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Social influence Flashcards

1
Q

What is social influence?

A

The process by which our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are influenced by other people

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2
Q

What is conformity?

A

The tendency to change what we think or say in response to a real or imagined pressure from a majority group

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3
Q

What did Sherif study?

A
  • The autokinetic effect-an optical illusion
  • Participants were put into a darkened room and were asked to focus on a single spot of light
  • They were asked how far the light had moved and in what direction
  • The task was ambiguous (NO correct answer, light does NOT move)
  • The experiment was repeated in groups of 3
  • They found that individuals changed their views and converged agreed with others within the group.
  • Group norm was conformed
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4
Q

What are the three different types of conformity (from the shallowest level to the deepest level)

A
  1. ) Compliance
  2. ) Identification
  3. ) Internalisation
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5
Q

What is compliance?

A
  • The person conforms publicly but continues privately to disagree
  • It is the shallowest form of conformity
  • Their personal views do not change
  • ‘Going along’ with the majority
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6
Q

Give an example of compliance

A

A person may laugh at a joke whilst others are laughing at whilst privately not finding it funny

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7
Q

What is identification

A
  • deeper type of conformity
  • the person conforms because they have identified with the group and they feel a sense of group membership
  • the change of belief or behaviour is often temporary
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8
Q

Give an example of identification?

A

A person may support a new football team every time they move to a new town

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9
Q

What is internalisation?

A
  • The person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised and accepted the groups of the group
  • it is the deepest type of conformity
  • personal views are changed on a permanent basis
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10
Q

Give an example of internalisation?

A

A person may become vegetarian after sharing a flat with a group of vegetarians at university

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11
Q

Describe the aspects of an interview

A
  • Gathering information in response to face to face questioning
  • Questions can be expanded and clarified upon
  • answers can be expanded in more detail modifying the set questions or asking new ones
  • pps can be reassured so can improve access to data
  • collection of mainly qualitative data which forms a story or narrative about a certain topic
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12
Q

What is a structured interview?

A
  • Structured and quantitive data, objective
  • based on structured, closed, pre coded questionnaire
  • the questionnaire in an interview is known as an interview schedule
  • interviewer will not stray form interview schedule
  • questions asked in order- no probes beyond answer
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13
Q

What are the advantages of a structured (formal) interview?

A
  • high response rate
  • interviewer reads and writes
  • high in reliability (closed Qs)
  • useful in finding factual data
  • quick to complete
  • data easy to complete
  • lessens interviewer bias
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14
Q

What are the disadvantages of a structured (formal) interview?

A
  • interview schedule is restricted
  • lack of probing=lack of detail
  • lacks validity
  • chance of interviewer bias
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15
Q

What is an unstructured (informal) interview?

A
  • preferred by interpretivists
  • qualitative data, valid and value laden
  • subjective (meaning, feelings etc.)
  • referred to as ‘discovery interviews’, ‘guided conservation’
  • interview schedule might not be used.
  • some questions added/missed as the interviewer progresses.
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16
Q

What are the advantages of an unstructured (informal) interview?

A
  • high response rate
  • interviewer reads and writes
  • high in validity (open ended questions)
  • useful in finding meanings
  • can probe for detail
  • free-flowing and more relaxed
  • useful in finding meanings and motivations
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17
Q

What are are the disadvantages of an unstructured (formal) interview?

A
  • no structure
  • could get too personal
  • difficult to quantify
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18
Q

What is bias?

A

The way the behaviour/presence of interviewer may influence responses they receive from the respondent

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19
Q

Give 4 examples of what may affect interviewer bias

A
  1. )Social characteristics (accent)
  2. )Personal characteristics (body language, tone of voice, appearance)
  3. )Status difference(wether or not interviewer shares status and power with respondant or decides to keep distance and clear power division)
  4. ) Leading questions (prompt respondent to answer in a particular way)
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20
Q

What are correlational studies?

A
  • a way of establishing wether there is a relationship between two variables
  • assessing the strength of the relationship
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21
Q

Negative correlation

A

As one rises the other falls

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22
Q

Positive correlation

A

As one rises the other rises

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23
Q

What are the two explanations for conformity?

A
  • NSI

- ISI

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24
Q

What is NSI?

A

Normative social influence (compliance)

  • we wished to be liked
  • follow the crowd
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25
Q

What is ISI

A

Informational social influence (internalisation and in some cases identification)

  • we look to the majority
  • unsure how to behave
  • genuinely believe majority to be right
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26
Q

What did Deutsch and Gerald find?

A

Two process theory (two main reasons why people conform)
Two central human needs
-they need to be liked
-they want to be right

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27
Q

What was the study for NSI in bullying?

-explain the study

A

Garandeau and Cillisen
Groups with low quality friendships can be manipulated by a bully to victimise another child- providing the group with a common goal and creating pressure on all group members to conform

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28
Q

Evaluate the two process model

A

1.)Individual differences exist for both NSI and ISI
-NSI does not affect everyones behaviour in the same way e.g people less concerned about being liked affected by the NSI
2.)McGhee and Teevan
Students high in need of a sense of belonging are more likely to conform. This shows that the desire to be liked is what leads to conformity
3.) Perrin and Spencer
Used science and engineering for a replication of Asch’s line experiment
-less likely to conform
-more confident in own ability

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29
Q

Asch

A

Conformity to a majority influence

-line study

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30
Q

Zimbardo

A

Conformity to social rules

-prison study

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31
Q

Milgram

A

Obedience to authority

-shock study

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32
Q

Moscovici

A

Conformity to minority influence

-colour study (blue/green slides)

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33
Q

Describe Asch’s procedure

A
  • 123 male US undergraduates were tested. Participants were seated around a table and asked to look at 3 lines of different lengths. -They took turns to call out which of the three lines they thought were the same length as a ‘standard line’. The real participant always answered second to last
  • Although the solution was obvious. In 12/18 tasks the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer.
  • Asch was interested in wether they would conform
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34
Q

Describe the findings of Asch’s study

A
  • On the 12 trials the average conformity rate was 33%
  • 1 in 20 conformed on all 12 of the critical trials
  • To confirm the results were unambiguous , Asch conducted a control condition without the distraction of the confederates giving wrong answers- he found that pps made mistakes only 1% of the time.
  • when he interviewed the pps they explained that they continued privately to trust their own perceptions but changed their public behaviour to avoid public disapproval (compliance)
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35
Q

What variables affected conformity in Asch’s study?

A

1.) Group size (little conformity when the majority consisted of just one or two confederates, the conformity went up to about 30% when 3 ppl took part. Campbell suggested when there is no objectively right answer the individual is more concerned abut fitting in. When there is a correct response the views of just two others should be sufficient)
2.) The unanimity of the majority
When the real pps had someone in the experiment who was instructed to give the right answer throughout conformity levels dropped to 5.5%
3.)The difficulty of the task
When Asch in another study made the differences between the two line lengths much smaller the level of conformity increased. Lucas et al found that the influence of a tax difficulty is moderated by self-efficacy (being confident in your own ability) of an individual. High self efficacy students remained more independent.

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36
Q

Evaluation of Asch: How many his research be a ‘child of its time’

A
  • The US findings were unique because the research took part in a particular period of US history where conformity was high
  • In 1956 the US was in the grip of McCarthyism, a strong anti-Communist period where people were scared to go against the majority and more likely to conform
  • Perrin and Spencer attempted to repeat Asch’s study in the UK in the 1980’s. They only found 1 conforming study out of a total of 396 trials
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37
Q

Evaluation of Asch: Problems with determining the effect on group size

A
  • Bond suggests a limitation of research in conformity is that studies have only used a limited range of majority sizes
  • Investigators quickly accepted that with bigger numbers conformity was higher.
  • Bond points out that Asch is the only researcher who used a majority size greater than 9
  • we know very little about the effect of larger majority sizes on conformity levels
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38
Q

Evaluation of Asch: Independent behaviour rather than conformity

A
  • We should remember that only 1/3 conformed
  • 2/3 stuck to their judgement despite being faced with an overwhelming majority
  • showed independent behaviour
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39
Q

Evaluation of Asch: Cultural differences in conformity

A
  • we might expect to see different results based on the culture in which a stray takes place
  • Smith et al analysed the results of Asch type studies across the world.
  • Average conformity rates across different cultures was 31.2%
  • Average conformity for individualist cultures (e.g Europe and the US) was about 25% whereas for collectivist cultures (e.g Africa) it was 37%.
  • Higher level of conformity in collectivist cultures because it is viewed as ‘social glue’ that binds communities together
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40
Q

Describe the difference in conformity and obedience

A

Conformity is a change in your behaviour due to group norms, obedience is being given orders by someone in authority, it is a direct order to change behaviour. In conformity you are the same age status, in obedience difference in status. Conformity is a more indirect form of social influence whilst obedience is more direct and forceful

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41
Q

Describe the procedure for Milgram’s study of obedience.

A
  • involved 40pps over a series of conditions
  • participants told it was a study of how punishment affects learning
  • 2 experimental confederates: an experimenter and a 47 year old man who was introduced as another volunteer participant
  • The pps drew lots to see who was ‘the teacher’ and ‘the learner’- this was rigged so that the real participant was always the teacher and the fake the learner.
  • teacher was required to teach the learner on his ability to learn word pairs
  • everytime the learner got the question wrong the teacher had to give increasing electric shocks from 15-450 volts in 15v intervals.
  • the learner gave mainly wrong answers and was silent until 300v. At this point he pounded on the wall. At 315v he repeated this, after this he remained silent.
  • If the ‘teacher’ asked to stop they were given a series of prods
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42
Q

What were the findings of Milgram’s study of obedience?

A
  • groups predicted that only 1 in 1000 would administer the full 450 volts
  • 26/40 proceeded to the maximum shock level (450 volts)-despite the shock generator saying severe danger at 420 volts
  • All pps went to 300 volts
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43
Q

What are the 3 situational factors in obedience?

A
  • Proximity
  • Location
  • The power of uniform
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44
Q

How did proximity affect obedience levels?

A
  • When both learner and teacher were sat in the same room obedience levels fell by 40%
  • Proximity to the authority figure also had an affect on obedience rates. in the experimenter absent study the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the telephone. Obedience dropped to only 21% of the maximum shock level.
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45
Q

How did location affect obedience levels?

A
  • The studies were conducted in a psychology laboratory at Yale university, several pps remarked the study gave them confidence in the integrity of the ppl involved
  • When Milgram moved his study to a run down office obedience rates fell to 48% giving the maximum shock
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46
Q

How does the power of uniform affect obedience levels?

A
  • convey power and authority
  • Bushman carried out a study where a female researcher dressed in a police style uniform or as a beggar stopped people in the street and told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired marking meter. in uniform 72% of the people obeyed but as a beggar only 52%.
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47
Q

Evaluation of Milgram: Ethical issues

A
  • Milgram deceived his pps by telling them that they were involved in a study on the effects of punishment on learning
  • it was impossible for pps for participants to give full informed consent
  • part of giving informed consent is allowing the ‘right to withdraw’- although Milgram claimed that they were free to withdraw the ‘prods’ made it difficult
48
Q

Evaluation of Milgram: internal validity, a lack of realism

A
  • PPs in psychological studies have learned to distrust experimenters because they know the true purpose of a study may be disguised
  • Despite the fact that the learner cried out in pain the experimenter remained cool- leading the pps that the victim may not be suffering
  • Perry discovered that many of Milgram’s participants had been sceptical about wether the shocks were real enough
49
Q

Evaluation of Milgram: Individual differenced (the influence of gender)

A
  • Milgram underestimated the importance of Individual differences.
  • Commonly held conception that woman would be more susceptible to social influence than men.
  • Milgram did not have one condition in which the participants were female
  • Self reported tension at maximum shock was higher for women
50
Q

Evaluation of Milgram: Historical validity, would the same thing happen today?

A
  • We could dismiss the relevance of Milgrams study as it was 50 years ago.
  • Blass conducted statistical analysis of Milgrams studies and similar studies from 1961- 1985. By carrying out correlational analysis relating the year of publication and the amount of obedience found he discovered no relationship.
  • Milgams findings still apply to today
51
Q

Describe the procedure of Zimbardo’s prison experiment.

A
  • a mock prison was set up in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university in California.
  • Male student volunteers were psychologically and physically screened and the 24 most stable of these were randomly assigned to either play the role of ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’
  • the prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and on entry to the ‘prison’ they were put through a delousing procedure, given a prison uniform and assigned an ID number.
  • guards referred to the prisoners as numbers
  • Prisoners were allowed certain rights (e.g three meals)
  • Pps allocated the role of the guard were given uniforms, clubs, whistles, and wore reflective sunglasses to avoid eye contact.
  • Zimbardo himself took the role of Prison superintendent. the study was planned to last for 2 weeks.
52
Q

Describe the findings of the prison experiment.

A
  • over the first few days of the study the guards grew increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners.
  • they woke prisoners in the night and forced them to clean the toilets with their bare hands and made them carry out degrading activities
  • -pps appeared at times to forget that this was only a psychological study and that they were merely acting
  • even when they weren’t being watched they still conformed to their role of prisoner or guard
  • 5 prisoners had to be released early because of their extreme reactions (e.g rage) symptoms that had started to appear after just 2 days.
  • Study was terminated after just 6 days as maslach did not justify the abuse towards pps.
  • study demonstrated that both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles
  • guards inc. cruel, prisoners inc. passive
53
Q

Evaluation of the Stanford prison experiment: conformity to roles is not automatic

A
  • Zimbardo believed that the guards aggressive behaviour was an automatic consequence of embracing their role which suppressed their ability to engage with the fact that what they were doing was wrong.
  • However in the SPE guard behaviour varied from being fully sadistic to a few being ‘good guards’. - these guards did not harass the prisoners, she even did favours for them.
  • Haslam and Reicher argued that this shows that the guards chose to act in this way.
54
Q

Evaluation of the Stanford prison experiment: the problem of demand characteristics

A

-Argued that the behaviour of Zimbardo’s guards and prisoners were not due to the prison environment but a response to demand characteristics (they were able to guess what the purpose of the experimenter wanted them to behave like). Mohavedi presented some of the details of the SPE to large samples of students, the vast majority correctly guessed the prupose

55
Q

Evaluation of the Stanford prison experiment: where these studies ethical?

A
  • it followed the guidelines of the Stanford university ethics committee that had approved it
  • there was no deceprion (all pps were told in advance that their usual rights would be suspended)
  • Zimbardo accepts that perhaps the study should have been stopped earlier as so many of the pps were experiencing emotional distress.
  • He carried out debreifing sessions several years afterwards.
56
Q

Evaluation of the Stanford prison experiment: the SPE and its relevance to Abu Ghraib

A
  • Zimbardo argues that the same conformity to social role effect that was evident in the SPE was also presented in the Abu Ghraib, a military prison in Iraq notorious for the abuse of Iraq prisoners by US soldiers.
  • Zimbardo believed that the guards who commited the abuses were victims of situational factors that made abuse more likely. This situational factor was a lack of training and boredom.
  • there was no accountability to higher authority in either the SPE or the Abu Gharib
  • these combined with an opportunity to misuse the power associated with the assigned role of ‘guard’ led to prisoner abuse in both cases.
57
Q

What is an authoritarian personality?

A

a distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority

58
Q

Describe 4 features of an authoritarian personality

A
  • respect and obedience to those in authority
  • blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong
  • project their own feelings of inadequacy rage and fear into a weak group
  • belief in aggression towards those who do not have the same conventional beliefs
59
Q

What does the F scale measure

A

Tendency towards an extreme right wing bias

60
Q

What does peoples obedience depend on?

A

-their character (disposition) rather than situation

61
Q

Why do people have their personality types?

A
  1. ) Harsh parenting- strict discipline, expectation to be loyal, high standards, unconditional love for their parents even if they don’t agree with them
  2. )These experiences create hostility and despair in the child who displaces those feelings into the weak (safeguarding)
  3. )This makes them more likely to behave obediently
62
Q

Describe Adorno’s procedure

A 
He investigated obedient personality in 2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards racial groups
-they developed an 'F' scale to measure the relationship between a personality type and prejudiced beliefs
63
Q

What is a facist?

A

Someone who believes in a totalitarian state rule by supreme leader (dictator) who controls everything strictly

64
Q

What were the findings of Adorno’s experiment

A
  • those who scored highly on the ‘F’ scale identified with strong people
  • they were conscious of their own and others status’s
  • high scorers had a particular cognitive style
65
Q

Describe the positive aspects of Adorno’s experiment

A
  • no ‘grey’ between categories of people
  • fixed and distinct stereotypes about other groups
  • strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
66
Q

Adorno evaluation: Milgram and Elms

A
  • Milgram and Elms conducted a follow up study using pps from Milgrams original study
  • those who were obedient to 450 volts scored higher on tests of authoritarianism and lower on scales of social responsibility than those who defied the experimenter
  • these findings support Adornos claims
  • people who are rigid, conservative and prejudiced have been brought up in the way that Adorno described, with a great deal of corporal punishment and little chance to express their own opinions
67
Q

Adorno evaluation: Limited explanation

A

-In pre war Germany, millions of individuals all displayed obedient, racist and anti-semitic behaviour, they cannot have the same behaviour

68
Q

Adorno evaluation: Social identity theory

A
  • people identify themselves to particular social groups
  • we favour our own group over any group who dont belong in our group
  • the majority of the German people identified the anti-semantic nazi state and scapegoated the ‘outgroup of Jews’
69
Q

What is the autonomous state?

A

Where individuals direct their own behaviour and take responsibility for the consequences

70
Q

What is agentic state?

A

Individuals allow someone else to direct their behaviour, they pass responsibility for them

71
Q

What is agentic shift

A

Where people move from an autonomous to agentic state when confronted with authority
-shift from autonomy to agency

72
Q

Describe agentic state

A
  • participants feel they are “not responsible”
  • the effect puts the participant into agentic state
  • when we act as the agent (representative) of someone in authority we find it east to deny personal responsibility for our actions, its just ‘doing our job’ and ‘following orders’
73
Q

Evaluation: agentic state

A

Voice recordings show the point when pps experience when pps experienced the agentic shift
-they asked experimenters ‘who’s responsibility it is if anything happens to this person’. The experimenter responded ‘the responsibility is mine’, at this point they continued

74
Q

Obedience in the cockpit: Tarnow, support foor legitimate authority

A
  • Studied aviation accidents (black box date)
  • in accidents where human error was the cause co-pilots had been overly dependent on the captains authority and expertise and was not questioned or monitored, on any risky decisions that were made
75
Q

Psychological explanations:strength-the theories can explain cultural differences in obedience

A

-some cultures are more obedient to an authority figure, the culture itself is traditionally obedient due child rearing practices, social structures and heirachies

76
Q

Kilham and Mann-replication of Milgram’s study

A

Germany=85% obedient

  • reflects the culture in Germany, social structures and hierarchies are important
  • see authority figures as legitimate
77
Q

What is independent behaviour?

A

Behaviour that is not altered despite pressure to conform

78
Q

What is desire for individuation?

A

sense of self”

-although we are social beings, it is in our nature to assert our individuality, i.e our own judgements, opinions etc.

79
Q

What is desire to maintain control

A

We like to believe we can maintain control over events in our lives

80
Q

What is locus of control?

A

A persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
-measured along a dimension of ‘high external’ to ‘high internal’

81
Q

What are high internals

A
  • Active seekers of information that are useful to them, so rely less on the opinions of others
  • more achievement orientated so more likely to become leaders
  • better able to resist coercion from others
82
Q

What is a high internal locus of control?

A
  • What happens to them is a consequence of their own ability and efforts
  • we control events in our life
  • more likely to show independence in thought and behaviour
  • rely less on opinions of others which means they are better at resisting social influence
83
Q

What is a high external locus of control

A
  • what happens to them is determined by external factors such as influence of others or luck
  • things just ‘happen to them’ and are largely out of their control
  • more passive and fatalistic attitude
  • take less personal responsibility for their actions
  • more likely to accept the influence of others
84
Q

Moscovici: key figures for A01, procedure

A

-172 pps, no colour blindness
-6 pps at a time asked to guess colour of 36 slides
-all slides blue, but differeing brightness
-2/6 pps were accomplices of the experiment
2 conditions:
INCONSISTENT-2 accomplices called slides green 24 times and blue 12 times
CONSISTENT-2 accomplices called slides green on all trials

85
Q

Moscovici: key figures for A01, findings

A
  • pps in consistent condition yielded and called the slides green in 8.4% of the trials
  • 32% of the pps in the consistent condition reported a green slide at least once
  • pps in the inconsistent condition yielded and called the slides green in only 1.3% of the trials
86
Q

Why are high internals less vulnerable to social influence?

A

They are active seekers of information that is useful to them, so are less likely to reply on opinions of others

87
Q

Why are high internals more likely to become leaders rather than followers?
-what did Spector find?

A
  • Because they tend to be more achievement orientated
  • Spector found that a relationship between locus of control and leadership style, with internals being more persuasive and goal oriented than externals
88
Q

Give an example of why high internals are better able to resist coercion from others

A

In a simulated prisoner-of-war camp situation, internals are better able to resist attempts of an interrogator to gain information. The more intense the pressure, the greater the difference between the internals performance and the externals (Hutchins and Estey)

89
Q

Evaluation of resistance to social influence

Social support: the importance of response order

A
  • Allen and Levine studied whether the response position of the person providing social support made any difference to a participant resisting the majority
  • In one condition, a confederate answered first, giving the right answer while all the other confederates gave the same wrong answer. The real participant always answered 5th (last). In the second condition the participant answered 4th i.e after the other confederates. Support was significantly more effective in position 1 than position 4. The researchers suggest that a correct 1st answer, in confirming the participants own judgement produces an initial commitment to the correct response that endures even though other group members disagree
90
Q

Evaluation of resistance to social influence

Social support:support may not have to be valid to be effective

A
  • Allen and Levine looked at whether social support that was not particularly valid would also be effective in helping participants resist conformity
  • in one condition the confederate providing the support wore glasses with very thick lenses. Therefore he provided invalid social support, given that this was a test of visual discrimination. In the second the supporter had normal vision i.e he provided valid social support. —Both conditions reduced the amount of conformity, but the valid social supporter had much more impact showing that an ally is helpful in resisting conformity, but more so if they are perceived as offering valid social support
91
Q

A03: Locus of control

Locus of control is related to normative but not informational influence

A
  • Spector measured locus of control and predisposition to normative and social influence in 157 undergraduate students
  • he found a significant correlation between locus of control and predisposition to normative social influence , with externals being more likely to conform to this form of influence than internals
  • However he found no such relationship for predisposition to informational social influence, with locus of control appearing to be a significant factor in this type of conformity
92
Q

A03: Locus of control: people are more external than they used to be

A
  • Research suggests a historical trend in locus of control
  • A meta-analysis by Twenge et al found that young Americans increasingly believed their fate was determined more by luck and powerful others rather than by their own actions
  • In the studies used for their analysis, researchers found that locus of control scores had become substantially more external in child samples between 1960’s and 2002
  • Twenge interprets this trend towards inc. externality in terms of the alienation experienced by young people and the tendency to explain misfortunes on outside forces
93
Q

A03: Locus of control: Research support

A
  • Avtgis carried out a meta-analysis of studies of the relationship between locus of control and different forms of social influence, including conformity
  • This showed a significant positive relationship between scores of internality, externality and scores of measures on persuasion, social influence and conformity.
  • The analysis showed that individuals who scored higher on external locus of control tend to be more easily persuaded and more easily influenced and conforming than those who were scored as internal in terms of locus of control
94
Q

What is the definition of social change?

A

When society adopts new beliefs, attitudes or ways of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm

95
Q

What is commitment?

A

Minorities can exert influence by showing dedication i.e being willing to make sacrifices if necessary. This gives the minority’s message credibility because people are unlikely to be prepared to suffer a cause which is not worthwhile.

96
Q

What is consistency?

A

Where a person maintains a consistent position over time (intra-individual) or where there is agreement among members of the minority group (inter individual)

97
Q

What is confidence?

A

This involves sending a message to the majority that the position is a serious one which is not going to go away

98
Q

What is persuasiveness?

A

This is when the majority try to win over people from the majority and attract others to it’s position. In politics these are usually describes as defections from one party to another.

99
Q

What is flexibility?

A

The opposite of developing a rigid position which could lead to the perception of the minority being dogmatic and narrow minded

100
Q

What is relevance?

A

This means the minority view is one which is one the has meaning ay a particular time and place

101
Q

What makes minorities successful?

A
  • If the minority creates a cognitive conflict in peoples mind between what they have always believed and what they are now believing
  • means that the majority thinks more deeply about issues
  • this is the necessary starting point for any conversation
102
Q

Minority influences processes: What is the argumentation principle?

A
  • When people are willing to suffer for their views (e.g sent to prison, suffer media abuse) their impact on others is increased or ‘argumentated’
  • More likely to be influential in bringing about social change (e.g Nelson Mandela)
103
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

-When a minority succeeds in attracting enough supporters it is transformed into the new majority

104
Q

What is social cryptoamnesia?

A
  • Perez et al found that minority groups influence majority groups through social crypto amnesia
  • minority ideas are assimilated into the majority view-point without the majority remembering where the ideas came from
  • this happens when the minority ideas are so strongly associated with the source that to adopt the message risks assuming the negative identity of the source
  • it explains how dominant ideas or trends (zeitgeists) can be labelled by minority groups despite the strong resistance they encounter from majority positions
105
Q

Give an example of social change through majority influence (conformity)

A
  • In Montana 20% reported drinking and driving, but when asked 92% Believed their peers had done so
  • this led to a campaign saying ‘MOST’ Montana young adults (4/5) don’t drink and drive
  • drink driving was reduced to 13% as a result
106
Q

Describe Nemeth’s research support for flexibility

A
  • group members discussed compensation claim for ski accident
  • confederate put forward alternative amount
  • if rigid and non-flexible, they had no effect on other members
  • if compromised and showed some flexibility, they did have an influence
107
Q

Evaluation of social change: Schultz et al

A

-Found that when a hotel advertised the following message, the guests were much more likely to reuse their bath towels
“nearly 75% of our guests chose to reuse their towels. To support our guests who want to conserve we have initiated a conservation programme”
Conclusion- normative messages do lead to a change in behaviour

108
Q

Evaluation of social change: Basir et al-why do so many people resist social change even when they know its for the best?

A
  • People may avoid influence of minority groups as they are associated with the “stereotypical” “radical groups” e.g environmentalists and feminists
  • Research has shown that individuals rate these groups in negative ways (tree-huggers)
  • Lessons for minority groups-do not behave in ways that reinforce the stereotype as this will be off putting
109
Q

Evaluation of social change: social change through minority influence may be very gradual

A
  • History challenges the idea that minorities such as the suffragettes can bring about social change quickly. Because there is a strong tendency for the majority to conform to the majority position, groups are more likely to maintain the status quo rather than engage in social change
  • the influence of the minority is frequently more latent than direct (i.e it creates the potential for change rather than actual change)
110
Q

A03: types of conformity and explanations for conformity: difficulties in distinguishing between compliance and internalisation

A
  • how do we define and measure public compliance and private acceptance? e.g it is assumed that a person who publicly agrees with a majority but then disagrees with them in private must be demonstrating compliance. However it is also possible that acceptance has occurred in public however dissipates later when in private because they have forgotten info by the group or learnt new info.
  • it is also assumed that someone who agrees publicly and privately must have internalised the views of the group, however they may have complied in public but as a result of self-perception “I agreed with the rest of the group, therefore that must be what I really believe”, they come to subsequently accept that position as their own
111
Q

A03: types of conformity and explanations for conformity: research support for normative influence

A
  • US research has shown the relationship between normative beliefs and the likelihood of them taking up smoking. Linkenbach and Perkins found that adolescents who were exposed to a simple message that the majority of their age peers did not smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking
  • Normative influence has also been successful to manipulate people to behave more responsibly when it comes to energy conservation e.g Shultz et al found that hotel guests exposed to the normative message that 75% of guests reused their towels each day reduced their own towel use by 25%
  • people shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in with their reference group
112
Q

A03: types of conformity and explanations for conformity: research support for informational influence

A

-some studies have demonstrated how exposure to other peoples beliefs has an important influence on social stereotypes. Wittenbrink & Henley found that paps exposed to negative information about African Americans (which they were led to believe was the view of the majority later went on to report negative beliefs about a black individual

113
Q

Moscovici et al: procedure

A

-each group comprised of 4 naiive pps and a minority of 2 confederates
-they were shown a series of blue slides that varied only in intensity and were asked to judge the colour of each slide
-Consistent: 2 confederates repeatedly called the blue slides green
-Inconsistent: confederates called the blue slides green on 2/3 of the trial and the remaining 1/3 of the trials called the slides blue
In a control condition: 6 naiive pps and no confederated the pps called the slides blue throughout

114
Q

Moscovici et al: findings

A

-consisten minority influenced the naiive pps to say green on over 8% of the trials
-inconsistent majority exerted very little influence and did not differ significantly from the control group
-after the main study was over pps were asked individually to sort 16 coloured disks into blue or green
-3 disks= unambiguously from blue end
-3 disks=unambiguously from green end
-10 disks ambiguous (could be blue/green)
-pps had to establish a threshold point where everything on one side of that point would be judged ‘blue’
and the other side ‘green’
-those in the consistent condition judged more of the disks to be green
-the effect was even greater for those pps who had gone along with the minority during the experiment, suggesting that the initial influence was more at a private than public level

115
Q

A03: Minority influences (moscovici)

A
  • Nemeth stimulated the role of flexibility in a stimulated jury situation where group members discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone in a ski lift incident. When a confederate put forward an alternative point of view and refused to change his position, this had no effect on other group members
  • a confederate who compromised and therefore showed some degree of shift towards the majority did exert an influence on the rest of the group. However this was only evident in those who had shifted in late negotiations (perceived as showing flexibility) rather than the who shifted earlier (perceived as having ‘calved in’ to the majority
116
Q

A03: Minority influences (moscovici) the real ‘value’ of minority influence

A
  • Nemeth argues that dissent in some form of minority opinion, ‘opens’ the mind
  • as a result to a minority position, people search for information, consider more options and, better decisions and are more creative. Dissenters liberate people to say what they believe and they stimulate divergent and creative thought even when they are wrong. This work is supported by research who studied the role of dissent in work groups, finding that groups had improved decision quality when exposed to a minority position.
117
Q

A03: Minority influences (moscovici) minority influence in name only

A
  • despite the evidence for higher-quality decision making. Nemeth claims it is still difficult to convince people of the value of dissent
  • people accept the principle only on the surface i.e it appears democratic and tolerant. However they became quickly irritated by a dissenting view that persists and also fear the lack of harmony within a group by welcoming dissent
  • as a result we tend to belittle the dissenting view or try to contain it. People are encouraged to ‘fit in’ and fear repercussions, including being mariginalised by ridicule by being associated with a ‘deviant’ point of view. This means the majority point of view persists and the opportunities for innovative thinking associated with the minority influence are lost

Psychology (9 decks)

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