Social Influence Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Findings of Asch’s study?

A

Naive participants confirmed on 37% trials

25% never conformed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What were the variations of Asch’s study?

A

Conformity increased up to group size of four
Dissenter reduced conformity
Conformity increased when task was harder

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are some evaluations of Asch’s study

A

A child of its time- Perrin and spencer found less conformity in 80’s than 50’s
Artificial situation - demand characteristics meant participants played along with trivial task
Limited application- Only conducted on American men
Ethical issues

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What were the procedures of Zimbardos research?

A

Mock prison with students randomly assigned guards or prisoners

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Findings of Zimbardos research

A

Guards became increasingly brutal

Prisoners increasingly withdrawn and depressed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Conclusions of Zimbardos research

A

Participants conformed to their roles as guards or prisoners

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Evaluations of Zimbardos research

A

Random assignment to roles increased internal validity
Lack of realism- participants play acting their roles according to media derived stereotypes
Dispositional influences- 1/3 of guards brutal so conclusions exaggerated
Ethical issues

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Procedure of milgrams research?

A

Participants gave fake electric shocks to a ‘learner’ in obedience to instructions from the ‘experimenter’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Findings of milgrams research

A

Low internal validity- participants realised shocks fake
Replication with real shocks got similar results
Good external validity- findings generalise to other situations (hospital wards)
Game of death found 80% fave maximum shock, similar behaviour to milgrams participants
Ethical issues
Could be social identity theory?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is internalisation

A

Private and public acceptance of group norms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is identification

A

Change behaviour to be part of a group we identify with

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is compliance

A

Go along with the group publicly but no private change

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is informational social influence

A

Conforms to be right

Assumes others know better then us

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is normative social influence

A

Conforms to be liked or accepted by group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Evaluation of ISI

A

Research support- more conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were difficult as predicted by ISI

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Evaluation of NSI

A

Individual differences in NSI

Naffiliators want to be liked more

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Evaluation of both NSI and ISI

A

Isi and nsi work together

Dissenter may reduce power of ISI And NSI

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Three situational variables of obedience

A

Proximity
Location
Uniform

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Explain how proximity affected Milgram’s research

A

Obedience decreased to 40% when teacher could hear learner

To 30% in touch proximity conditions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Explain how location affected Milgrams research

A

Obedience decreased to 47’5% when study moved to run down office block

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Explain how uniform affected Milgrams research

A

Obedience decreased to 20% when ‘member of public’ was the experimenter

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Evaluation of situational variables

A

Bickman showed power of uniform in field experiment

Lack of internal validity- some of Milgrams procedures contrived so not genuine obedience (Orne and Holland)

Cross cultural replications- support milgram
Almost all studies in similar cultures to USA so not generalisable

‘The obedience alibi’

23
Q

What are the three social psychological factors affecting obedience

A

Agentic state
Autonomous state
Binding factors

24
Q

Explain Agentic state

A

Acting as agent of another

25
Q

Explain autonomous state

A

Free to act according to conscience

Switching between the two - Agentic shift

26
Q

Explain binding factors

A

Allow individual to ignore he damaging effects of their obedient behaviour

27
Q

Evaluation to support Agentic state

A

Blass and Schmitt found that people do blame the legitimate authority for the participants behaviour

28
Q

A limited explanation of Agentic state ?

A

Cannot explain why some of Milgrams participants disobeyed or the lack of moral strain in Hofling et al’s nurses

29
Q

What is legitimacy of authority

A

Created by hierarchical nature of society

30
Q

What is destructive authority

A

Problems arise e.g Hitler

31
Q

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority

A

Cultural differences- explains obedience in different cultures because reflects different social hierarchies

‘Obedience alibi’ revisited
Real life crimes of obedience

32
Q

Procedure of Adorno’s authoritarian personality

A

Adorno et al used F-scale to study unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups

33
Q

Finding of authoritarian personality

A

People with authoritarian personalities identify with the ‘strong’ and have fixed cognitive style

34
Q

What are authoritarian characteristics

A

Extreme respect for authority and obedience to it

35
Q

Origin of authoritarian personality?

A

Harsh parenting creates hostility that cannot be expressed against parents so is displaced

36
Q

Evaluations of authoritarian personality

A

Some of Milgrams participants had authoritarian personalities (Elms)

Limited - can’t explain increased in obedience across a whole culture
Better explanation is social identity theory

Political bias- equates authoritarian personality with right wing ideology
Ignores extreme left wing authoritarianism

Methodological problems
Correlation not causation

37
Q

What is the locus of control

A

LOC is sense of what directs events in our lives (Rotter)

38
Q

Explain the continuum

A

High internal at one end and high external at the other

39
Q

Use LOC to explain resistance to social influence

A

People with high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey

40
Q

Evaluate the locus of control

A

Internals less likely to fully obey in Milgram type procedure (Holland)

Contradictory research
People have become more external and more disobedient recently (Twenge et al)
Hard for LOC to explain

Limited role of locus of control

41
Q

Explain conformity in social support

A

Reduced by presence of dissenters from the group

42
Q

Explain obedience in social support

A

Decreases in presence of disobedient peer who acts as a model to follow

43
Q

Evaluation of social support

A

Conformity decreased when one person dissents even if they are not credible (Allen and Levine)

Obedience drops when disobedient role models are present ( Gamson et al)

44
Q

What four factors are needed for minority influence

A

Consistency

Commitment

Flexibility

The process of change

45
Q

Explain consistency in minority influence

A

If minority is consistent this attracts attention of the majority over time

46
Q

Explain commitment in minority influence

A

Augmentation principle- personal sacrifices show commitment and attract attention

47
Q

Explain flexibility in minority influence

A

Minority more convincing if they accept some counter arguments

48
Q

Explain process of change in minority influence

A

Above factors make majority think more deeply about issue

Snowball effect - minority view gathers momentum until it becomes majority influence

49
Q

Evaluation of minority influence

A

Research support for consistency- moscovici’s blue green slides and Wood et al’s meta analysis

Research support for depth of thought- minority views have longer effect because they are deeply processed (Martin et al)

Artificial tasks- tasks often trivial so tell us little about real life influence

Supports internalisation

Limited real word applications

50
Q

What is the special role of minority influence in social change

A

Minority influence is powerful force for innovation and social change

Civil rights movement in USA

51
Q

Lessons from conformity research leading to social change?

A

NSI can lead to social change by drawing attention to what majority is doing

52
Q

Lessons from obedience leading to social change?

A

Disobedient role models

Gradual commitment is how obedience leads to change

53
Q

Evaluation of social change

A

NSI valid explanation of social change e.g reducing energy consumption (Nolan et al)

Only indirectly effective- effects of minority influence are limited because they are indirect and appear later (Nemeth)

Role of deeper processing- majority views that are processed more deeply than majority views, challenging central feature of minority influence

Barriers to social change
Methodological issues

54
Q

What was the procedures of Asch’s study?

A

Confederates deliberately gave wrong answers to see if participants would conform