social influence

Question 1

What are the are the different reasons for conformity

Answer 1

Normative social influence and informational social influence- normative social influence is conforming to be liked by peers, informational social influence is conforming to be right

Question 2

what are the three types of conformity

Answer 2

compliance- appearing to agree with an idea to avoid rejection from the group, but in private you don’t agree
internalisation- an internal and external change in behaviour. You agree with a group both publicly and privately.
identification- occurs when someone conforms to a given social role in society

Question 3

what happened in Jeanes’s- bean experiment

Answer 3

Asked participants to guess how many beans they thought were in a jar. they made a guess as part of a group after making a guess alone. they found that the participants would report guesses at approximately at the same value despite previous guesses that were very different.

Question 4

aschs line judgement task procedure and findings

Answer 4

had 50 males each with 5 confederates in a group. they were asked to assess which lines were the same. the confederates gave wrong answers on 12/18 trials. 32 percent of participants conformed on these trials.

Question 5

strengths and weaknesses of aschs line judgement task

Answer 5

lacks ecological validity because it was carried out in a lab setting and mundane realism its not a true measure of conformity in real life social situations.
has real life application as it provides evidence that people will conform even when there is a clear answer- could help explain Nazis in world war 2.
lacks population validity-

links to normative influence theory

Question 6

what are the factors affecting conformity

Answer 6

• group size
• unanimity
• answers in private
• difficulty of task

Question 7

standford prison experiment procedure

Answer 7

-volunteers were assigned different roles by random as a prisoner or a prison guard
- prisoners were arrested from their home were issued a uniform and a number which they were called only
guards were issued khaki, handcuffs, whistles, and dark glasses to make eye contact impossible with the prisoners.
- the guards quickly adapted to their role and acted sadistically to dominate the prisoners.
- the prisoners also adapted to their role and behaved like normal inmates.

Question 8

Milgram’s shock study procedure

Answer 8

participants were decieved and assigned the role of a teacher while a confederate was assigned the role of a learner. They were asked to shock the confederate to aid their learning. the shocks would increase each time the confederate incorrectly answered a question. they were in seperate rooms. the experimenter would use a series of prods if the participant refused.

Question 9

milgrams shock procedure findings

Answer 9

they found that 65 percent of participants were willing to go up to max voltage

all participants went up to 300 volts
lacks ecological validity- done in a lab and situation can’t be generalised
-deception -
- psychological harm
- not repeatable because of modern rules on studies t
- real life application- social psychology in nazis
-sample biased, only males

Question 10

what is the agentic state

Answer 10

The agentic state is a mindset where a participant believes that they are no longer responsible for the consequences of their actions. the authority is. e.g soliders- they are just carrying out orders , see it as their duty

Question 11

what are the situational factors

Answer 11

• the power of uniform- lab coat
• the status of the location- status dropped to 47 percent
• the proximity of authority- telephone call

Question 12

dispositional explanation of authority personality

Answer 12

personality factors such as having a strong focus on social rank and status had a tendancy to obey authority more if they saw them as higher rank.
f- scale
adorno beleived that the cause of this personality was having strict parents which left them with hostility which they couldn’t express so seek out “weaker targets” like ethnic minorities

Question 13

resistance to social influence

Answer 13

Individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed, allowing them to avoid normative social influence. Furthermore, individuals who have support for their point of view are more likely to disobey orders.

Question 14

what is locus of control

Answer 14

people with external loci of control believe that they don’t have control of their actions and believe that outcomes are a result of external forces. they are less likely as a result to take responsibility for their actions and more likely to obey
people with internal loci of control believe that do have control of their actions and so are more resistant to social influence.

Question 15

factors affecting minority influence

Answer 15

consistency- diachronic- majority sticks to their views and synchronic between its members. see Moscoviccis slide study
flexibility
commitment

Question 16

moscoviccis slide study- procedure

Answer 16

4 female participants were put in a group with 2 confederates where they were asked to say the colour of a 36 slides ( they were all blue). the confederates said the slide was green for each slide in the first part of the experiment

in the seccond part of the experiment they answered green 24 times and blue 12 times.

Question 17

moscoviccis slide study- findings

Answer 17

when the confederates were consistent 8 percent said that the slides were green only 1 percent said it was green during .

Question 18

study for compromise on minority groups (flexibility)

Answer 18

mock jury where group and confederate determined how much someone would recieve as compensation for a skii lift incident. the confederate priced it as low as possible. when the confederate didn’t change his price it had no influence on the majority group, however when he changed his price the majority group compromised with him

Question 19

what is social change

Answer 19

when a behaviour becomes the norm
Moscovicci finds consistency as the most important factor in this
snow ball effect