students how many people they thought would obey completely. Psychiatrist had predicted that only 2.6% of participants would continue to administer a very strong shock of up to 240V

Answer 59

1. The use of the experimental method and the laboratory setting allowed Milgram to investigate obedience in a systematic and controlled way. Standardised procedures were used to ensure that participants were exposed to similar conditions.

Answer 60

1. His research has been criticised for lacking both internal and external validity. Some have claimed that his participants could not have been fooled by the experimental set-up into thinking that the shocks were real whereas others have argued that the situation in Milgram's lab was unlike any situation experienced in real life. 2. Milgram failed to ask his participants for informed consent, he deceived them, and made it difficult for them to withdraw. 3. Participants experienced considerable stress and potential psychological harm.

Answer 61

He replicated his experiment carrying out 18 studies in total with over 1000 participants. In these variations he systematically varied the setting of his experiment and the closeness of the learner to the teacher. Each of these factors gave increased understanding of when and why people obey or disobey orders.

Answer 62

1. The setting of the experiment 2. Reducing the power of the experimenter 3. Increasing awareness of the plight of the victim

Answer 63

Milgram thought the prestigious setting (Yale University) may have contributed to high levels of obedience. He therefore moved his experiment into a seedy office above a shop. Calling himself Research Associates Ltd he advertised for participants in the paper and replicated the study exactly. Under this condition he found a significant drop in obedience. 48% of his participants in this setting continued to 450V on the shock generator. This led Milgram to conclude that the prestige of Yale university was on factor that contributed to high levels of obedience.

Answer 64

In another version of the experiment, Milgram reduced the power of the experimenter by removing him from the room and instructing him to give the teacher orders over the phone. In this variation many more teachers were able to resist the authority of the experimenter with only 20% going to the full 450V. In a different version, he reduced the authority of the experimenter by asking the teachers to work in pairs to adminster the shocks. The second teacher was a confederate and refused to continue.. Under these conditions, 90% resisted orders at some point, and only 10% went to 450V.

Answer 65

In the original version of the experiment, the teacher was unable to see the learner but could hear his screams. In a series of variations Milgram altered the proximity of the teacher and learner in several ways. In one variation, the learner was brought into the same room so could be seen and heard. Obedience dropped. In another variation, the teacher and learner were again in the same room and in order for the learner to receive the shocks he had to place his hand voluntarily on a shock plate. When he refused to do this, the teacher was instructed to force his hand down onto the shock place. Under this condition, 30% still continued to 450V.

Answer 66

Others have replicated Milgram's method to investigate obedience in different places. High rates of obedience have been found across Europe, with 90% going to 450V in Spain and the Netherlands. Lower rates of obedience have been found in Austraila where 40% of men and 16% of women adminstered 450V.

Answer 67

Cues in the environment that help the participant work out what the research hypothesis is. This can lead to social desirability effects where the participant behaves in a way that the hypothesis will be supported or the 'screw you' effect where the participant purposefully disrupts the research.

Answer 68

. An experimenter phoned 22 nurses who were working alone on wards and introduced himself as 'Dr Smith'. There was no real Dr Smith working at the hospital. The researcher instructed each nurse to check the drug cupboard for a drug called 'astroten'. When they had done this, he ordered them to administer 20 mg of the drug to a patient on the ward. THis broke several hospital rules, as nurses should not take orders over the phone, or from unknown doctors, and the dosage was twice the maximum dosage on the bottle, and the drug (being fictional) was not on the ward list.

Answer 69

Despite the clear contradiction of rules, 21/22 nurses studied were prepared to obey and went to collect the drug to administer it to the patient. They were stopped on the way to administer the drug by a confederate, and debriefed. Afterwards, when debriefed, many nurses argued that an order of that nature was not unusual and that obedience was expected.

Answer 70

They carried out a field experiment in New York, in which he asked passers-by to carry out an unusual order- to pick up rubbish, stand on the other side of a bus-stop sign, or lend money to a stranger for a parking meter. Half of the time the experimenter was dressed in a security guard's uniform and the rest of the time in street clothes. 92% of participants would comply with the request to lend money when he was uniformed, but only 49% when he was wearing street clothing.

Answer 71

He used Bickman's method of studying obedience, this time using a female confederate, dressed either in a uniform or smart clothes. The confederate ordered passer-bys to give a small amount of change to a motorist who was searching for money at a parking meter. 70% obeyed when she was uniformed, and 58% when she was dressed in smart clothing. THe difference is rather less than that found by Bickman.

Answer 72

They examined the effects of strengths and immediacy on obedience to a simple request at a zoo. 153 adults and 55 children were approached by an experimenter dressed either as a zoo keeper (high strength) or as an ordinary visiter (low strength), and asked to not lean on a railing next to an exhibit. The behaviour of participants was observed immediately after the request (high immediacy condition) when the experimenter was still present and after they ahd left the scene (low immediacy condition)

Answer 73

The high strength/high immediacy condition produced more compliance to the request, than the low strength/low immediacy condition, providing further support for social impact theory.

Answer 74

It has been argued that the participants were not fully informed, and were unable to give their fully informed consent. They were deceived as to the nature of the study and it was made very difficult- if not impossible- for them to withdraw due to the pressure placed upon them. They were put in an extremely stressful situation in which they believed that they may have seriously injured or killed another person. This may have resulted in temporary or permanent psycholgoical damage.

Answer 75

Milgram had attempted to gain presumptive consent before the study by asking the psychological community to predict the findings of the study. Most suggested that only one or two in a hundred would go as far as 450V. He argued that critics of his research would not have given such strong opposition if this had been the actual result. In effect, what people object to is not what he did, but what he found.

Answer 76

Milgram argued that each person who took part in his experiment was able to accept authority or to reject it and that although it was difficult to withdraw it was possible. In fact, 35% of participants were able to stop the experiment and refuse to continue to give the shocks.

Answer 77

Milgram argued that his participants were provided with a thorough debriefing at the end of the experiment. They were told that the shocks were not real and were reintroduced to the unharmed 'learner'. He also took steps in the immediate debriefing to ensure that participants feelings about their behaviour were minimised. Obedient participants were told that their behaviour was normal and many others had also obeyed, whilst disobedient participants were told that their behaviour was desirable. Also, in order to assess potential psychological damage, they were visited and interviewed by an independent psychiatrist on eyear after who found no evidence of psychological harm.

Answer 78

He sent out a questionnaire to over 1000 people who had taken part in his studies. 92% responded, and of these 84% were either glad/very glad to have taken part, 15% were neither glad nor sorry to have taken part, 1.3% were either sorry/very sorry to have taken part, and 74% learned something of personal importance.

Answer 79

Where the participants are fooled into believing that the set-up in the experiment is real and they take the situation seriously. THis is also known as internal validity.

Answer 80

It refers to the similarity of the set-up in the experiment to situations that take place outside the laboratory in real life. This is also known as external or ecological validity.

Answer 81

They argued that the most important problem for social psychology is that of balancing the need for control in experiments against the need for realistic settings. Aronson an Carlsmith argued that Milgram's research is high in experimental realism but lower in mundane realism.

Answer 82

They argued that Milgram's research lacked both internal and external validity. They argued that the participants in Milgram's study simply did not believe the shocks were real. They also pointed out that participants should have questioned why there was a need for the 'teacher' at all, and why the experimenter himself did not adminster the shocks if the study was really about punishment and learning. They also argued that participants behaved in the way they did to please the experimenter.

Answer 83

By referring to the behaviour shown by participants in the film footage of the experiment. This shows clearly the intense signs of stress experienced by the participant as they are shown to tremble, sweat, burst into laughter and stutter.

Answer 84

THey argued that there were a number of threats to ecological validity in the study: 1. The use of the drug 'astrogen'- it was fictional and it was unlikely that experienced nurses would come across a drug they had not heard of 2. The order coming from the unknown 'doctor smith'. Even in large hospitals, nurses would be very likely to work regularly on a specific ward and be familiar by name and in person with the consultants covering the ward 3. The nurses were phoned when they were alone on the ward, which would be unlikely to happen. IN real life, the nurses would be working with at least one other colleague with who they could discuss an order.

Answer 85

They made three changed; the fictional drug was replaced with a real drug, Valium, which the nurses were familiar with. A real, named doctor who worked on the ward gave the order by phone and nurses were able to consult with colleagues working on the ward.Under these conditions, those prepared to obey the order fell to 1/18

Answer 86

He argued that Milgram's research provides an alibi for those charged with war crimes as it implies that any ordinary person could commit terrible acts under social pressure. This can be seen as providing a justification for their behaviour- that they were just obeying orders. He argued that the research is offensive to people who survived the Holocaust and to those who lost many family members as it underestimated and justifies the brutality to which they were subjected.

Answer 87

He was tried for crimes against humanity carried out in Nazi Germany in the Nuremberg trails in 1961. He insisted throughout his trail that he was simply obeying orders and that he had abdicated his own conscience to follow the fuhrer's principles. He was convicted in December 1961 and sentenced to death.

Answer 88

Both these studies have been interpreted as showing that ordinary people can do extraordinary things to others when placed in a situation where they are under pressure to act in a certain way. Berkowitz has argued that this presents a 'situationalist view of evil' in which vile acts were largely seen as a consequence of the situation in which people are placed, rather than acts of personal choice and responsibility. Berkowitz argues that such accounts simply fail to acknowledge the sadism and horrific acts of torture that took place in concentration camps. He referenced that fact that babies had been used as shooting targets by throwing them in the air. Berkowitz argues that the evil in these acts is not 'banal' but extreme and bears little resemblance to the shocks given in Milgram's study.

Answer 89

A state in which an individual carries out orders of another person acting as their agent with little personal responsibility.

Answer 90

1. Legitimate authority 2. The authority figure takes responsibility 3. Graduated commitment

Answer 91

This refers to the amount of social power held by the person who gives the instruction. Most human societies are ordered in a hierarchal way, with some mebers of the group having legitimate social power to issue instructions to those beneath them in the hierarchy.

Answer 92

WE may obey them because we trust them, or perhaps because they have the power to punish us. Likewise, from early childhood socialisation in the family and at school teaches us that we are more acceptable if we obey those who have authority over us.

Answer 93

Obedience was much higher when the setting was Yale University, a prestigious academic establishment. Participants who carried out the experiment at an officie in a district of New York were less likely to be obedient, as the power and authority of the experimenter was diminished by setting the experiment outside the academic context. It is reasonable to assume that the setting influenced the degree of trust participants felt in the experiment.

Answer 94

The high rate of obedience can be explained by the degree of power and trust invested at that time in hospital doctors.

Answer 95

He suggests that many drug errors in hospitals can be explained by the tendency of nurses to obey doctors, even when the orders given are extremely dubious.

Answer 96

Authority figures are immediately recognizable by their uniforms, and these symbols of authority are often enough to produce unquestioning obedience. Those who hold legitimate authority generally have the power to punish, which is another reason why people are more likely to obey them.

Answer 97

Many of his participants had serious reservations about continuing to administer the shocks and asked the experimenter if they were personally responsible. When the participants were told that full responsibility was the experimenter's, they continued to obey. If the experimenter had replied that the participant were personally responsible, it is likely that the outcome of this experiment would have been very different.

Answer 98

He argued that people operate in two different ways in social situations: 1. When they act as autonomous individuals they are aware of the consequences of their actions and choose voluntarily to behave in particular ways. 2. In an agentic state, the person sees themselves as the agent or subordinate of others. They carry out their orders but do not feel personally responsible for the actions they take. The change from autonomous to an agentic state is known as the agentic shift.

Answer 99

In this study, the nurses acted in their angentic state as employees of the hospital carrying out orders from 'Dr Smith' rather than as autonomous individuals.

Answer 100

The argued that organisational obedience- the tendency to obey authority in bureaucratic organisations- may be even greater than Milgram suggested.

Answer 101

This means that people become locked into obedience in small steps, which establishes a basis for obedience, making it very difficult for the people to disobey later. This method of starting with small requests and gradually increasing them is known as the 'foot in the door' technique' and is often used as a sales technique.

Answer 102

At the start of the experiment participants were asked to give the learner a small shock of 15V. This was increased in 15V increments each time the learner made a mistake. Each action for the participant was a small step beyond the previous action, making it difficult to back out at any time. It is likely that few would have obeyed if Milgram had started the experiment by instructing the participants to give 300V shocks.

Answer 103

They argued that similar processes take place in real-life crimes of obedience in which people are led in gradual stages from the acceptable into the unthinkable.

Answer 104

A type of person who has extreme respect for authority and who is very obedient to those who have power over them. They may also be hostile to those of lower rank.

Answer 105

These involve presenting people with neutral stimuli such as a picture and asking them to describe what is going on. A famous projective test is Rorschach's ink blot test.

Answer 106

He argued that the key to understanding extreme obedience and racial prejudice lay in early childhood experiences where personality is formed. He argued that people with an 'authoritarian personality' have a tendency to be extremely obedient.

Answer 107

He interviewed over 2000 American students from mainly white, middle-class backgrounds. He interviewed them about their political views and their early childhood experiences. He also used projective tests to assess whether or not they were racially prejudiced.

Answer 108

He found that people who had been brought up by strict parents who used harsh, physical punishments when they were children grew up to be very obedient. Under these conditions, children quickly learn to obey and develop a strong respect for authority. He drew on psycholodynamic concepts to build his explanation, arguing that harsh and physical punishment led to the child feeling hositle and angry towards their parents. The hostility was uncomfortable for the child and created feelings of conflict, so it might be repressed or locked away into the unconcious mind. THe child then displaces these hostile feelings on to others, often of a different racial group, which then become an alternative targer for their hostility.

Answer 109

He developed a number of scales to measure aspects of behaviour and attitudes, including ethnocentricism (the preference for one's own racial group) anti-semitism (prejudice against Jewish people), and most famously, potential for fascism which has become known as the F scale. The F scale measures the authoritarian personality.

Answer 110

They carried out interviews with a sub-sample of those who had taken part in Milgram's first four experiments. THey found that those who were fully obedient and went to 450V scored higher on tests of authoritarianism and lower on scales of social responsibility, than those who defied the experimenter.

Answer 111

Unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children, were rounded up, herded into a ditch and executed. The US military were informed that members of the Viet Cong, a resistance group, were hiding in the village of My Lai and that genuine civilians would have left to go to the market. They searched the village, and found no insurgents. However, the platoon led by LT William Calley killed hundreds of civilians by herding them into a ditch. The actual number killed remains unclear, between 347-504. Calley claimed he was simply following orders.

Answer 112

1. The context of inter-group hostility 2. The importance of self-justification and blaming the victim 3. The role of motivation factors

Answer 113

Social identity theory argues that people classify themselves as members of certain social groups (the in-group) and accentuate differences from other out-groups using the meta-contrast principle. Many crimes of obedience have taken place in a history and climate of strong inter-group hostility and conflict such as that between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda.

Answer 114

For people to carry out acts of extreme violence against others, there is a need for the individual to explain and justify their actions to themselves. This is often done by blaming the victim and convincing oneself that they have deserved what has happened to them. Blaming the victim serves important psychological functions, as it allows people to continue to view themselves as decent, responsible people while carrying out their actions.

Answer 115

Blaming the victim was evident in Milgram's study were those who administered high levels of shocks would often justify their actions by claiming that the victim 'deserved' such treatment for their stupidity. It has also been evident in Nazi Germany, where the prevailing view was that Jews were responsible for their plight.

Answer 116

He has argued that Milgram's research tells us very little about the extreme obedience seen in Nazi Germany because it ignores the important motivational factors involved.

Answer 117

One of these motivational factors were personal gain. Those who worked in the gas chambers used the opportunity to plunder corpses, removing jewellery, and gold fillings from teeth and even cutting the hair of female victims to sell later for wigs.

Answer 118

This takes place when the individual does not respond to group norms. Although they can see how others are behaving, they do not pay attention to this and are not influenced by this.

Answer 119

This takes place when the person acts in opposition to rules or group norms. This behaviour can still be seen as group dependent as the individual's actions are determined by those of the group although they do the opposite to others in the group.

Answer 120

They placed an advert in the local papers in a town in Michigan, Us, asking for volunteers to take part in a paid group discussion on 'standards of behaviour in the community.' When they were arrived, they were put into groups of 9 and met by a consultant from a fictional human relations company called Manufacturers Human Relations COnsultants (MHRC). They were asked to take part in a group discussion, about an oil company taking legal action against a petrol station manager; the oil company claims the manager had been sacked for leading an offensive lifestyle, while the manager claims it was because he spoke out against high petrol prices. It became appearnt that the HR company wanted them to argue in favour of the sacking; at a number of points, the cameramen stopped filming, and instructed different members of the group to argue in favour of the sacking. Then, the participants were asked to sign a consent form allowing the film to be shown in a court case.

Answer 121

Out of 33 groups tested, 32 rebelled in some way during the group discussion. In 25 out of 35 groups the majority of group members refused to sign the consent form. 9 groups even threatened legal action against MHRC. Rebellion against authority in this context, involved challenging the norm of obedience and the norm of commitment.

Answer 122

1. It had a high level of realism; whilst the situation itself was rather unusual, participants' behaviour was likely to be free from demand characteristics as they were unaware they were participating in a research study.

Answer 123

1. It is difficult to separate the many factors that may have led to disobedience in this study. It could have been influenced by a number of factors including the high costs involved of being seen to lie on film in court as well as the group nature of the decision. 2. Participants were decieved and did not give fully informed consent 3. THe experience was exceedingly stressful.

Answer 124

1. The importance of a group 2. Reactance 3. Systematic processing

Answer 125

A group of people who share a similar view can be used against an authority figure to present an alternative consensus of the correct way to behave. In Gamson's study the participants established a strong group identity in which the members agreed that the demands of authority were unreasonable. It is unlikely that the same participants would have felt able to deny authority if they had been alone.

Answer 126

Reactance is the response of individuals to attempts to limit their freedom of choice. Many people will react against unjust attempts to make them do something by doing the opposite. In Gamson's study participants rebelled against attempts to control their behaviour.

Answer 127

Rebellion is more likely when people are able to take time to think carefully about what they are being asked to do. In Gamson's study, participants had sufficient time to consider their actions.

Answer 128

This refers to the sense of control people have over the successes, failures and events in their lives. Locus of control is measured on a scale. Those with a high internal locus of control largely feel that their actions are their own choice and responsibility. Those with a high external locus of control see their actions as resulting largely from factors outside their control such as luck or fate.

Answer 129

He argued that conformers tended to have lower self-esteem in comparison to non-conformers. In addition they tended to be less intelligent and had a higher need for social approval whereas non-conformers generally tended to be more self-confident with leadership abilities.

Answer 130

They used an interview method to study two groups of non-Jewish people who had lived through the Holocaust. They compared 406 people who had protected and rescued Jews from the Nazies with 126 who had not done this. They found that the 'rescuers' scored higher on measures of social responsibility and had scores demonstrating an internal locus of control.

Answer 131

They set out to investigate the background of disobedient participants by following up and interviewing a sub-sample of those involved in the first 4 of Milgram's experiments. They found that disobedient participants scored higher on a social responsibility scale and had a high internal locus of control.

Answer 132

Social responsibility and locus of control

Answer 133

Julian Rotter in 1966

Answer 134

They studied 30 university students who were given a range of conformity tasks based on Asch's experimental paradigm. Each student was also assessed using Rotter's locus of control scale. They found that those who conformed the most were significantly less assertive but did not score differently on the locus of control scale, implying that assertion may be more important than locus of control to conformity.

Answer 135

They carried out a meta-analysis of studies, which considered locus of control and conformity, and found that those who scored higher on external locus of control were more easily persuaded and likely to conform than those with a low score. The average correlation between locus of control and conformity was 0.37 which was statistically significant. This suggests that there are genuinely higher rates of conformity in 'externals' than 'internals'.

Answer 136

Using a similar method to Moscovici's blue-green slide experiment, 48 male participants were exposed to two attempts to alter their views. In the first part of the experiment, participants were placed in groups of 5 with 1 confederate, and asked to judge the colour of a series of blue slides. They created 4 conditions using consistent and inconsistent confederates who called either all or some of the blue slides 'green'. In the second part of the experiment, the same partiicpants returned to the laboratory and carried out another task using red slides. In this condition they were exposed to 4 confederates, in a group of 5 who called all the red slides 'orange.'

Answer 137

Those who had been exposed to a minority in the first part of the experiment and who gave a different answer were significantly more likely to stand their ground in the second part and call the slides 'red' defying the power of the majority group. It strongly suggsts that exposure to a model of independent behaviour can influence the individual's ability to stand firm against the majority and resist group pressure.

Answer 138

The term given to the range of strategies used by groups to improve their social status.

Answer 139

As the idea that 'a lower status individual can improve their social identity by challenging the legitimacy of the higher status group's position.;

Answer 140

He argued that people wish to achieve or maintain a positive social identity and that this is largely based on their membership of specific groups. If the social identity or status of the group they belong to is unsatisfactory and is seen by others in a generally negative light, then they can attempt to increase their status using social change.

Answer 141

Social mobility or social action.

Answer 142

This involves the individual attempting to leave their wn social group and join a group that has higher social status. This is often seen as the most legitimate strategy in the Western democratic world where group boundaries are relatively permeable.

Answer 143

1. Social creativity | 2. Social competition

Answer 144

This takes place when the group attempts to redefine their attributes in a way that makes them have a positive value. Real-life examples of creativity include the 'black is beautiful' campaign, which took place during the 1960's and 1970's and led to a positive redefinition of black characterics including skin colour, language and cultural heritage.

Answer 145

It involved young French boys attending a summer camp. Divided into teams, the boys took part in a hut building competition. One group who were provided with inferior materials and were unable to compete on equal terms used social creativity and created a beautiful garden around their hut, this allowing themselves to 'win' on their terms.

Answer 146

This takes place when a minority group compaigns for equal rights and challenges the existing power base in society.

Answer 147

This takes place when a minority group enters into direct competition with the powerful majority group and takes social action to improve the power, status and position of their own group and challenge the social conditions that disadvantage them. Social competition may produce conflict between groups, which is an inevitable part of how societies develop.

Answer 148

They carried out a study using college students who were asked to compete in pairs in a 'reaction time' test. Their task was to type letters on a keyboard at a fast speed and they were warned not to touch the ALT key at any time as the computer would crash and important data would be lost. The computers were set to crash after a time interval and participants were accused of pressing the ALT key. Under these highly pressured conditions, 69% were prepared to sign a confession document even though they had not touched the key. In subsequent interviews, 28% convinced themselves that they had actually done the deed.

Answer 149

They argued that police use a range of techniques on suspects in order to present them with a version of events and reality they may eventually come to accept.

Answer 150

It is a term that has been used to refer to the techniques that were used in China from the 1920's onwards to change people's political views and beliefs to accept the new communist regime.

Answer 151

The processed used by the 'revolutionary colleges' which were set up in China in the 1940's. Students who attended these colleges took part in a three-stage indoctrination programme to change their beliefs and views and become positive towards the new communist regime.

Answer 152

Students would join a small discussion group of about ten people in which they would be encourages to discuss their own views and hear others talking of their hatred of the old regime in China. They would also be given lectures on the new ideologies. This would target their ideas at the intellectual level

Answer 153

The technique used became personal and emotional. Considerable pressure was put on students to adopt and show the 'correct' views. Those who did not comply were singled out, threatened and publicly humiliated.

Answer 154

The student was made to prepare a 'confession' of between 5000 and 25,000 words, which was read out to the study group renouncing their old beliefs and embracing the new communist ideologies.

Answer 155

A range of techniques were used to 'convert' their political views to embrace communism. Prisoners were isolated from the outside world, contact with families and news were cut off, and their treament by guards and their physical survival depended on how well they could convince the gards that they had embraced the ideals of communism. At the end of the war, some of these soldiers were interviewed on release to assess their condition and the extent of their brainwashing. THere were wide invidual differences in the ability to resist the attempts to brainwash them. Those who were most resistent were the 'bloody-minded' and those who had strong beliefs or religious convictions (Brown,1996)