Social Influence Flashcards
What are the three types of conformity?
Identification - conforming to expectations of a social role
Compliance - publicly changing behaviour to fit in with the group, but private views know that the behaviour is wrong
Internalisation - publicly changing behaviour to fit in with the group and agreeing with them privately too
What are the two explanations of conformity?
Normative social influence - an individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social disapproval
Informational social influence - agreeing with a group, because what they say convinces us that they are right
What was Asch’s study in 1956?
The aim of his study was to find out how the lone ‘real’ participant would react to the behaviour of the confederates, and this was done by Asch asking student participants to volunteer to take part in a visual discrimination task, although only one of the people in each group was the participant. The others were known as ‘confederates’, because they knew about the experiment and they were told how to behave. The participants were seated around a table and asked to look at three lines of different lengths. They took turns to call out which of the three lines was the same length as the standard line, with the real participants always answering second to last. The confederates were told to give the same wrong answer, but Asch was interested in whether the participant would stick to what they believed was the right answer, or conform to the pressure of the majority and go along with them.
The findings were that the conformity rate was about 33%, but without the confederates the participants made mistakes 1% of the time, and after the experiment was over Asch interviewed his participants, and he discovered that the majority of the participants only conformed just to avoid disapproval from the other group members, but they still continued to privately trust in their own perception and judgements. (i.e. they showed compliance)
What are the three factors which affect conformity?
Group size ( conformity increased to 30% with a majority of three confederates), the unanimity of the majority and the difficulty of the task (correct answer less obvious, conformity is higher)
What is a strength and a weakness of Asch’s line study?
\+ = use of control group \+ = valid and repeatable - = biased sample used as all were male students
What was Zimbardo’s prison study (1973), conforming to social roles?
A mock prison was set up in the basement of Stanford University, male volunteers were physically and psychologically tested to make sure that they were stable to either play the role of the prisoner or the guard. The guards referred to the prisoners only by the numbers that they were given. Guards were given sunglasses to prevent eye contact.
The findings of this study were that the guards grew abusive towards the prisoners, and after two days five prisoners had to be released because of their extreme reactions, although the study was supposed to last for fourteen days, it was terminated after six days, because one of the postgraduate students reminded the researchers that this was a psychological study, and it did not justify the abuse which was aimed at the prisoners.
The study did confirm that both prisoners and guards conformed to their social roles.
What were the strengths and weaknesses of Zimbardo’s prison study?
Strengths - the prisoners and guards were chosen randomly, would seem to indicate that it was the situation rather than the participants personality which influenced their behavior
Weaknesses- conforming to roles wasn’t automatic, Haslam and Reicher argue that the guards chose how to behave
bias - all male participants
Zimbardo’s study was ethical, but could have something been done to minimise the suffering of participants
What are the five stages of tyranny?
1) create an us and them situation (dependent variable - behaviour, independent variable - their roles of a prison guard or prisoner
2) make sure that people obey orders
3) de - humanise/do them harm (prisoners were called by their numbers, not by their names)
4) stand up or stand by
5) exterminate
The five stages of tyranny mostly link to Zimbardo’s prison study
What was Milgram’s study in 1963 ? (obedience to authority)
Milgram’s study involved 40 participants, between the ages of 20-50. The participants were told that the study was of how punishment affected learning. Two participants drew out names of who was going to be the teacher and who was going to be the learner, but it always turned out to be that the ‘real’ participant was the teacher and the ‘confederate’ was the learner. The teacher was required to test the learner on his ability to remember paired words. Every time the answer was wrong the teacher was told to give the learner an electric shock (range between 15-450 volts), if the teacher refused the experimenter read out four prods:
1) please continue
2) the experiment requires you to continue
3) it is absolutely essential that you continue
4) you have no choice, but to continue
The results of the experiment were that 65% (two thirds) of the teachers continued to the highest level of 450 volts.
What were the three situational factors of obedience?
Proximity - teacher and learner sat in the same room, obedience levels fell down to 40%, as the teacher was now able to experience the leaners anguish directly
Location - obedience levels dropped down to 48% in a lower status-setting and in Milgram’s study it was a run down office.
Uniform - people are more likely to obey someone in a uniform
What were the strengths and weaknesses of Milgram’s study?
Strengths - the study used a standardised procedure, as it was a lab experiment. This improved the reliability of the study and it also helped to establish a causal relationship (positive correlation)
Weaknesses - ethical issues such as deception as the participants were lied to about the real experiment, they were told they were taking part in a study of how punishment affects learning. This made it impossible for the participants to make an informed consent, and a part of this is having the right to withdraw, if at any point the participants change their mind. Another weakness again was gender bias, as all the participants were males, between the ages of 20-50
What is an agentic state?
a person who sees himself/herself as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes
Mostly links to Milgram’s study, because when the participant asks the experimenter who is responsible for the consequences of their actions, the experimenter says that he takes the responsibility
What is a legitimate authority?
a person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation
In Milgram’s study the experimenter is seen as having legitimate authority as he has a scientific status.
What is the definition of the Authoritarian Personality (a dispositional explanation)?
a personality characterised by someone who admires obedience to authority figures
What is the F-scale (Fascism scale)?
developed in California in 1947 as a measure of authoritarian traits or tendencies
