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A Level Psychology > Social Influence > Flashcards

Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

What is conformity?

A

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.

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2
Q

What is internalisation?

A
  • A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept that it is correct.
  • It occurs when a person accepts the group’s norm.
  • It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is not present.
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3
Q

What is identification?

A
  • A moderate conformity where we act in the same way in the group because we value it and want to be part of it, but do not necessarily agree with everything the majority agrees.
  • We publicly change our opinion or behaviour to fit in but do not privately agree with everything.
  • With a group of people that you know.
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4
Q

What is compliance?

A
  • A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it.
  • The change in our behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.
  • With a group of people you don’t know.
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5
Q

What is Informational Social Influence?

A
  • An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct.
  • We accept it because we want to be correct as well
  • This may lead to internalisation.
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6
Q

What is Normative Social Influence?

A
  • An explanation of conformity that says that we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval or be liked.
  • This may lead to compliance.
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7
Q

What is a laboratory experiment?

A
  • Highly controlled
  • Not necessarily in a lab
  • Researcher controls all aspects such as the place, time and which participants take part
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8
Q

What are the strengths of a laboratory experiment?

A
  • Easier to replicate and standardise

- Easier to identify the cause and effect

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9
Q

What are the limitations of a laboratory experiment?

A

Lacks internal validity because the participants may display demand characteristics as they know they are being tested

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10
Q

What is a natural experiment?

A
  • Natural environment of the participants

- Researcher has no control of what happens in the environment

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11
Q

What are the strengths of a natural experiment?

A

Participants will give a more honest response increasing the internal validity

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12
Q

What are the limitations of a natural experiments?

A
  • It is difficult to identify the cause and effect

- The researcher has no control of the variables so it would be difficult for the experiment to be replicated

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13
Q

What is a field experiment?

A
  • Occurs in the natural environment of the participants

- The researcher will still attempt to control what happens in the environment

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14
Q

What is a confederate?

A

A participant who is in on the experiment

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15
Q

What is a participant?

A

Taking part in the experiment and knows what they are testing

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16
Q

What is a naive participant?

A

A participant who is taking part but who is unaware of the real experiment

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17
Q

What is a dissenter?

A

This person acts as a supporter to the naive participant

- Is in on the experiment

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18
Q

What were the aims of Asch’s research?

A

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.

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19
Q

What was the procedure of Asch’s research?

A
  • Laboratory experiment
  • 6 to 8 members sat in a row on a table and were asked to match a line to another line of the same length, saying it out loud
  • 123 American Undergraduates were tested
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20
Q

What were the findings of Asch’s research?

A
  • Naive participants gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time
  • 25% of participants didn’t conform at all
  • In a control group with no pressure to conform, less than 1% of participants conformed
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21
Q

In Asch’s research, how did group size affect conformity?

A
  • With 3 confederates conformity rose to 36.8%, but the addition of more confederates made little difference to conformity rates.
  • This suggests that a small majority is not sufficient for influence however there is no need for more than 3.
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22
Q

In Asch’s research, how did unanimity affect conformity?

A

The presence of a dissenting confederate meant that conformity was reduced by a quarter from the level it was when the majority was unanimous.

  • The presence of a dissenter enabled the naive participant to behave more independently.
  • This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to some extent on the unanimity of the group.
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23
Q

In Asch’s research, how did task difficulty affect conformity?

A
  • Increasing task difficulty increases conformity rates because people begin to believe other people are correct due to looking at them for guidance.
  • This suggests that informational social influence plays a greater role in conformity
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24
Q

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s research?

A

To investigate conformity to social roles

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25
Q

What were the procedures of Zimbardo’s research?

A
  • Observational experiment
  • Mock prison in a basement
  • 24 American male student volunteers (paid $15 a day to take part)
  • Participants randomly assigned roles either guard or prisoner
  • 16 rules the guards enforced on prisoners
  • Guards worked shifts of 3 at a time
  • Prisoners had numbers not names
  • Social roles of guards and prisoners were strictly divided
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26
Q

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s research?

A
  • After a slow start to stimulation, the guards took up their roles with enthusiasm
  • Guards became a threat to the psychological and physical health of the prisoners
  • Experiment stopped after 6 days instead of 14
  • After 2 days the prisoners rebelled
  • Frequent head counts, press ups
  • One prisoner was released on day 1 after showing signs of psychological disturbance
  • 2 more released on day 4
  • The guards identified more with their roles and became more aggressive, some appeared to enjoy their power
  • Putting the prisoners in ‘the hole’
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27
Q

What conclusions can be drawn from Zimbardo’s research?

A
  • Both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles
  • Highlights how people conform to social roles and how the role that is taken on can overcome judgement and cause a change in behaviour
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28
Q

What is a social role?

A
  • The parts people play as members of various social groups.
  • These are accompanied by the expectations we and others have of what is appropriate for each role
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29
Q

What was the aim of Milgram’s research?

A
  • Milgram wanted to understand why the German public had followed the orders of Hitler
  • Simply, why do people obey figures of authority
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30
Q

What type of experiment was Milgram’s research?

A
  • Observational

- Laboratory

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31
Q

What 4 prods were used in Milgram’s research?

A
  • Prod 1= ‘Please continue’ or ‘Please go on’
  • Prod 2= ‘The experiment requires you to continue’
  • Prod 3= ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’
  • Prod 4= ‘You have no other choice, you must go on’
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32
Q

What were the procedures of Milgram’s research?

A
  • There was a rigged draw for their role as learner or teacher
  • A confederate was always the learner whilst the true participant was the teacher
  • The experimenter was also a confederate, played by an actor dressed in a lab coat
  • Participants were told they could leave the study at any time
  • The learner was strapped in a chair in another room and wired with electrodes
  • The teacher was required to give the learner an increasingly severe shock every time the learner made a mistake on a task
  • Before the experiment the shock was demonstrated on the teacher before the experiment took place so they understood the pain. It was only a small shock but the teacher thought that it was of a higher voltage
  • When the learner got to 300 volts he pounded his head on the wall and gave no response to the next question, this is the same when 315 volts were admitted
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33
Q

In Milgram’s research, how were recruits selected and how many were there?

A
  • Recruited 40 male participants through newspaper adverts and flyers
  • The ad said it was a study about memory
  • Participants were age 20-50 and ranged in occupation from unskilled to professional
  • Offered $4.50 to take part
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34
Q

What were the findings of Milgram’s research?

A
  • No participant stopped below 300 volts
  • 12.5% of participant stopped at 300 volts
  • 65% of participants continued to the highest voltage of 450 volts
  • Qualitative data was also collected, such as observations that the participants showed signs of extreme tension such as sweat, stutter, 3 even had full-blown seizures
  • 84% felt glad to have participated
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35
Q

What is a strength of Milgram’s research?

A
  • There is a high level of realism

- This increases the external validity because the results can be generalised.

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36
Q

What is a criticism of Milgram’s research?

A
  • The participants displayed demand characteristics
  • In 2013 Gina Perry analysed the tapes of the experiment and confirmed that the participants raised their doubts about the shocks
  • This reduces the internal validity of the experiment
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37
Q

What is the Game of Death?

A
  • A documentary about reality TV, presented in French TV in 2010.
  • The participants believed they were contestants in a pilot episode for a new game show.
  • They were paid to give fake electric shocks, when ordered by the presenter, to other other participants who were actors in front of a live and studio audience.
  • The naive participant shocks the other participant (the actor/confederate) when they have answered a question wrong.
38
Q

How does the Game of Death support Milgram’s research?

A
  • 80% of the participants delivered the maximum amount of shocks of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious person.
  • This increases the reliability of the experiment as it highlights the reproducibility of the experiment due to the participants exhibiting the same behaviour such as anxious nail biting and nervous laughter.
39
Q

Why is Milgram’s research so unethical?

A
  • The participants cannot be said to have given informed consent
  • Withheld information
  • The participants were not given the opportunity to withdraw at any stage and instead the experimenter used prods to push them to go on
  • Psychological damage to the participants due to the nature of the experiment
40
Q

What is a situational variable?

A

The situation pushes you towards how you wouldn’t normally act
- It is the external conditions rather than the personality

41
Q

What is a baseline experiment?

A

The original experiment

42
Q

What is proximity?

A

The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to.

43
Q

What is the location?

A

The place where an order is issued

44
Q

What is uniform?

A

People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority

45
Q

What were the variables of Milgram’s experiment?

A
  • Proximity
  • Location
  • Uniform
46
Q

What were the differences in location from the baseline experiment in Milgram’s variables?

A

He conducted the experiment in a run-down building rather than the prestigious university setting

47
Q

What were the differences in proximity from the baseline experiment in Milgram’s variables?

A
  • Touch proximity- The teacher had to force the learner’s hand into an electroshock plate when he refused to answer a question
  • Third proximity- The experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the phone
48
Q

What were the differences in uniform from the baseline experiment in Milgram’s variables?

A
  • Milgram carried out a variation whereby he had to leave the room due to an inconvenient phone call at the start of the procedure.
  • His position was taken over by an ordinary member of the public in everyday clothes
49
Q

In Milgram’s variables, how did the change in proximity affect obedience?

A
  • In touch proximity, obedience dropped to 30%.

- In third proximity, the obedience dropped to 20.5%

50
Q

In Milgram’s variables, how did the change in location affect obedience?

A

Obedience fell to 47.5%

51
Q

In Milgram’s variables, how did the change in uniform affect obedience?

A

Obedience fell to 20%

52
Q

What was the rate of obedience in Milgram’s baseline experiment?

A

60%

53
Q

How is the rate of obedience increased?

A

With legitimacy

54
Q

What was Bickman’s experiment?

A
  • Occurred 1974
  • Field experiment
  • 3 confederates dressed in 3 different outfits - jacket and tie, milkman, security guard.
  • The confederates stood in the street and asked people passing by to perform tasks such as picking up litter. -
    People were twice as likely to obey the confederate dressed as a security guard than the one with a jacket and tie.
55
Q

What does Bickman’s experiment prove?

A

That people will obey figures of authority when they believe it is legitimate.

56
Q

How does Bickman’s experiment support Milgram’s experiment?

A

This increases the internal validity as the results were similar to that of Milgram’s.

57
Q

What is a criticism of Milgram’s research?

A

Demand characteristics

58
Q

What did Orne and Holland do?

A
  • Stated that the participants worked out the procedure was faked, this is especially likely due to the extra manipulation.
59
Q

In 1918, what did Miranda et al do?

A
  • Found an obedience rate over 90% amongst Spanish students
  • This suggests that Milgram’s conclusions about obedience are not limited to American, male students, therefore increasing the external validity of Milgram’s experiment
60
Q

In 1998, what did Mandel argue?

A
  • That Milgram’s experiment offers an excuse or ‘alibi’ for evil behaviour
  • In his view it is offensive to the survivors of the holocaust to suggest that the Nazis were simply following orders and were victims themselves of situational factors beyond their control
61
Q

What is an agent?

A

Working for someone else

62
Q

What is the agentic state?

A
  • A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because ourselves to be acting for an authority figure eg. as their agent.
  • This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.
63
Q

What is autonomy?

A
  • To be free or independent and behave according to their own principles therefore take responsibility for their actions
64
Q

What is the agentic shift?

A
  • Going from an autonomous state to an agentic state
65
Q

What are binding factors?

A
  • Aspects of a situation which allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reduce the moral strain, keeping them in an agentic state e.g Location, Uniform, Perception of authority, The prods in Milgram’s experiment
66
Q

What is legitimacy of authority?

A
  • An explanation of obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have an authority over us.
  • This authority is legitimate by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy.
  • This is socially agreed and not necessarily by law.
67
Q

What is the dispositional explanation of obedience?

A

Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of an individual’s personality

68
Q

What is the authoritarian personality?

A
  • A type of personality which means they are susceptible to obeying people in authority
  • Submissive to those of a higher status
  • Dismissive of inferiors
  • Fixed and rigid mindset
  • Believes in the social hierarchy and that it must always apply
69
Q

What was Adorno et al’s aim?

A
  • To understand anti-semitism during the holocaust

- Identify the causes of an obedient personality

70
Q

What was Adorno et al’s procedure?

A
  • More than 2000 middle class white Americans with unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups asked to do a test
  • F-scale was created to measure authoritarian personality
  • The test measured where they were on the F-scale
71
Q

What did Adorno et al find?

A
  • Authoritarian people had a cognitive style where there was no fuzziness between categories of people, with fixed and distinctive stereotypes of other groups
  • They identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the weak
  • There was a strong positive correlation between authoritarian and prejudice
72
Q

What is social influence?

A
  • The process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitudes and behaviours
  • Includes obedience, conformity and minority influence.
73
Q

What is social change?

A

This occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things.

74
Q

What is resistance to social influence?

A

Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to the conform to the majority or to obey authority

75
Q

What is social support?

A
  • The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same
  • These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible.
76
Q

Give an example of social support in conformity.

A

The presence of the dissenting confederate in Asch’s research helped naive participants resist pressures to conform

77
Q

What is the locus of control?

A

Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.

78
Q

Explain the internal locus of control.

A

Internals believe they are responsible for what happens to them

79
Q

Explain the external locus of control.

A

Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces

80
Q

What is the continuum?

A
  • People differ in the way they explain their success and failures but it isn’t simply a matter of being internal or external
  • There is a continuum where a high internal LOC at one end and a high external LOC at the other end of the continuum, with low internal and low external lying in between.
81
Q

If a person has a high internal locus of control, are they likely to resist social influence?

A

Yes
- This is fairly obvious if you think about it - if a person takes personal responsibility for their actions and experience (good or bad) then they are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs and thus resist pressures from others.

82
Q

What is minority influence?

A

A form of social influence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours.

83
Q

What are the 3 ways a minority can influence a majority?

A
  • Consistency
  • Commitment
  • Flexibility
84
Q

What is consistency?

A
  • Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both overtime and among all the individuals that form the minority
  • It’s effective because it draws attention to the minority view.
85
Q

What can consistency be divided into?

A
  • Synchronic Consistency

- Diachronic Consistency

86
Q

What is synchronic consistency?

A

They’re all saying the same thing

87
Q

What is diachronic consistency?

A

They’ve been saying the same thing for some time now

88
Q

What is commitment?

A
  • Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, for example by making personal sacrifices
  • This is effective because it shows the minority is not acting out of self-interest.
89
Q

What is the augmentation principle?

A
  • Sometimes minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views
  • It is important that the activities are at some risk to the minority as it highlights their commitment
90
Q

What is flexibility?

A
  • Relentless consistency could be counterproductive if it is seen by the majority as unbending and unreasonable
  • Therefore minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by accepting the possibility of compromise.
91
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

Gradual change in opinion over time, taking on the minority opinion

92
Q

What is social cryptomnesia?

A

People have the memory of something changing but do not remember how it happened

A Level Psychology (11 decks)

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