Social Influence Flashcards
Social Influence
Influence by society to do something. Part of everyday life. Seen in advertising such as popular brands using social influence to sell products. Two types:
Informational: individual wants to be right and produces private acceptance which is a genuine inner belief what they believe is correct or true.
Normative: individual wants to be accepted so forms public compliance which is a genuine inner belief the group is wrong.
Effect of social influence - STUDY
Sherif, 1960s.
Used autokinetic effect. Participant in dark room with tiny dot of light which was motionless. Most reported it was moving. Task was extended to a group and asked how far it was moving. Responses consistent. Shows how people follow answers of others.
Conformity
Person’s behaviour aligns with a group standard to be right or liked. Links to people having strong need to form relationships and to be liked.
Minority Influence
Goes against norm of majority influence. Evidence in cultural shifts such as LGBT rights and womens’ rights. If minority influence wasn’t possible these wouldn’t happen. Limits studies on majority influence.
Group Influence
Form of social influence which involves following ways of influencing people:
Deindividuation Social contagion Group performance Social facilitation Social loafing
Deindividuation
Erosion of personal identity/responsibilities through making someone feel higher or lower than they are. Making people more anonymous to outsiders and reducing self awareness also used. Shown through Second World War as people were unaware of how they were being evaluated by others as nobody said actions were wrong.
Dehumanising - STUDY
Bandura, Underwood & Fromson, 1975.
Replicated electric shock study but beforehand person giving shocks would overhear talk about person receiving them, one group positive and one negative. Control group who did not overhear. People talked about negatively got more shocks. Shows how language can dehumanise people and influence opinion. Seen in media.
Social Facilitation
Zajonc.
Involves evaluation comprehension which is concern about how others are evaluating performance. Presence of others increases dominant response latency meaning people who are good at task perform better and people who are amateur perform worse. Example: cyclist cycling faster when watched by others.
Social Facilitation - STUDY
Rats able to find way out of maze much quicker when in presence of other rats.
Social Loafing
Less effort contributed to a task which is shared such as clapping in a large crowd compared to small one.
Moderators are things which encourage it and include:
Meaningless or important tasks.
Larger group size.
Gender and culture.
Other Methods of Influence
Reducing cues of social accountability as it creates sense of anonymity, removing concerns about social evaluation.
Reducing concerns for self evaluation as it stops self monitoring and often involves changes state of persons consciousness such as through drugs.
One dissenting voice - STUDY
Asch.
Group asked to choose which line was longest out of ones shown on a piece of card and confederates used to purposely say wrong answer. People in group mostly agreed with this person. Study has been replicated and even shows effect with one confederate. Limit: effect seems to decline when looked at using meta analysis could be due to societal changes.
Blue Green STUDY
Moscouli, 1969.
Tested for colour blindness beforehand to remove outliers.
Shown multiple screens with different shades of blue and asked what colour they see. Confidantes used. Always answer correct; inconsistently; always wrong. Those answering consistently had biggest effect. Relates to politics.
Obedience - STUDY
Answered questions and administered electric shock to some if incorrect. No actual shocks given. Voltage increased with each wrong answer and person cried out. Participant would often be reluctant to contour but would when told by authoritative person.
Limit: really obeying or just doing it because it was an experiment?
