Social Influence: Conformity (L1-L4)

Question 1

What does social psychology focus on?

Answer 1

• it looks at how people interact and influence each other
• explores the relationships between people and how people affect each others behaviour

Question 2

What is social influence?

Answer 2

• the process by which individuals adapt their opinion, revise their believes or change their behaviour as a result of social interactions with other people

Question 3

What is conformity?

Answer 3

• form of social influence
• where a person changes their behaviours, attitudes or beliefs so that they are in line with the majority
• occurs because of pressure from the majority
• this pressure may be real or imagined

Question 4

What are the 3 types of conformity?

Answer 4

• compliance
• identification
• internalisation

Question 5

What is compliance?

Answer 5

• adjustment of behaviours/beliefs in public so they are in line with the majority
• going along with the majority even if you don’t share/agree with these views
• conformity only lasts while the group is present
• no change to private behaviour
• superficial and temporary form of compliance

Question 6

What is identification?

Answer 6

• individual accepts social influence because they want to be associated with a role model or social group
• behaviour is changed to fit a specific role in society or imitate that of a role model
• may make them feel connected to the group/person

Question 7

What is internalisation?

Answer 7

• when individual adjust their behaviour, attitudes and beliefs publicly and privately so they are in line with the majority
• majority’s view has been accepted as one’s own
• adjustment is both public and private
• most permanent form of conformity

Question 8

What is normative social influence?

Answer 8

• where a person conforms in order to be accepted and belong to a group
• there is an avoidance of any behaviour which could lead to possible exclusion or rejection due to the need for social approval and acceptance
• often leads to compliance and copying the behaviours of others in order to fit in

Question 9

What is informational social influence?

Answer 9

• where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right
• occurs when an individual is in an unfamiliar situation or lacks knowledge so looks towards others for info on how to behave as they way to be right in the way they act
• leads to internalisation

Question 10

Who developed the 2 process theories for conformity (ISI & NSI)?

Answer 10

• Deutsch and Gerrard (1955)

Question 11

What did Sherif want to test?

Answer 11

• whether people are influenced by others when doing an ambiguous task

Question 12

What was Sherifs’ method?

Answer 12

• lab experiment with a repeated measure’s design (same participants participate in each independent variable condition)
• used a visual illusion called the auto kinetic effect, where a stationary spotlight, viewed in a dark room, appears to move
• participants were falsely told that that the experimenter would move the light
• they had to estimate how far it moved
• in the first phase individual participants made repeated estimates
• then put into groups of 3 and had to make their estimates again with the others present
• then retested again individually

Question 13

What were the results of Sherifs’ study?

Answer 13

• when alone participants developed their own estimates which varied between participants
• once in a group, estimates tended to converge and become more alike
• when then retested alone, estimates were more like the group estimates than their original ones

Question 14

What was the conclusion of Sherifs’ study?

Answer 14

• participants were influenced by the estimates of others
• group norm developed
• estimates converged as participants used information from others to help them
• they were affected by informational social influence

Question 15

Evaluation of Sherifs’ study +ve

Answer 15

• laboratory experiment so there was strict control of the variables meaning results are unlikely to have been affected by a third variable, makes it possible to establish cause and effect
• also means experiment can be replicated
• repeated measures aspect meant that participant variables that could have affected the results were kept constant

Question 16

Evaluation of Sherifs’ study -ve

Answer 16

• participants were asked to judge the movement of light which wasn’t even moving which rarely occurs in real life
• lacks ecological validity, created an artificial situation so can be criticised
• lacks population validity, gender bias, the sample used was quite limited, all participants were male so results cannot be generalised for everyone
• ethical problem was deception as they were told the light was moving when it wasn’t

Question 17

Year of Sherifs’ experiment?

Answer 17

• 1935

Question 18

What was Aschs’ method?

Answer 18

• carried out a laboratory experiment with an independent groups design (sample divided into groups and are exposed to different experimental conditions)
• made up of groups of 8 with 1 participant and the rest confederates acting like real participants
• the group where told to say which of 3 ‘test lines’ was the same as the ‘standard line’
• real participant always went last or second to last
• each participant did 18 trials
• on 12 of these confederates all gave the same wrong answers
• was also a control group where participants judged the line lengths in isolation

Question 19

What were the results of Aschs’ study?

Answer 19

• in control trials participants gave the wrong answer 0.7% of the time
• in critical trials 33% of the answers given were wrong as participants conformed
• 75% conformed at least once
• 5% conformed on every trial
• 25% did not conform on any trial
• after participants claimed they knew the correct answer but didn’t wanted to look different and wanted to avoid disapproval

Question 20

What was the conclusion of Aschs’ study?

Answer 20

• control condition showed that the task was easy to get correct, there was a 1% chance of making a genuine mistake on this task
• however, since 33% were wrong on critical trials this shows they conformed due to normative social influence
• they were worried they’d be ridiculed for answering differently so conformed to the majority

Question 21

Evaluation of Aschs’ study +ve

Answer 21

• laboratory experiment so good control of variables, minimises the effect of extraneous variables
• strict variables also means study can be easily repeated

Question 22

Evaluation of Aschs’ study -ve

Answer 22

• lacks temporal validity, was around 80 years ago, people may have been more conformist, post war attitudes encouraged people to work together and avoid dissent
• lacks ecological validity and mundane realism, the task was artificial, it also didn’t matter if they were right or wrong, may have been less likely to conform if their answer had real life consequences
• gender + culturally biased, sample only contained white American men, not completely representative, however study was replicated with different samples and has been proven to be reliable as similar results were found
• lacks population validity, used a volunteer sample so results cannot be generalised to the wider population
• ei, deception, they believed they were taking part in a test of perception
• ei, lack of informed consent, participants did not agree to take part in a conformity study
• ei, psychological harm, they were put in stressful and embarrassing situations

Question 23

Year of Aschs’ experiment?

Answer 23

• 1951

Question 24

What did Asch want to test?

Answer 24

• whether people would conform to a majority’s incorrect answer in an unambiguous task

Question 25

What was Jenness’ (1932) study?

Answer 25

• asked participants to estimate how many beans they thought were in a jar
• individual estimate was made first then again in a group
• when in a group estimates were converging
• example of ISI as participants would have been uncertain so genuinely influenced

Question 26

What is the suggested third explanation for conformity?

Answer 26

• ingratiational conformity
• similar to NSI but group influence does not encourage the decision to conform
• instead encouraged by the need to impress or gain favour rather than the fear of rejection

Question 27

What are dispositional factors?

Answer 27

• individual characteristics which influence behaviour and acts in a person
• things like individual personality traits, temperament and genetics

Question 28

What are situational factors?

Answer 28

• an external influence which does not occur from within the individual but elsewhere
• like your environment, work, school and the people around you

Question 29

What is a persons locus of control?

Answer 29

• the extent to which they believe they have control over their own behaviour
• people with internal locus of control believe that what occurs in their life is the result of their own behaviour and actions
• people with external locus of control believe that what happens in their lives is outside of their control
• those with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform

Question 30

Which 3 situational factors did Asch investigate?

Answer 30

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 31

How did changes to group size affect conformity (Asch)?

Answer 31

• groups with one confederate had a conformity rate of 3%
• with 2 had a rate of 13% showing resisting the influence of 2 people is fairly easy
• very small majorities are easy to resist
• with 3 conformity rose significantly to 32%
• there was little change to conformity once groups reached four or more confederates
• so influence doesn’t keep increasing with size of majority, conformity rate is quite similar for 3 confederates and more

Question 32

How did changes to unanimity/social support affect conformity (Asch)?

Answer 32

• version was done with a supporter in the group, confederate would agree with the participant
• having someone who disagreed with the majority broke the unanimity of the group
• made it easier for the participants to resist the pressure to conform
• conformity rate fell to 5.5%
• even when the supporter gave a wrong answer different to the other confederates the rate fell to 9%

Question 33

How did changes to task difficulty affect conformity (Asch)?

Answer 33

• task was made more difficult by making the lines more similar
• conformity levels increased
• people are more likely to conform if they are less confident that they are correct
• ISI may have started to have an impact
• as task difficulty increases so does ISI and conformity

Question 34

What is ecological validity?

Answer 34

• a measure of how test performance predicts behaviours in real world settings

Question 35

What is mundane realism?

Answer 35

• the degree to which procedures in an experiment are similar to events that occur in the real world

Question 36

What is temporal validity?

Answer 36

• refers to the validity of the findings in relation to the progression of time

Question 37

Key studies for conformity:

Answer 37

• Sherif (1935), autokinetic effect, ISI
• Asch (1951), unambiguous task with lines test, NSI
• Jenness (1932), jelly beans in a jar, ISI

Question 38

What are social roles?

Answer 38

• the behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a social position or status
• sets of behaviours and expectations that come with holding certain positions in society

Question 39

What was the method of Zimbardos’ study?

Answer 39

• a simulated prison was created in the basement of the Stanford Uni Psychology department
• 24 psychologically and emotionally stable young men were recruited and randomly assigned to the role of prisoner or guard
• guards had complete control over the prisoners who were confined to their cells and assigned numbers
• guards were told to maintain order using any means necessary, except physical violence

Question 40

What did Zimbardo want to test?

Answer 40

• wanted to investigate whether conformity to social roles would alter a persons behaviour
• see if people would conform to their assigned role of prisoner or guard

Question 41

What were the results of Zimbardos’ study?

Answer 41

• at first guards tried to assert their authority and prisoners resisted by sticking together
• on the second day, prisoners tried to rebel by ripping off their numbers and barricaded themselves into their cells
• guards sprayed them with CO2, stripped them naked, took away their beds and forced ringleaders into solitary confinement in a pitch black cupboard
• guards became increasingly nasty and cruel
• study had to be ended after only 6 days (was meant to be 2 weeks) because of concerns of the psychological health of prisoners

Question 42

What was the conclusion of Zimbardos’ study?

Answer 42

• guards and prisoners adopted their social roles quickly
• shows that our social role can influence our behaviour as supposed well balanced men became aggressive and unpleasant in the role of a guard
• some guards did not conform and were reluctant to get involved in cruelty suggesting that individual differences are important in determining the extent to which participants will conform to social roles

Question 43

Evaluation of Zimbardos study -ve

Answer 43

• highly unethical, prisoners subjected to psychological harm as they found the situation very distressing, 5 prisoners had to be released early due to their reactions such as crying, rage and acute anxiety
• lack of right to withdraw, prisoners were encouraged to stay
• sample was unrepresentative, lacks population validity, culture and gender bias, all participants were white (with one exception), young, middle class, male students from Stanford uni so results can’t be generalised
• possible invalidity as some guards may have behaved in certain ways due to demand characteristics, some reported after that they thought experimenters wanted them to be aggressive
• observer bias, Zimbardo took on the role of prison warden, became very involved and lost his objectivity

Question 44

What is observer bias?

Answer 44

• bias that occurs when the person has personal judgement which affects their ability to reach an unbiased conclusion

Question 45

What is population validity?

Answer 45

• whether you can generalise the findings from your sample to a larger group of people

Question 46

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 46

• when participants change their characteristics because they think they know what the psychologists want from them