social influence - recall

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

a form of majority influence, and it refers to yielding to group pressure and adopting the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of people in a reference group

Question 2

types of conformity

Answer 2

compliance
internalisation
identification

Question 3

compliance

Answer 3

involves ‘going along with others’ in public, but privately not changing personal opinions. Results in a superficial change

Question 4

identification

Answer 4

conform to a group due to valuing something about the group it leads to a public change even if we privately disagree

Question 5

internalisation

Answer 5

when a person genuinely accepts the groups norms. Results in a private and public change. Change is likely to be permanent

Question 6

two explanations

Answer 6

normative social influence, informations social influence

Question 7

normative social influence

Answer 7

according to NSI, we conform to the group in order to be accepted and to avoid rejection/ridiculing. Less likely to change personal opinions, emotional process not cognitive

Question 8

informational social influence

Answer 8

according to ISI, we look to gain info from others in ambiguous situations where we doubt our opinions/ability. This occurs when we want to be right and is a cognitive process rather than emotional

Question 9

aim of Asch’s experiment (NSI + compliance)

Answer 9

to see if participants would conform to majority social influence and give incorrect answers in a situation where the correct answers were always unambiguous and obvious

Question 10

Asch’s method

Answer 10

• sample of 123 male, american undergrad students
• all but one were confederates, each asked to call out which line length matched the standard line
• right answer always obvious, confeds gave same incorrect answer on 12 out of the 18 trials

Question 11

Asch’s findings + conclusion

Answer 11

participants conformed 37% of the time
- in interview = conformed to avoid rejection from the group
- conclusion = even in ambiguous situations, there may be strong group pressure to conform.

Question 12

aim of Jenness experiment (ISI)

Answer 12

to investigate whether individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous situation, in response to group discussion

Question 13

method of jenness

Answer 13

• used ambiguous situation involving a glass bottle filled with 811 white beans.
• 101 psychology students used
• each give individual estimates and then discussed in a group and gave new estimates that were closer to the group estimate

Question 14

jenness findings + conclusions

Answer 14

nearly all participants changed their original answer
conclusion = individuals changed their answer due to ISI as they believed the group estimates were more likely to be correct

Question 15

variables affecting conformity

Answer 15

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

Question 16

group size

Answer 16

1 confed = conformed 3% of trials
2 confed = conformed 12.8% of trials
3 confed = conformed on 32% of trials
15 = 29%
conformity reaches its highest with just three confederates

Question 17

unanimity

Answer 17

one confed instructed to give correct answer, conformity dropped to 5%
- if naive participant has support in their belief, they are more likely to not conform
one confed gave different incorrect answer, conformity dropped by 9%
- if you break the groups unanimous position, then conformity is significantly reduced even if the answer provided by the supporter is still incorrect

Question 18

task difficulty

Answer 18

task more difficult = conformity increased
- ISI plays a greater role when task becomes harder
- situation more ambiguous = look to others for guidance

Question 19

Zimbardo aim + method

Answer 19

Aim: investigate effect of social roles on conformity
method:
- set up mock prison in basement of psych department of Stanford university
- advertised for male, American college students , deemed emotionally stable after extensive psychological testing
- randomly assigned roles of prisoner/guard
- prisoners had regulated daily routines + referred to by number
- guards wore uniforms accompanied with handcuffs and mirror shades, total power over prisoners

Question 20

Zimbardo findings + conclusions

Answer 20

• guards became a threat to prisoners
• harassed prisoners to remind them they were constantly being monitored
• prisoners became depressed and anxious
• had to be stopped after 6 days rather than
  14
• guards became brutal and aggressive
• revealed power of situation to influence peoples behaviour. All participants accepted their social roles

Question 21

Milgram aim + method

Answer 21

Aim: investigate whether ordinary people would obey an unjust order from authority figure
method:
- Yale uni, 40 American, male volunteers from the New Haven area
- told study was to test memory, not obedience to authority
- Participants had role of teacher and learner was confederate. Teacher tested learner on ability to remember word pairs
- give shocks of increasing voltage for every incorrect answer, indicated by lights
- at 300V the learner would bang on the wall and at 315V there were no further responses

Question 22

Milgram findings

Answer 22

• 100% went to 300V
• 65% went to end
• 5 stopped at 300V
• showed signs of extreme tension: trembling, nervous laughter, stuttering