Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

What is conformity?

A

-The change in behaviour and opinion due to real or imagine pressure from a group.

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2
Q

What are the three types of conformity?

A
  • Compliance.
  • Identification.
  • Internalisation.
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3
Q

What is compliance?

A

-Shallowest level of conformity, conform publicly but privately doesn’t, behaviour stops when group pressure stops.

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4
Q

What is identification?

A

-Conform to group because value it, identify with group (want to be part of it), publicly change but privately may not.

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5
Q

What is internalisation?

A

-Deepest level of conformity, both publicly and privately because accept views of group, change in behaviour persist even in absence of group.

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6
Q

What are the two explanations for conformity and who made them?

A

-Deutsch and Gerard developed, Need to be right (Informational social influence), and need to be liked (Normative social influence).

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7
Q

What is ISI?

A

-Cognitive process, all about who has the better info and who is right, want to be right not wrong.

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8
Q

What is NSI?

A

-Emotional process, want to be liked by majority, want to gain social approval rather than rejection.

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9
Q

When does ISI happen?

A
  • New situations.

- Ambiguous situations.

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10
Q

When does NSI happen?

A
  • Situations with strangers.

- Stressful situations when we needs social support.

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11
Q

What are the strengths of conformity?

A
  • Asch’s study showed NSI works=most PP went along with majority.
  • Research support for ISI= students + math problem, those poor at maths conformed more.
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12
Q

What are the weaknesses of conformity?

A
  • Individual differences in NSI and ISI=different people conform more/less.
  • Unsure whether ISI or NSI is at work=not certain in real-life situations and conformity.
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13
Q

What was Asch’s research?

A

-Assess how much people will conform to others opinion even if the answer is certain.

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14
Q

What was Asch’s procedure?

A
  • 123 male students, each PP tested with 6/8 confederates. PP sat last or next to last.
  • Shown line X, had to choose matching A,B or C line which is same size. C gave wrong and right answer.
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15
Q

What were Asch’s findings?

A
  • 75% conformed at least once.
  • 25% didn’t conform at all.
  • PP gave wrong answer 36.8% of time.
  • When interviewed PP said conformed to avoid rejection
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16
Q

What were Asch’s variations?

A
  • Group size.
  • Unanimity.
  • Task difficulty.
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17
Q

How did group size affect conformity?

A

-Found no need for more than 3 confederates for conformity to take place.

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18
Q

How did unanimity affect conformity?

A

-Non-conforming confederates reduced conformity, allowed more independence for PP.

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19
Q

How did task difficulty affect conformity?

A

-Conformity rose as task difficulty increased, suggest ISI plays greater role.

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20
Q

What are the strengths of Asch’s study?

A

-Asch’s variations were true and studies confirmed them.

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21
Q

What are the weaknesses of Asch’s study?

A
  • Perrin + Spencer repeated study and 1 conformed in 396 trials= Asch’s not consistent or reliable.
  • Artificial situation and trivial task= PP know in study, and doesn’t apply to real-life.
  • Only men tested=biased.
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22
Q

What was the Stanford prison study?

A

-Zimbardo wanted to know whether prison guards behave brutally due to sadistic personalities or due to social roles.

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23
Q

What was Zimbardo’s procedure?

A
  • Mock prison in uni basement, advertised for students to volunteer. Randomly assigned roles of guard & prisoners, prisoners arrested at home to make it real.
  • Blindfolded, strip-searched, given uniform.
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24
Q

What were Zimbardo’s findings?

A
  • Study stopped after 6 days not 14.
  • Prisoners began to rebel, and guards constantly harassed them.
  • Prisoners showed psychological disturbance, went on hunger strike.
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25
Q

What were Zimbardo’s conclusions?

A
  • Power of situation/role influence person’s behaviour.
  • Everyone conformed to role.
  • Behaved as in real prison not mock.
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26
Q

What were the strengths of Zimbardo’s study?

A
  • Zimbardo had control over variables=real conclusions.

- Very real situation= 90% of PP conversations were about prison life, some believed it was real.

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27
Q

What were weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study?

A
  • PP play acting rather than conforming to role.
  • Major ethical issues=psychological disturbance.
  • Fromm accused Zimbardo of over exaggerating=conclusions overstated.
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28
Q

What is obedience?

A

-Social influence in which person follows orders from a high authority.

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29
Q

What was Milgram’s research?

A

-Wanted to establish a method to observe obedience.

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30
Q

What was Milgram’s procedure?

A
  • 40 male PP, teacher and learner (confederate), experimenter in lab coat.
  • Learner in chair with shock plates, teacher asks qu’s, if wrong learner gets shock(not real)at high voltage.
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31
Q

What was the learner dialogue?

A
  • ”Ow, I can’t stand the pain”
  • ”My heart is bothering me”
  • ”Let me out”
  • After certain voltage, learner quiet as if dead.
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32
Q

What were the prods?

A
  • If teacher refused to shock, experimenter gave prods;
  • ”Please continue”
  • ”It is essential you continue”
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33
Q

What were Milgram’s findings?

A
  • No PP stopped below 300V.
  • 12.5% stopped at 300V.
  • 65% continue to 450V
  • PP showed extreme tension, sweating.
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34
Q

What are the strengths of Milgram’s research?

A
  • Good external validity=tell us how obedience works in real-life situations.
  • Supporting replication=repeated study in documentary, show same signs of tension.
  • Results were reliable=70% of PP believed shock were real.
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35
Q

What are the weaknesses of Milgram’s research?

A
  • Ethical issues=Baumrind said PP were under psychological and emotional distress.
  • Unreliable results=Holland suggested PP believed shock were not real.
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36
Q

What are situational variables?

A
  • Milgram wanted to change original study slightly to see what factors affect obedience.
  • Proximity, location and uniform.
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37
Q

How does proximity affect obedience?

A
  • 1st=T+L in same room=obedience dropped to 40%
  • 2nd= T forced L’s hand on shock plate=30%
  • 3rd=Experimenter left room+order by phone=20.5%
38
Q

How does location affect obedience?

A
  • Experiment the same but instead in a run-down building rather than uni, obedience dropped to 47.5%.
  • More legitimate location=higher obedience.
39
Q

How does uniform affect obedience?

A

-Experimenter in lab coat called away and replaced with ordinary member in ordinary clothes, obedience dropped to 20%.

40
Q

What are the strengths of situational variables?

A
  • Research support=NY study, 3 dressed in milkman, guard and jacket, ordered public to do tasks, obeyed 2x more when as a guard that milkman.
  • Control of variables=systematically altered one variable at time.
41
Q

What are the weaknesses of situational variables?

A
  • Obedience alibi=an excuse for evil behaviour.
  • Lack of internal validity=Holland accused Milgram’s study as fake, and PP knew shock were fake, which gave unclear conclusions.
42
Q

What is the agentic state?

A
  • When we see higher authority we act as “agent”, so not responsible for actions but follow orders.
  • Sense of anxiety and moral strain but feel powerless.
43
Q

What is autonomous state?

A
  • Opposite of “agentic state”.
  • Independent and free will over our actions.
  • Sense of responsibility for own actions.
44
Q

What is agentic shift?

A

-When ordered by high authority, we make shift from autonomous to agentic state.

45
Q

What are binding factors?

A
  • Stay in agentic state even if we don’t want to due to factors, these reduce stress and moral strain.
  • E.g. reassuring ourselves it’s not our responsibility.
46
Q

What is legitimate authority?

A
  • Taught from young age the social hierarchy, e.g. police and teachers have legitimate authority.
  • We trust them to exert appropriate power over us.
47
Q

What is destructive authority?

A

Some exploited legitimate authority to cause destruction.

-DA=order lower people to act in evil ways.

48
Q

What are the strengths of social-psychological factors?

A
  • LoA explain real-life obedience= My Lai massacre.
  • AS research support= Blass+Schmidt (2001), students recognised legitimate authority was cause for obedience.
  • LoA has cross-cultural support=Kilham+Mann repeated M’s study, 16% Australians and 85% Germans gave top V.
49
Q

What are the weaknesses of social-psychological factors?

A
  • AS doesn’t explain findings=Hofling’s study-nurses didn’t show anxiety knew it was destructive.
  • AS can’t account for Nazi behaviour=German police obeyed orders to shoot polish civilians but they weren’t direct.
50
Q

What are dispositional explanations?

A

-Explanation of behaviour which highlights the importance of the individual’s personality.

51
Q

What is authoritarian personality?

A

-Adorno believed high level of obedience was a psychological disorder, he tried to locate the causes of it.

52
Q

What was the procedure of Adorno’s research?

A
  • Investigated cause of obedience, 2000 PP.
  • Developed F-scale=measures authoritarian p.
  • E.g. “Obedience and respect for authority is most important virtues children learn”.
53
Q

What were the findings of the authoritarian personality?

A
  • AP identified with “strong”, & disrespected “weak”.
  • Conscious of their own social status.
  • AP had cognitive style=fixed stereotypes.
  • Strong correlation between AP and prejudice.
54
Q

What are the authoritarian characteristics?

A
  • Extreme respect and obedience to authority.
  • Disrespect to people they view inferior.
  • Conventional attitudes to gender, sex, race etc.
55
Q

What is the origin of authoritarian personality?

A
  • Formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting.
  • Experiences cause resentment in child but can’t express it due to fear of revenge.
  • Fears displaced on others who are weaker.
56
Q

What are the strengths of authoritarian personality?

A

-Research support=Milgram conducted interviews with fully obedient PP=scored highly on F-scale, so link between AP and obedience.

57
Q

What are the weaknesses of authoritarian personality?

A
  • Limited explanation=more realistic is social identity-German identified with Nazi’s.
  • Political bias=f-scale is toward extreme right-wing ideology, Jahoda argued it’s biased.
58
Q

How can social support resist conformity?

A
  • Pressure to conform reduced if a dissenter is present (non-conforming PP)
  • Asch’s study=dissenter enabled naive PP to follow conscience.
59
Q

How can social support resist obedience?

A
  • Pressure to obey reduced if other disobedient PP present.

- Milgram’s variations=fell from 65% obedience to 10% when confederate present.

60
Q

What is locus of control?

A

-Rotter (1966) proposed concept concerned with internal versus external control.

61
Q

What is internal control?

A

-Believe things that happen to them are controlled by themselves or as a result of their actions.

62
Q

What is external control?

A

-Things happen because of the world around them, out of their control, due to fate or luck.

63
Q

What is continuum?

A

-Continuum with high internal LOC at one end and high external LOC at the other end.

64
Q

What are the characteristics of Internal LOC?

A
  • High level of personal control over their life.
  • Take personal responsibility.
  • Resist pressure from other.
  • Less likely to rely on other and conform.
65
Q

What are the characteristics of external LOC?

A
  • Life determined by environmental factors like fate and luck.
  • More likely to be influenced by others and conform.
66
Q

What are the strengths of social support?

A
  • Research support-resistance to conformity=Allen (1971) found conformity reduced when one dissenter present in Asch’s study.
  • Research support-resistance to obedience=Gamson (1982) found higher level of resistance during smear campaign.
67
Q

What are the strengths of locus of control?

A

-Research support=Holland (1967)=repeated M’s study + measured whether PP were internal/external, 37% internal & 23% externals didn’t give highest shock=internals have greater resistance.

68
Q

What are the weaknesses of locus of control?

A
  • Limited role of LOC=little influence over behaviour.

- Contradictory research=Twenge (2004)=analysed obedience studies over 40-years, people more resistant+more external.

69
Q

What is minority influence?

A
  • Form of social influence where minority persuade others to adopt their beliefs.
  • Can lead to internalisation.
70
Q

What is Moscovici’s procedure?

A
  • 172 PP, groups of 4 PP and 2 confederates.
  • PP state colour of 36 slides, all different blue.
  • Condition A=C were consistent and called all slides green.
  • Condition B=C inconsistent, called green 24 times and blue 12.
71
Q

What are Moscovici’s findings?

A
  • Control group (no C)=0.25% PP called green.
  • In consistent=PP said green 8.42% of trials, and 32% said it at least once.
  • Inconsistent=PP said green 1.25% of trials.
72
Q

What are Moscovici’s conclusions?

A

Minority influence majority.

  • Minority influence strongest when consistent.
  • When less consistent=less influential.
73
Q

What is consistency?

A
  • Consistency in minority views increase amount of interest from others.
  • Can make others rethink their own views.
74
Q

What are the two types of consistency?

A
  • Synchronic=consistency between people in minority.

- Diachronic-consistency over time.

75
Q

What is commitment?

A

-Minorities engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their views, actions are risky=show commitment to their cause-AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE.

76
Q

What is flexibility?

A
  • Nemeth (1986) argues if minority is too consistent then they’re inflexible.
  • Majority unlikely to change view.
77
Q

What is the process of change?

A
  • Hear something new=consider their view and deeper processing occurs to “convert” majority to minority.
  • ”Snowball effect”=more people who convert the faster the process.
78
Q

What are the strengths of minority influence?

A
  • RS for consistency=Wood (1994) studies=minorities were consistent.
  • RS for internalisation=private agreements in Moscovici’s study higher.
79
Q

What are the weaknesses of minority influence?

A
  • Artificial task=limited in real-life using slide study.

- Little real-world application=more than just numbers involved in majority and minority influence.

80
Q

What are the 6 steps to social change?

A
  • Drawing attention.
  • Consistency.
  • Deeper processing.
  • Augmentation principle.
  • Snowball effect.
  • Social Cryptomnesia.
81
Q

What is drawing attention?

A

-Drawing attention to the cause/belief, e.g. through marches.

82
Q

What is consistency?

A

-Consistently showing their view and belief to the rest of the majority.

83
Q

What is deeper processing?

A

-Attention to the issue allow majority to process and think about the minority views.

84
Q

What is the augmentation principle?

A

-When the minority becomes involved in risky activities to show their commitment to the view/belief.

85
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

-The more people that convert to the minority’s views the quicker the rate of conversion.

86
Q

What is social cryptomnesia?

A

-People have a memory that a change has occurred but cannot remember what is was like before this change.

87
Q

What are the lessons from conformity research?

A
  • Dissenters can lead to social change.

- Campaigns can lead to NSI, by drawing attention to what the majority is doing.

88
Q

What are the lessons from obedience research?

A

-Obedience can be used to create social change through a process of gradual commitment.

89
Q

What are the strengths of social influence and change?

A

-RS for NSI=Nolan (2008) and the reduction in energy campaign.

90
Q

What are the weaknesses of social influence and change?

A
  • Minority influence is only indirectly effective=Nemeth (1986) argues effects of minority influence are indirect and appear later.
  • Methodological issues=low external validity due to artificial tasks.