Social Influence- Conformity

Question 1

Conformity definition:

Answer 1

=A change in behaviour or opinion based on the real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.

Question 2

3 types of conformity?

Answer 2

-Internalisation
-Identification
-Compliance

Question 3

Internalisation definition

Answer 3

We accept the group norms and there is a private and public change of opinion/behaviour. Attitudes have become part of the way that the person thinks. They think the same even when the other members of the groups aren’t there.

Question 4

Identification definition

Answer 4

We conform to the opinions and behaviours of a group because there is something we value about the group. We want to be a part of it. So we might publicly change our opinions to stay a part of the group but we might not change them privately.

Question 5

Compliance definition

Answer 5

We go along with others in public but it’s only superficial. There isn’t a change of attitude or opinion privately or publicly. The behaviour or opinion stops when group pressure stops.

Question 6

What counts as ‘findings’?

Answer 6

Results (data) and conclusions

Question 7

Aim of Asch’s unanimity study

Answer 7

He wanted to know if the presence of a non-conforming person would affect conformity.

Question 8

Procedure of Asch’s unanimity study

Answer 8

He introduced a non conforming confederate who disagreed with the other confederates.
In one variation the non conforming confederate gave the correct answer. In another he gave a different wrong answer

Question 9

Results of Asch’s unanimity study

Answer 9

The p’ conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter - to less than a quarter of the baseline level. Even when they disagreed with the non-conforming confederate.

Question 10

Conclusions of Asch’s unanimity study

Answer 10

A dissenter frees the p’ to behave more independently. The influence of the majority depends on unanimity.

Question 11

Aim of Asch’s group size study

Answer 11

He wanted to know if the size of the group would be more important than the agreement of the group.

Question 12

Procedure of Asch’s group size study

Answer 12

He varied the number of confederates in the group from 1 to 15.

Question 13

Results of Asch’s group size study

Answer 13

3 led to the largest rise - 31.8%, after this the presence of more confederates made little difference

Question 14

Conclusions of Asch’s group size study

Answer 14

People are sensitive to the views of others and one or two confederates are enough to sway opinion.

Question 15

Aim of Asch’s task difficulty

Answer 15

He wanted to know if making the task harder would increase the level of conformity

Question 16

Procedure of Asch’s task difficulty

Answer 16

He increased the difficulty of the task by making the comparison lines and stimulus lines more similar

Question 17

Results of Asch’s task difficulty

Answer 17

Conformity increased as the ambiguity of the task increased and the right answer became less obvious.

Question 18

Conclusions of Asch’s task difficulty

Answer 18

When people are unsure of a right answer you look to others for guidance - assuming you are wrong and they are right. Informational Social Influence.

Question 19

What was Zimbardo’s question? (& year)

Answer 19

Why do prison guard behave brutally?- 1973

Question 20

Who participated in Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 20

21 student male volunteers, who had been tested to ensure they were ‘emotionally stable’.

Question 21

Where was Zimbardo’s experiment carried out?

Answer 21

In a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University

Question 22

How was the participants split into guards and prisoners?

Answer 22

Flipped a coin (randomly allocated)

Question 23

What did the prisoners wear in Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 23

Smock, cap, number (names not used). The uniforms caused de-individuation, making them more likely to conform to the role

Question 24

What did the guards wear in Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 24

Wooden club, handcuffs, mirror shades

Question 25

What were the participants encouraged to do? (+ example)

Answer 25

Conform to roles
- Prisoners encouraged to ‘apply for parole’ if they wanted to leave early
- Guards reminded they have power

Question 26

Findings of Zimbardo’s experiment- how did the guards behave, what did they do, and how did it change as time went on? [4 points]

Answer 26

• Enthusiastic and harsh
• Played prisoners off against eachother (divide and rule)
• Harrassed prisoners, frequent punishments
• Became more brutal, aggressive and sadistic as it went on

Question 27

Findings of Zimbardo’s experiment- how did the prisoners behave, what did they do, and what did certain individuals do? [4 points]

Answer 27

• Rebelled and ripped off uniform, shouted & swore
• After rebellion, they became depressed and anxious
• 1 released, and 2 more released on day 4 due to ‘psychological disturbances’
• 1 went on hunger strike

Question 28

When did Zimbardo’s study end?

Answer 28

After 6 days, rather than the intended 14 days

Question 29

Conclusions from Zimbardo’s experiment about conformity related to social roles? (+ explanation type)

Answer 29

-Social roles have a strong influence on conformity and behaviour
-Situational explanation

Question 30

Strength of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 30

-High internal validity

Question 31

Weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study? [3]

Answer 31

-Lacks realism
-Exaggeration of results
-Alternative explanations

Question 32

Why did Zimbardo’s study have high internal validity?

Answer 32

.Controlled variables
- Selected emotionally stable pps by testing them

Question 33

Who claimed that Zimbardo’s study had good realism and high internal validity? (name & year)

Answer 33

McDermott (2019)

Question 34

Why did McDermott claim that Zimbardo’s study had high internal validity?

Answer 34

Participants behaved as if the prison was real
-90% of conversations were about prison life
-1 prisoner said he believed it was a real psychologist-run prison

Question 35

Who said that Zimbardo’s experiment lacked realism? [2 names and date]

Answer 35

Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975)

Question 36

Why did Banuazizi and Movahedi claim that Zimbardo’s experiment lacked realism?

Answer 36

-Claimed participants were acting based on sterotypes
-eg, one pp claimed he based his role off of a character from ‘cool hand Luke’

Question 37

What stat shows that Zimbardo exaggerated the power of social roles?

Answer 37

• 1/3 of guards actually behaved brutally

Question 38

Who proposed an alternative suggestion to Zimbardo’s ‘social role’ explanation? (2 names and date)

Answer 38

Reicher and Haslam (2006)

Question 39

What did Reicher and Haslam say about Zimbardo’s theory, and what alternative theory was suggested?

Answer 39

• Zimbardo’s theory does not account for the behaviour of non-brutal guards
  -Used Social Identity Theory (SIT) to argue that guards had to actively identify with the social role to act as they did.

Question 40

Three stages to the Social Identity Theory?

Answer 40

-Categorisation
-Identification
-Comparison