Social influence Flashcards
What was Asch’s study?
To what extent will people conform to the opinion of others
123 American males were tested, 3 lines to compare with target line X, 2 of which were obviously wrong and participants had to say out loud which line was the same length as X.
36.8% of the time, participants agreed with confederates incorrect answers + 25% never gave a wrong answer (never conformed)
3 variables:
- Group size: varied the number of confederates, conforming increased with group size but only to a certain point - 3 confederates conformity to wrong answer was 31.8% but after that rate levelled off
- Unanimity: introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates. Conformity decreased when the majority was unanimous + conformed less when they weren’t the only one disagreeing
- Task difficulty: Made the lines more similar to the target line therefore it was more difficult to find a difference so conformity increased because the participants looked for guidance from the other members of the group
What are the evaluations of Asch’s study?
Strengths:
Research support from other studies of the effects of task difficulty which shows that Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty affects conformity
Limitations:
Artificial situation and task- participants knew they were in a research study so may have just gone along with what was expected -> demand characteristics. As a result findings cannot be generalised to real world situations
Limited application- Asch used only American men, there are studies that suggest women could be more conformist and in a collectivist (not individualist) society conformity rates will be higher
Ethical issues- participants were deceived because they thought the confederates were genuine participants
What are the 3 types of conformity? + what do they mean
Internalisation- Person accepts the group norms, so there is a change in private as well as public view even in the absence of group members
Identification- Act the same way as a group because we want to be apart of it, so we change our public view in front of the group but don’t privately agree with it
Compliance- Go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it
What are the 2 explanations for conformity?
Informational social influence- We go along with the majority because we believe it is correct and want to be right
Normative social influence- We agree with the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked
What was Zimbardo’s study?
Stanford prison experiment
Was guard’s brutality due to their personality or because they were in a prison environment
21 male student volunteers who were ‘emotionally stable’
Randomly assigned to play role as guard or prisoner
Prisoners and guards both wore uniform
Guards were reminded that they had complete control over prisoners
Guards treated the prisoners harshly even when they hadn’t rebelled and became increasingly sadistic
Prisoners were made to do physical activity and were often headcounted
One prisoner left after 36 hours due to emotional distress and 3 more left before the study was officially over
Study stopped after 6 days as it was causing harm to the participants -> guards were become very aggressive
Zimbardo’s study showed that the situation that the guards were in caused their behaviour as they had no violent/criminal history
Also shows the power of conformity to social roles -> identification -> guards’ behaviour was similar to what they saw in films
What are the evaluations of Zimbardo’s study?
Strengths:
Control over variables- good selection of participants as they were all emotionally stable and they were al randomly assigned to their roles therefore individual personality differences were not the cause of the findings. As a result the experiment has high internal validity so it gives some explanations to how roles influence conformity
Limitations:
Lack of realism- participants were play-acting and not conforming to their roles this is because their performances were based on stereotypes of how they thought prisoners and guards were supposed to behave. This means that the study does not tell us much about conformity to social roles in prisons
Exaggerates the power of roles- not all the guards behaved in the same way and most were able to resist situational pressures to conform to their role. This suggests that Zimbardo over-exaggerated about how participants were conforming to their roles and there was little influence from dispositional factors like personality.
What are the situational variables of obedience?
Proximity
Uniform
Location
Explain the effect of proximity on obedience
Proximity variation of Milgrims study- when teacher and learner were in the same room obedience rate dropped to 40%, when they were touching obedience dropped to 30% and when the student was instructed remotely obedience dropped to 20.5%
This is because decreased proximity causes people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions, when they were physically separated, the teacher was more unaware of the harm that they were causing.
Explain the effect of location on obedience
When Milgrim conducted the study in a run down office block compared to Yale university, conformity dropped to 47.5%
This is because in the university environment it gave the study more legitimacy and authority so they were more obedient.
Explain the effect of uniform on obedience
When the experimenter wore ordinary clothes obedience dropped to 20% (in original study experimenter wore a grey lab coat)
This is because uniforms indicate a symbol of authority and someone in a uniform is entitled to expect obedience because their authority is legitimate. Someone without uniform has less of a right to expect obedience.
What are the evaluations of the situational variables of obedience?
Strengths:
Research support from another study showing how different outfits affected obedience and people were twice as likely to obey to someone dressed as a security guard compared to someone in a suit and tie. This shows that obedience is affected by uniform.
Cross-cultural replications which suggests that Pilgrims findings are not only limited to American males but valid in other countries and other genders BUT this may not be the case in collectivist societies like North Korea.
Limitations:
Low internal validity- participants may have been aware that the procedure was fake so it is difficult to say that participants didn’t respond to demand characteristics and didn’t play act during the study.
Milgrims study ignores the role of dispositional factors like personality on obedience
What was Milgrim’s study?
Assessed obedience levels
40 American men volunteered from Yale University who each met another participant, who was a confederate of Milgrim. There was a random draw to assign the two participants to either the teacher or learner position but it was fixed so that the real participant was always the teacher. There was also an experimenter dressed in a grey lab coat.
Teacher could not see the learner but could hear him, the teacher had to give an electric shock every time the learner made a mistake on a memory task and the voltage for each shock increased by 15 volts each time a mistake was made -> went up to 450 volts
Every participant delivered all shocks up to 300 volts
12.5% stopped at 300 volt, 65% continued to 450 volts (fully obedient)
Qualitative data-> teachers were sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, digging their finger nails into their hands
People were willing to obey orders even when they may hurt another person
What are the evaluations of Milgrim’s study?
Strengths:
Research support- Milgrims findings were replicated in a French documentary, supporting his original findings about obedience and authority (not due to special circumstances)
Limitations:
Low internal validity- People may have not really believed that they shocked someone which is why they continued to the most extreme therefore they may have been responding to demand characteristics to complete the aims of the study
Ethical issues- Participants were deceived as they thought the allocation of roles was random and that the shocks were real but it was all faked -> dealt with this by debriefing them
What were the prods used in Milgrim’s study?
- Please continue
- The experiment requires that you continue
3, It is absolutely essential that you continue - You have no other choice, you must go on
What is the agent state?
Mental state where we fells no responsibility for our actions because we believe that we are acting for an authority figure, which frees us from having a guilty conscience
