social influence - recall Flashcards
what is conformity?
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
types of conformity
compliance
internalisation
identification
compliance
involves ‘going along with others’ in public, but privately not changing personal opinions. Results in a superficial change
identification
conform to a group due to valuing something about the group it leads to a public change even if we privately disagree
internalisation
when a person genuinely accepts the groups norms. Results in a private and public change. Change is likely to be permanent
two explanations
normative social influence, informations social influence
normative social influence
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
informational social influence
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
aim of Asch’s experiment (NSI + compliance)
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
Asch’s method
- 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
Asch’s findings + conclusion
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.
aim of Jenness experiment (ISI)
to investigate whether individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous situation, in response to group discussion
method of jenness
- 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
jenness findings + conclusions
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
variables affecting conformity
group size
unanimity
task difficulty
group size
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
unanimity
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
task difficulty
task more difficult = conformity increased
- ISI plays a greater role when task becomes harder
- situation more ambiguous = look to others for guidance
Zimbardo aim + method
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
Zimbardo findings + conclusions
- 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
Milgram aim + method
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
Milgram findings
- 100% went to 300V
- 65% went to end
- 5 stopped at 300V
- showed signs of extreme tension: trembling, nervous laughter, stuttering
