social influence advanced information

Question 1

what was milgrams procedure

Answer 1

40 participants recruited through newspaper adverts.
Confederate “Mr Wallace” was the learner while participant was teacher.
The learned had to match word pairs.
Shocks began at 15 volts up to 450 volts.
Milgram had four prods to encourage the teacher to carry on the last one was “you have no other choice you must go on”.

Question 2

what were Milgram’s findings

Answer 2

No participants stopped below 300 volts.
12.5% stopped at 300 volts.
65% continued to 450 volts.

Question 3

what are the strengths of milgrams study to do with good external validity

Answer 3

Good external validity. Lab environment reflect wider authority situations in real life. This suggests that findings can be generalised.

Question 4

what is a limitation of Milgram’s study to do with low internal validity

Answer 4

Low internal validity. Later tapes of Milgram’s study were listened to and participants expressed doubt about the shocks being real. Therefore they did not behave as they would’ve in real life.

Question 5

how did proximity affect obedience in milgrams variations.

Answer 5

Teacher and learner in the same room obedience fell to 40%.

Teacher forces learners hand onto plate obedience falls to 30%.

Experimenter gives orders over telephone obedience falls to 20.5%.

Question 6

how did location affect obedience in milgrams variations.

Answer 6

study done in rundown building obedience fell to 47.5%

Question 7

how did uniform affect obedience in Milgram’s variations.

Answer 7

When experimenter role was played by someone in ordinary clothes obedience was 20%.

Question 8

what are the limitations of Milgram’s variations to do with lack of internal validity

Answer 8

Lack of internal validity. Member of the public being experimenter in uniform variation. Participants may have saw through deception and acted differently.

Question 9

what are the strengths of Milgram’s variations to do with research support by Bickman

Answer 9

Research support. Bickman found pedestrians were more likely to obey someone in security guard uniform than jacket and tie. This supports Milgram’s conclusion of uniform can affect obedience.

Question 10

What is agentic state

Answer 10

Where we act as an agent for an authority figure and feel no personal responsibility for our actions. Freed from our own conscience. Opposite of autonomous state.

Question 11

what is autonomous state

Answer 11

Where we are independent and free. The opposite of agentic state. Going from autonomous to agentic state is called agentic shift.

Question 12

what are binding factors as part of agentic state

Answer 12

Aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour. Reduce moral strain.

Question 13

what is legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience

Answer 13

Idea we are more likely to obey someone we perceive as having authority over us. Justified by position in social hierarchy.

Question 14

what is destructive authority

Answer 14

The fact some people with legitimate authority can use it for destructive purposes like Hitler.

Question 15

What are the limitations of Agentic shift to with obedience alibi for Nazis in Poland

Answer 15

Obedience alibi. Behaviour of Nazis cannot be explained by agentic state. Nazis shot civilians in poland despite not having direct orders.

Limited explanation. Does not explain why some participants did not obey in Milgrams study for example. Therefore agentic shift only accounts for some situations of obedience.

Question 16

how does the My Lai massacre support agentic state and legitimacy of authority

Answer 16

Agentic state. Free from conscience. Able to carry out destructive orders such as destroying the village. Supports the agentic state theory.

Legitimacy of authority. Soldiers following orders from superiors above in military hierarchy. Carry out their orders. Supports legitimacy of authority.

Question 17

What are the strengths of legitimacy of authority to do with accounting for obedience in different cultures

Answer 17

Useful account of obedience in different cultures. Australia is lower compared to Germany. Shows in some cultures authority is more likely to be perceived as legitimate. Therefore allows obedience to be explored in different cultures.

Question 18

what is the authoritarian personality

Answer 18

Personality type susceptible to obeying. Submissive to superiors and dismissive of inferiors. View society as going to the dogs.

Question 19

what was the procedure of adorno when studying the authoritarian personality

Answer 19

Adorno (1950) studied 2000 white middle class americans using the fascism scale (f-scale). A high score on the f-scale meant high capacity for fascism.

Question 20

what were adorno’s findings when studying the authoritarian personality type

Answer 20

Authoritarian personality types identified with “strong” people and disliked “weak” people.

Very conscious of their status showing deference to higher status and contempt to lower status.

Positive correlation between authoritarian personality and prejudice.

Question 21

what are authoritarian characteristics

Answer 21

Tendency to be obedient to authority.

Extreme respect for authority.

Contempt for inferiors.

View society as “going to the dogs”.

Believe in enforcement of traditional values.

Question 22

what is the origin of the authoritarian personality type

Answer 22

Formed in childhood due to harsh parenting due to expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and critique of failings.

Question 23

what is a strength of authoritarian personality to do with research support of high f scores

Answer 23

Research support. There is a link between high f scores and total obedience. This gives credence to the idea authoritarian personalities lead to obedience.

Question 24

what are the limitations of the authoritarian personality to do with political bias

Answer 24

Political bias. Measures tendency towards extreme right wing ideology ignoring extreme left wing like maoism. Can’t account for obedience over full political spectrum.

Correlation not causation.

Question 25

what is social support

Answer 25

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform and help others do the same. Act as models to free others to act on their own conscience.

Question 26

what is locus of control

Answer 26

Refers to why we believe things happen to us.

Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them. Less likely to conform

Externals believe it is mainly luck or other outside forces. More likely to conform.

Question 27

what are the strengths of Social support to do with Asch research support

Answer 27

Research support conformity. Variation of Asch’s experiment with dissenter decreased conformity. Supports idea dissenter enables someone to be free from group pressure.

Question 28

what is a strength of locus of control to do with internals and shock levels

Answer 28

Research support. Milgram like study found internals were less likely to continue to highest shock level. Therefore internals showed greater resistance to authority. This increases validity of LOC explanation.

Question 29

what is a limitation of locus of control about contradictory research on increasing externals

Answer 29

Contradictory research. On a whole people are becoming less obedient but more external. Challenging link between internal LOC and increasing resistant behaviour.

Question 30

what is minority influence

Answer 30

When a minority group persuade others to adopt their beliefs and attitudes.

Leads to internalisation as private and public attitudes are changed.

Question 31

what is consistency

Answer 31

When the minority are diachronic in keeping the same beliefs over time and synchronic by keeping the same belief between all individuals part of the minority as it draws attention.

Question 32

what is commitment

Answer 32

The minority demonstrate dedication to their cause through personal sacrifice. Shows minority isn’t there for personal gain.

Augmentation principle - People consider cause due to personal sacrifice.

Question 33

what is flexibility

Answer 33

Relentless consistency from the minority is off-putting to majority. Minority influence is more effective if minority is willing to compromise.

Question 34

what is the snowball effect

Answer 34

The more people convert to the minority position the faster the conversion happens in society until the minority becomes the majority and change has occurred.

Question 35

what are the strengths of minority influence to do with consistency from Moscivici’s blue-green slide

Answer 35

Research support for consistency. Moscivici’s blue-green slide study found consistent minority persuaded pps slides were green more than inconsistent. Suggests consistency is an important factor.

Question 36

what are the limitations of minority influence to do with artificial tasks

Answer 36

Artificial tasks. Research like slide colour identifying are far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviour in real life. This means that minority influence studies like Moscovici lack external validity.

Question 37

What is a strength of milgrams study to do with supporting replication

Answer 37

Supporting replication. Game of death french tv show showed 80% of participants delivered fatal shocks. Demonstrates findings were not one-offs.

Question 38

What is a limitation of Milgrams study to do with ethical issues

Answer 38

Ethical issues. Milgrams study led to three participants having seizures. Therefore they have not been protected from harm.

Question 39

What is a limitation of Milgram’s variations do with obedience alibi for Nazis

Answer 39

Obedience alibi. Offers alibi for evil behaviour such as of the Nazis in world war two. Therefore it is offensive to Jews by suggesting Nazis couldn’t help it.

Question 40

What is a strength of Milgram’s variations to do with high control

Answer 40

High control. Variations were tested systematically while all other variables were kept the same. This increased the internal validity of the studies.

Question 41

What is a strength of legitimacy of authority to do with students viewing Milgram’s study

Answer 41

Research support. Students viewing Milgram’s study found the experimenter in the wrong due to having legitimate authority. Supports this explanation.

Question 42

What is a limitation of agentic state about being a limited explanation

Answer 42

Limited explanation. Does not explain why some participants did not obey in Milgram’s study for example. Therefore agentic shift only accounts for some situations of obedience.

Question 43

What is a limitation of minority influence to do with limited real world application

Answer 43

Limited real world application. Minorities and Majorities are more than just numbers in real life for example the majority often have more power and status than minorities. Therefore the minority influence explanation may be too far removed from social influence in the real world.

Question 44

What is a limitation of authoritarian personality to do with German Nazi obedience

Answer 44

Limited explanation. Millions of people in Germany were obedient. This makes it unlikely they could all possess and authoritarian personality. This means the authoritarian explanation may be unrealistic.

Question 45

What is a strength of social support to do with Milgram research support

Answer 45

Research support obedience. Milgram type study with groups instead of individuals 88% rebelled. This shows that peer support is linked to greater resistance.