Social influence Flashcards
Define conformity
A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined influence of pressure from others
Name the three types of conformity
Compliance
Internalisation
Identification
Define compliance
Going along with others in public but privately not changing opinion
Superficial and temporary
Define internalisation
Occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms
Results in a private as well as public change
Permanent
Define identification
Form of influence where an individual adopted an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group
Explain normative social influence
- need to be liked
- public not private
- change in attitude/ behaviour is temporary
Explain informative social influence
- the need to be right
- individual believes the group has more knowledge
- likely to be permanent
Briefly evaluate explanations of conformity
✅Jenness
✅asch
❌artificial tasks
✅Schultz
Explain Jenness study
Used a a glass bottle filled with white beans
Asked to individually estimate how many beans the glass bottle contained
They then divided into groups and provided a group estimate
After discussion the individually estimated the number of beans
Most changed there answers by considerable amount
✅support informative social influence
Explain Aschs study
Line judgement task
3/4 confirmed on at least one trial
Each participant was tested individually with a group of 6-8 confederated
These all gave the same answer
✅ normative social influence- participants do not change their mind privately, they wanted the approval of other people
Criticise aschs research
The use of artificial tasks has very low ecological validity and cannot he compared to normal every day tasks
Explain Schultz
Wanted to persuade guests to reuse there towels rather than having fresh ones delivered
A sign placed saying 75% chose to reuse there towels everyday
People reduced their need for towels by 25%
✅ supports NSI
Name the three variables affecting aschs research
Explain each
Group size- people are likely to comply as long as there are 3 or more other people in the group
Unanimity- the presence of a dissenter enabled the naive participant to behave more independently
Task difficulty - suggested ISI played a more important role when the task was harder
Briefly evaluate aschs research
❌ecological validity
❌population validity
❌temporal validity
❌culture
What is meant by temporal validity
Refers to how likely it is that the time period when a study was conducted has influenced the findings and whether they can be generalised to other periods of time
Explain a criticism of aschs research: culture
- limited to western individualistic cultures
- this is because aschs study was conducted in the USA which is where individuals are much more focused on the self rather than the group
- when repeated in China (collectivist countries) conformity rates are far higher
Explain Smith et al (cultural variations)
Average conformity rates:
- individualistic cultures: 25%
- collectivist cultures: 37%
Culturally limited
Define social roles
The parts people play as members of various groups
Eg student/ child
Describe the Stanford prison experiment
- Zimbardo
- participants all male students at stanford uni
- volunteer and randomly assigned to either prisoner or prison guard
- prisoners were arrested at home and taken to the mock prison in the uni given a uniform and a number
- prison guards given a uniform and mirrored Sunnies
- everyone conformed to their roles within the prison and the stereotypical behaviour of these roles
- deindividuation
Define the term deindivuduation
Where u lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility
Briefly evaluate zimbardos research into social roles
✅high level of control
❌ecological validity
❌population validity
❌ethical issues
Describe some of the ethical issues involved in zimbardos study
- researcher bias
- protection from harm
- informed consent
- right to withdraw
- dehumanising
define obedience
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order from an authority figure
Explain 3 differences between conformity and obedience
- conformity= no request you pick up the behaviour / obedience= direct request to change behaviour
- conformity= pressure from a group of people / obedience= request from just one person
- conformity= from a same status (a peer) / obedience= from a higher status
Describe milgrams obedience study
- male Yale uni students
- participants was paired with another person ( confederate)
- supposedly draw straws for roles but participant was always teacher and confederate always learner
- learner asked a question- got it wrong- teacher gives learner a shock
- teacher encouraged with standardised prods
- all participants shocked up 300 volts and 65% up to 450V
Briefly evaluate milgrams research
❌ecological validity
✅real life supporting evidence: Hofling (nurses)
❌population validity
❌ethical issues
Describe the study by hofling
They conducted a field experiment with nurses in a hospital ward,
Nurses asked over the phone to administer a illegal dosage
21\22 obeyed and administered the drug
What are the four explanations for obedience
1) situational variables
2) agentic state
3) legitimacy of authority
4) authoritarian personality (dispositional explanation)
Define situational variables in relation to obedience
These are the factors that influence obedience that all relate to the external circumstances rather than the personalities of the people involved
Name 3 situational variables
Explain
1) proximity- obedience fell when the teacher and learner was in the same room - 65%➡️40%
2) location - conducting experiment in a run down building- fell to 47.5%
3) uniform- when the researcher was wearing everyday clothes obedience dropped to 20%
briefly Evaluate milgrams variations (situational factors)
✅control of variables
✅bickman= the power of uniform
❌western cultures only
Describe the study by bickman
Three Male researchers gave orders to 153 randomly selected participants
The researchers were dressed in either three ways: suit, milkman or guard
They gave orders to pedestrians
Found people obeyed more when the researcher was a guard (80%) rather than a milkman or civilian (40%)
Explain a criticism of situational variables: western cultures only
Milgrams research took place in the west
This is a problem because these countries are individualistic, people in collectivist countries will obey instructions that come from within your group or benefit the group
Define agentic state
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we are acting for an authority figure
Define agentic shift
Involved moving from an autonomous (independent) state into an agentic state
Explain binding factors
Explains why a person remains in a agentic state, this is because the participant has commitment to the researcher and may fear appearing arrogant and rude
List two evaluative points for agentic state
✅supporting evidence: hofling
- nurses
- fake drug
- obeyed a perceived authority
❌does not fully account for real life obedience
Doctors at Auschwitz: lifton
Found people had shifted from caring doctors into people capable of carrying out lethal experiments
This was a gradual and irreversible transition
What is legitimacy of authority
Idea that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us because this persons authority is justified
Evaluate legitimacy of authority
✅bickman
✅ Tarnow
❌cultural differences- Kilburn and Mann
Explain tarnow study on legitimacy of authority
Obedience in the cockpit
Aviation accidents
Found excessive dependence on the captains authority and expertise
Explain Kilburn and Mann study into cultural differences
Replicated milgrams study in Australia
Only 16% of participants went up to top voltage scale
What did Mantell find
85% of Germans shocked up to the maximum
Describe the dispositional explanation
Obedience is caused by an individuals own personal characteristics rather than situational influences
Define authoritarian personality
A type of personality that Adorno argues was characterised by strict compliance traditional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority
List 3 characteristics of authoritarian personality
- very obedient to authority
- extreme respect for authority
- look down on inferior people
Where does Adorno argue an authoritarian personality is created
In childhood as a result of harsh parenting
What did Adorno argue harsh parenting leads to in a child
Resentment and hostility
These were displaced onto others
Explain adornos study
Investigated the cause of obedience in a study of Americans using a questionnaire
Developed the f-scale test to measure authoritarian personality
There was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
briefly evaluating authoritarian personality
pro:
-elms and Milgram= found participants who were most obediant scored higher on the f-scale test
con:
-correlational research- difficult to establish cause and effect
-culturally limited- pettigrew
describe elms and milgrams research
repeated milgrams obediance study using the f-scale test
found obediant participants scored higher on the f-scale test
describe Pettigrews study
-white south africans showed high levels of anti-black prejudice but not authoritarianism, suggests personality type alone cannot explain why people are prejudice
therefore extremely unlikely that they would all possess an authoritarian personality
define resistance to social influence
the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey authority
define social support
the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same
give an example of social support in aschs research
when the confederates werent unanimous, it inspired someone else to follow their own conscience, in this conformity dropped to 25%
describe allen and levine
what does this support
found conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an asch type study
supports the view of social support
describe gamson
what does this support
participants were in groups and had to produce evidence to falsely damage the reputation of an oil company
87.9% rebelled
shows that peer support is linked to greater resistance
define locus of control
this refers to the level of control we percieve to have over events and situations in our lives
explain the difference between internal locus of control and external locus of control
internal LOC believes we are responsible for what happens to us
external LOC believes it is mainly out of our control and down to outside forces
which type of LOC would you expect to be linked to resistance to social influence
internal-able to resist conformity pressure and have control over our own lives
what is the continuum
there isnt just internal and externalLOC but it is mor eof a continuum, a scale,
evaluate LOC
pro:
- oliner and oliner
- holland
con-
-methodical problems= questionnaire
describe oliner and oliners study
interviewed two group of non-jewish people who had lived through nazi germany and the holocaust
compared 406 people who had protected and rescued the jews from the nazies and 126 who had not, found those who did rescue jews had internal LOC
therefore shows how those with internal LOC can resist
obediance even in the most dramatic of circumstances
describe hollands study
repeated milgrams study and measured whether participants were internal or external
found 37% of internal did not shock up to the highest level, whereas 23% of externals did not continue
what is the problem with questionnaires
can lead to people to only give socially desirable answers to make themselves look better, weakens validity of results as not accurate
who was the first person to identify the process of minority influence as a contrast to majority influence
Serge Moscovici
define minority influence
refers to situations where one person or a small group of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours
what are the three behavioural characteristics of minority influence
1) consistency
2) commitment
3) flexibility
explain consistency
minority influence is effective if the minority keeps up the same belief over time and between all members of the minority
explain commitment
most powerful if the minority demonstrate dedication tot heir position, eg making personal sacrifices
explain flexibility
relentless consistency could be counter productive if it is seen by majority as unreasonable, more effective is accept the possibility of compromise
describe moscovicis study into minority influence
two conditions:
1) two of the six participants were confederates, said all slides were green
2) two of the six were confederates said that 24 were green and 12 blue
in condition 1 the real participants agree on 8.2% of trials, whereas in condition 2 participants only agreed on 1.25% of trials
criticise moscovicis study
lacks population validity-
all participants were female- not an accurate representation of whole population
cannot generalise to men as well
explain clarks study
twelve angry men experiment
- 270 college students were asked to role play the part of jurors and read a summary of a court case presented in the film 12 angry men, students who were all unfamilair with the film had to decide whether the accused was guilty
clark found that participants were most persuaded when they heard consistent persuasive arguments from the minority jury members
criticise moscovicis and clarks study
clark- artificial tasks as it was a role play, nothing was really at stake ( demand characteristics?)
moscovici- artificial tasks not applicable to everyday
define social change
this occurs when whole societies rather than just individuals adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things, for example womens rights and environmental issues
what are the six steps of social change
1) drawing attention
2) consistency
3) deeper processing- those who had just accepted the status quo begin to question it
4) augmentation principle- were a number of incidents where individuals risked their lives, eg freedom riders
5) snowball effect- got attention of the us govt
6) social cryptoamnesia- change has occured but people cannot remember how it happened
how does conformity contribute to social change
campaigners use normative social influence to influence others
evaluate social influence and social change
methodical problems-
moscovici- ecological validity
asch- population vaLIDITY
