Social Influence Flashcards
What is Internalisation?
When a person genuinely accepts group norms.
Change is private and public.
Change is permanent.
What is identification?
We publicly change our opinions/behaviour, even if we don’t privately agree with the group.
What is compliance?
Going along with others in public but privately not changing opinions/behaviour.
Behaviour changes as group pressure stops.
Explanations for conformity
Informational Social Influence
We are uncertain about what behaviour or beliefs are right or wrong. You go along with other people because you feel they are probably right. ISI is a cognitive process.
Explanations for conformity
Normative social influence
Concerns what is ‘normal’ behaviour for a social group.
EMOTIONAL rather than cognitive process - people prefer social approval.
Occurs in situations you don’t know the norms and look how to behave.
Important with people you know as you care about their opinions.
What is a strength of informational social influence?
A strength is there is research support. Lucas et al. asked students to give answers to easy and more difficult maths problems. There was more conformity to incorrect answers when the problems were difficult. Mostly true for students who rated their maths ability as poor. People conform in situations where they don’t know the answers. We look to others and assume they know.
What is a limitation of informational social influence?
A limitation is there are individual differences. Asch found students were less conformist (28%) than other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer also found less conformity in engineering students. People who are more knowledgeable are less influenced. Therefore there are differences in how people respond.
What is a limitation of informational social influence and normative social influence?
A limitation of ISI and NSI is that the ‘two process’ approach is oversimplified. Approach states behaviour is due to either NSI or ISI. However, conformity was reduced when there was a dissenting partner in the Asch experiment. The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI or ISI. Therefore it isn’t always possible to know whether NSI or ISI is at work. This questions the view of ISI and NSI as operating independently in conforming behaviour
Outline Asch’s study on conformity research
Asch recruited 123 American male students. Each was tested individually with a group of 6 to 8 confederates. Participants had to identify the length of the line. The first few trials confederates gave the correct answer but then selected the same wrong answer.
- 36.8% gave the wrong answer.
- 25% never gave a wrong answer.
Participants said they conformed to avoid rejection.
Outline Aschs study on variables affecting conformity
Group size: The number of confederates varied between 1 and 15. With two people 13.6% conformed. With three rose to 31.8%. Adding more made little difference.
Unanimity: Asch introduced a truthful confederate. This helped the participant act more independently.
Task difficulty: Made the line judging harder. Conformity increased.
What’s a limitation of Asch’s research?
The findings only apply to certain situations. Participants had to answer out loud in front of a new group of people so wanted to impress. However, Williams and Sogon found conformity was higher when the majority were friends. Therefore conformity depends on circumstances.
What’s a limitation of Asch’s research?
There are also ethical issues with Asch’s research as participants were deceived. They thought the Confederates were genuine. However, this ethical cost should be weighed against the benefits of the study. The benefit was highlighting peoples susceptibility to group conformity and variables affecting it.
What’s a limitation of Asch’s study?
One limitation is his research may be a child of the times. Perrin and spencer found just one conforming response in 396 trials. Also the 1950s were a conformist time in America and people might be less likely to conform nowadays. It is not consistent overtime.
Outline the procedure of conformity to social roles
Zimbardo set up a mock prison to test if the brutality of prison guards was the result of sadistic personalities or whether it was created by the situation. 24 emotionally stable students were recruited. Roles were randomly allocated. To increase realism prisoners were arrested in their homes. There were 16 rules to follow. Prisoners would have felt De-individualisation.
Outline the results of conformity to social roles
Within two days of prisoners rebelled. They swore at the guards who retaliated with fire extinguishers. Guards harassed the prisoners. Their behaviour
