Social Influence - Paper 1 Flashcards
Paper 1
1
Q
What is conformity?
A
A change in a person’s opinion/behaviour as a response to real or imagined group pressure
2
Q
What is conformity also known as?
A
Majority influence
3
Q
When does conformity occur?
A
When an individuals behaviour and/or beliefs are influenced by a larger group of people
4
Q
What is the weakest form of conformity?
A
Compliance
5
Q
What is compliance?
A
An individual maintains their private views but goes along with the majority publicly in order to gain approval
6
Q
What is identification?
A
Public and private acceptance of majority influence in order to gain acceptance
7
Q
What is internalisation also known as
A
True conformity
8
Q
What is internalisation?
A
Individuals genuinely adjust their behaviour and opinions of the group
9
Q
How can internalisation also occur?
A
Occurs through minority influence
10
Q
What is informational social influence?
A
A motivational force to look to others for guidance in order to be correct (desire to be right)
11
Q
What situation does ISI usually occur?
A
Occurs in unfamiliar/ambiguous situations
12
Q
What is normative social influence?
A
A motivational force to be liked and accepted by the group (desire to be liked)
13
Q
Why do we have normative social influence?
A
Wanting others to respect them and not reject them
14
Q
What research shows NSI?
A
Asch
15
Q
What are the positive evaluation points of the explanations of conformity?
A
Research support
ISI: Lucas et al (asked students to answer maths problems that were either easy or difficult, greater conformity to incorrect answers when q’s were difficult
NSI: Asch
16
Q
What are the negative evaluation points for the explanations of conformity?
A
- Oversimplified: both processes could be involved
- Individual differences: NSI affects some more than others, some have greater need to be liked so are more affected, some have less so are less affected
McGhee and Teevan: students who have a need to be liked are more likely to conform
17
Q
What was the aim of Asch’s study?
A
To see the degree to which individuals would conform to the majority who gave obviously wrong answers
18
Q
What was Asch’s sample?
A
123 American male student volunteers
19
Q
What is an issue with Asch’s sample?
A
- Small sample: both ethnocentric and androcentric
- Volunteers: were told it was a visual perception test
20
Q
What was the procedure for Asch’s study?
A
- Groups of 6/7, pps matched standard line with A, B or C
- Only one of the pps was genuine, others confederates
- Real pps second to last
- Confederates gave unanimous wrong answers on 12/18 trials (critical trials)
21
Q
What was the conformity rate for Asch’s study?
A
33%
22
Q
How many pps conformed at least once in Asch’s study?
A
75%
23
Q
Findings of Asch’s control group
A
Pps made mistakes about 1% of the time
24
Q
What was Asch’s conclusion?
A
That a majority can influence a minority even in an unambiguous situation thus demonstrating NSI
25
What were the post-interview findings in Asch's study?
1. Distortion of judgement: not sure on accuracy so conformed to the majority
2. Distortion of perception: didn't known answer so actually conformed
3. Distortion of action: avoided ridicule
26
What are the factors effecting conformity
1. Group size
2. Unanimity
3. Task difficulty
27
What percentage was the conformity rate with ONE confederates in Asch's study?
3%
28
What percentage was the conformity rate with TWO confederates in Asch's study?
13%
29
What percentage was the conformity rate with THREE confederates in Asch's study?
32%
30
What happened when Asch's study reached to 7 confederates?
There was no further increase in conformity
31
What happened when Asch introduced a confederate who gave right answers? (Broke unanimity of the majority)
Conformity dropped to 5% from 33% in original experiment
32
What does Unanimity do to social Influence?
Conformity rates decline when the majority influence isn't unanimous
33
What is in important factor in unanimity?
Majority's reduction in agreement rather than an individual gives support
34
What was the other condition in Asch's changes to unanimity?
The 'rebel' confederate went against both confederates and real participants
35
What the results for the rebel going against confederates and participant in Asch's study?
Dropped to 9%
36
What happens to conformity rates as the task difficulty increases? (Asch)
Conformity rate increases. This suggests that when the situation is more ambiguous we are more likely to conform due to ISI
37
What will individuals do as the task difficulty increases?
They will look to others for guidance (ISI)
38
What type of social influence is the dominant force in task difficulty?
Informational
39
What happened in Asch's study when he increased the task difficulty?
Making the lines look more similar so the pps became more likely to conform to wrong answers
40
What are the positive evaluation points for Asch's study?
Asch's study of conformity became a paradigm as the accepted way for conducting conformity research.
It is also a lab experiment with a standardised procedure so is replicable
41
What are the negative evaluation points for Asch's study?
1. The research is a 'child of its time' - the research took place in a period of US history when conformity was high. Perrin and Spencer repeated the study in the UK in 80s using engineering students, found one conforming response out of 396 trials, cultural change has taken place since Asch's research so lacks temporal and historic validity
2. Methodological issues:
Demand characteristics - may have tried to please Asch by behaviour in a way they thought they were intended to lowering internal validity as it is not accurately measured.
Mundane realism - task of identifying lines is trivial so there was no real reason to conform. The groups don't resemble groups that occur in real life. Findings cannot be generalised to everyday situations of conformity
3. Limited application: all male sample, research suggests women might be more conformist (more concerned about social relationships than men). Conformity studies in China where the social group is very important and found much higher conformity rates. His research may only apply to American men (gender and culture bias)
42
What are the situational variables?
Features of an environment, affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures
43
What are the individual variables?
Personal characteristics that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures
44
What are social roles?
A part individuals play as members of a social group, which meets the expectations of that situation
45
What study demonstrates social roles?
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment
46
What were the aims of Zimbardo's experiment
To see the extent to which people conform to roles of guard/prisoner in a simulation of prison life. Testing dispositional vs situational hypothesis
47
What was the sample in Zimbardo's study?
75 male university student volunteers (told they would be paid $15 a day)
48
What was wrong with Zimbardo's sample?
- Small sample
- Androcentric
- Same age
- Volunteers (doing it for money)
49
What was Zimbardo's procedure?
1. Mock prison in psychology basement at Stanford
2. Advertised for students to take part
3. Students randomly assigned guard or prisoner
4. For realism, prisoners arrested at home by police, blindfolded, strip-searched, deloused and issued uniform and number
5. Social roles strictly divided, prisoners daily routine heavily regulated, prisoner names never used
6. Guards had own uniform, told they had complete power
50
What happened with the social roles of the guards and prisoners?
They settled into their roles quickly
51
What is deindiviudation?
Taking away someone's identity - the prisoners had numbers not names
52
What happened to the prisoners after around 36 hours?
The pps in the study started to cry and have a mental breakdown
53
How many days did it take for the study to be over?
6 days
54
What were Zimbardo's findings?
1. Guards took their role up with enthusiasm, behaviour increasingly tyrannical and abusive
2. Guards highlighted difference in social roles by enforced rules and punishment
3. Within 2 days, prisoners rebelled
4. Guards put down rebellion with fire extinguishers, prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious
55
What were the conclusions for Zimbardo's study?
Individuals conform readily to social roles. It revealed the power of the situation to influence people's behaviour
56
What are the positive evaluation points for Zimbardo?
1. Emotionally stable individuals were chosen which increases external validity
2. Findings can be applied to modern day: Same conformity to social roles was evident in the study in Abu Ghraib, a military prison in Iraq notorious for the torture and abuse of Iraq prisoners by US soldiers in 2003/4. Zimbardo believed that the guards who committed the abuses were the victims of situation factors that made abuse more likely.
57
What are the negative evaluation points for Zimbardo's study?
1. Ethical issues:
Right to withdraw - a student spoke to Zimbardo because he wanted to leave, Z responded as a superintendent instead of research and persuaded him to stay
Protection from harm - 5 prisoners left early because of adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment, some guards felt anxious and guilty
2. Individual differences - not all guards were brutal
3. Procedure affected by demand characteristics - Reicher and Haslam conducted modern-day replication in UK. Findings different. Prisoners took control, guards harassed. Shows findings aren't consistent and that people may not conform to social roles in modern day society/
58
What is obedience?
Complying with the demands of an authority figure
59
Why does obedience generally have a good influence?
Society wouldn't function in an effective manner otherwise
60
Give an example of negative influences of obedience?
The Nazi's unquestionably killed Jews and Gypsies etc
61
What rights do people in authority have?
To give other people orders
62
What was Milgram's explanation into obedience?
Milgram wanted to find out whether ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from a person of authority
63
What was the aim of Milgram's experiment?
To see if individuals would obey orders of an authority figure that incurred negative consequences
64
What was the sample for Milgram's study?
40 male volunteers
65
What was wrong with Milgram's sample?
Small, ethnocentric, androcentric, age limited and volunteers (paid)
66
What were the people who volunteered for Milgram's study told?
They were told it was a memory test
67
Where was Milgram's study based?
Yale
68
What was the punishment system in Milgram's study?
Increasing electric shocks given to the learner by the teacher if they gave an incorrect answer 15 to 450 volts
69
How did Milgram authenticate his study to participants?
The teacher was given a 45V electric shock
70
What was Milgram's baseline procedure?
1. Genuine participant always had teacher role, confederate learner
2. Teachers role was to administer a shock every time learner made mistakes
3. Teacher watched learner being strapped into chair in adjoining room with electrodes attached, teacher also received practice shock
4. Confederate answered correctly then began to make mistakes, shocks started at 15V and increased in 15V increments to 450
5. Experiment continued until teacher refused to continue or until 450V was reached and given 4 times
6. Pps debriefed and taken to meet learner
71
What were Milgram's baseline findings?
- All participants went to at least 300V
- 65% of pps went to maximum which was marked as XXX
72
What was the obedience rate for Milgram's experiment?
62%
73
How many pps in Milgram's study went to 300V?
100%
74
What percentage of pps in Milgram's study went to 450V?
65%
75
What were most of the pps showing during Milgram's experiment?
Signs of distress like sweating
76
What were the conclusions for Milgram's experiment?
Under certain circumstances people will willingly go against their moral judgements and will instead obey the demands of a perceived authority figure
77
What type of experiment was Milgram's study?
Controlled observation
78
What were the different IVs in Milgram's study?
Each variation of the study was the IV
79
How did Milgram control for some ethical issues?
He debriefed pps by reunited the learner with them (only 2% of pps regretted taking part), consider cost benefit analysis
80
What are the negative evaluation points of Milgram's baseline study?
1. Demand characteristics - Orne and Holland argued that pps gave very high shocks because they guessed the shocks weren't real. This is supported by Perry, who found that many pps had been sceptical. One of M's research assistants divided pps into doubters and believers. This creates a lack of internal validity
2. Unrepresentative sample - only male pps from America, only gives an insight into obedience in a limited sample that suffers from culture and gender bias so findings may differ across gender and culture making it difficult to generalise to other populations
81
What are the supportive evaluation points of Milgram's baseline study?
Supporting replications:
Blass carried out a statistical analysis of the experiments and studies conducted by other researchers between 1961-85. Later studies found no more or less obedience
Burger found levels of obedience almost identical
This suggests Milgram's findings still apply today
82
What happened when the pp was paired with an assistant in Milgram's study?
92.5% to 450V
83
What happened in the location variation of Milgram's study?
Obedience fell when the experiment was in less respectable and prestigious surroundings dropped to 47.5% in seedy office
84
AO3 of location variable in Milgram's study?
The drop can be explained by legitimacy of authority, seedy office has lower LoA than Yale meaning they were less likely to take it seriously
85
What happened in the proximity variation of Milgram's study?
Proximity of victim: teacher and learner in same room. Obedience fell when pps forced to see and hear distress caused by their actions (40%)
Touch proximity of victim: teacher had to force the learner's hand onto electrified plate to get shock. Obedience fell to 30%
Proximity of authority figure: experimenter left room, gave instructions over phone. Obedience fell when supervised less closely
86
AO3 of proximity variable in Milgram's study?
Can be explained through agentic state as authority figure is no longer present, pps feel more responsible for actions. Less likely to see themselves as agents so obedience decreases (20.5%)
87
What happened in the uniform variation of Milgram's study?
In baseline, experimenter wore grey lab coat as symbol of authority. In variation, experiment replaced with ordinary member of public in everyday clothes. Obedience fell to the lowest level of variations
88
AO3 of uniform variable in Milgram's study?
Lack of legitimacy of authority. Ordinary member decreased legitimacy of authority pps less likely to take seriously
89
What are the negative evaluation points of Milgram's situational variables?
Alternative explanation:
Situational variables explanation ignores effect of internal factors such as disposition, personality or obedience e.g., people with authoritarian personality more likely to show blind obedience. Supported by Elms and Milgram who found that those with AP traits more likely to give shocks. Reduces validity.
Obedience alibi:
Milgram's variations support the view that the situaiton a person finds themselves i mainly responsible for their obedience, has been criticised, psychologists argue it offers an alibi for evil behaviour. Offensive to survivors of Holocaust to suggest Nazis were obeying order and were victims of situational factors beyond their control
90
What is the agentic state?
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure
91
What is the opposite of the Agentic state?
Autonomous state
92
What is the Autonomous state?
They are free to behave to their own principles and therefore feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions
93
What is an Agentic shift?
Milgram suggested that this occurs when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure. When they go from an autonomous state to an agentic state
94
What are binding factors?
Aspects of the situation which will allow the person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour. They could shift responsibility onto the victim
95
What is legitimacy of authority?
We are socialised to recognise authority of people like parents, police and teachers. We are willing to give up some of our independence and to hand control of our behaviour to them
96
What research supports the agentic state?
Milgram: researcher placed in a different room to real participant (teacher). Pps instructed to give shocks via telephone. Resulted in fall of obedience from 65% to 20.5%, pps shifted to an autonomous state, saw themselves being responsible.
97
What research supports legitimacy of authority?
Milgram: Pps more likely to obey researcher when took place in prestigious setting (65%) compared to run-down office (47.5%)
Bickamn: found when he asked people in NY to lend money to a strange for a parking metre, would obey 49% of time when dressed in street clothes, increased to 92% in security guard's unfiorm.
98
What is a negative evaluation point against agentic state?
Evidence to show obedience is not always due to an agentic shift. Mandel said when Nazi soldiers were ordered to shoot civilians in Poland, were told they could be assigned other duties so personality could play a role in explaining obedience
99
What is an Authoritarian personality?
A type of personality that Adorno argued that they were susceptible to obey people who are in authority. They are submissive of those with a higher status and dismissive of inferior.
100
What are the authoritarian personality characteristics?
- Extremely respectful to those in authority
- Believe that strong and powerful leaders are needed to enforce traditional values
- Hostile to people of inferior social status
101
What are the origins of an authoritarian personality?
Formed in childhood because of harsh parenting as it creates impossibly high standards and sever criticism. This creates resentment and hostility but the child is unable to express this out of fear of punishment os child displaces fears out of others who are weaker
102
What was Adorno's procedure?
Attitudes toward racial minorities were measured in 2000 middle class, white Americans. The F-Scale was also used to measure the different components that make up an authoritarian personality. The scale is a way of measuring personality type
103
What were Adorno's findings?
Those with an authoritarian personality were:
- Contemptuous of those thought to be 'weak'
- Conscious of other peoples status
- Had fixed stereotypes about other people
A strong postive correlation was found between those with an authoritarian personality and prejudice
104
What was Adorno's conclusion?
People with an authoritarian personality tend to be very obedience to authority because they have enormous respect for authority. They also show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status
105
What are the positive evaluation points for authoritarian personality?
Elms and Milgram found when 20 obedient pps from Milgram's research (who delivered 450V) were questioned using the F-scale, they scored higher on authoritarianism. Also view experimenter as more admirable and the learner less so. This supports Adorno that AP makes us more likely to obey
106
What are the negative evaluation points for authoritarian personality?
Ignores external causes of obedience:
Evidence from Milgram shows situational variables have greater effect on obedience than disposition. Levels of obedience dropped when researcher gave orders over phone. Bickman showed wearing uniform doubles obedience (49 to 92%). Personality has limited effect on obedience it appears external factors are more important
Cannot explain group obedience:
Unlikely that high levels of obedience, racism and semitism seen in Germany in WW11 could be due to disposition factors. Extremely unlikely that whole population possessed AP
Methodological weaknesses:
Milgram carried out a lab study but Adorno measured people's attitudes using a scaled. Rating scales are criticised as they are subject to social desirability as pps may not tell the truth to look desirable to the researcher. Questionnaires may not be a valid measure of personality which reduces validity of disposition explanations
107
What are the ethical issues in research into social influence?
Deception: Asch misinformed pps of true aim of study. Milgram told pps study was something else, misleads pps into believing that someone was actually shocked. Zimbardo didn't inform pps of some aspects e.g., arrested at home so didn't give full informed consent
Protection from harm: Pps in Milgram's study showed signs of distress. Zimbardo acknowledges the study should be been stopped earlier as some experiences severe emotional distress.
However Milgram and Zimbardo debriefed and carried out psychological assessments
108
What is resistance to social influence?
The ways to which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice. (ability to withstand the majority influence or group pressures)
109
What is social support?
The idea that you have people in your presence who are resisting conformity or obeying can help you do the same. These people act as models to show that resistance is possible
110
What does Milgram's research show about social support in resisting social influence?
When there was a disobedient confederate in a variation of the study, conformity then dropped to only 10%
111
What research supports social support to resistance to social influence for conformity?
Allen and Levine: Not only did conformity rate decrease when dissenter, were present, but this occurred even when the dissenter work thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision
112
What limitation of resistance to social influence was shown in Asch's study?
If a non-conforming dissenter began to conform against them so did the naïve participant. Therefore showing the dissent is not long lasting
113
What is locus of control?
The extent to which individuals believe they have control over the events that influence their lives
114
What are the characteristics of internal locus of control?
- They can control events in their lives
- What happens to them is consequence of their own ability and effort
- More likely to rely less on the opinion of others
- MORE likely to RESIST social influence
115
What are the characteristics of external locus of control?
- They have a sense that things just happen to them and are largely out of their control
- What happens to them is determined by external factors such as friends, parents or luck
- Take less personal responsibility for their actions
- LESS likely to RESIST social influence
116
Who believed the concept that individuals are more likely to resist social pressures if they have high internal LOC?
Rotter (1966) (people with high internal LOC tend to be more confident and need less social approval.
117
What research is there to support locus of control?
Crowne et al: completed an Asch-type experience and then measured whether pps had an internal or external LOC. He found that internals conformed less than externals
Holland: repeated Milgram's baseline study and found 37% of internals did not continue to highest shock level. Only 23% of externals didn't continue. Internals showed greater resistance to authority. This increases the validity of LOC
118
What research is there that contradicts locus of control?
Twenge et al: Meta-analysis over 40 year period of Americans. Over this time people have become more resistant to social influence, increasingly believing in fate suggestive of internal LOC
Correlational evidence: fails to establish cause and effect that internal LOC causes a person to defy authority or not conform. Could be unknown variable apart from type of LOC that causes defiance such as personality so explanation lacks validity
119
What is minority influence?
A type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject established majority group norms
120
What type of social influence is minority influence most likely to lead to?
Internalisation - both public and private beliefs changed
121
What three factors are the main process in minority influence?
- Consistency
- Flexibility
- Commitment
122
What is consistency in terms of minority SI?
The minority is deemed most effective when they keep to the same beliefs. It draws the attention to the minorities point of view causing the majority to rethink their own views. This consistency leads the majority to doubt themselves which can lead to behaviour change
Synchronic consistency - when members of the minority are all saying the same thing
Diachronic consistency - they have been saying the same thing for some time now.
123
What is flexibility in terms of minority SI?
Members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter arguments. The key is to strike a balance between consistency and flexibility
124
What is commitment in terms of minority SI?
A minority need to be dedicated. This commitment can be demonstrated by taking part in extreme activities to draw attention.
This greater commitment may persuade memory group members to take them seriously. This is the augmentation principle. It states that if risks are involved in putting forward a particular point of view others take those who express those views more seriously
The suffragettes took part in many extreme activities
125
What is the snowball effect?
This is where gradually more people convert to the minority, turn it into the majority e.g., Women's right to vote
126
What research supports consistency in social influence?
Moscovici: Draws attention to minorities POV causing majority to rethink and doubt themselves leading to behaviour change. 2/6 pps were confederates
Consistent condition: 2 confederates consistently called the blue slides green on all trials
Inconsistent condition: the two confederates called the slides green 24 times and blue 12 times
A control group also judged the colour of the slides without any confederates present.
Findings:
Consistent condition: pps called slides green in 8.42% of trials and 32% of these pps called a slide green at least once
Inconsistent condition: pps called the slides green on only 1.25% of the trials.
Wood et al: meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence found consistent minorities most influential, validate importance of consistency
127
What research contradicts consistency in social influence?
Being overly consistent can backfire. If minority consistency adheres to their message without any attempt to modify, they could be viewed as being inflexible and rigid which may cause majority to ignore
128
What research which supports commitment in social influence?
Xie et al: found pps communicated on a social network with people who were committed to an alternative viewpoint to their own, this had the most significant influence on them adopting the point of view
129
What research which opposes commitment in social influence?
Extreme activities could lead to the minority being viewed as deviant and troublemakers. Members of the majority may avoid aligning themselves with the minority position because they do not want to be seen as deviant themselves
130
What research supports flexibility in social influence?
Bremerhaven and Brilmayer: Tested a mock jury situation, group members discussed amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in ski lift accident. Found when a confederate put forward an alternative POV and refused to change position, this had no influence on the group, when showed flexibility they had influence.
131
What are the positive evaluation points for Moscovici's study?
High controls - lab experiment Consistent minorities have a greater influence on private attitudes.
132
What are the negative evaluation points for Moscovici's study?
- Lab experiment: Lacks EV
-Only used female participants: not generalisable to males
- Unethical: Involved deceit so no informed consent could be given. (may be stressed) Doesn't identify important factors in minority influence Also, the amount that agreed were relatively small
133
What are the evaluation points against minority influence?
CC and F may not be the most important factor in minority influence
Research indicates that if the majority identifies with the minority, they are more likely to change their own views in line with those of the minority
One study showed that a straight majority were influenced more by a minority arguing for gay rights if the minority were straight rather than gay (Maass et al)
This is because the straight majority identified with the straight minority
134
What is social change?
This occurs when whole societies, rather than individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things.
E.G: Women's suffrage, civil rights movement, gay rights
135
How can social change be positive?
Increased rights for women's suffrage that helped develop western cultures in the 1900s
136
How can social change be negative?
The adoption of society of eugenic beliefs which saw different races as being inferior, leading to mass extermination e.g., Nazis
137
How can social change occur through minority influence?
- Drawing attention: civil rights marches
- Consistency: marches and demonstrations over years
- Commitment: willing to suffer to be taken more seriously, mob violence
- Snowball effect: once a few members of the majority start to move towards the minority, it will gather momentum. It will then reach a tipping point in 1964 US civil rights act passed
138
How does social change occur through normative social influence?
Individuals are led to believe that the majority are behaving differently to the way they behave they may change their behaviour to avoid being seen as socially deviant
139
What lessons about social change come from conformity research?
Conform due to NSI. Environmental campaigners use psychological tactics like printing normative messages on bins to bring social change
140
What lessons about social change come from obedience research?
Milgram's research demonstrates how social change may be more likely if the changes start small and increase gradually (gradual commitment). Once a small instruction is obeyed (administering 15V) it becomes much more difficult to resist a bigger one (30V).
141
What research is there to support NSI (Majority social influence) in bringing social change?
Nolan: investigated the social influence processes led to a reduction energy consumption in a community. They hung messages on front doors every week for a month. They key message was the most residents were trying to reduce energy usage. As a control some had different messages. Nolan found significant decreases in energy usage in 1st group. This shows conformity can lead to social change
142
What evaluation point goes against minoirty influence in bringing social change?
The potential for minorities to influence social change is limited because they are seen as deviant from majority. Members of maj may avoid aligning themselves with minority because don't want to be seen as deviant. This may prevent social change because they are portrayed as deviant
