Social Influence Flashcards
Types of conformity?
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
Internalisation
Conforming to the majority and believing in their views
Identification
Conforming to what is expected of you in order to fulfil a social role
Compliance
Going along with the majority but not sharing their views
What are the explanations for conformity?
Informational social influence and Normative social influence
Normative social influence
When a person conforms with the majority in order to fit in.
Motivated by the need to be accepted
Involves public agreement and private disagreement
Usually a temporary change
Informational social influence
When a person conforms in order to be correct
Motivated by the need to be right
Involves public and private agreement
Usually a permanent change
What variables did Asch find affected conformity?
Group size
Unanimity/social support
Task difficulty
How does group size affect conformity? (Asch)
Asch found that conformity levels were higher with bigger groups TO A DEGREE.
With two confederates conformity was at 14% and rose to 32% with three confederates HOWEVER after that an increase in confederates had no further effect
How does task difficulty effect conformity? (Asch)
As task difficulty increases, conformity increases
Ptts were more likely to conform when the lines were harder to tell apart a
How does social support/unanimity affect conformity? (Asch)
As social support increases, the rate of conformity decreases
Social support causes conformity rates to fall to 5.5%
Asch found that if the real participant had a fellow dissenter they felt more comfortable in their own answer
This made it easier for them to disagree with the majority
Asch study - aim, procedure and findings?
Aim: to investigate the effect of normative social influence
Procedure: Lab study, ptts in groups of 8, shown a standard line which they must match to one of three lines shown
Group= one real ptt and rest are confederates
Findings: ptts conformed with confederates 37% of the time
75% of ptts conformed at least once
Control conditions showed task was easy but ptts said they conformed to appear normal
Evaluation points to Asch study
+ lab study - control of all variables eliminates extraneous variables making study reliable and replicable
- lacks ecological validity as it was done in an artificial environment so it’s hard to apply to the real world in order to make generalisations
- ethical concerns as ptts were deceived and may have been embarrassed after
Zimbardo’s study - aim, procedure and findings?
Aim: To investigate conformity to social roles
Procedure: mock prison set up, male students assigned as guard or prisoner, ptts in uniform and behaviour observed via cameras
Findings: Each ptt accepted their social role Guards were quick to emphasise their authority (some violent) whilst prisoner stuck together at first before becoming passive and obedient
Evaluation points to Zimbardo’s study
- Demand characteristics as ptts knew they were being watched (however violence was display even were cameras weren’t present)
- Unethical as study ended early due to distress of some ptts
- Zimbardo was too personally involved
- Lacks ecological validity as it was a artificial environment so has no real world application
+ random allocation of roles eliminates bias
What explanations for obedience were found by Milgram ?
Agentic state and legitimacy of authority
Define agentic state
When you act on behalf of an external authority and therefore act as an agent
This means that you do not take responsibility for your own actions
Define legitimacy of authority
Idea that we are more likely to obey legitimate authorities
Describe the agentic shift
Idea that people start of acting in an autonomous way which means they think for themselves
BUT then become obedient entering the agentic state
Milgram’s study - aim, procedure and findings?
Aim: to investigate obedience to authority
Procedure: lab study, ptt was always teacher who administered shocks to learner, shocks were not real but ranged from 15V to 450V and the ptts were encouraged to continue
Findings: 65% of ptts reached 450V and no one stopped before 300V. Ptts showed signs of stress
People will obey orders to hurt other even if acting against their conscience
What situational variables affect obedience?
Proximity
Location
Uniform
Evaluation points to Milgram’s study
- low internal validity as ptts may not have believed the shocks were real
- Demand characteristics
- lacks ecological validity as the situation is unlikely in real life
+ lab study so control of variables and can establish cause and effect
- ethical issues of deception as ptts couldn’t give informed consent plus stress after shows they weren’t protected
+ informs us of the power of a situation
- Ignores individual differences such as gender and personality
Describe the authoritarian personality
Adorno et al
It is a dispositional explanation of obedience
Over strict parents produce children who always obey authority
Child is hostile to inferior groups (minorities)
F scale measures authoritarian traits
Evaluation points of authoritarian theory
- milgram found situational factors to have a bigger effect on obedience
- doesn’t explain how whole societies become obedient
- There are other factors such as education
+ Elms and Milgram found that people with high F scale score had administer bigger shocks HOWEVER this is correlational so hard to draw conclusions from
Describe locus of control
How much personal control you believe you have over events in your life
Rotter developed a questionnaire to measure locus of control
Internal locus of control
Believing that what happens in your life is from your OWN actions
Stronger sense of control over life
Independent behaviour
Less likely to conform or obey
External locus of control
Believing that events are caused by external factors like luck
More likely to conform or obey
How does social support affect social influence?
Makes it easier to resist social influence
Milgram found that if other ptts present refused then the ptt would find it easier to stand up to authority
Links to Asch’s line study
Moscovici’s study - aim, procedure and findings?
Aim: To investigate minority influence and factors affecting it
Procedure: Lab study, 192 women in groups of 6 that had 2 confederates, judged 36 blue slides with different brightnesses
Consistent group= confeds say all slides are green
Inconsistent = two thirds of slides are green
Findings: minorities can produce conformity particularly when consistent
In the consistent group 32% of ptts conformed at least once
Evaluation points to Moscovici’s study
+ lab study means control of extraneous variables and replicable and reliable
- large sample BUT there’s a gender bias so it lacks population validity
- Lacks ecological validity
What makes minority influence stronger?
Consistency
Flexibility
Commitment
What is the snowball effect?
When people start agree with the minority view then the minority become more influential
They then eventually become a majority
People must go from privately accepting the view to publicly expressing it
Examples of social change?
MLK - segregation/ civil rights movement
Gay rights movement - higher age of consent/ equality act/ Sam sex marriage 2014
What three factors influence social impact?
Strength
Numbers
Immediacy (how close source is)
What are the five steps to social change through minority influence?
1- Drawing attention to issue 2- Cognitive conflict 3- Consistency of position 4- The augmentation principle (minority is willing to suffer) 5- Snowball effect
