social influence Flashcards
what is conformity?
the yielding to group pressures.
name the three types of conformity, and explain what they mean.
- internalisation = public and private acceptance of a group
- identification = change behaviour to be apart of a group we identify with.
- compliance = publicly changing your view but having a different private view.
what are the two explanations for conformity, and state what they mean.
- informational social influence (ISI) = going along with the group as you believe them to be informationally correct.
- normative social influence (NSI) = going along with the group in order to fit in.
evaluate the conformity explanations (brief).
- research support for ISI = more conformity to incorrect maths answers (predicted by ISI).
- individual differences in NSI = depends on who wants to be liked more.
- ISI and NSI work together = dissenter may reduce power of both.
what is obedience?
pressure of a situation may lead someone to obey.
what are three situational variables linking to obedience? (milgram findings included)
- proximity = obedience decreased to 40% when teacher could hear learner, and 30% in touch proximity condition.
- location = obedience decreased to 47.5% in run down office.
- uniform = obedience decreased to 20% when “member of the public” was an experimenter.
briefly state evaluation points for situational variables (milgram).
- research support = bickman showed power of uniform in field experiment.
- lack of internal validity = some of milgram’s experiments contrived, so not genuine obedience
- cross-cultural findings support milgram, however all studies similar to western culture so not generalisable.
briefly describe milgram’s obedience study (procedure and findings).
- procedure = ppt. gave fake electric shocks to a ‘learner’ in obedience to instructions by an ‘experimenter’.
- findings = 65% gave the highest shock of 450V, 100% gave shocks up to 300V, many showed signs of anxiety.
briefly describe zimbardo’s prison experiment (procedure, findings, conclusion).
- procedure = mock prisons with students randomly assigned as guards and prisoners.
- findings = guards became increasingly brutal, prisoners withdrew and depressed.
- conclusions = ppt. conformed to roles.
evaluate milgram’s obedience study.
- low internal validity = ppt realised shocks were fake (but replication w real shocks got similar results).
- good external validity = generalise to situations such as hospital wards.
evaluate zimbardo’s prison study.
- control = random assignment to roles increased internal validity.
- lack of realism = ppt. ‘acting’ roles to their stereotypes.
- dispositional influences = 1/3 of guards were brutal so conclusions exaggerated.
what is obedience, and what is the autonomous state, agentic state and binding factors? (social-psychological factors).
- obedience = due to the influence of other people
- agentic state = acting as an agent of another
- autonomous state = free to act according to conscience.
- binding factors = allow an individual to ignore the damaging effects of their obedient behaviour.
what is legitimacy of authority and destructive authority?
- legitimacy of authority = created by the hierarchal nature of society.
- destructive authority = problems arising from LoA i.e. Hitler.
evaluate the agentic state (auto. state and binding factors).
- research support= blass and schmitt found people do blame the LoA for the ppt behaviour.
- limited explanation= can’t explain why some of milgram’s ppt disobeyed.
evaluation of the legitimacy of authority.
- cultural differences = explains obedience in different cultures, reflects different social hierarchies.
- real-life applications i.e. crime.
what are dispositional explanations for obedience (procedure, findings, authoritarian characteristics, origin of authoritarian personality)?
- procedure= Adorno used F scale to study unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups.
- findings= people with authoritarian personalities identify with “strong” and have fixed mindsets.
- characteristics= extreme respect for authority and obedience to it.
- origin= harsh parenting creates hostility that cannot be expressed against the parent so is displaced.
evaluation of dispositional explanations.
- research support= some of milgram’s ppt had authoritarian personalities.
- limited explanation= can’t explain the increase in obedience across cultures.
- political bias= equates authoritarian personas with extreme right-wing ideology, ignoring extreme left-wing ideologists.
what is social support, in terms of social influence?
conformity= this is reduced by the presence of dissenters from the group. obedience= decreases in presence of a disobedient peer who acts as a model to follow.
evaluate social support (social influence).
- research support= conformity decreases when one person dissents, even if incorrect. (Allen and Levine).
- obedience drops when a disobedient role model is present. (Gamson)
what is locus of control (social influence)?
- locus of control = LOC is a sense of what directs events in our lives (Rotter).
- continuum = high internal at one end (believes everything happens because of own decisions) and high external at the other end (believes everything happens for a reason).
- resistance to social influence = people with high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey.
evaluate the locus of control.
- research support = internals less likely to fully obey in Milgram-type procedure (Holland).
- contradictory research = people have become more external and more disobedient (hard for LOC to explain).
explain minority influence, and factors needed for it to be successful.
- minority influence = leads to internalisation.
- consistency = if the minority is consistent, it attracts attention over time.
- commitment = augmentation principle - personal sacrifice highlights commitment, therefore attracting attention.
- flexibility = minority more convincing if they accept some counter-arguments.
- process of change = listed factors allow for deeper thinking, leading to the snowball effect (momentum gathered until it becomes the majority.
evaluate minority influence.
- research support for consistency = moscovici’s blue-green slides and Wood’s meta-analysis.
- research support for depth of thought = minority views have a longer effect due to thoughtful thinking process.
- artificial tasks = task is often trivial, so tells us little about real life.
what is social change? (role of minority, lessons from conformity research, lessons from obedience research).
- special role of minority influence = a powerful force for innovation and social change i.e. civil rights movement in the USA.
- lessons from conformity research = NSI can lead to social change, attention drawn to majority actions.
- lessons from obedience research = disobedient role models, gradual commitment is how obedience can lead to change.
