Social influence

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

Conformity is a type of social influence

Question 2

How is conformity defined?

Answer 2

-It is defined as ‘yielding to group
pressures’.

-It is also defined as ‘a change in a person’s behaviour or opinion as a result of a real or imagined pressure
from a person or group of people’,

Question 3

What is an imagined pressure?

Answer 3

an imagined pressure is when there are no consequences for not conforming

Question 4

What is a real pressure?

Answer 4

A real pressure is when there are consequences for

not conforming.

Question 5

Types of conformity:

Internalisation

Answer 5

Internalisation is where the behaviour or belief of the majority is accepted by the individual and becomes part of his or her own belief system.

Here a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs.

It is the most permanent form of conformity as it usually lasts even if the majority is no longer present.

This type of conformity is most likely to be linked to ISI.

Question 6

Types of conformity:

Identification

Answer 6

Identification is the middle level of conformity.

Here a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs, but only while they are in the presence of the group.

This is a usually a short-term change and normally the result of normative social influence.

Question 7

Types of conformity:

Compliance

Answer 7

Compliance is where the individual changes his or her own behaviour to fit in with the group.

They may not necessarily agree with the behaviour / belief but they go along with it publicly.

It is not a permanent form of social influence; it lasts only as long as the group is present.

Here the type of conformity is likely to be linked to NSI.

Question 8

An example of internalisation

Answer 8

Being brought up in a religious household, and becoming religious yourself.

Question 9

An example of identification

Answer 9

Acting more professional and less silly when you arrive at your office to work.

Question 10

An example of compliance

Answer 10

When friends pressure you into drinking alcohol when you don’t truly want to, and will not drink outside of such social situations.

Question 11

Explanations of why people conform:

Informational Social Influence

Answer 11

Informational social influence is where someone conforms because they do not know what to do, but they want to be correct.

They follow the majority because the assume that the majority know what is the right thing to do

It usually leads to internalisation and occurs in situations where we do not have the knowledge or expertise to make our own decisions

Pressure from the group can make one doubt their own beliefs and genuinely change their beliefs to that of the group

Question 12

Explanations of why people conform:

Normative Social Influence

Answer 12

Normative Social Influence – when someone conforms because they want to be liked and be part of a group; when a person’s need to be accepted or have approval from a group drives compliance.

A want to be ‘liked’ and a fear of ‘rejection’. Only on the surface do these people conform – they may secretly disagree

Question 13

Asch’s study:

Participants

Answer 13

123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6; consisting of 1 true participant and 5 confederates (actors/people in on the experiment)

Question 14

Asch’s study:

Aim

Answer 14

• To investigate conformity and majority influence

Question 15

Asch’s study:

Procedure

Answer 15

Participants and confederates were presented with 4 lines; 3 comparison lines and 1 standard line
• They asked to state which of three lines was the same length as a stimulus line
• The real participant always answered last or second to last
• Confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 out of 18 trials
• Asch observed how often the participant would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer

Question 16

Asch’s study:

findings

Answer 16

the naive participant gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once

-In a control trial, only 1% of responses given by participants were incorrect (which eliminates eyesight/perception as an extraneous variable, thus increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn)

Question 17

Factors affecting level of conformity:

Size of majority/Group size

Answer 17

Point: An individual is more likely to conform when in a larger group.

Evidence: In Asch’s study there was low conformity with group size of confederates were less than 3 - any more than 3 and the conformity rose by 30%

Explanation: a person is more likely to conform if all members of the group are in agreement and give the same answer, because it will increase their confidence in correctness of the group, and decrease their confidence in their own answer. Conformity does not seem to increase in groups larger than four so this is considered the optimal group size.

Link: This shows that the majority must be at least 3 to exert an influence, but an overwhelming majority is not needed in all instances to bring about conformity.

Question 18

Factors affecting level of conformity:

Unanimity of majority

Answer 18

Point: An individual is more likely to conform when the group is unanimous i.e. all give the same answer, as opposed to them all giving different answers.

Evidence: When joined by another participant or disaffected confederate who gave the correct answer, conformity fell from 32% to 5.5%. If different
answers are given, it falls from 32% to 9%.

Explanation: the more unanimous the group is, the more confidence the participant will have that they are all correct, and therefore the participant’s answer is more likely to be incorrect

Link: Unanimity is vital in establishing a consistent majority view, which is particularly important by providing normative social influence through preventing any conflicting views arising.

Question 19

Factors affecting level of conformity:

Task Difficulty

Answer 19

Point: An individual is more likely to conform when the task is difficult

Evidence: For example, Asch altered the (comparison) lines (e.g. A, B, C) making them more similar in length. Since it was harder to judge the correct answer conformity increased.

Evidence: When the task is difficult, we are more uncertain of our answer so we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the task the greater the conformity.

Link: This suggests that informational social influence is a major mechanism for conformity when the situation is ambiguous and the individual does not have enough of their own knowledge or information to make an informed decision independently, and so has to look towards others.

Question 20

Strengths of Achs study:

High internal validity

Answer 20

There was strict control over extraneous variables, such as timing of assessment and the type of task used.

The participants did the experiment before without confederates to see if they actually knew the correct answer, thus removing the confounding variable of a lack of knowledge.

This suggests that valid and reliable ‘cause and effect’ relationships can be established, as well as valid conclusions.

Question 21

Strengths of Achs study:

Lab experiment

Answer 21

Extraneous and confounding variables are strictly controlled, meaning that replication of the experiment is easy.

Successful replication increases the reliability of the findings because it reduces the likelihood that the observed findings were a ‘one-off’.

Question 22

Strengths of Achs study:

Ethical issues

Answer 22

The researchers breached the BPS ethical guideline of deception and consequently, the ability to give informed consent.

However, the participants were debriefed.

Ethical issues do not threaten the validity or reliability of findings, but rather suggest that a cost-benefit analysis is required.

Question 23

Strengths of Achs study:

Supports normative social influence

Answer 23

Supports normative social influence - participants reported that they conformed to fit in with the group, so it supports the idea of normative influence, which states that people conform to fit in when privately disagreeing with the majority.

Question 24

Weaknesses of Achs study:

Artificial task and situation

Answer 24

Lacks ecological validity - it was based on peoples’ perception of lines and so the findings cannot be generalised to real life as it does not reflect the complexity of real life conformity i.e. where there are many other confounding variables and majorities exert influence irrespective of being a large group.

Participants knew they were in a research study and may have shown demand characteristics

Question 25

Weaknesses of Achs study:

Limited application of findings

Answer 25

Lacks population validity due to sampling issues - For example, the participants were only American male undergraduates, and so the study was subject to gender bias, where it is assumed that findings from male participants can be generalised to females.

Other research suggests that women might be more conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships (and being accepted) than men are
The men in Achs study were from the USA, an individualist culture. Similar studies carried out in collectivist cultures (eg. china) have found that conformity rates are higher.

This shows that conformity levels are sometimes even higher than Ach found. Ach’s findings may only apply to American men because he didn’t take gender and cultural differences into account.

Question 26

Supporting evidence for cultural bias in Asch’s study

Answer 26

Nicholson et al (1985) compared conformity levels in British and American students.

The students were less conformist than in the 1950s in general, but American students were more conformist than British students.

Question 27

Weaknesses of Achs study:

A child of its time

Answer 27

Lacked validity - The social context of the 1950s may have affected results. For example, Perrin and Spencer criticised the study by stating that the period that the experiment was conducted in influenced the results because it was an anti-Communist period in America when people were more scared to be different i.e. McCarthyism.

Thus, the study can be said to lack temporal validity because the findings cannot be generalised across all time periods.

This is a limitation of Ach’s research because it means that the Ach effect is not consistent across situations and may not be consistent across time, and so is not a fundamental feature of human behaviour

Question 28

Supporting evidence for historical bias in Ach’s study

Answer 28

Perin and spencer (1980) repeated Ach’s study with engineering students in the UK.

Only 1 student conformed in a total of 396 trials

Question 29

Weaknesses of Achs study:

Ethical issues

Answer 29

Ethical issues:
- there was deception as participants were tricked into thinking the study was about perception rather than compliance so they could not give informed consent.

• There could have been psychological harm as the participants could have been embarrassed after realising the true aims of the study.

Question 30

Weaknesses of Achs study:

Findings only apply to certain situations

Answer 30

The fact that participants had to answer out loud and were with a group of strangers who they wanted to impress might mean that conformity was higher than usual

On the other hand, William and Sogon (1984) found conformity was actually higher when the majority of the group were friends rather than when they were strangers

Question 31

Zimbardo’s study:

Participants

Answer 31

24 American male undergraduate students

The participants were selected on the basis of their physical and mental stability, and were each paid $15 to take part.

Question 32

Zimbardo’s study:

Aim

Answer 32

To investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles in a simulated environment, and specifically, to investigate why ‘good people do bad things’.

Question 33

Zimbardo’s study:

Procedure

Answer 33

The basement of the Stanford University psychology building was converted into a simulated prison

The participants were randomly assigned to one of two social roles: prisoner or guard. Prisoners were arrested by real local police, handcuffed, fingerprinted and given a numbered smock to war with chains placed around their legs. The guards were given a uniform, dark reflective sunglasses and a truncheon

The guards were told to run the prison without physical violence. They had complete power over the prisoners, for instance, even deciding when they could go to the toilet.

The experiment was set to last for 2 weeks

Question 34

Zimbardo’s study:

Findings

Answer 34

Zimbardo found that both the ‘guards’ and ‘prisoners’ quickly identified with their social roles.

Within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled, but this was crushed quickly by the guards who grew increasingly aggressive towards them. They harassed the prisoners constantly and dehumanised them.

After the rebellion was put down, the prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious. 5 prisoners were released early from the experiment due to their adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment; eg crying uncontrollably and creme anxiety

Although, the experiment was set to run for 2 weeks, it was terminated after just 6 days

Question 35

Zimbardo’s study:

Conclusions

Answer 35

The simulation revealed the power of the situation to influence people’s behaviour.

Guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to their roles within the prison

These roles were very easily taken on by the participants.

Therefore, it shows that people will readily conform to the social roles that are expected of them, especially if they are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prisoners and the guards

Question 36

Strengths of Zimbardo’s study:

Control

Answer 36

A strength of the SPE is that Zimbardo and his colleagues had some control over variables.

The most obvious example of this was the selection of participants. Emotionally stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles of prisoner and guard

This was one way in which the researchers tried to rule out individual personality differences as an explanation of the findings.

Having such control over variables is a strength because it increases the internal validity of the study. This allows us to be more confident in drawing conclusions about the influence of roles on behavior

Question 37

Strengths of Zimbardo’s study:

Real life applications

Answer 37

This research changed the way US prisons are run e.g. young prisoners are no longer kept with adult prisoners to prevent the bad behaviour perpetuating.

Beehive-style prisons, where all cells are under constant surveillance from a central monitoring unit, are also not used in modern times, due to such setups increasing the effects of institutionalisation and over
exaggerating the differences in social roles between prisoners and guards.

Question 38

Weakness of Zimbardo study:

Lack of realism

Answer 38

Lacks ecological validity - The study suffered from demand characteristics. For example, the participants knew that they were participating in a study and therefore may have changed their behaviour, either to please the experimenter or in response to being observed

Banuazizi and Mohavedi (1975) argued that participants were merely play acting rather than genuinely conforming to a role and that their performances were based on their stereotypes of how prisoners and guard were supposed to behave.

For example one of the guards claimed he had based his role from the stereotypical guard role portrayed in the film Cool Hand Luke, thus reducing the validity of the findings

However Zimbardo pointed t evidence that the situation was very real to Ps. Qualitative data gathered from the procedure showed that 90% of the prisoners conversations were about prison life. In addition Prisoner 461 expressed the view that the prison was a real one but run by psychologists rather than the government

On balance, it seems that the situation was real to the participants which gives the study a higher degree of internal validity

Question 39

Weakness of Zimbardo study:

Role of dispositional influences

Answer 39

Furthermore, individual differences and personality also determine the extent to which a person conforms to social roles.

Fromm (1973) accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence the behavior, and minimising the role of personality factors (dispositional influences)

For example only a minority of the guards (1 3rd) behaved in a brutal manner. Another 3rd were keen on applying the rules fairly and the rest actively tried to help an support the prisoners, sympathising with them and offering the cigarettes.

This suggests that situational factors are not the only cause of conformity to social roles, and dispositional factors such as personality also play a role, implying that Zimbardo’s conclusion could have been overstated

Question 40

Weakness of Zimbardo study:

Ethical issues

Answer 40

Zimbardo’s experiment has been heavily criticised for breaking many ethical guidelines, especially protection from harm.
Five of the prisoners left the experiment early because of their adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment. Furthermore, some of the guards reported feelings of anxiety and guilt as a result of their actions during the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Although Zimbardo followed the ethical guidelines of Stanford University and debriefed his participants afterwards, he acknowledged that the study should have been stopped earlier. It has been suggested that he was responding more in the role of superintendent of the prison rather than as the researcher with responsibility for his participants.

Furthermore, the fact that Zimbardo only used male participants in his sample shows a beta bias, as his research may have ignored or minimised the differences between men and women in relation to conformity

Question 41

Weakness of zimbardo’s study:

Lack of research support

Answer 41

A recent replication of the Stanford Prison Experiment, carried out by Reicher and Haslam (2006), contradicts the findings of Zimbardo. In this replication, the participants did not conform to their social roles automatically.

For example, the guards did not identify with their status and refused to impose their authority; the prisoners identified as a group to challenge the guard’s authority, which resulted in a shift of power and a collapse of the prison system.

These results clearly contradict the findings of Zimbardo and suggest that conformity to social roles may not be automatic, as Zimbardo originally implied

Question 42

Milgram’s study:

Participants

Answer 42

Randomly selected participants - 40 male volunteers.

Question 43

Milgram’s study:

Aim

Answer 43

To observe whether people would obey a figure of authority when told to harm another person i.e. evaluating the influence of a destructive authority figure.

Question 44

Milgram’s study:

Procedure

Answer 44

A participant given the role of ‘teacher’ and a confederate given the role of ‘learner’. This was decided through a random allocation.

Participant had to ask the confederate a series of questions.

Whenever the confederate got the answer wrong, the participant had to give him an electric shock, even when no answer was given.

The electric shocks incremented by 15 volts at a time, ranging from 300V to 450V, where 330V was marked as ‘lethal’.

Participants thought the shocks were real when in fact there were no real shocks administered, and the confederate was acting. The shocks were falsely demonstrated to be real prior to the start of the
study.

Participants were assessed on how many volts they were willing to shock the confederate with.

Question 45

Milgram’s study:

Findings

Answer 45

All participants went up to 300V and 65% went up to 450V.

No participants stopped below 300V, whilst only 12.5% stopped at 300V, showing that the vast majority of participants were prepared to give lethal electric shocks to a confederate.

Question 46

Variations of milgram

Answer 46

Original - 65%
Location move to run down office - 47.5%
Another teacher refuses to give shock - 20%

Question 47

Situational variables affecting obedience:

Proximity

Answer 47

Proximity refers to how close someone or something is.

In a variation of Milgram’s experiment where the teacher and learner were in the same room, the percentage of participants who administered the full 450 volts dropped from 65% to 40% because the teacher could understand the learner’s pain more directly.

In another variation, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the phone. With this variation the obedience levels fell even further to 20.5%.

This shows that proximity affects obedience in two ways: 1) the closer a person is to an authority figure the more likely they are to obey. 2) The closer a person is to the consequences of their actions, the less likely they are to obey

Question 48

Situational variables affecting obedience:

Location

Answer 48

Milgram conducted his original research in a laboratory of Yale University. In order to test the power of the location, Milgram conducted a variation in a rundown building in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In this variation, the percentage of participants who administered the full 45 volts dropped from 65% to 47.5% highlighting the importance of location in creating a prestigious atmosphere generating respect and obedience

This is a drop, but not as big as in Variation of proximity. Milgram concludes that the location is much less important than the physical presence of the authority figure.

Question 49

Situational variables affecting obedience:

Uniform

Answer 49

Likewise, Milgram demonstrated the power of uniform in a variation where the experimenter was called away and replaced by another ‘participant’ (confederate) in normal clothes, rather than a lab coat.

Here, the percentage of participants who administered the full shock dropped to 20%.

While this variation appears to suggest that uniform is an important factor that affects obedience to authority, it is unclear from this variation alone whether the uniform is the contributing factor or whether the experimenter also appears more legitimate due to his social status and role.

Question 50

Dispositional Explanation for obedience:

Authoritarian Personality

Answer 50

Adorno felt that personality (i.e. dispositional) factors rather than situational (i.e. environmental) factors could explain obedience.

He proposed that there was such a thing as an authoritarian personality, i.e. a person who favours an authoritarian social system and in particular admires obedience to authority figures.

One of the various characteristics of the authoritarian personality was that the individual is hostile to those who are of inferior status, but obedient of people with high status.

Question 51

Independent behaviour: Resistance to social influence:

Social support

Answer 51

Conformity is at its most powerful when there is ‘unanimity’ from the group

A dissenter breaks this unanimity and provides the participant with moral support – this then ‘frees’ the participant to give their own answer or disobey a given order.

Dissenters make disobedience and non-conformity an option that the individual may not have considered without them.

Question 52

Independent behaviour: Resistance to social influence:

Locus of control

Answer 52

Locus of control - LOC is sense of what directs events in our lives (Rotter).

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

Research has shown that people with an internal locus of control tend to be less conforming and less obedient (i.e. more independent). Rotter proposes that people with internal locus of control are better at resisting social pressure to conform or obey, perhaps because they feel responsible for their actions.

Question 53

What is social change?

Answer 53

Social change refers to a situation where society changes its beliefs and behaviour to create new social norms.

Social influence research has been able to help us understand not only why individual people change their beliefs and behaviours but how change in society
occurs.

Question 54

Minority influence

Answer 54

Minority influence is the main cause of
social change

The minority group manages to persuade the majority to adopt their point of view by being consistent, committed and flexible.

However, the minority must have an internal locus of control to resist compliance, while also being able to disobey authority to drive their point into
the limelight.

Question 55

What conditions are needed for the minority to have an influence

Answer 55

The importance of consistency, flexibility (Nemeth) and

commitment were demonstrated by Moscovici.

Question 56

Strength of Milgram VARIATIONS:

Answer 56

A general strength of Milgram’s research is that is findings have been replicated in other cultures. The findings of cross cultural research have been generally supportive of Milgram.

For example Miranda et al (1981) found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students. This suggests that Milgram’s conclusions about obedience are not limited to American males, but are valid across cultures and apply to females too.

However, smith and bond (1998) made the crucial point that most replications have taken place in western developed societies (such as Spain and Australia). These are culturally not that different form the USA, so it would be premature to conclude that Milgram’s findings about proximity, location and uniform apply to people everywhere.

Question 57

Outline legitimate authority as an explanation for obedience

Answer 57

NAME: This explanation proposes that we obey authority figures because we respect their position and power, presuming that they know what they are doing. People obey when they recognise authority as being morally and/or legally based.

EXPLAIN: Legitimate social power is held by authority figures whose role is socially defined & determined e.g. doctors, political leaders, police personnel, etc…. this usually gives people the right to exert control over others & in turn results in others accepting this control (usually).

APPLY: Legitimate authority can clearly be seen in Milgram’s study in terms of the presence of the authority figure. For example the basic obedience rate in the original experiment was 65%, but significantly declined to 20.5% when the experimenter left the room and continued to give his instructions via the telephone.

EXTENSION: Legitimate authority can further be seen when we consider the physical environment as a legitimate situation, since the obedience rate of 65% (original experiment) dropped to 47.5% when the experiment was moved to a run down office block. Furthermore, the nurses in Hofling’s et al (1966) study claimed that the hierarchy within the medical professional disallows any dis-obedience towards a doctor (i.e. they know best).

Question 58

Outline agentic state as a psychological explanation for obedience

Answer 58

NAME: Milgram developed the agency theory to explain the psychological processes involved in obedience to authority – this proposes that people operate on TWO levels;
As autonomous individuals – behaving voluntarily & willing to take responsibility for their actions
As an agent – individuals believe themselves to being acting on the instructions of others, as an agent & are therefore NOT responsible for their own actions

EXPLAIN: Moving from the autonomous to the agentic level is called the ‘agentic shift’ & it is emphasised by the fact that people no longer see themselves as responsible for their actions – they obey orders from an authority figure (perhaps because of their legitimate authority) and therefore regard themselves as not being responsible. This is known as the ‘agentic state’.

APPLY: Participants in Milgram’s experiment could be seen as ‘agents’, particularly as the severity of the ‘shocks’ increased. For example, when the participant became increasingly strong, the experimenter proclaimed his responsibility for what happened to the ‘learner’. This may have allowed the ‘teacher’ to make the agentic shift away from autonomy.

EXTENSION: The agentic state is also observed in Hofling’s study, since the nurses explained their obedience using the ‘hierarchy’ of authority (and therefore responsibility) in hospitals. In a real life application, Louise Ogborn’s supervisor claimed to be acting purely upon the requests of the ‘police officer’.

Question 59

Evaluation of agentic state as a theory

Answer 59

+Research support:
Blass and Schmitt (2001) found that people do blame the legitimate authority for the participants behaviour

-A limited explanation:
Agentic state doesn’t explain many of the findings: for example, why some of Milgram’s ps did not obey or the lack of moral strain in Hofling et al’s nurses. This suggests that, at best, agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience

Question 60

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority as a theory:

useful account of cultural differences in obedience.

Answer 60

+ Cultural differences:
A strength of the legitimacy of authority explanation is that it is a useful account of cultural differences in obedience.

For example, Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated Milgrams study in Australia and found only 16% of Ps went to the highest voltage. On the other hand Mantell (1971) found a very different figure for german ps - 85%

This shows that in some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals. This reflects the way different societies are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures.

Such supportive findings from cross cultural research increases the validity of the explanation

Question 61

Limitation of authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience:
Political bias

Answer 61

The F scale equates authoritarian personality with right wing ideology and ignores extreme left wing authoritarianism.

This is a limitation of Adornos’s theory because it is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that can account for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum.

Question 62

Evaluation of social support as an explanation for independent behaviour

Answer 62

Research support - resistance to conformity:
Research evidence supports the role of dissenting peers in resisting conformity. In 1 of Asch’s variation he showed that the presence of a dissident led to a decrease in the conformity levels in true participants. T

Research support - resistance to obedience:
In a variation of Milgram’ study two other participants (confederates) were also teachers but refused to obey. Confederate 1 stopped at 150 volts and confederate 2 stopped at 210 volts. The presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduced the level of obedience to 10%.

Question 63

Limitaion of locus of control:

Contradictory research

Answer 63

However, not all research supports the link between LOC and resistance. Twenge et al (2004) analysed data from American obedience studies over a 40 year period and found that people have become more external and more disobedient recently

Question 64

Minority influence:

Consistency

Answer 64

Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time (diachronic) and between all the individuals that form the minority (synchronic).

Its effective because it draws attention to the minority view

Question 65

Minority influence:

Commitment

Answer 65

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

Question 66

Minority influence:

Flexibility

Answer 66

Relentless consistency could be counter-productive if it 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

Question 67

Moscovici et al (1969)

Answer 67

Moscovici investigated whether or not a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a visual perception task.

Groups of 6 participants were asked to estimate the colour of 36 slides. All of the slides were blue, but of varying shades, and 2 of the participants were confederates of the experimenter.

There were two conditions: in the consistent condition the 2 confederates consistently stated that the slides were green not blue; and in the inconsistent condition they stated the slides were green on 24 of the 36 trials, and blue on the other 12 trials.

Participants in the consistent condition conformed to the minority on 8.4% of the trials (compared with 1.3% in the inconsistent condition), and 32% of participants conformed at least once.

This shows that a consistent minority can influence members of a majority to make an incorrect judgement.

Question 68

Special role of minority influence:

Social crypto amnesia

Answer 68

Social cryptomnesia is a failure to remember the origin of a change, in which people know that a change has occurred in society, but forget how this change occurred

Question 69

Special role of minority influence:

Snow ball effect

Answer 69

It has been found that once the minority begin to persuade people round to their way of thinking, a snowball effect begins to happen.

This means that more and more people adopt the minority opinion, until gradually the minority becomes the majority.

At this point, the people who have not changed their opinion are the minority, and they will often conform to the majority view as a result of group pressures.

Question 70

Special role of minority influence:

Deeper processing of the message

Answer 70

If a message is significantly different to ideas currently in circulation amongst the majority it gets further attention. People want to know how others can develop ideas so different to those commonly held as fact. Because the message is processed at a deeper level it is likely to take on greater significance and at least for a few, lead to internalisation.

Question 71

Special role of minority influence:

Augmentation Principle

Answer 71

A group member performs an action when there are known constraints (suffer for cause).

‘Freedom riders’ were mixed racial groups who got on buses in the south to challenge the fact that black people had to sit separately.

Question 72

Special role of minority influence:

Drawing Attention – through social proof:

Answer 72

This involves alerting society to the groups views and belief system.

Civil Rights marches drew attention to the segregation based on colour.

Question 73

Research to illustrate NSI:

Answer 73

Asch’s study can be seen to confirm this explanation of compliance.

In Asch’s study, the participants were aware that they were giving an obvious incorrect answer, in interviews after the experiment the participants confirmed that the reason why they did this was because they wanted to be liked and accepted into the group/majority.

Question 74

Strength of the normative social influence explanation

Answer 74

Point: Research has supported the normative social influence explanation as to why people conform.

Evidence: For example, Asch’s (1951) research
demonstrates how individuals will conform with the majority on an unambiguous line comparison test (even when they know their response is incorrect) in order to be liked or in an attempt to avoid standing out from the group.

Evaluation: This is a strength because it shows that the normative social influence explanation is a valid assumption as to why people conform with the majority (i.e. for group approval).

Question 75

Limitation of the normative social influence explanation

Answer 75

Point: The normative Social Influence explanation can be criticised for not acknowledging the importance of belonging to a group.

Evidence: For example, many studies (Sherif and Rohrer) have shown how conformity to group norms can persist long after the group no longer exists.

Evaluation: This is a weakness because participants in an experiment cannot fear group exclusion which implies that factors other than dependency on the group may be important as regards to whether or not an individual conforms.

Question 76

Strength of the informational social influence explanation

Answer 76

Point: Research has supported the suggestions of the informational social influence explanation as regards to why people conform.

Evidence: For example, Sherif’s (1936) research demonstrates how the exposure to other people’s beliefs has an important influence on other participant’s estimates especially when the participants are uncertain about what to believe themselves.

Evaluation: This is a strength because the research supports the informational social influence explanation of conformity and the assumption that individuals will be influenced by members of majority who appear more informed than themselves

Question 77

Limitation of the informational social influence explanation

Answer 77

Point: However, Sherif (1936) study can be criticised as to the extent in which it demonstrates conformity.

Evidence: For example, Cardwell et al (1996) suggests that Sherif’s study demonstrates how groups norms emerge and not necessarily the process of conformity (specifically internalisation). He suggests that majority influence means a majority influencing a minority who then conform to the majority view. In Sherif’s study there was no majority or minority group, simply a number of people who had different views.

Evaluation: This is a weaknesses because if Sherif’s study is not a true demonstration of conformity and internalisation then it cannot be used in support of informational social influence as an explanation of conformity.

Question 78

Limitation of Milgrams study:

Androcentric

Answer 78

Point: The study can be criticised for being androcentric.

Evidence: For example the research was populated by male volunteers only, which means that the research only tests the male response to obedience.

Evaluation: This is a problem because it means the results can’t be generalised to women as they have not been part of the research and may in fact have responded differently to authority than the men.

Some research suggests that women are actually more obedient than men, Sheridan &; King found that 100% of women, compared to 54% of men, administered fake electric shocks to a puppy when it responded incorrectly to a command.

Question 79

Strength of Milgrams study: High internal validity

Answer 79

Point: However, Milgram’s research can be criticised for lacking ecological validity:

Evidence: For example, Gina Perry reviewed the interview tapes and found that a significant number of participants raised questions about the legitimacy of the electric shocks.

Evaluation: This is problematic because the findings from the study cannot be generalised past the artificial setting to everyday life as the research is likely to have recorded artificial behaviour.
However, quantitative data gathered by Milgram directly suggested that 70% of participants believed that the shocks were real

This suggests that although the findings were certainly
surprising, they were also likely to be accurate. Suggests the study had high internal validity

Question 80

Strength of milgrams study:

Good external validity

Answer 80

Milgram’s study may at first glance appear to lack external validity because it was conducted in a lab. However, the central feature of this situation was the relationship between the authority figure (experimenter) and the participant.

Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflected wider authority relationships in real life. Other research supports this argument. For example, Hofling et al (1966) studied nurses on a hospital ward and found that levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors were very high (with 21 out of 22 nurses obeying)

This is a strength as it suggests that the process of obedience to authority that occurred in Milgram’s lab study can be generalised to other situations. So his findings do have something valuable to tell us about how obedience operates in real life

Question 81

Milgrams study:

Ethical issues

Answer 81

There was deception and so informed consent could not be obtained. This deception was justified by the aim of avoiding demand characteristics. There was psychological harm inflicted upon the participants

The participants were thoroughly and carefully debriefed on the real aims of the study, in an attempt to deal with the ethical breach of the guideline of protection from deception and the possibility to give informed consent.

In a follow up study conducted a year later, 84% of participants were glad they were part of the study. This
suggests that the study left little or no permanent or long-term psychological harm on participants

Question 82

Strengths of research into Minority Influence:

Answer 82

Point: Further research demonstrates the impact of minority influence.

Evidence: For example an adaptation of Moscovici’s research was completed where participants were exposed to minority influence but were able to give answers privately. They found even higher levels of agreement with the minority that in the original research.

Evaluation: This is a strength because the research demonstrates that the minority can be a powerful influence on the attitudes and behaviours of others, but more specifically that consistency is the key to successful minority influence.

Question 83

Limitation of research into Minority Influence:

Lack of ecological validity

Answer 83

Point: Moscovici’s research can be criticised for lacking ecological validity.

Judging the colour of a slide is an artificial task and therefore lacks mundane realism, since it is not something that occurs everyday.
Research conditions are criticised as being too far removed from cases of real‐world minority influence such as political campaigning.

The implications of real‐world cases are also grossly disproportionate to those seen in a lab setting as they can for some people literally be cases of life or death and as such Moscovicci’ s research lacks external validity

Question 84

Limitation of research into Minority Influence:

Gynocentric

Answer 84

Point: Moscovici’s research can be criticised for being gynocentric.

Evidence: For example the sample was populated by female participants which means that only the female response to minority influence was being assessed during the investigation.

Evaluation: This is a weakness because the results cannot be generalised beyond the research to men, this is because man may respond differently to minority influence, it is recognised that typically women are more conformist, and so the results lack population validity.

Question 85

Supporting evidence for the role of uniform in affecting obedience rates

Answer 85

However, there is additional research support for the role of uniform affecting obedience rates. Bickman (1974) conducted a field experiment in New York City where confederates stood on the street and asked members of the public who were passing by to perform a small task such as picking up a piece of litter or providing a coin for the parking meter.

The outfit that the confederate was wearing varied from a smart suit, jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit or a security guard’s uniform.

It was found that in this final condition the members of the public were twice as likely to obey the order given by the ‘security guard’, which supports Milgram’s idea that a uniform adds to the legitimacy of the authority figure and is a situational variable that increases obedience levels

Question 86

Evaluate role of situational variables in affecting obedience

Answer 86

While situational variables like uniform and proximity are seen to be important, research suggests that other factors (e.g. culture) also play an important role.

Kilman and Mann (1974) replicated Milgram’s original study procedures in Australia but found that only 16% of the participants shocked the learner at the maximum voltage level of 450V whereas Mantell (1971), on the other hand, showed that it was 85% when conducted in Germany.

This cross‐cultural comparison shows that different societies follow alternative hierarchical structures and children may be socialised differently from a young age to be more, or less, obedient.

This suggests that while situational factors like proximity and uniform are important, other factors may play a more significant role in obedient behaviour.

Question 87

Strength of authoritarian personality ;

Research support

Answer 87

There is reperch support for the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience. Milgram and Elms (1966) conducted post‐experimental interviews with participants who were fully obedient in Milgram’s original study, to see if there was a link between high levels of obedience and an authoritarian personality.

It was found that the obedient participants scored higher on the F‐scale in comparison to the disobedient participants. Furthermore, the obedient participants were less close to their fathers during childhood and admired the experimenter in Milgram’s study, which was quite the opposite for disobedient participants.

It was concluded that the obedient participants in Milgram’s original research displayed more characteristics of the authoritarian personality

Question 88

Limitaion of authoritarian personality:

Deterministic

Answer 88

Adorno et al. came to believe that a high degree of authoritarianism was similar to suffering from a psychological disorder, with the cause lying within the personality of the individual (nature) but originally caused by the treatment they received from their parents at a young age (nurture).

Obedient behaviour is, therefore, determined by our socialisation experiences and not as a result of free will.
However, some psychologists (e.g. humanistic psychologists) would dismiss these claims and argue that humans have a capacity for free will and change an that dispositional explanations for obedience are overly deterministic

Question 89

Strength of locus of control

Research evidence

Answer 89

There is research support for the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are les likely to conform.

Spector (1983) used Rotter’s locus of
control scale to determine whether locus of control is associated with conformity.

From 157 students, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with a high external locus of control, but only in situations of normative social influence, where individuals conform to be accepted.

There was no difference between the two groups for informational social influence. This suggests that normative social influence, the desire to fit in, is more powerful than informational social influence, the desire to be right, when considering locus of control.

Question 90

Limitation of NSI explanation

Answer 90

While the Asch study provides support for the notion of NSI, more recent research has yielded different results.

For example, Perrin and Spencer (1980) conducted an Asch‐style experiment and found a conformity level of 0.25%.

Therefore, it could be argued that the results of Asch are the results of a different era and do not represent conformity and the idea of NSI in 2017.

However, it must be noted that Perrin and Spencer used a very different sample to Asch, consisting of engineering and mathematic students. Therefore, it could be that the lower levels of conformity were also influenced by the participants expertise n problem solving tasks