social influence - conformity

Question 1

what is compliance ?

Answer 1

superficial - doesn’t value opinion just goes along with it - temporary change

Question 2

what is identification ?

Answer 2

we conform to the group norms because we value majorities views publicly but not privately.

Question 3

what is internalization ?

Answer 3

individual accepts group norms and internalizes them publicly and privately. permanent change

Question 4

what is normative social influence ?

Answer 4

we conform with the majority because we want social approval and to be liked
similar to compliance
temporary
majority have the power

Question 5

what is informative social influence ?

Answer 5

we agree with majority because we believe they’re correct
internalisation
permanent

Question 6

what are the two explanations of conformity ?

Answer 6

normative and informational influence ?

Question 7

what is conformity ?

Answer 7

a change in someone’s behaviour because of real or imagined pressure from the majority group

Question 8

what was Aschs study ?

Answer 8

1951- 123 male participants were shown cards with varied lines on and then were asked which one on the card looks like the line shown to them the standard x line. some participants were confederates and purposefully gave the wrong answer to see if changed the participants decision. there were 18 trials and in 12 the confeds lied.

Question 9

what were aschs variables ?

Answer 9

unanimity - agreement amongst confeds
group size
task difficulty

Question 10

evaluate aschs research …

Answer 10

1. Lacks ecological validity - lab - lines - not reflective of the real world - cannot be generalised - decreases validity
2. sample bias - 123 men - women are said to be more likely to conform said Neto - cannot generalise - decreases validity
3. demand characteristics - were in a study and may have gone along with what was being said because they thought they had to for the experiment - this means conformity may be lower than thought - decreases validity
4. Perrin and spencer replicated 30 years later and only 1/396 engineer students conformed
5. culturally relative - conform more in collectivist cultures

Question 11

what was the sample for the Stanford prison experiment ?

Answer 11

21

Question 12

what was the procedure of Stanford prison experiment ?

Answer 12

they were assigned either role of prisoner or guard the guards arrested prisoners from their homes and strip searched them at the prison were they were then put in a cell. there was a rebellion from the prisoners and the guards were harsh. one participant requested to leave and the experiment lasted only two days due to it getting out of hand.

Question 13

evaluate Sanford prison experiment .

Answer 13

1. controlled variables - p.p who were stable to decrease individual differences - and increases internal validity so we can be more confident about drawing conclusions about influence of roles on behaviour
2. quantitative date showed that 90% of prisoner’s convos were about prison life suggesting that the situation was real to the p.p. therefore suggesting it was the situation that influenced their behaviour.
3. fromm said that Z exaggerated the power of the situation influecing behaviour and limited the role of dispositional influence. Only a minority of guards were brutal suggesting it wasnt the situation that caused them to cause their behaviour but the individual differences
4. reicher and haslam replicated in the BBC prison experiment and found that the prisoners took control and they identified as members of a social group who refused to accept the limits of the prisoner role. This means it wasnt the situation that made them conform to soical roles.
5. prisoners didnt think it was real

Question 14

what was the aim of the Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 14

to understand the influence of social roles on behaviour

Question 15

when was Standford prison experiment?

Answer 15

1971

Question 16

define aschs variations and findings

Answer 16

group size - is size of group more important that agreement ? - with three confederates giving wrong answers conformity rose to 31.8%

unanimity - will the presence of another non-conforming confederate change behavior of naïve ? - conforming reduced by 1/4 of original study

task difficulty - made lines more similar - conformity increased in these conditions - informational social influence

Question 17

evaluate explanations for conformity

Answer 17

normative social influence = research support from asch - post-experimental interviews asked why they conformed said bc they wanted to be liked
shultz- hotels one group asked to reuse towels other asked to reuse towels and that 75% of people did this - second groups usage for towels was 25% less than them
informative - research support from tod and lucas math questions and conformed when they were harder

Question 18

aim of zimbardo

Answer 18

To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing simulation of prison life.

Question 19

Zimbardo’s findings

Answer 19

instantaneously the guards became enthusiastic about their roles and would beat the prisoners, punish them with exercise and randomly do number counts. This brutal treatment led to 1 participant leaving the experiment. Within two days the Prisoners rebelled by shouting at the guards and removing their clothes, the guards responded with fire distinguishers. After the rebellion was subdued the P.P became depressed. One went on hunger strike and was then forced fed by a guard who then locked him in a closet. This brutality meant the research was finished in 6 days rather than 14.

Question 20

what are social roles

Answer 20

A part individuals play as members of a social group, which meets the expectations of that situation

Question 21

who came up with explanations for conformity and when ?

Answer 21

gerard and deustch 1955

Question 22

factors that effect confomity

Answer 22

group size
unaminity
task difficulty
desire to be liked
presence of an allly

Question 23

what was the research conducted by perrin and spencer and what research does it effect?

Answer 23

1980 - 396 trials - found that tendency to conform has decreased - this effects Asch’s 1950s research as conformity decreases over time his research is not relevant today