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Psychology > Social influence > Flashcards

Social influence Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by Normative social influence?

A

Desire to be liked

Desire for the approval of others and acceptance

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2
Q

What is the result of Normative social influence?

A

Compliance

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3
Q

What is meant by Informational social influence?

A

Desire to be right

Look to others to give information about how to behave/think in new/ambiguous situations.

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4
Q

What is the result of Informational social influence?

A

Identification

Internalisation

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5
Q

What are the strengths of Normative social influence?

A

Asch- Correct answer was obvious yet individuals conformed to the wrong answer for the approval as they didn’t want to stand out.

Garandeau and Cillessen-found that children who had a greater need for social acceptance were the most likely to conform to a group bullying another child, despite being uncomfortable with the behaviour.

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6
Q

What are the strengths of Informational social influence?

A

Sherif- unambiguous task with no obvious answer so they looked to others for help and advice.

Wittenbrink and Henley-Gave participants about African Americans being linked to criminality. Found that the participants overestimated the percentage of African Americans who had spent time in prison.

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7
Q

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s prison study?

A

To investigate whether brutality of guards was to due with their personality- the dispositional hypothesis- or whether it was to do with the power structure- situational hypothesis.

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8
Q

What was the procedure of the study?

A

75 volunteers were recruited from newspaper advertisements which asked for volunteers for a 2 week prison study.

24 were chosen out of the 75 based on their mental health- chose the most well-adjusted and stable participants.

Participants were allocated either prisoner or guard.

Local police arrested the prisoners without warning and took them down to

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9
Q

What are the variables affecting conformity?

A

Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty

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10
Q

What is meant by group size as a variable for affecting conformity?

A

Asch found that conformity increased as the number of confederates rose.
Latane and Wolf- suggested that adding more numbers can increase conformity.

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11
Q

What is meant by unanimity?

A

Conformity is most likely to occur when the confederates are unanimous in their answers.

Asch-found that conformity decreased from 37% of critical trials down to 5.5%. He concluded that the presence of a dissenter led to a reduction in conformity.

Also found that just breaking the unanimity of the majority is sufficient enough to reduce conformity by reducing the need for social approval.

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12
Q

What is meant by task difficulty?

A

If the task is difficult then conformity increased.

Individual differences

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13
Q

What was the aim of Asch’s experiment into conformity?

A

To see if individuals would conform to a majority when presented with an unambiguous task.

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14
Q

What was the procedure for Asch’s experiment into conformity?

A

123 male students
Picked 1 naïve participant that was placed in a group of 7-9 other individuals who were confederates.
Participants task was to say aloud which of the 3 comparison lines matched the standard line, the correct answer was always obvious but the confederates were told to give the wrong answer.
The naïve participant was always last to answer.

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15
Q

What were the findings from Asch’s experiment into conformity?

A

26% of the participants never conformed at all and remained independent in giving the correct answer.
74% conformed and gave the wrong answer.

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16
Q

What percentage of the participants never conformed?

A

26%

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17
Q

What percentage of the participants did conform?

A

74%

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18
Q

What are limitations to Asch’s study?

A

Demand characteristics as the participants know they are in a study.
All male- cannot generalise the findings
Low ecological validity- Lab study and artificial
Ethical Issues- caused participants to doubt themselves.

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19
Q

What are the strengths of Asch’s study?

A

Meta Analysis Bond- Supports group size
Latane and Wolf-Supportive of group size
Lab experiment- Shows power of peer pressure as confederates are strangers so disapproval will have little meaning.
Perrin and Spencer-Used engineering students who are trained in accuracy and more confident- results were similar to Asch’s
Deception was necessary and debriefing occurred afterwards.

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20
Q

What is the definition of obedience?

A

Refers to the type of social influence in which an individual complies with a direct order from an authoritative figure.

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21
Q

What is the definition of Social Influence?

A

By which an individuals attitudes, beliefs and/or behaviours are modified or changes due to the actua, imagined or implied presence of others.

22
Q

What is the definition of Conformity?

A

The tendency to change our behaviour/beliefs/attitudes in response to the influence of others.

23
Q

What is the definition of Compliance?

A

Participants conform with others publicly but privately disagree. Most stereotypical type of conformity.

24
Q

What is the definition of Identification?

A

Individuals will adopt the views or beliefs of others, both privately and publicly.

25
Q

What is the definition of Internalisation?

A

The true change of beliefs that will match those of another group.

26
Q

What was the aim of Milgram’s lab study into Obedience?

A

To find out whether ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from an authoritative figure to inflict pain on another person.

Discover what factors in a situation would lead to obedience.

27
Q

What was the procedure for Milgram’s study?

A

40 male volunteers were selected and told that the study was about the role of punishment in learning.
There would be an experimenter, teacher and learner.
The naïve participant was always given the role of the teacher and deceived into thinking they were giving electric shocks to others, when no shocks were administered.
Every time the learner made an error on a question asked, the teacher must give a shock of 15 volts which would the increase to 450.
The experiment continued until the participant stopped or 450 volts were reached 4 times.

28
Q

What were the findings of Milgrams study?

A

65% of the participants gave shocks to 450 volts

All participants gave shocks up to 300 volts

29
Q

What did Milgram find in his debriefing session?

A

74% of participants learned something of personal importance.
84% said they were glad they participated
Only 1 person regretted taking part.

30
Q

What conclusions can be drawn from Milgrams study?

A

Ordinary people will obey if an authorative figure encourages them.

31
Q

What are the limitations of Milgrams study?

A

Lab study

Ethical issues

32
Q

How does the experimental method limit Milgrams study?

A

Artificial method

Lacks ecological validity and mundane realism as people dont give other people electric shocks as punishment

33
Q

How do ethical issues limit Milgram’s study?

A

Deception-participants were led to believe that they were giving real electric shocks.

Protection from harm- made the participants feel guilt which increased the risk of seizures/stress.

34
Q

What is the definition of the dispositional explanation?

A

Behaviours are caused by an individuals own personal characteristics, rather than situational influences.

35
Q

What did Adorno find?

A

some people have an authoritarian personality making them more likely to be obedient and prejudiced.

36
Q

What were the charactersitics Adorno identified as being associated with an Authoritarian personality?

A

Rigid beliefs in conventional values
Intolerance of ambiguity
Strict adherence to social rules
Submissive attitude towards authority figures

37
Q

What did Altmeyer suggest in regards to the authoritarian personality?

A

Right Wing Authoritarianism has 3 variables:

  • Conventionalism
  • Authoritarian agression
  • Authoritarian submission
38
Q

How does the authoritarian personality develop?

A

From upbringings such as being raised by parents with an authoritarian parenting style.

39
Q

What are the strengths of the authoritarian personality?

A

Elms and Milgram

Begue

40
Q

What are the limitations of the authoritarian personality?

A

Social Context

Limitations of Milgrams experiment

41
Q

What are the strengths of Milgrams study?

A

Real world application

Defense against ethical
Issues

42
Q

What’s the definition of minority influence?

A

Rejection of established norms of a majority group to move to support the minority group. Involves the change of attitude and behaviour to fit that of the minority group

43
Q

What are the methods of minority influence?

A 
Consistency 
Commitment
Flexibility
Attention
Augmentation process
Snowball effect
44
Q

What is meant by consistency?

A

If the minority is consistent others will come to reassess the situation and consider the issue more carefully

Increases the likelihood of a conversion

45
Q

What is a strength of consistency?

A

Wood et al- Carried out a meta analysis of 97 studies into minority influence and social change and found consistency to be extremely influential

Moscovici- findings portray the importance of consistency

46
Q

What is meant by commitment?

A

Suggests certaintity confidence and courage which may persuade a majority group to convert

47
Q

What is meant by flexibility?

A

More effective at changing opinions of people think they are willing to negotiate

48
Q

What is a strength of flexibility?

A

Nemeth and Brilmayer- findings support flexibility as he found that when confederates suggested another idea, showing their flexibility, participants were easily persuaded

49
Q

What is meant by the snowball effect?

A

As more and more people concert to minority groups it leads to a social norm

50
Q

What are limitations to minority influence?

A

Social norms- not all social norm interventions have led to social change

‘Boomerang effect’- Schultz found evidence that a social norms campaign was effective in getting heavy emerged users to use less electricity but also caused those who used less than the norm to increase their usage

Psychology (8 decks)

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