Social Influence - Conformity P1

Question 1

what are the three types of conformity?

Answer 1

compliance, identification, internalisation

Question 2

what is meant the type of conformity compliance?

Answer 2

when a person publicly changes their behaviour to agree with others but privately continue to believe their own views

Question 3

what is meant the type of conformity identification?

Answer 3

when a person demonstrates same behaviour and beliefs (privately too) with a group they are associated with, if move away fro group no longer maintain behaviour

Question 4

what is meant the type of conformity internalisation?

Answer 4

person adopts new behaviours and beliefs that become personal, also in private and even if group moves away

Question 5

what is the first explanation for conformity?

Answer 5

informational social influence : wanting to be right and not wanting to seem foolish in front of others

Question 6

what is an example informational social influence?

Answer 6

which knifes and forks to we use in a smart restaurant - look around to do the same as others or joining a quest outside the classroom door even though the door was open but everyone else was queuing.

Question 7

what is the second explanation for conformity?

Answer 7

normative social influence : wanting to be liked and accepted in a certain group so behave in way normal for that group

Question 8

what is an example of normative social influence?

Answer 8

starting to smoke

Question 9

what is example of research done to support informational social influence?

Answer 9

students asked to answer difficult maths questions - more conformity in difficult questions - agree with others when situation is more difficult

Question 10

what is example of research done to support normative social influence?

Answer 10

hotel guests who were told other guests refused the same towel were more likely to reuse theres.

Question 11

what is an affiliator?

Answer 11

someone who is not affected by normative and informational social influence because they care less and don’t feel the need to feel accepted

Question 12

who did research into conformity?

Answer 12

Asch

Question 13

describe the procedures of Aschs research?

Answer 13

123 male American pps tested in groups with 8 confederates. confronted with a line and 3 others to which they had to say which line matched length of one of 3, confederates gave wrong answers on 12/18 trials

Question 14

what were the findings of Aschs research?

Answer 14

on 12 trails the conformity rate was 32%
74% conformed at least once
5% conformed to ALL critical trials 
26% NEVER conformed 
pps showed compliance - didn't want to attract disapproval from the rest of the group.

Question 15

what were the conclusions of Aschs study?

Answer 15

people feel strong pressures to be the same as others and will conform even if they know they’re incorrect and there in variation in how people respond to group pressure some conform/some don’t.

Question 16

what 3 conditions did Asch change in his study to see if conformity rates increased or decreased?

Answer 16

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

Question 17

how did Asch change group size in his study?

Answer 17

3 confederates instead of 8 - conformity was still 32% so Asch concluded large majority isn’t necessary for conformity but 2 confederates led to only 13% conformity

Question 18

how did Asch change unanimity in his study?

Answer 18

got one confederate to give the right answer - conformity rates dropped to 5% -

Question 19

how did Asch change task difficulty?

Answer 19

made the lines more similar so it was a more difficult task - higher rates of conformity - look to others and assume they are right

Question 20

what is the first criticism of Aschs research?

Answer 20

study was in articial and unnatural conditions - results may be invalid - cannot generalise results outside of research setting

Question 21

what is the second criticism of Aschs research?

Answer 21

only used American pps which has a very individualistic culture - results cannot be taken as indiction of conformity behaviour in all countries

Question 22

what is the third criticism of Aschs research?

Answer 22

unethical - pps believed confederates were real - experienced embarrassment and stress when they give wrong answers

Question 23

what do we mean by conformity to social roles?

Answer 23

we may conform to a certain role we have in society. for example a prison guard to be strict and a nurse to be kind

Question 24

who investigated conformity to social roles?

Answer 24

Zimbardo

Question 25

what were the procedures of Zimbardos experiment?

Answer 25

mock prison at Stanford university - volunteers assessed emotionally and physically and randomly allocate guard or prisoner.

Question 26

how was the guards and prisoners treated differently in Zimbardos experiment?

Answer 26

prisoners: arrested unexpectedly and referred to by number
guards: own uniform, handcuffs, a club, mired glasses and told they had power over prisoners

Question 27

what were the results of Zimbardos experiment?

Answer 27

guards: became controlling and abusive to prisoners and made them do humiliating tasks like clean toilets
prisoners: rebelled, shouted and swore at guards. 5 prisoners had to leave early because of extreme responses e.g. depression and anxiety

Question 28

what are the conclusions of Zimbardos study?

Answer 28

people readily conform to social role the occupy

Question 29

what is the first strength of Zimbardos research?

Answer 29

research was well controlled - cause and effect - behaviour changed purely because of social roles - confident to conclusion people readily conform to social roles

Question 30

what is the second strength of Zimbardos research?

Answer 30

90% of conversations was about prison life - therefore believed it was a genuine prison - more confident that people readily conform to social roles

Question 31

what is the first criticism of Zimbardos research?

Answer 31

demand characteristics - only play acting rather than conforming - cannot be confident people readily conform to social roles

Question 32

what is the second criticism of Zimbardos research?

Answer 32

over exaggerates power of social role, some prison guards applied rules fairly - suggest people choose how to behave when they adopt social role

Question 33

what is the third criticism of Zimbardos research?

Answer 33

ethical issues - psychological harm - distress

Question 34

what is a third strength of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 34

another study had the staff of a psychiatric ward take on the role of being patients for a week. Tried to escape became disturbed and cried uncontrollably. findings agree with Zimbardo’s results in that people readily conform to social roles.