Social Influence II

Question 1

Groups have social “codes of conduct” that determines who can say what about whom. Patow et al. studied an in group and out group response using the Galvanic Skin Response Experiment GSR. Describe this study.

Answer 1

• Ps were told by confederate that the study is not painful.
• those who listen will not feel the pain
• those who don’t listen will feel the pain
• determines who thinks the confederate is an ingroup member

Question 2

Hornsey et al. studied group sensitivity to criticism. Describe:

Answer 2

in group more tolerant of criticism

people don’t tolerate outgroup criticism

Question 3

Postmes and Spears (1998) said deindividuation increases normative influence ‘going with the crowd’, not antisocial.
Which experiment illustrated normative influence?

Answer 3

Asch’s standard line experiment

Question 4

Who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 4

Zimbardo 1971

Question 5

what are some results of the Stanford Prison ex?

Answer 5

• behaviour of ordinary people can be transformed in groups
• guard aggression as a natural consequence of being in the guard uniform and asserting the power inherent in that role
• people in groups lose their capacity for judgment and agency. They become helpless to resist antisocial impulses.
• groups with power inevitably abuse it
• criticisms: lack of generalisability, ecological validity, possibility of Ps selection bias, breaching ethics.

Question 6

In the BBC prison ex, guards were weak and did not exert their power. The prisoners began to fight back and became dominant. What were the results and findings?

Answer 6

• the BBC one did not give instructions to guards
• guards showed no natural tendency to slip helplessly into the role
• lack of social identification
• prisoners came to share group identity-> led to agreement and mutual support. Effective coordination. Agreed leadership and organisational effectiveness.
• collective self-realisation increased the group identification and they worked together more coherently to overcome stressors.
• people do not automatically assume roles that are given to them
• behaviour of groups depend on norms and values associated with their social identity
• unable to shape worlds-> liable to become despondent

Question 7

Tyranny arises because..

Answer 7

• group failure and powerlessness lead them to identify with authoritarian regimes
• the regime is ascendancy closely resembled SPE
• Ps believed that in the authoritarian regime they were implementing, not because they were conforming to roles.

Question 8

Examples of resisting tyranny in groups:

Answer 8

1. Sherif’s study: Ps fought when divided into groups, but in one study they refused to be divided up and together, they resisted attempts by the experimenter to set them against each other
2. In Milgram’s study, the teachers were much less likely to administer high levels of shocks when they had the support of another teacher.

Question 9

Minority Influence- challenge the dominant majority view. They have same response to the same issue over time. Perez and Mugny 1987 did an abortion-opinion experiment. explain this experiment:

Answer 9

majority had most influence on direct abortion issue.

minority had most influence on indirect contraception issue (they support contraception but not adaption)

Question 10

Three levels of source context elaboration vs attitude strength. (Martin and Hewstone 2008). What are they?

Answer 10

1. elaboration demand high-> systematic processing
2. medium-> majority vs minority
3. low-> heuristic