social influence - obedience

Question 1

what is obedience ?

Answer 1

a form of social influence in which someone follows an order usually given by a person of authority

Question 2

what is the agentic state ?

Answer 2

when a person no longer feels responsible for their actions since theyre an agent for the authority figure and blame them

Question 3

what is the agentic shift ?

Answer 3

the change from the autonomous state to the agentic state.

Question 4

what is a dispositional explanation ?

Answer 4

focuses on personalities effect on obedience

Question 5

what is the characteristics of an authoritarian personality ?

Answer 5

dismissive of people they see below them but obedient to people they see above them very aware of social hierarchy

Question 6

what was adornos research ?

Answer 6

researched into authoritarian personality , gave white middle class American males a questionnaire called the F scale or fascist scale

Question 7

conclusions of Adorno F scale

Answer 7

people higher on the F scale were more aware of their social status and other peoples social status showing the authoritarian personality. they also categorised people into different groups and were prejudice to racial groups.

Question 8

evaluate Adornos authoritarian personality

Answer 8

• large sample of 2000 people so representative
  -research support by milgram and elms who went back and interviewed his og pp and found those who obeyed more rated higher on F scale
  -quality of research , due to it being a questionnaire there could be social desirability

Question 9

what does legitimacy of authority suggest ?

Answer 9

were more likely to obey people we see as an authority figure and higher up in the hierarchy in which we have formed in society. Because we see these people of having authority we give away some of our independence for them to use their authority

Question 10

what is destructive authority ?

Answer 10

when a person of authority uses their legitimate power to cause harm or manipulate people e.g Hitler , Stalin and the reasercher in milgrams study who used prods

Question 11

evaluate legitimacy of authority

Answer 11

+ Bickman
+ Milgram
+ cross-cultural research support, for example Milgram study in France = 80% but in Australia was only 16% this shows that in society we form our own hierarchy of authority and different structures.

Question 12

what are the explanations for obedience ?

Answer 12

agentic state and legitimacy of authority and authoritarian personality

Question 13

what are the reasons for resisting conformity ?

Answer 13

social support
locus of control

Question 14

what does social support suggest ?

Answer 14

if people are disobeying authority it encourages others to do the same

Question 15

what is an ally in social support ?

Answer 15

someone who inspires resistance to conformity

Question 16

how were allies present in aschs research ?

Answer 16

in his unanimity variable - when the non-conforming confederates were introduced obedience decreased as pp saw them as allies and were encouraged to act freely

Question 17

evaluate social support

Answer 17

research support : allen and levine - conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an asch type study. Even if dissenter said they had bad vision (couldnt judge lines) clearly support is important

research support: gamson found higher levels of resistance in their milgramesque study since they were in group. 29/33 groups rebelled. suggesting peer support is linked to resistence

Question 18

was adornos research dispositional or situational

Answer 18

dispositional

Question 19

what is locus of control

Answer 19

how much control we have over our own lives

Question 20

what is external locus of control

Answer 20

believe they have little or no control over their lives passive and accepting usually younger people

Question 21

what is internal locus of control

Answer 21

ability to make their own decisions take responsibility for their own actions

Question 22

evaluate locus of control

Answer 22

+ Research support: Holland (1967) found that 37% of internals showed resistance to social influence, where as 23% of externals showed resistance. This increases validity.

• Contradictory research: Twenge et al. (2004) found in a Meta-analysis, that between 1960 and 2002, people have become more resistance to obedience but more external (LOC).

Question 23

where did Adorno think the authoritarian personality stemmed from?

Answer 23

childhood - he thought that harsh parenting and strict discipline lead to this because the learn loyalty , high standards and severe criticism. Also conditional love where parent only loves based on child’s behaviour. This creates resent and hostility in the child but because they obey their parents they displace these feeling on to another target. This is a psychodynamic explanation.

Question 24

what is resistance to social influence?

Answer 24

Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.

Question 25

what is obedience?

Answer 25

changing one’s behaviour and following a direct order usually following antiauthority figure

Question 26

what are social roles?

Answer 26

A part individuals play as members of a social group, which meets the expectations of that situation