Social Influence

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

When an individual follows a direct order from a person who is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour does not occur.

Question 2

What is destructive behaviour?

Answer 2

When an individual obeys an order to do something immoral, which causes the individual carrying out the order in distress and regret.

Question 3

What is a situational variable?

Answer 3

Features of an environment that impact the degree to which individuals obey.

Question 4

Give the three example of situational variables.

Answer 4

Proximity
Location
Uniform

Question 5

What is proximity?

Answer 5

The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to. It also refers to the physical closeness of the person carrying out an order to their ‘victim’

Question 6

What is location?

Answer 6

The place where an order is issued. The status of prestige of the place can impact on obedience.

Question 7

What is uniform?

Answer 7

The clothes an authority figure wears thats symbolises their position of authority.

Question 8

In Milgram’s original study, where were the teacher and learner in relation to each other?

Answer 8

Adjoining rooms - teacher could hear the learner

Question 9

What percentage of participants obeyed in the original study?

Answer 9

65%

Question 10

What did the obedience rate change to when the teacher and learner where in the same room?

Answer 10

40%

Question 11

In one variation what did the teacher have to do the participants hand?

Answer 11

Force the learner’s hand on an ‘electroshock plate’

Question 12

What was the rate of obedience when the teacher forced the learner’s hand onto the electroshock plate?

Answer 12

30%

Question 13

When the experiment was in a different room to the teacher and gave the orders over the phone, what was the obedience rate?

Answer 13

20.5%

Question 14

How does the proximity of the authority figure impact on rate of obedience?

Answer 14

The further the proximity of the authority figure, the lower the obedience rate was

Question 15

How does the proximity of the ‘victim’ to the person carrying out the orders impact the rate of obedience rates?

Answer 15

Closer the proximity to the ‘victim’ the obedience rate was lower

Question 16

Where was Milgram’s original study conducted?

Answer 16

Yale university - psychological department

Question 17

How did Milgram change the location of the experiment?

Answer 17

Study was carried out in an office in a run-down building.

Question 18

What happened to the rate of obedience when the experiment occurred in the run-down office?

Answer 18

Decreased to 47.5%

Question 19

How does the location impact on the rates of obedience?

Answer 19

More prestigious location increases the rate of obedience

Question 20

In Milgram’s original experiment, what uniform did the experimenter wear?

Answer 20

A grey labcoat

Question 21

How was the uniform condition changed in Milgram’s variation?

Answer 21

Ordinary member of the public was in everyday clothes

Question 22

What was the rate of obedience in the uniform variation?

Answer 22

20%

Question 23

How does the uniform impact rate of obedience?

Answer 23

Less professional clothing shows a decrease in the rate of obedience

Question 24

What are the four explanations of authority?

Answer 24

• Situational Variables
• Legitimacy of Authority
• Agentic State
• Authoritarian Personality

Question 25

What are the three categories that the four explanations fall into?

Answer 25

Situational explanations
Social -psychological explanations
Dispositional explanations

Question 26

What is situational explanations?

Answer 26

External characteristics to do with a situation explains obedience.

Question 27

What is social -psychological explanations?

Answer 27

The influence that other people can have on individual explains obedience.

Question 28

What is dispositional explanations?

Answer 28

Internal characteristics of an individual explains obedience

Question 29

What is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 29

• Suggests more people are more likely to obey people who they perceive to have authority over them.
• Authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy
• Individuals taught to recognise the value of obedience from a young age as it keeps stability in society
• Only if the authority is exercised properly

Question 30

When is an authority figure seen as legitimate?

Answer 30

Individuals are granted power to punish others. People are willing to give up independence and to hand control of their behaviour to people they trust to exercise their authority appropriately (agentic state).

Question 31

When do problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive?

Answer 31

Ordering people to behave in ways that are callous, cruel, stupid and dangerous - Hitler, Pol Pot.

Question 32

Where was destructive authority shown in Milgram’s study?

Answer 32

When the experimenter used the prods to order participants to behave in ways that were against their conscience

Question 33

What is agentic state?

Answer 33

A mental state where an individual feels no personal responsibility over their behaviour as they believe themselves to be acting for an authority figure.

Question 34

What is the autonomous state?

Answer 34

An individual feels responsible for their own actions and therefore the individual behaves accordingly to their own conscience. An individual will go through the agentic shift where they change from an autonomous state to an agentic state.

Question 35

What is conformity?

Answer 35

A change in person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people. Yielding to group pressure - also known as majority influence.

Question 36

What is compliance?

Answer 36

A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view, but privately disagree with it. The change in our behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.

Question 37

What is identification?

Answer 37

A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same was with the group because we value it and we want to be part of it, but we do not necessarily agree with everything the majority believes.

Question 38

What is internalisation?

Answer 38

A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.

Question 39

Define Informational social influence (ISI)

Answer 39

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want to be correct as well. This may lead to internalisation (see above).

Question 40

Define Normative social influence (NSI)

Answer 40

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance (see above).

Question 41

Define Group size

Answer 41

Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates, thus increasing the size of the majority. Conformity increased with group size, but only up to a point, levelling off when the majority was greater than three.

Question 42

Define Task difficulty

Answer 42

Asch’s line-judging task is more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer. Conformity increases because naïve participants assume that the majority is more likely to be right.

Question 43

Define Social roles

Answer 43

The ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. Everyday examples include parent child, student passenger and so on. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role, for example caring, obedient industrious, etc.

Question 44

Define Authoritarian personality

Answer 44

A type of personality that Adorno argues was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors.

Question 45

Define Resistance to social influence

Answer 45

Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.

Question 46

Define Social support

Answer 46

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible.

Question 47

Define Locus of control (LOC)

Answer 47

Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives. Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them (internal locus of control). Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces (external locus of control).