social influence - obedience and conformity Flashcards
what is social influence?
Process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people
what is social norms?
rules and standards that are understood by members of a group and/or constrain social behaviour without the force of laws (cialdini and trost 1998)
what was sherifs believe about norm development (1936)
social norms emerge to guide behaviour in conditions of uncertainty
what is sherifs autokinetic effect?
point of light appears to move
what was sherifs experiment?
- judgements alone or in groups of 2/3
- use judgements of others as frame of reference
- converge away from individual to common standard
what is conformity (Asch 1951)
rational process - people construct norm from others behaviour to determine appropriate behaviour
what is the average conformity percentage for aschs line study ?
33%
why do people confirm?
self doubt
self conscious
fear of social dissaproval
what is the conformity when judgements are anonymous ?
12.25%
What is informational influence (Deutsch and Gerard)
- ambiguous / uncertain situations
- need to feel confident our perceptions are correct
- influence to accept info from another as evidence about reality
- true change
what is sherifs study about informational influence?
ambiguous –> uncertainty –> use others estimates as information to resolve subjective uncertainty
what is normative influence?
- need for social approval
- avoid disapproval
- surface compliance
what is aschs study about normative influence
unambiguous; go along with group ; especially when under surveillance
what is minority influence?
social influence processes whereby numerical or power minorities change the attitudes of the majority
how does majority influence produce public compliance?
via social comparison
what happens to your view with minority influence?
produces indirect, private change in opinion
what was milligrams study in obedience to authority?
Electric shock to confederate in mock learning study
People socialised to respect authority of the state
what is the agent state?
mentally absolve of own responsibility and transfer responsibility to person giving order
what happened if you got an incorrect answer in milgrams study?
Shock increased by 15 volts
If the ppt was hesitating in milgrams study what happened?
Experimenter would give verbal prods to carry on eg
Please continue
The experiment requires you continue
It is absolutely essential you continue
You have no choice you must go on
what are the 4 factors influencing obedience?
gradual change and commitment
immediacy of victim
immediacy of authority figure
legitimacy of authority figure
what is gradual change and commitment?
ppts committed to course of action
what is immediacy of victim?
as immediacy increased, obedience decreased
what is immediacy of authority figure ?
obedience decreased when experimenter not in room and directions given by telephone
what is legitimacy of authority figure?
lab coated experimenter : Yale university and reduction when the experiment was conducted in an industrial setting
what was some ethical issues with milgrams?
is research important ?
is the ppts free to terminate experiment?
does the ppt freely consent to take part ?
