social influence AO1 Flashcards
paper 1 psychology
what is conformity?
tendency to change what we do or think by pressures from other
what was Asch study procedure?
- tested 123 american male undergraduates individually in groups of 6 to 8 confederates and showed two white cards
- participants asked to compare the second card with three options to the first card
- state which line (A B C) was same length as the one on the first card
- the correct line was always clear
- initially confederates gave the right answer but then said wrong answers (all confederates said wrong answers)
what were the findings of Asch?
- naive participant gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time
- 25% of participants did not conform at any trials
- so 75% conformed atleast once
- participants interviewed after and most said they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI)
what is Asch effect?
extent to which participants conform even when the situation is unambigous
what three variables were tested by Asch?
group size, unanimity, task difficulty
how did Asch investigate group size?
- varied confederates from 1 to 15
- found that with 3 confederates conformity to wrong answer rose to 31.8%
- adding more confederates made little difference
how did Asch investigate unanimity?
- one confederate would disagree with the others
- conformity reduced by a quarter to when majority was unanimous
- presence of dissenter enables naive participant to behave more independently
how di Asch investigate task difficulty?
- made line task more difficult and making comparison lines similar
- conformity increased under these conditions
- ISI plays greater role when task becomes harder
- situation more ambigous so participants look at others for guidance assuming theyre right
what is compliance conformity?
conforming publicly but continuing to privately disagree (not changing personal opinion)
what is identification conformity?
acting the same as the group because we share their values and want to be accepted
what is internalisation conformity?
when a person genuinely accepts the groups norm. change in opinion publicly and privately
what is normative social influence?
when we wish to be liked and accepted by the majority group so we go along with them this is to gain social support and not be rejected
what is informative social influence?
when we look at the majority group for information as we are unsure about the way we should behave its to gain more info as we believe majority is right
what was Zimbardos study procedure?
- mock prison in basement of standford uni
- students volunteered to participate
- selected those emotionally stable
- 21 male students randomly assigned guard or student
- prisoners arrested at home by police and sent to mock prison
- blindfolded strip searched etc
- guards given uniform and handcuffs etc and told have complete power over prisoners
what were the findings of Zimbardos study?
- in two days prisoners rebelled against harsh treatment of guards
- guards constantly harassed prisoners highlighting difference in social roles
- prisoners became depressed and anxious
- prisoner punished for going on hunger strike and guards identified with role even more
- study ended after 6 days instead of 14
what was Milgram study procedure?
- recruited 40 american male participants aged between 20 - 50 and different job skills
- offered $4.50
- when arriving at the lab ppt were paid and put in rigged draw confederates always got learner and ppt always got teacher
- also an experimentor present in white lab coat
- learner strapped to chair in another room and wire with electrodes
- teacher required to give increasingly severe electric shock each time the learner made a mistake
- shock started at 15 and went up by 30 levels to 450
- when 300 volts given learner pounded on the wall and gave no response to next question
- after 315 volts learner pounded on wall again
- teacher told no response should be treated as wrong but if teacher was unsure experiementor would give one of four prods eg please go on
what were the findings of Milgrams study?
- no participant stopped below 300 volts
- 65% continued till 450 volts
- ppt showed extreme distress
- during debreif ppt were told their behaviour is normal
- 84% were happy to participate in study in follow up questionnaire
what are three situational variables that affect obedience?
proximity location and uniform
how did Milgram test proximity?
- learner and teacher adjoining rooms so could hear learner but not see
- obedience dropped from 60% to 40%
- in another variation teacher forced to put learners hand on electroshock plate when no answer
- obedience reduced to 30%
- in third version when experiementor left the room obedience dropped to 20.5%
- some pretended to give shocks or give lighter shocks
how did Milgram test location?
- milgram changed the location of study run down building rather than fancy uni
- experiementor had less authority so obedience fell to 47.5% (still high)
