social influence

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

the yielding to group pressures.

Question 2

name the three types of conformity, and explain what they mean.

Answer 2

• 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.

Question 3

what are the two explanations for conformity, and state what they mean.

Answer 3

• 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.

Question 4

evaluate the conformity explanations (brief).

Answer 4

• 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.

Question 5

what is obedience?

Answer 5

pressure of a situation may lead someone to obey.

Question 6

what are three situational variables linking to obedience? (milgram findings included)

Answer 6

• 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.

Question 7

briefly state evaluation points for situational variables (milgram).

Answer 7

• 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.

Question 8

briefly describe milgram’s obedience study (procedure and findings).

Answer 8

• 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.

Question 9

briefly describe zimbardo’s prison experiment (procedure, findings, conclusion).

Answer 9

• 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.

Question 10

evaluate milgram’s obedience study.

Answer 10

• 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.

Question 11

evaluate zimbardo’s prison study.

Answer 11

• 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.

Question 12

what is obedience, and what is the autonomous state, agentic state and binding factors? (social-psychological factors).

Answer 12

• 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.

Question 13

what is legitimacy of authority and destructive authority?

Answer 13

• legitimacy of authority = created by the hierarchal nature of society.
• destructive authority = problems arising from LoA i.e. Hitler.

Question 14

evaluate the agentic state (auto. state and binding factors).

Answer 14

• 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.

Question 15

evaluation of the legitimacy of authority.

Answer 15

• cultural differences = explains obedience in different cultures, reflects different social hierarchies.
• real-life applications i.e. crime.

Question 16

what are dispositional explanations for obedience (procedure, findings, authoritarian characteristics, origin of authoritarian personality)?

Answer 16

• 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.

Question 17

evaluation of dispositional explanations.

Answer 17

• 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.

Question 18

what is social support, in terms of social influence?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

evaluate social support (social influence).

Answer 19

• research support= conformity decreases when one person dissents, even if incorrect. (Allen and Levine).
• obedience drops when a disobedient role model is present. (Gamson)

Question 20

what is locus of control (social influence)?

Answer 20

• 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.

Question 21

evaluate the locus of control.

Answer 21

• 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).

Question 22

explain minority influence, and factors needed for it to be successful.

Answer 22

• 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.

Question 23

evaluate minority influence.

Answer 23

• 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.

Question 24

what is social change? (role of minority, lessons from conformity research, lessons from obedience research).

Answer 24

• 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.

Question 25

evaluate social change.

Answer 25

• research support = NSI valid explanation of social change e.g. reducing energy consumption.
• only indirectly effective = effects are limited because they are indirect and appear later (Nemeth).
• role of deeper processing = it is majority views that are processed more deeply than majority views, challenging central features of minority influence.