Social Influence Booklet 1

Question 1

what is conformity

Answer 1

a type of social influence involving a change in behaviour or attitudes in response to the influence of others or social pressure. This pressure can be real (involving the physical pressure of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms/ expectations)

Question 2

what are the types of conformity

Answer 2

-compliance
-identification
-internalisation

Question 3

explain internalisation

Answer 3

-occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms
-results in private and public change of opinions/behaviour
-change is likely permanent as attitudes have been internalised
-persists in the absence of group members

Question 4

explain identification

Answer 4

-conforming to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about the group that we value
-identify with the group so want to be a part of it
-may publicly change opinions/behaviour to achieve this goal even if don’t privately agree

Question 5

explain compliance

Answer 5

-involves simply going along with others in public
-privately not changing personal opinions and behaviour
-results in a superficial change
-means that a particular behaviour or opinion stops as soon as group pressure stops

Question 6

explain normative social influence

Answer 6

-the desire to be liked
-when a person agrees with the majority because they want to be accepted by the group and liked by others. this may lead to compliance.

Question 7

explain informational social influence

Answer 7

-the desire to be right
-when a person agrees with the majority because they believe it is correct and they want to be correct as well. this may lead to internalisation.

Question 8

explain the research that supports ISI

Answer 8

-experiment where students are given easy or difficult maths problems
-more likely to conform when answers were difficult or if their ability was poor
-people more likely to conform when they don’t know what is correct

Question 9

explain the research against NSI

Answer 9

-people who care more about being liked are known as nAffiliators, and are more likely to conform
-desire to be liked affects conformity for some and not others so there are individual differences in how people respond

Question 10

explain how Asch’s research explains NSI and ISI

Answer 10

-when participants were interviewed they conformed because of fear of being ridiculed or because they believed the groups answers were actually correct

Question 11

aim of asch’s research

Answer 11

investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group can affect a person to conform

Question 12

procedure for asch’s research

Answer 12

-line judgement task
-naive participant in a room with 7 male confederates
-confederates agreed in advance their responses
-real participant led to believe the other 7 were real
-each person had to state which comparison line was most similar to the target line
-obvious answer
-real participant end of row so gave answer last
-in some, confederates gave wrong answer (12/18)

Question 13

results for asch’s research

Answer 13

-1/3 (32%) of participants in each trial conformed to the incorrect majority
- 75% conformed on at least one trial

Question 14

conclusion of asch’s research

Answer 14

-interviewed and said they had fear of being ridiculed or thought peculiar, or really believed the groups answers were correct

Question 15

impacts of Asch using a lab experiment

Answer 15

-controlled, repeatable conditions
-artificial conditions, lack mundane realism
-establish cause and effect as behaviour is a direct result of the conditions
-controls external factors

Question 16

impacts of asch using a naive participant

Answer 16

-better results
-ethically wrong

Question 17

impact of asch using male confederates

Answer 17

-lacks population validity
-doesnt show how conformity affects all people
-can’t generalise results

Question 18

impact of asch using strangers

Answer 18

-group pressure is stronger
-doesnt apply to real life

Question 19

limitations of asch using a lab experiment

Answer 19

-artificial environment so lacks ecological validity, doesnt apply top real life conditions and everyday situations
-artificial stimulus makes results not valid in real life situations

Question 20

when do ethical issues arise in psychology

Answer 20

-a conflict exists between the rights of the participant and the researchers need to acquire meaningful research
-can have implications on the safety and well-being of participants

Question 21

how does the time of aschs study affect its validity

Answer 21

-lacks temporal validity as conformity was high at the time
-society has changed and the results are inconsistent with time periods

Question 22

what are the types of ethical issues

Answer 22

-deception
-informed consent
-protection from harm
-privacy and confidentiality

Question 23

define deception

Answer 23

when participants are purposefully lied to

Question 24

define informed consent

Answer 24

when participants are fully informed and fully aware of all aspects of the research

Question 25

define protection from harm

Answer 25

making sure all participants are protected from physical and psychological harm

Question 26

define privacy and confidentiality

Answer 26

making sure all participants personal information is not revealed. making sure personal space is not invaded

Question 27

how did asch test group size

Answer 27

-with three confederates to see if conformity rose
-added further confederates

Question 28

what did ash find with group size

Answer 28

-a small majority is not sufficient for influence to be exerted
-there is also no need for a majority of more than three
-optimal group size is three

Question 29

how did asch test unanimity of the majority

Answer 29

-introduced a confederate who disagreed with the others and sometimes gave the correct answer and sometimes the wrong one

Question 30

what did asch find with unanimity of the majority

Answer 30

-conformity reduced by a quarter from its original level when majority was unanimous
-influence on the majority depends to some extent on the group being unanimous

Question 31

how did asch test task difficulty

Answer 31

-made it more difficult by making stimulus live and comparison line more similar in length

Question 32

what did asch find for task difficulty

Answer 32

-conformity increased
-isi plays a great role when the task is harder as the situation is more ambiguous

Question 33

limitations of research into how variables affect conformity (asch)

Answer 33

-biased sample
-did not adhere to ethical guidelines

Question 34

aim of zimbardos research

Answer 34

to investigate whether people will conform to new social roles

Question 35

procedure for zimbardos research

Answer 35

-volunteered to take part in study
-psychological testing
-allocated to groups of prisoners and prison guards
-prisoners spent two weeks locked in cells in a wing of the university
-prisoners arrested and taken to university basement
-stripped, deloused, given prison uniform
-referred to by number
-23 hours in cells for 2 weeks
-prison guards given uniforms, sticks, mirrored sunglasses and worked shifts

Question 36

findings of zimbardos research

Answer 36

-experiment called off after 6 days
-guards became brutal so 2 prisoners had breakdowns
-prisoners became apathetic

Question 37

conclusion of zimbardos research

Answer 37

-conformed to behaviour they believed was expected of new social roles
-deindividuation

Question 38

explain deindividuation

Answer 38

-a state when you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility

Question 39

strengths of zimbardos research

Answer 39

-highly controlled environment allowed observation of cause and effect and increased internal validity
-no ethical guidelines at the time and were added because of this
-unaware harm would occur and stopped experiment when it did
-couldnt remind them of right to withdraw due to realism
-cause and effect shown by guards

Question 40

limitations of zimbardos research

Answer 40

-unethical
-no informed consent
-no protection from harm
-no rights to withdraw as accused of faking breakdowns, money offered
-lacks population validity
-environment unable to replicate a prison so lacked ecological validity, only lasted 2 weeks