Social Influence L1-7 Flashcards
Compliance
Form of conformity where privately held beliefs and attitudes are unaffected but publicly expressed views change to match those of the majority. Superficial and temporary.
Internalisation
Form of conformity that involved the person learning something, questioning their own beliefs, and then accepting the new ones. More permanent form as it is also expressed in private. For example, religious converts.
Identification
Moderate form of conformity. The views are expressed while associated with the group of people they come from. The group of people is decided by those you identify with, or admire and want to identify with.
ISI
Informational Social Influence- when in a stressful or unfamiliar environment, the subject looks to others to find out what the correct thing to do is. If majority is correct, conformed will be to. If wrong, won’t stand out.
Occurs due to the want to be right, and often leads to internalisation as the person accepts what they think is right.
Cognitive process because it is to do with what you think.
NSI
Normative Social Influence- occurs when people attempt to fit into a group. Generally leads to compliance as people act differently in order to fit in with the majority. A fear of standing out.
Likely to occur in situations with strangers, more pronounced in stressful situations.
ISI evaluation strength
Lucas et al (2006) asked students to answer maths questions
Occurred when questions became more difficult, generally those who felt they were worse at maths looked to the others .
ISI Evaluation weakness
Asch (1955) found that students were not as conformist compared to other types of participants.
Even if situation may be ambiguous, we don’t always look to others for support and thus will not always conform.
NSI Evaluation Strength
Asch (1951) found that many participants went along with a clearly wrong answer because other people did. These participants feared rejection. The questions in this study were not ambiguous or difficult but people still conformed due to NSI.
NSI Evaluation weakness
McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform but those who are not will not conform to NSI.
nAffiliators
People who have a greater need for ‘affiliation’ - a need for being in a relationship with people.
Validity of ISI and NSI
Many supporting studies are lab studies which lack ecological validity. Therefore explanations of conformity may not be relevant to everyday occurrences.
The NSI explanation for conformity may lack population validity (doesn’t apply to everyone).
Jenness (1932) aim
To examine whether individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous situation, in response to group discussion.
Jenness 1932 Method
Glass bottle filled with 811 white beans
Sample of 26 students, individually estimated how many beans
Participants divided into groups of 3 and asked to provide group estimate through discussion
After discussion, asked again individually
Jenness 1932 results and conclusion
Nearly all participants changed original answer at another opportunity to estimate
Range of whole group decreased by 75% after discussion
conclusion results suggest individuals changed original estimates due to ISI, as they believed group estimates were more likely to be correct in comparison to their own
Sherif 1935 aim
Conducted an experiment with the aim of demonstrating that people conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous situation.
Sherif 1935 method part 1
Used a lab experiment
Used the auto kinetic effect - small spot of light in a dark room will appear to move although it is still
When participants were individually tested on how far the light moved, estimates varied considerably
Participants were put in groups of 3
Sherif put together 2 people with similar estimates and one with very different
Each person in the group had to say aloud how far light had moved
Sherif 1935 results
Over numerous estimates, the group converged to a common estimate
The person with the very different estimate conformed to the view of the other two
Sherif said this showed that people would always tend to conform, rather than make individual judgements they tend to come to a group agreement
Sherif experiment part 2
Participants started in groups and agreed on group answer
Individuals were taken from group and did experiment alone, answers similar to group norm
Internalised group norm
Sherif conclusion
Ambiguous situation leads to ISI
Asch (1951)
Lab experiment
123 male US undergraduates
Groups of 6-8
All confederates except 1
18 trials, 12 critical
Asch results
About 1/3 of participants conformed in critical trials
Asch conclusion
Most knew it was incorrect, conformed to fit in or avoid ridicule, shows NSI
Variables in Asch
Group size
Unanimity
task difficulty
Evaluation of Asch
-Child of its time (Perrin and Spencer 1980)
-Artificial situation and task
-Limited application of findings (culture, gender)
-ethical issues (deception, psychological harm)
Zimbardo et al (1974) aim
Stanford prison experiment
To see whether people will conform to new social roles.
Zimbardo conclusion
People quickly conform to social roles, even when role is against moral principles.
Situational factors were largely responsible for behaviour found, none of the participants had shown such behaviour previously.
Strength of SPE
Zimbardo and colleagues had level of control over variables.
Randomly chosen roles, no experimenter bias.
High internal validity.
Good application to Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
Weaknesses of SPE
Lack of research support- partial replication BBC Prison Study showed different results
Ethical issues - Deception/ lack of informed consent, dual roles
