Social Influence - Paper 2

Question 1

what was the aim of asch’s study of conformity

Answer 1

to investigate how people respond to group pressure.

Question 2

what was the method of asch’s study of conformity

Answer 2

123 male american students who believed they were taking part in a different experiment. sat in a room with 6-8 confederates. the group were shown two cards one was a standard line the others were compasrison lines. on each trial the men were asked to say whether line A B or C matched the standard line. the confederates were told to give the wrong answer which was unambiguous.

Question 3

what were the result of asch’s study of conformity

Answer 3

the participents gave a wrong answer 36% of the time, 75% of participents conformed at least once

Question 4

what was the conclusion for asch’s study of conformity

Answer 4

people are influenced by group pressure even when the task involves a wrong answer

Question 5

what is one evaluative weakness of asch’s study of conformity

Answer 5

the research only used male american participents so the results cannot be generalised to the wider population making the results less valid

Question 6

what is a second evaluative weakness of asch’s study of conformity

Answer 6

perrin & spencer found only one act of conformity among 396 trials. this is a weakness because their research shows that people don’t conform as much suggesting that he is wrong in his theory

Question 7

what are the 3 social factors that affect conformity

Answer 7

group size
anonymity
task difficulty

Question 8

what are the 2 dispositional factors that affect conformity

Answer 8

expertise
personality

Question 9

how does group size affect conformity?

Answer 9

The more people there are in a group, the greater
the pressure to conform to their opinion.

Question 10

how does anonymity affect conformity?

Answer 10

When Asch give his participants anonymity (i.e.
write down your answer instead of saying out
loud), conformity rates decreased because you
don’t feel the pressure to conform from the
group.

Question 11

how does task difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 11

As the task difficulty increases, the answer
becomes less obvious and people feel less
confident about their answer so they look to
others for the right answer.

Question 12

how does expertise conformity?

Answer 12

Your intelligence increases your confidence in
your opinions and knowledge so people with
greater expertise are less likely to conform to
group pressure. One researcher found that if
someone felt good at maths, they would be less
likely to agree with incorrect answers.

Question 13

how does personality affect conformity?

Answer 13

people with external
LOCs were more likely to agree with the group
pressure whereas internal LOCs are more likely
to resist the group pressure and stick to their
own answer.

Question 14

what is an internal and external locus of control

Answer 14

Someone with an external locus of control
believes that they do not influence the things
that happen to them. Someone with an internal
locus of control believes that they do influence
the things that happen to them.

Question 15

what was the aim of milgram’s study of obedience

Answer 15

To see whether a normal person would give another
A person a lethal electric shock if told to do so

Question 16

what was the method of milgram’s study of obedience

Answer 16

40 male volunteers (20-50yrs) were told they were taking part in memory research.
They were paid for their time. The teacher (the participant) was told by the experimenter (actor) to give the learner (actor) shocks every time the learner got the answer wrong.The fake electric shocks started at 15v and went up to 450v (lethal).

Question 17

what were the results of milgram’s study of obedience

Answer 17

100% of people went to 300v
65% of people went to 450v Three participants had seizures (fits) caused by stress.

Question 18

what was the conclusion of milgram’s study of obedience

Answer 18

People will listen to an authority figure if they believe they aren’t responsible for the consequences. People obeyed because of the location, the pressure and the situation was new to them.

Question 19

what did milgram’s agency theory say

Answer 19

We obey because we are acting as an
agent for an authority figure.
“People will listen to an authority figure if
they believe they aren’t responsible for
the consequences.”

Question 20

what is autonomous state

Answer 20

Autonomous state is when
people behave according to
their own principles and
feels responsible for their actions.

Question 21

what is agentic state

Answer 21

Agentic state is where people act on behalf of someone else and therefore follow their
orders. They don’t feel responsible for their actions.

Question 22

what is proximity

Answer 22

When the learner sat in the same room as the teacher, obedience rates dropped from 65% to 40%, suggesting that proximity increases the ‘moral strain’, i.e. we feel sorry for them and
responsible for our actions.

Question 23

what is a positive evaluative point of milgrams agency theory

Answer 23

The agency theory explains why atrocities such as the Holocaust happened. This is a strength because the theory has real life application, it helps us explain society.

Question 24

what is a negative evaluative point of milgrams agency theory

Answer 24

The agency theory can give people who follow
destructive orders an excuse for their behaviour. This is a weakness because it allows people to think they aren’t responsible for their actions.

Question 25

How do people with an authoritarian personality think?

Answer 25

They think in ‘black and white’ – something is either good or bad. They don’t see that people can be different. They believe in rigid stereotypes that all men are bullies and all women are emotional.

Question 26

What is meant by displacement or scapegoating?

Answer 26

They need to displace their anger onto something else to relieve anxiety and hostility.
For example, they might have a bad day at school and when you come home you take it out
on something/someone else (i.e. shouting at your sibling). People with an authoritarian personality displace their feelings onto those socially inferior to them.

Question 27

What do authoritarian people experience in childhood?

Answer 27

The authoritarian personality is developed when a child experiences strict parenting and extremely high standards of achievement. They offer conditional love (the child only receives love if they behave correctly). The child internalises these values and expects everyone to behave like this and develops hostility towards their parents.

Question 28

what is an authoritarian personality

Answer 28

A person who is easily influenced by authority.
They follow people above them but are hostile
to people below them. They may have experienced harsh parenting as a child.

Question 29

what is a negative evaluative point for adorno’s theory of an authoritarian personality

Answer 29

The authoritarian theory can give people who
follow destructive orders an excuse for their behaviour. This is a weakness because
it allows people to think they aren’t
responsible for their actions

Question 30

what is another negative evaluative point for adorno’s theory of an authoritarian personality

Answer 30

Adorno believed that the authoritarian
personality is caused by strict parents but
other researchers say that it is caused by
lack of education. This is a weakness because
there are researchers who disagree with
Adorno.

Question 31

what is bystander behaviour

Answer 31

The idea that the presence of others
reduces the likelihood of help being
offered in an emergency.

Question 32

what was the aim for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 32

To see whether the appearance of a victim
impacts whether they receive help or not.

Question 33

what was the method for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 33

The victim (confederate) fell over on a subway
in NYC. The participants were the people on the
subway and they were observed to see whether
the victim was helped or not.

Question 34

what were the results for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 34

When the victim appeared disabled, he was
helped 95% of the time. When he appeared
drunk, he was helped 50% of the time.
People offered help quicker when the victim
was disabled in comparison to drunk.

Question 35

what was the conclusion for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 35

The appearance of a victim influences whether they receive help or not.

Question 36

what is a positive evaluative point for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 36

The study took place in a natural setting (on a
NYC subway). This is a strength because the
participants’ behaviour would have been as
close to real life as possible and there would
be no demand characteristics.

Question 37

what is a positive evaluative point for piliavin’s study of prosocial behaviour

Answer 37

The study took place a considerable amount
of time ago (1969) This is a weakness because
we can’t be certain we would get similar
results if the study was replicated as society has changed.

Question 38

what are the 2 social factors that affect bystander behaviour

Answer 38

presence of others
cost of helping

Question 39

what are the 2 dispositional factors that affect bystander behaviour

Answer 39

similarity to victim
expertise

Question 40

how does the presence of others affect bystander behaviour

Answer 40

the more people there are the less likely they are to help. we believe that someone else will help so we ignore the situation

Question 41

how does the cost of helping affect bystander behaviour

Answer 41

if the cost of helping involves danger then a person is less likely to help. on the other hand not helping could make a person feel guilty making them more inclined to step in on the situation. we also think about the reward that will come if we help which influences our decision

Question 42

how does the similarity to victim affect bystander behaviour

Answer 42

we are more likely to help people with similar characteristics to us for example gender race or religion

Question 43

how does expertise affect bystander behaviour

Answer 43

someone with knowledge in a particular field ( for example medicine) may feel more comfortable/obliged to help as the know what they are doing have have confidence in their abilities