Social Influence Exam Questions

Question 1

Outline what is meant by ‘agentic state’ as an explanation for obedience.
(Total 2 marks)

Answer 1

When a person acts on behalf of an authority figure, the agent does not feel any personal responsibility.
- Whereas the opposite of an autonomous state in which people act according to their own principles.

Question 2

(a) Milgram’s experiments into obedience can be criticised as being unethical.
Describe two ethical issues that can be illustrated by Milgram’s research.
(4)

Answer 2

The deception was used in order to carry out the experiment. Participants were unaware of the confederates in the experiment and that they would always be assigned as a teacher and the confederate would be assigned as a learner. In addition, participants were also deceived about the administering of the shocks to the leaner and that these shocks were fake.
2) Another ethical violation was the harm done to the participants involved. Many participants showed signs of stress such as sweating, trembling and nervous laughing. Furthermore, three participants also ended up having seizures due to the stress.

Question 3

(b) Choose one of the ethical issues identified in your answer to (a) and explain
a way of dealing with it.
(2)

Answer 3

deception could be dealt with by debriefing the participant. It would have to be explained why it was necessary to deceive them and answer any questions that they might have wanted to ask, as well as reassuring them.

Question 4

In a hospital, you are very likely to obey a nurse. However, if you meet her outside the
hospital, for example in a shop, you are much less likely to obey. Using your knowledge of
how people resist pressure to obey, explain why you are less likely to obey the nurse
outside the hospital.
(Total 4 marks)

Answer 4

they might not accept that the nurse giving the orders has legitimate authority. It also makes me question the motivates of the person giving the orders.

Question 5

What do these results suggest about the power of the confederates in variations of
Milgram’s study?
(Total 4 marks)

Answer 5

The data suggest that the confederates have a considerable influence on whether or not
the participant obeys since the percentage of participant’s obedience went from 92.5 to 65% without 2 obedient confederates.
The confederates have more power in comparison to the experimenter when measuring obedience.

Question 6

Some research into obedience has been carried out in laboratories. Other studies into
obedience have been carried out in the real world, including field experiments and
observations.
(a) Outline one advantage of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory
setting.
(b) Outline one limitation of conducting obedience research outside a laboratory
setting.
(Total 4 marks)

Answer 6

a- it may be high in ecological
the validity, which means that the results can be generalised beyond the research setting.

b- there is a lack of control,
other factors may have influenced the outcome.

Question 7

In an experiment into conformity, an experimenter varied both the number of confederates (stooges) and the ambiguity of the task.
What does the bar chart show about conformity?
(Total 4 marks)

Answer 7

There are 2 factors that influence conformity, the ambiguity of the task and the size of the majority. A large majority is most influential with an ambiguous task, but still exerts pressure even when the task is easy ?

Question 8

Some psychologists criticise Milgram’s research into obedience to authority, in terms of both methodological issues and ethical issues. Explain 2 criticisms of Milgram’s research. (Total 6 marks )

Answer 8

Criticism 1
- Protection from harm - participants were clearly distressed.
- While participants were in fact given the right to withdraw initially it was made very difficult for them.

Criticism 2
- Deception - participants were deceived at several stages of the study.

Question 9

The experiment used an independent groups design. Explain how this study could have been modified by using a matched pairs design. (4)

Answer 9

Using a matched-pairs design would improve this study as it would reduce individual/participant differences. In an independent group’s design, it could be participant variables that reduce the post-therapy scores in Group 2 and not the therapy itself.
If the participants were matched on their anger scores pre-therapy, this would reduce this possibility. In the original experiment, there was a ten-point difference between Groups 1 and 2 in their pre-anger scores and a matched pairs design would reduce/eliminate this difference.

Question 10

A researcher investigated obedience. The table shows the percentages of people who obeyed a simple request from a confederate who was either smartly dressed or casually dressed. What do these results suggest about obedience?
(Total 4 marks)

Answer 10

• A smartly dressed confederate elicits more obedience (1 mark) than a casually dressed confederate (second mark)
• The type of task also influences rate of obedience
• If told to do something that requires effort (e.g. heavy task) obedience levels are not affected by what the person is wearing (2 marks)