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Psychology Paper 1 > Social Influence > Flashcards

Social Influence Flashcards

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1
Q

Define conformity

A

Change in person’s behaviour/opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person/group

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2
Q

Define compliance

A
  • Superficial + temporary
  • Publically go along w/ group but privately disagree
  • Change only lasts as long as group is present
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3
Q

Define identification

A
  • Moderate
  • Act same as group bc value it + want to be part of it
  • Don’t agree w/ everything majority believes
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4
Q

Define internalisation

A
  • Deep
  • Take on majority view bc we accept it as correct
  • Leads to permanent change even if group is absent
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5
Q

Define informational social influence

A
  • Agree w/ majority bc accept it as correct + want to be correct
  • Leads to internalisation
  • Occurs when: situation is ambiguous
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6
Q

Define normative social influence

A
  • Agree w/ majority bc want to be accepted + gain social approval
  • Leads to compliance
  • Occurs when: need social approval + w/ familiar people
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7
Q

Evaluate ISI

A

(+) Research support - Lucas et al, students ans maths problems (easy/hard). More conformity when hard esp w/ students who rated maths skills as poor.

(-) Individual diff - Perrin + Spencer found engineering students conformed less. More knowledgeable = less influenced by majority

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8
Q

Evaluate NSI

A

(+) Research support - Asch asked ppts why they agreed w/ wrong ans - felt self-conscious + afraid of disapproval

(-) Individual diff - nAffiliators (people w/ greater need for social relationship) are more likely to conform

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9
Q

Outline Asch’s procedure into conformity

A
  • Recruited 123 American male students - each tested individually w/ group btw 6-8 confed
  • Each trial ppts identified length of standard line
  • Each participated in 18 trials
  • 12 critical trials- confed gave wrong ans
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10
Q

Outline Asch’s Findings + conclusion

A
  • Ppts gave wrong ans 36.8% of the time
  • 25% ppts never gave wrong ans, 75% at least once
  • Most said they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI) + privately disagree w/ majority (compliance)
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11
Q

What were the variables that Asch changed in his study?

A
  • Group size
  • Unanimity
  • Task difficulty
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12
Q

Outline how group size affected conformity in Asch’s research

A
  • No. confed varied btw 1-15
  • Conformity:
  • W/ 2 : 13.6%
  • W/ 3 : 31.8% - adding more made little diff
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13
Q

Outline how unanimity affected conformity in Asch’s research

A
  • Added accurate/inaccurate dissenter
  • presence of dissenter: dec 25% - enabled ppts to behave more independantly
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14
Q

Outline how task difficulty affected conformity in Asch’s research

A
  • Made task harder by making lines similar in lengths
  • Conformity inc when difficulty inc
  • ISI plays greater role when task becomes harder - situation more ambiguous so look to others for guidance
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15
Q

Evaluate Asch’s study

A

(+) High degree of control - Manipulated lines to make task harder. Variables easy to manipulate

(-) Experiment was artificial - Task was trivial so no reason not to conform. Low ecological validity

(-) Ethical issues - ppts decieved, told visual line judgement task.

(-) Cultural bias - Smith + Bond suggest conformity rates higher in collectivist (37%) than individualist (25%)

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16
Q

Outline the procedure of Zimbardo’s study into conformity to social roles

A
  • Set up mock prison in Stanford uni
  • 24 emotionslly stable students determined by psychological testing - randomly assigned roles
  • Prisoners arrested at homes + blindfolded, strip searched, deloused + issued no. + uniform (deindividuated)
  • Guards uniform : wooden club, handcuffs, keys + mirror shades. Told they had complete power over prisoners
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17
Q

Outline Zimbardo’s findings + conclusion

A
  • 2 days : prisoners rebelled against treatment
  • Guards became abusive towards prisoners
  • Prisoners became passive + accepting
  • Both P + G conformed to social roles
  • Supposed to last 2 weeks but ended after 6 days
  • 5 prisoners released early bc extreme reactions to situation
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18
Q

Evaluate Zimabardo’s study

A

(+) Conducted ethically - approved by ethics comittee + ppts debriefed

(+) Real world application - explains Abu Ghraib (Iraq prison). Suggests situation factors influence people’s behaviour

(-) Lack realism - acting based on stereotypes. Results lack validity

(-) Unethical - Zimbardo became the superintended. Unable to protect ppts

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19
Q

Define obedience

A

Form of social influence in which an individual follows direct orders

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20
Q

Outline Milgram’s procedure

A
  • 40 male ppts aged 20-50 (unskilled to professional) through newspaper ads - said memory study
  • Drew lots, Mr Wallace was always the learner while ppts was teacher + experimenter wore lab coat
  • Learner in another room
  • Ppt would give series of inc electric shocks if ans was wrong.
  • Started at 15v upto 450v. At 300v learner pounded on wall + gave no response (told treat as wrong ans)
  • if teacher unsure, prods given
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21
Q

Outline the prods given to the teacher (ppt) by the experimenter

A
  1. ‘Please continue’
  2. ‘The experimenter requires that you continue’
  3. ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’
  4. ‘You have no other choice, you must go on’
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22
Q

Outline Milgram’s findings and conclusions

A
  • 100% uptil 300v
  • 65% uptil 450v
  • Ppts were seen to sweat, tremble + groan
  • 3 ppts had full blown uncontrollable seizures
  • Prior to study Migram asked psy students to predict ppts behviour, said 3% would continue to 450v
  • Ppts debriefed + assured behaviour was normal. Follow up questionnaire showed 84% reported they’re glad to have participated
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23
Q

Evaluate Milgram’s study

A

(+) High external validity - Hofling et al 21/22 nurses willing to give lethal injection following phone instructions from ‘doctor’

(+) Supporting study - French TV show 80% gave 450v to apparently unconsious man

(-) Low internal validity - ppts didn’t believe shocks were real due to calm demeanor of experimentor

(-) Unethical - ppts were decieved

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24
Q

Define situational variables

A

External factors that influence level of obedience

25
Q

Give the 3 factors that Milgram changed to test for explanations for obedience based on situational variables

A
  • Proximity
  • Location
  • Uniform
26
Q

Outline Milgram’s research into variation of proximity

A
  • Proximity variation - teacher + learner same room : 40%
  • Touch proximity variation - force hand on plate : 30%
  • Remote-instruction proximity variation - instructed over the phone : 20.5%, pps also pretended to give shocks/gave weaker shocks
27
Q

Outline Milgram’s research into variation of location

A
  • Run down building rather than prestigious Yale uni
  • 47.5%
28
Q

Outline Milgram’s research into variation of uniform

A
  • OG: experimenter wore lab coat
  • Experimenter called away, taken over by member of public
  • 20% - lowest of variations
29
Q

Evaluation Milgram’s research based on situational variables

A

(+) Replicated in other culture - 90% obedience in Spanish students, findings not limited to American males

(+) Control variables - altered variable 1 at a time, control gives certainty that change in obedience due to variable manipulated

(-) Lack internal validity - pps likely to realise procedure is fake bc of extra manipulation

(-) Replication in Western countries

30
Q

Define social-psychological factors

Give examples

A
  • Concerns w/ influence of others on individuals behaviour
  • Eg.
  • Agentic state
  • Legitimacy of authority
31
Q

Describe the agentic state as a factor affecting obedience

A
  • AS : feels no personal responsibilty for action
  • Autonomous state : responsible for actions
  • Agentic shift occurs when we perceive someone as authority figure + want to maintain +ve self image
  • Binding factors : aspects that allow person to ignore/minimise damaging effect + reduce moral strain
32
Q

Describe legitimacy of authority as a factor affecting obedience

A
  • For authority to be perceived as legitimate, must occur w/in instututional structure eg. military
  • Accept authority figure bc allows society to function smoothly
  • Consequence: grant people to punish others
33
Q

Evaluate the agentic state as an explanation for obedience

A

(+) Research support - Blass showed students film of Milgram’s study + asked to identify responsible for harm, blamed experimenter

(-) Doesn’t explain all research findings - Hofling : nurses should’ve shown anxiety bc understood role in destructive process but not the case

34
Q

Evaluate legitimacy of authority as an explanation for obedience

A

(+) Account for cultural diff - countries differ in obedience to authority, aus: 16% + germans : 85% reached highest voltage - cross-culture research inc validity of exp

(+) Explain real life - My Lai, soldiers given orders to rape + kill, assumed orders given by hierarchy as legal

35
Q

Define dispositional explanations

Give an example

A
  • Any explanation of behaviour that highlights importance of individual’s personality
  • Authoritarian personality
36
Q

Outline the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience

A
  • Exaggerated respect for authority + submissive
  • Contempt for inferior
  • Conventional attitudes towards race + gender
  • Forms in childhood through harsh parenting (conditional love) - creates resentment + hostility that can’t be expressed to parents so displaced to those socially weaker
37
Q

Outline Adorno’s study into the authoritarian personality

A
  • 2000 middle class white Americans
  • Measured by potential for fascism scale (f-scale) eg. “obedience + respect for authority is the most important virtue for children to learn”
  • Authoritarians (scored high) identified w/ strong people + contemptuous of weak, conscious of own + others status
38
Q

Evaluate the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience

A

(+) Research support - Milgram found high authoritarianism in obedient pp than disobedient

(-) Research uses correlation - doesn’t mean AP causes obedience, might be 3rd factor

(-) Exp based on flawed methodology - F-scale is comedy of methodological errors: worded in same direction so might just measure tendency to agree

(-) Limited exp - Mil germans displayed obedience but all diff personality

39
Q

What are the 2 explanations for resisting social influence?

A
  • Social support
  • Locus of control
40
Q

Define social support

A

Perception that a person has assistance available from other people + part of supportive network

41
Q

Outline social support as an explanation to resisting social influence

A
  • Enables us to resist pressures from majority
  • Conformity: breaks unanimity
  • Obedience: disobedient peer acts as role model, can base behaviour on
42
Q

How long does the effect of social support last?

A

Not long

43
Q

Explain what is meant by locus of control

A
  • Person’s perception of personal control of their own behaviour
  • Measured on scale of high ext. one end + high int other end
  • High ext: result of ability + effort
  • High int: controlled by fate + luck
44
Q

Why do internals show greater resistance to social influence?

A
  • Person who takes personal responsibility for actions are more likely to base decisions on own belief
  • More self confident, higher intelligence + less need for social approval - traits lead to greater resistance
45
Q

Evaluate social support as an explanation to resistance to social support

A

(+) Research supporting role of dissenter in resisting comformity - Allen found independence inc w/ dissenter in Asch study, even when wearing thick glasses + vision problems - breaks pressure

(+)Research supporting role of dissenter in resisting obedience - Gamson found higher levels of of rebellions (29/33) than Milgram (pps in groups)

46
Q

Evaluate LOC as an explanation of resistance to social support

A

(+) Research support linking LOC + resistance to obedience - Holland repeated Milgram’s study + measured LOC, 37% int didn’t continue to highest + 23% ext

(-) Resreach not supporting link - Twenge et al meta analysis found American became more independent but more ext

47
Q

Define minority influence

A
  • Form of social influence where by minority persuade others to adopt their beliefs + behaviours
  • Leads to internalisation
  • Involves: consistency, commitment + flexibility
48
Q

Outline the role of consistency in minority influence

A
  • Makes others rethink their own view - ‘maybe they’ve got a point if they all think this way + keep saying it’
  • Synchronic consistency - people saying same thing
  • Diachronic cinsistency - saying same thing for some time
49
Q

Outline the role of commitment in minority influence

A
  • Gains attention through extreme activities
  • Augmentation principle: majority pays more attention
  • ‘Wow, he must really believe in what he’s saying, i ought to consider his view’
50
Q

Outline the role of flexibility in minority influence

A
  • Repeating the same argument is seen as rigid + off putting
  • Should adapt + accept reasonable counter arguments
51
Q

Outline Moscovici’s study into minority influence

A
  • Procedure:
  • Group of 6 viewed 36 blue-green slides varying in intensity + stated if slide is green/blue
  • 3 conditions: confed consistently said green, confed inconstistent + control group (no confed)
  • Findings: 1) same wrong ans 8.42% of trials, 32% gave wrong ans at least once 2) 1.25% 3) 0.25%
52
Q

Evaluate minority incluence

A

(+) Research supporting consistency - Moscovici

(-) Research uses artificial task - far removed from how minorities change majority opinion in real life, jury : matter of life + death - low eco val

(-) Majority + minority not so distinct - real life there is more involved in diff. than group size. Minority are commited to cause bc have to face hostile opposition - lab based MI doesn’t represent real world

53
Q

Q: Impact of social inluence on social change

A

Lessons from (minority influence/conformity/obedience) research have shown that..

54
Q

Define social influence

A

Process by which individuals/groups change each others opinions + behaviours. Include: conformity, obedience + minority influence

55
Q

Lessons from minority influence research shows that…

A
  • eg. civil rights movement
  • Attention: marches drew attentions to segregation
  • Consistent: showed consistency of message
  • Deeper processing: many people accepted status quo + thought about unjustness
  • Augmentation principle: freedom riders got on buses - got beaten + suffered mob violence
  • Snowball effect: Civil rights activists gradually got attentions + civil rights act passed - minority to majority
  • Social cryptomnesia: Have memory that change happened but not how
56
Q

Lessons from conformity research shows that…

A
57
Q

Lessons from obedience research shows that…

A
  • Milgram: disobedient role models
  • Zimbardo: once small instruction obeyed, harder to resist bigger one - gradual commitment
58
Q

Evaluate the effects of social influence in social change

A

(+) Research support for role of NSI - Nolan hung messages saying residents are trying to reduce energy usage, sig dec compared to control group w/ no ref. to other people

(-) Minority considered deviant - influence dec, majority avoid agreeing to avoid being seen as deviant

(-) Methodological issues w/ evidence to social change - artificial - low eco val

Psychology Paper 1 (4 decks)

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