SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

The tendency of people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of the majority, not because of its content but because of the approval associated with its adoption.

Question 2

What are the three TYPES of conformity?

Answer 2

Compliance.
Internalisation.
Identification.

Question 3

What is compliance?

Answer 3

When an individual accepts influence to receive a favourable reaction.

Question 4

What is internalisation?

Answer 4

When an individual accepts influence because of the content of the attitude.

Question 5

What is identification?

Answer 5

When an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be identified with that group.

Question 6

What are the EXPLANATIONS for conformity?

Answer 6

Normative Social Influence.

Informational Social Influence.

Question 7

What is Normative Social Influence?

Answer 7

When an individual conforms with the expectations of he majority to gain approval

Question 8

What is Informational Social Influence?

Answer 8

The desire to look right and look at the others as a way of gaining reality.

Question 9

What is the evaluation for the TYPES of conformity?

Answer 9

-There is difficulty distinguishing compliance and internalisation.

Question 10

What is the evaluation for Normative Social Influence?

Answer 10

Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)found that adolescents exposed to the simple message that the majority of their age peers did not smoke were less likely to take up smoking.

Question 11

What is the evaluation for Informational Social Influence?

Answer 11

Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) found that participants exposed to negative information about African Americans (which were believed by the majority) later reported negative beliefs about a black individual.

Question 12

What is a key study in Variables affecting conformity?

Answer 12

Asch’s line study of 1956

Question 13

What was the procedure of Asch’s line study of 1956?

Answer 13

1. Participants viewed lines of different lengths and compared them to a standard line.
2. Groups contained confederates participants answering second to last.
3. Confederates gave same wrong answer on 12 of 18 trials.

Question 14

What were the findings of Asch’s line study of 1956?

Answer 14

The conformity rate was approximately 33% and participants conformed to avoid disapproval. When Asch interviewed his participants later he found that they knew which answer was correct and continued to privately trust their own perceptions and judgement but changed their public behaviour to avoid disappointment.

Question 15

What were the three variables affecting conformity in Asch’s line study of 1956?

Answer 15

Group size.
Unanimity of the majority.
Difficulty of the task.

Question 16

How does group size affect conformity?

Answer 16

The conformity levels increased to 32% when there were 3 confederates which the same beliefs. Compared to 13% with two confederates and 3% with just one confederate

Question 17

Which two experiments were used to investigate conformity to social roles?

Answer 17

The Stanford prison experiment and the BBC prison study.

Question 18

What was the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 18

Male volunteers assigned roles of either prisoners or guards. Prisoners referred to as numbers only. Guards given uniforms and power to make rules.

Question 19

What were the findings of the Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 19

Guards became abusive to the prisoners and prisoners conformed to their role with some showing extreme reactions of crying or rage.

Question 20

What was the procedure of the BBC prison study?

Answer 20

Male volunteers assigned roles of prison or guards.

Question 21

What were the findings of the BBC prison experiment?

Answer 21

Neither guards not prisoners confirmed to their assigned roles. Prisoners worked collectively to challenge authority of the guards resulting in a power shift.

Question 22

What is the evaluation for conformity to social roles?

Answer 22

• Banuazizi and Movahedi argue that participant behaviour on the Stanford prison experiment was a response to powerful demand characteristics.
• However, Zimbardo’s data showed 90% of the prisoners conversations were about prison life. The simulation seemed real to them, increasing the study’s internal validity.

Question 23

Which study is used to research on obedience?

Answer 23

Milgram’s study of 1963.

Question 24

What is the procedure of Milgram’s study of 1963?

Answer 24

40 volunteers participants in each condition. Real participants acted as ‘teacher’ and confederates as ‘learner’. Teachers administered increasing shocker levels up to 450V.

Question 25

What were the findings of Milgram’s study of 1963?

Answer 25

65% went to the maximum of 450V. All participants went to 300V.

Question 26

What are the situational factors in obedience and how do they affect it?

Answer 26

1. Proximity - Obedience levels decrease with increasing proximity.
2. Location- Obedience levels dropped to 48% in lower-status setting.
3. Uniform- People more likely to obey someone in a uniform (Bushmen)

Question 27

What is the evaluation on research on obedience?

Answer 27

• Ethical issues due to deception and lack of informal consent.
• Internal validity- Orne and Holland claim many participants saw through the deception.
• Milgram argued that the lab-based relationship between experimenter and participant reflected wider real-life authority relationships.

Question 28

What are the two explanations of obedience?

Answer 28

Agentic state and legitimacy of authority.

Question 29

What is agentic state?

Answer 29

When a person acts as an agent to carry out another person’s wishes

Question 30

Why do people adopt an agentic state and why do they maintain it?

Answer 30

Once the participant has moved into the agentic state the action is no longer their responsibility, it no longer reflects their self image. These actions are virtually guilt-free.

Binding factors such as social etiquette ensure that the person stays in the agentic state, the subject fears if he breaks off he’ll appear arrogant and rude.

Question 31

What is the evaluation for agentic state?

Answer 31

• Blass and Schmidt (2001) showed students a film of Milgram’s study and asked them to identify who was responsible for harm to the learner. Students blamed the experiments rather than the participant. The students recognised that the participant was just carrying out the wishes of the experimenter, strengthening the agentic state explanation.
• Staub suggests that rather the agentic state being responsible for vile actions such as the Holocaust, it is the experience of carrying out acts of evil over a long time they changed the way in which individuals think and behave.

Question 32

What is legitimate authority?

Answer 32

When someone is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation.

Question 33

What is required for legitimacy of authority to work if the authority figure’s commands are potentially harmful or destructive

Answer 33

An institution is required. Milgram’s study proposed that the institution does not have to be reputable, (moved from Yale University to a run-down building).

Question 34

What is the evaluation for legitimacy of authority?

Answer 34

• Cultural differences: only 16% of Australians went to the top of the voltage scale (Kilham and Mann 1974); 85% of German participants did (Mantell 1971).

Question 35

What is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 35

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

Question 36

How is the authoritarian personality identified?

Answer 36

Using the F scale and right-wing authoritarianism.

Question 37

What is the F scale?

Answer 37

The ‘Fascism scale’ used by Adorno provided an explanation on why some individuals provide very little pressure to obey.

Question 38

What did Adorno find out using the F-scale on children and their upbringing?

Answer 38

People who scored high on a F-scale were raised by parents who used authoritarian parenting (with the use of positive punishment). And children who grew up in an authoritarian family with a strong emphasis on obedience assumed it was the norm.

Question 39

What is right-wing authoritarianism?

Answer 39

Personality variables (conventional, authority submission and authority aggression)that are associated with a ‘right-wing’ attitude to life.

Question 40

How did Altemeyer test the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and obedience?

Answer 40

Participants were ordered to give themselves increasing levels of shock when they made mistakes on a learning task.
There was a significant correlation between RWA scores and the levels of shock participants were willing to give themselves.

Question 41

What was the procedure and findings of key study: Elms and Milgram (1966)

Answer 41

Procedure: 20 ‘obedient’ and 20’defiant’ participants completed their F-scale and were asked open minded questions.

Findings: Higher levels of authoritarianism in obedient participants. Obedient participants reported being less close to fathers.

Question 42

What is the evaluation for the authoritarian personality?

Answer 42

• As Right-wing views are usually associated with higher levels of obedience, we can suggest that Left-wing views are associated with lower levels of obedience.
• Milgram found that participants with lower levels of education tended to be more obedient than those with higher levels of education.

Question 43

Which two ideas are associated with resistance to social influence?

Answer 43

Social support and locus of control.

Question 44

How does the presence of social support reduces social influence?

Answer 44

Social support breaks unanimity and enables an individual to resist conformity from the majority. Disobedient peers act as role models. The presence of an ally proceeded the individual with an independent assessment of reality that makes them feel more confident and stand up to the majority.

Question 45

How much does does social support decrease conformity or obedience ?

Answer 45

• Asch (1956) proposed that social support offered by an ally led to a reduction of conformity from 33% to just 5.5%.
• Milgram proposed that obedience levels dropped to 10% when two confederates defied experimenters.

Question 46

What is locus of control?

Answer 46

The differing in beliefs about whether the actions are dependent on what they do (internal locus of control) or on events outside their personal control (external locus of control)

Question 47

How does locus of control resist or accept social influence?

Answer 47

People with an Internal locus of control tend to be more achievement-oriented and consequently are more likely to become leaders than follow others and are active seekers of information that is useful to them and so are less likely to rely on the opinions of others. People with an external locus of control are passive and greater acceptance of influence of others.

Question 48

What is the evaluation for social support?

Answer 48

Social support more effective when voiced from first responder in group.

Support may not have to be valid to be effective (Allen and Levine).

Question 49

What is the evaluation for locus of control?

Answer 49

• Twenge using data from American locus of control studies from over 40 years (1960-2002) found that people have become more independent but also more external. If resistance was linked to internal loc we would expect people to have become more internal.
• Spector found that externals were more like to conform to normative social influence than internals. He also no significant association between LOC and informational social influence.
• Rotter found that LOC is only important in new situations. It has limited influence in familiar situations where previous experiences are more important.
• Twenge round that young Americans increasingly believed that their fate was determined emirs by luck and powerful others rather than their own actions.

Question 50

How is minority influence effective?

Answer 50

With a consistent, committed and flexible style.

Question 51

How were minorities MOST influential?

Answer 51

Wood et al,- carried out a meta analysis of 97 studies and found that minorities who were especially consistent were particularly influential.

Question 52

What was the procedure and findings of key study: Moscovici (1969)?

Answer 52

Procedure: Groups of 4 naive participants and 2 confederates were shown blue slides varying in intensity but confederates called them green.

Findings: Consistent minority influenced naive participants to say green on 8% of trials. Inconsistent minority exerted very little influence.

Question 53

What is the evaluation of minority influence?

Answer 53

• Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987) put a confederate forward an alternative point of view and refused to change his position had no effect on other group members. However a confederate who compromised and showed some shift towards the majority did exert influence.
• Wood et al. (1994) conducted a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minority’s seems as being consistent were most influential.
• Nemeth claims that people fear the lack of harmony within the group by welcoming dissent. As a result they attempt to belittle the dissenting view to try to contain it. People are made to fear being marginalised and ridiculed for having a deviant point of view which means the majority view persists.

Question 54

How does society change through minority influence?

Answer 54

1. Drawing attention to an issue.
2. Cognitive conflict - majority group think more deeply about the issues being challenged.
3. Consistency of position - minorities tend to be most influential when they express their arguments consistently
4. The augmentation principle- If a minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed and taken more seriously.
5. The snowball effect- Minority influence spreads more widely as more and more people consider the issues being promoted until it is accepted by the majority.

Question 55

How does society change through majority influence?

Answer 55

If people perceive something as the norm, they alter their behaviour to fit that norm.

Question 56

Give an example of social change through majority influence…

Answer 56

‘Most of us don’t drink and drive’ campaign resulted in drink driving being reduced by 13.7%

Question 57

What is the evaluation for social influence processes in social change?

Answer 57

• Explanations of social change rely on studies by Moscovici, Asch and Milgram. The artificially nature of the tasks do not reflect real life.
• The potential for minorities to influence social change is often limited because they are seen as deviant in the eyes of the majority. And members of the majority may avoid aligning themselves with the minority’s position because they don’t want to be seen as deviant themselves.