Social Influence

Question 1

Nail (1986)

Answer 1

When people show normative social influence their private views are not affected.

Question 2

Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)

Answer 2

If told that the majority of their peers didn’t smoke, teenagers were less likely to take up smoking.

Question 3

Schultz et al. (2008)

Answer 3

Hotel guests increased their reuse of towels by 25% if told that 75% of hotel guests did this.

Question 4

Wittenbrink and Henley (1996)

Answer 4

When exposed to negative majority information about African Americans, participants were more likely report negative beliefs about this group.

Question 5

Fein et al. (2007)

Answer 5

The reaction of fellow viewers heavily influenced how participants perceived US presidential candidates.

Question 6

Nolan et al. (2008)

Answer 6

People didn’t realise that it was the views of neighbours that influenced their energy conservation.

Question 7

Laughlin (1999)

Answer 7

Majorities exert more influence over social, rather than physical, matters.

Question 8

Campbell and Fairey (1989)

Answer 8

Subjective judgments are influenced heavily by large majorities whereas objective judgments often need a majority of only 2 or 3.

Question 9

Lucas et al. (2006)

Answer 9

Difficulty of the task (Asch design) depends on the self-efficacy of the individual; an internal perspective on how able they are.

Question 10

Perrin and Spencer (1980)

Answer 10

Tested the Asch design on students and then youths on probation. The latter conformed, the former did not and so the cost of dissenting is a big factor.

Question 11

Bond (2005)

Answer 11

Little research into majorities larger than 4 has been conducted so we know very little about the influence of large majorities.

Question 12

Mori and Arai (2010)

Answer 12

(Asch design) Participants wore glasses with different lenses so that no confederates were needed, reducing demand characteristics. They found similar conformity to Asch.

Question 13

Smith et al. (2006)

Answer 13

Average conformity (in Asch designs) across diffferent cultures was 31%.
Europe/USA = 25%
Africa/Asia/South America = 37%

Question 14

Markus and Kitayama (1991)

Answer 14

Conformity is viewed more favourably in collectivist cultures. That’s why it is more common.

Question 15

Reicher and Haslam (2006)

Answer 15

BBC Prison Study: Participants did not conform to social roles as they had done with Zimbardo in 1973.

Question 16

Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975)

Answer 16

Zimbardo’s findings are the result of demand characteristics.

Question 17

Bushman (1988)

Answer 17

Obedience (giving change) was highest when the confederate dressed in a ‘police-style’ uniform (72%) as opposed to as a beggar (52%) or a businesswoman (48%).

Question 18

Orne and Holland (1968)

Answer 18

Participants distrust psychologists. The cool distance of the observer in Milgram’s study was a demand characteristic and showed that the shocks were fake.

Question 19

Perry (2012)

Answer 19

Many of Milgram’s participants thought the shocks were fake; these were the men who delivered the fatal shocks.

Question 20

Eagly (1978)

Answer 20

There is an assumption that women are more obedient. (Milgram actually found obedience to be the same for both sexes).

Question 21

Blass (1999)

Answer 21

Found no gender difference in obedience and no difference in obedience levels between 1961 and 1985.

Question 22

Mandel (1998)

Answer 22

Milgram’s work does not apply to real-life examples of obedience to authority (example of Reserve Police Battalion 101).

Question 23

Burger (2009)

Answer 23

Found obedience levels similar to those of Milgram’s.

Question 24

Lifton (1986)

Answer 24

Agentic state does not explain Nazi doctors working at Auschwitz.

Question 25

Staub (1989)

Answer 25

Carrying out evil acts over time is what changes a person, not an agentic shift.

Question 26

Fennis and Aarts (2012)

Answer 26

Agentic state applies to reduction of personal control and is relevant to social influences and bystander apathy.

Question 27

Tarnow (2000)

Answer 27

The US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) found that ‘lack of monitoring’ was the biggest cause of aeroplane crashes. Co-pilots were unlikely to question captains.

Question 28

Adorno et al.

Answer 28

Created the F (fascist) scale to measure authoritarianism and found parenting to be the primary cause.

Question 29

Altemeyer (1981)

Answer 29

Found that participants who scored highly for right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) were more obedient in a Milgram design.

Question 30

Dambrun and Vatiné (2010)

Answer 30

Used ‘virtual environment’ to remove demand characteristics. Found that participants who scored highly for right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) were more obedient in a Milgram design.

Question 31

Milgram (1974)

Answer 31

Dispositional authoritarianism does not account for changes in obedience caused by situational variations.

Question 32

Middendorp and Meloen (1990)

Answer 32

Less-educated people are more authoritarian than better-educated people.

Question 33

Bègue et al. (2014)

Answer 33

Those two the left of the political spectrum are less obedient.

Question 34

Spector (1982)

Answer 34

High internal locus of control = better leadership, goal-orientation and persuasion.

Question 35

Hutchins and Estey (1978)

Answer 35

High internal locus of control = greater ability to resist coercion.

Question 36

Allen and Levine (1969)

Answer 36

Response order is important for social support, earlier support is more effective than later support.

Question 37

Allen and Levine (1971)

Answer 37

Social support needs to be ‘valid’, coming from a valid source.

Question 38

Spector (1983)

Answer 38

Locus of control is important for resisting normative social influence but not informational social influence.

Question 39

Twenge et al. (2004)

Answer 39

External locus of control is becoming more common (in Americans) over time.

Question 40

Avtgis (1998)

Answer 40

Those with an external locus of control are easily persuaded, socially influenced and are more conformist than those with an internal locus of control.

Question 41

Nemeth et al. (2010)

Answer 41

A consistent minority shows confidence that their view is valid; therefore is more effective.

Question 42

Wood et al. (1994)

Answer 42

Minorities which are especially consistent are very effective.

Question 43

Mugny (1982)

Answer 43

Flexibility and negotiation is more important than consistency for a minority. They lack power and so must compromise.

Question 44

Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987)

Answer 44

Inflexible minorities are unsuccessful.

Question 45

Nemeth (2010)

Answer 45

Minority groups stimulate creativity and thoughtfulness. but people do not like them. The majority marginalises and mocks the deviant view as it threatens the homogeneity of the group.

Question 46

Van Dyne and Saavedra (1996)

Answer 46

Exposure to minority groups improves decision making skills.

Question 47

Mackie (1987)

Answer 47

Majorities stimulate more thought and processing than minorities, because they are more important.

Question 48

Xie et al. (2011)

Answer 48

A minority as big as 10% of a group is needed to convert the majority and make their views accepted (the tipping point).

Question 49

Perkins and Berkowitz (1986)

Answer 49

Social norms approach: if people think a behaviour is the norm, they will take alter their behaviour to fit in.

Question 50

Dejong et al. (2009)

Answer 50

‘Social norms interventions’ do not always work. Although told that responsible drinking was the norm, students continued to drink heavily.

Question 51

Schultz et al. (2007)

Answer 51

Boomerang effect: people who already perform desired behaviour engage in undesirable behaviour upon being part of a social norm intervention.