Social influence Research and Evaluation points

Question 1

what is meant by the fact that there are difficulties distinguishing between compliance and internalisation

Answer 1

Relationship between the two is complicated in how we define and measure public compliance and private acceptance
Assumes that a person who publicly agrees with the majority and yet disagrees in private must be demonstrating compliance
However it is also possible that acceptance has occurred in public but has dissipated privately because new info or old info has been forgotten
Problem with internalisation is that an individual may merely comply in public but as a result of self perception thinking that if they agreed with the groups views then that must be what they agree with privatley rather than it genuinely fitting their own set of values/belief system.

Question 2

what is the research support for normative influence explain findings etc

Answer 2

US research found relationship between peoples normative beliefs n the likelihood of them taking up smoking
Found that adolescents exposed to simple message that the majority of their age peers didn’t smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking.
NI has also been used successfully to manipulate people to behave more responsible when it comes to energy conservation
Schultz et al found that hotel guests exposed to the message that 75%guests reused their towels each day rather than have fresh towels reduced their own towel usage by 25%
Both these studies support the claim that people shape their behaviour out of desire to fit in with their reference group.

Question 3

what is the research support for informational influence explain findings etc

Answer 3

Some studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s beliefs has an important influence on social stereotypes
Researchers found that ps exposed to negative info about african americans being led to believe were the view of the majority later reported more neg beliefs about a black individual
Research has also shown how informational influence can shape political opinion with research demonstrating how jugements of candidate performance in US presidential debates could be influenced by knowledge of others reactions.
Ps saw what was supposedly a reaction of their fellow ps on screen during the debate. This produced large shifts in ps judgments about candidate’s performance

Question 4

Explain Asch’s research into group size

Answer 4

Asch manipulated the size of the group of confederates carrying out the conformity trial by using 1 2 3 4 8 10 and 15 confederates in the group.
Found that conformity increased as the number of confederates rose from 1 to 3 but after this group size did not make much difference
In some conditions a large group of 15 confederates led to lower levels of conformity, perhaps because ps may have become increasingly suspicious when faced with large majority

Question 5

Explain other research into group size effect on conformity

Answer 5

Replications have tended to support the findings of Asch with group sizes effect rapidly reaching a plateau
Latane and wolf have suggested that adding more numbers to the majority can increase conformity but in ever decreasing amounts with each additional voice in the majority adding a smaller increase in conformity
Other research has suggested that group size has different effects depending on task type
Research has suggested that tasks relating to personal preference group size has a linear effect. Conformity tasks which have a correct answer the views of a couple are enough to have an effect on increasing conformity but increasing size of majority beyond this has little further effect on conformity

Question 6

Explain Asch’s research into unanimity

Answer 6

Found that when one Confederate instructed to disagree with majority judgement and give correct answer on every trial conformity decreased from 37% of critical trials down to 5.5%.
Also found that Confederate need not even share naive participants judgement giving an incorrect answer to the majority
Unanimity thought to be more important than group size - a unanimous majority of 3 is under given conditions far more effective that a majority of 8 containing 1 dissenter

Question 7

Explain Asch’s research into task difficulty effect on conformity

Answer 7

Found that when comparison lines are all similar in length to standard line then conformity increases

Question 8

Explain other research into task difficulty effect on conformity

Answer 8

Lucas et al gave students easy and hard mathematics problems and found a greater level of conformity when problems were hard. This was particularly so if participants doubted their mathematics skills.
If task familiar conformity is less likely to be demonstrated when research showed engineers didn’t conform as readily on an Asch type task as ps in original Asch study

Question 9

Explain what is meant by their being a difficulty in assessing the effect of task difficulty

Answer 9

Task difficulty depends on the skills and abilities of the ps as well as the task itself eg a hard maths problem wouldn’t be a difficult task for a skilled mathmatician

Question 10

Explain ethical issues with Asch’s research

Answer 10

Deception - ps told that study was about visual perception when in fact the study was an investigation into conformity. Ps also lead to believe that other members of group were real participants when they were in fact confederates of the experimenter. However was necessary bc without it experiment would lack internal validity. ps were also debreifed afterwards in order to address the issue

Informed consent - bc ps misled regarding nature n purpose of study they were not able to give their informed consent prior to investigation however it’s been argued that the research would have been meaningless had informed consent been gained

Failure to protect from harm - ps may have suffered a loss of self esteem and embarrassment as a result of their apparent difficulty with the task. In the long term ps may have experienced a loss of self esteem bc may have felt disappointed with themselves bc of the way they appeared to conform so mindlessly

Question 11

Evaluation of Asch in terms of validity

Answer 11

Ecological validity - findings are drawn from experiments in laboratories. Laboratory settings and task involved are long way from normal everyday life (lack of mundane realism). Questioned if ps define the situation as artificial and the tasks are unreal can results from lab be generalised to life outside as a result findings may be limited to the lab and not possible to generalise results to other settings.

Experimental method can be defended as argued it has advantages over normal everyday social settings. If ps conform in a setting that people act in such an unreal manner and confronted by complete strangers it shows pure group pressure as confederates judgements are clearly wrong. Being complete strangers the ps will be unlikely to ever see them again so disapproval have little meaning to real ps. Experiment creates situation to indicate power of group pressure. Anything else that may encourage conformity has been stripped away and thus we know it is down to group pressure less than another factor

Temporal validity - the relatively high level of conformity in Asch’s research was seen by some as a reflection of American society in the 1950s. This was a time when non conformity was discouraged. Evidence that suggests this includes Nicholson et al 1985 who replicated Asch’s experiment and found lower conformity levels. This may be due to changes in American society it could also be due to other factors such as differences in samples. Perrin and Spencer 1980 carried out a similar study using young men on probation the level of conformity found was similar to that of Asch’s findings in 1950 findings perceived to be due to the perceived costs of not conforming which like the 1950s may of been high

Question 12

Explanations of conformity research evidence for NSI

Answer 12

Asch carried out a variation of the original procedure where ps could write down their response privately rather than giving judgment out loud found that conformity dropped form 37% to 12.5% this supports NSI because there is a lack of judgement from others so the pressure to be accepted has gone which removes motivation to conform
Abrams et al found that first year psychology students showed more conformity if other group members were perceived as belonging to an in group (other psych students) than if they were perceived as an out group (history students) suggesting that Asch would have achieved greater conformity levels had he used group members rather than strangers. NSI bc more likely to want acceptance by in group than an out group

Question 13

Explanations of conformity research evidence for ISI

Answer 13

Lucas et al research showed greater conformity on difficult maths problems compared to easy ones particularly when ps doubted their math ability supports the role of ISI because in wanting to be right difficult problems would make people doubt themselves and thus wanting to conform thinking a chance of being right in doing so looking to others to guide their decision which is typical of ISI

Question 14

Describe aim and procedure of Stanford prison experiment carried out by Zimbardo

Answer 14

Aim: to investigate whether police brutality reported among guards in American prisons at the time was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (dispositional explanation) or had more to do with the power structure in prison environment (situational explanation)

Procedure: male ps were recruited through newspaper advertisements asking for student volunteers for a two week study of prison life. A variety of psychological tests were used to select all those who appeared most stable with no violent or anti social tendencies. From 75 volunteers 24 well adjusted healthy male students were selected to take part. Ps were randomly allocated the roles of prisoners or guards being paid $15 a day. Local police helped by arresting 9 ‘prisoners’ at their homes without warning being given a genuine arrest with rights read had handcuffs given and searched. After being finger printed they were taken blindfolded to the mock prison in the basement of Stanford uni. stripped given smocks to wear and their prisoner numbers to memorise. from then on they were referred to by prison number only. Prisoners were confined in cell except during meals work and toilet privileges. Guards wore khaki military style uniforms reflector sunglasses and carried wooden batons on duty 24 hrs a day working 8hr shifts instructed to keep prisoners under control but informed no physical aggression was permitted

Question 15

Describe findings and conclusions of Stanford prison experiment carried out by Zimbardo

Answer 15

Prisoners - rebelled against the guards after only 2 days after initial rebellion prisoners became submissive and subdued. no of prisoners had to be released early due to their extreme reactions with severe emotional disturbance rage disorganised thinking acute anxiety and depression. 4 prisoners had to be released one in less than 36 hours.

Guards - use of force harassment and aggression by guards increased steadily. guards conformed to their perceived roles with such extremity that the study had to be discontinued just after 6 days. Were individual differences in behaviour one third became tyrannical in use of power whilst a number of other guards were described as good guards who did not degrade or harass prisoners

Conclusions - behaviour observed was due to situation rather than individuals personalities with ps conforming to expected forms of behaviour for their roles of prisoner n guard demonstrating conformity by identification. Some findings could be explained as a result of deindividuation as some features encourage deindividuation by increasing feelings of anonymity and aggression

Question 16

Evaluate the Stanford prison experiment

Answer 16

Conformity to roles is not automatic - Zimbardo assumed that that the guards drift into sadistic behaviour was an automatic consequence of the, conforming to their role. however there were individual differences between guards. these individual differences are inconsistent with an entirely situational explanation for the guards behaviour suggesting that conformity to roles is not automatic with ps choosing how to respond to the situation rather than blindly
conform to their social role

Demand characteristics and p reactivity - psychologists have argued that behaviour of Zimbardo’s prisoners and guards was not due to prison environment but instead was a response to the powerful demand characteristics in the experimental situation. participants showed p reactivity by changing their behaviour as a result of perceived expectations. the mock prison was also very different from a real prison. argue that ps knew they hadn’t committed a crime and were free to leave leading some researchers to believe the artificial setting resulted in ps demonstrating p reactivity with prisoner and guards merely play acting. students given description of the study not knowing the purpose managed to correctly guess the true purpose and what was hypothesised.

Ethical issues - protection from harm and deception with pa responses to the situation genuine with ps showing genuine responses and prisoners asking for parole not to leave the experiment. high ecological validity

Real world applications - the Stanford prison experiment has been used to explain human behaviour in real life for example Abu Ghraib and the behaviour of American soldiers known for torturing and abuse of Iraqi prisoners in 2003 - 4. Zimbardo argues that the guards who committed the abuses were the victims of situational factors that made the abuse more likely

Question 17

Obedience to authority describe aim and procedure of Milgram’s shock learner teacher experimenter study

Answer 17

Aim: to find out wheteher ordinary americans would obey an unjust order from an authoriyty figure in order to inflilct pain on another person. milgram wanted to discover what factors in a situation led people to obey

Procedure: 40 male volunteers were selected and paid each $4.50. the ps wereinto chair told that the study concerned the role of punishment in learning rather than true aim which was to test obedience to authority. genuine p had teachers role and confederate played part of learner. the teacher was deceived into thinking treal shocks were administered when no shocks were actually administered. learners task was to memorise pairs of words. teachers role was to administer a shock every time the learner had made a mistake. shock generator had 30 levers indicating level of shock given. p watched confederate being strapped into chair in an adjoining room with electrodes attached to arms. shocks started at 15v and rose in 15v increments to 450v. if teacher hesitated to administer shock researcher encouraged p to continue. experiment continued until teacher refused to continue or 450v reached 4 times. the p then debriefed and taken to meet learner accomplice

Question 18

Obedience to authority describe findings and conclusions of Milgram’s shock learner teacher experimenter study

Answer 18

Findings: 65% ps actually went on giving shocks up to and including 450v. all ps gave shocks up to at least 300v. only 12.5% stopped at 300v. in interviews following the study milgram found that 74% of ps learnt something of personal importance as a result of being in the study. 84% said they were glad to have participated Only one p regretted taking part.

Conclusions: people will obey an authority figure even when the order would result in harming someone else . study does not demonstrate blind obedience as ps in a state of conflict although despite conflict they obeyed anyway. people have a strong tendency to obey authority figures even when against better judgement.

Question 19

Evaluate Milgram’s study in terms of ethics

Answer 19

Failure to protect ps - conflicting obedience showed high levels of stress and distress also shown by nervous twitching anguish n breaking out into nervous laughter many p were observed to sweat stutter tremble groan bite their lips and dig nails into flesh. full blown uncontrollable seizures were observed in 3 ps. may have suffered a loss of self esteem as result of apparent willingness to deliver electric shocks to a fellow p
Deception - aim of study hidden , lead to believe learner was a real p when in fact were a confederate , ps lead to believe administering real shocks to learner when none actually given.
Lack of informed consent - as a result of the deception there was a consequence of a lack of informed consent in that p were not informed of true nature and purposes of the experiment before participating in study.
Right to withdraw - not clear as to what extent ps felt they had the right to withdraw with verbal prods such as its vital you continue would have made it difficult for p to withdraw.
Difficult to justify variations when reactions to original so extreme

Question 20

Evaluate Milgram’s study in terms of validity

Answer 20

External validity - lack of ecological validity with low mundane realism and being in an artificial setting results could be unique due to taking place at yale uni. External validity present with temporal validity in later study producing similar results showing it to be continual phenom. population validity also present in similar results with females later. obedience still high on dodgy environment although lower.

Internal validity - lack of experimental realism and presence of demand chaacteristics as a result. Orne and Holland possible didnt believe in investigation due to being held at such a prestigious uni who wouldnt allow fore individuals tobe harmed thus demonstration of demand charcateristics. Still internal validity in that reactions were exterme and so therefore not DCs genuine belief to get as stressed as ps got also due to deception couldnt be high level of DC ps also conflicted in their obedience.

Question 21

Situational variables affecting obedience Milgram’s variation proximity

Answer 21

In the original experiment the teacher n learner were in separate rooms n couldn’t see each other. Milgram increased the proximity of the teacher and the learner in two of his variations. Increasing the proximity serves to remove buffers. When teacher n learner in same room with proximity of about 46cm the obedience rate up to 450v dropped down to 40% . When teacher pressed learners hand on shock plate obedience rate up to 450v dropped to 30%.
In terms of proximity of authority figure Milgram found that when the experimenter gave left the room and gave orders via telephone obedience rate up to 450v dropped to 21%

Question 22

Situational variables affecting obedience Milgram’s variation location

Answer 22

Many participants from original experiment claimed that they had continued delivering shocks because experiment held in a highly prestigious institution Yale uni so another experiment was carried out in a rundown office in downtown location this resulted in obedience rate up to 450v dropping to 48%

Question 23

Describe research into uniform as a Situational variable affecting obedience

Answer 23

Bickman field experiment - 3 male experimenters gave orders to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in Brooklyn NY. Experimenters were dressed in one of three ways a jacket n tie a milkmans uniform or a guards uniform that looked like a police officer. The experimenter gave one of three orders pointing to a bag on the street saying pick up this bag for me. Nodding in direction of a confederate saying this fellow has over paid at the meter but doesn’t have any change give him a dime or approaching a p at a bus stop saying don’t you know you have to stand on the other side of the pole this sign says no standing. Bickman found that when the ex was dressed as a guard ps were more likely to obey than other costumes 92% p complied w request to lend money when asked by experimenter in guards uniform compared to 49% when in ordinary clothes.

Bushman used a similar method to bickman but this time bushman used a female confederate who was either dressed in uniform or smart clothes. The female confederate ordered passers by to give a small amount of change to a motorist searching for money at a parking meter. Findings 70% complied when female uniformed compare to 58% when wearing ordinary smart clothes.

Question 24

what were milgram’s justification of ethical issues

Answer 24

Milgram argued that the harm couldn’t of been anticipated. No one thought ps would be obedient to that degree. Prior to research milgram asked students n 40 psychiatrists how they thought ps would respond. They thought most people would stop at 150v so not predicted to be as stressful as it was. Ps did meet confederate afterwards to reassure them that he was unharmed. Ps were given the opportunity to discuss their feelings. Psychiatrists interviewed ps year after the study and reported no evidence of emotional harm arising from the participation of the study. 74% claimed to hav3 learnt something of personal importance. Only one person regretted taking part. 84% glad to have taken part. Has been argued that the value of the study justifies th3 methods. Ethical objections due to findings not experiment as had the findings nor have been so disturbing there may not have been ethical objections.

Question 25

legitimacy of authority research

Answer 25

Hofling et al - identical boxes of capsules were placed in 22 wards of both public and private psychiatric hospitals in the USA. The capsules were labelled 5mg capsules. The label also indicated that maximum dose was 10mg the capsules were in fact placebos. While nurse was on duty a confederate acting as a doctor instructed the nurse via telephone to give 20mg of the drug to his patient and he was in a desperate hurry n patient needed the capsules. Said he would come in to see patient in 10 mins time n that he would sign the authorisation document for the drug when he got there. To comply to the request the nurses would be breaking 3 basic procedural rules does was above maximum daily dose x2. Drugs should only be given after written authority has been obtained and nurse must be sure that Dr Smith is a genuine doctor. A real doctor was posted nearby to observe what the nurse did following the phone call whatever the course of action the observer doctor debriefed the nurse. 21/22 complied unhesitatingly while 11 later said they had not noticed the dosage discrepancy.

Question 26

Evidence for agentic state

Answer 26

Dambrum and Vatine found that the ps who gave the most amount of shocks in the milgram situation tended to hold the experimenter and victim responsible rather than themselves. Those who gave the fewest shocks accepted personal responsibility and didn’t hold the experimenter and victim responsible. Those who gave most shocks in an agentic state while those who gave fewest shocks were in autonomous state. However

Question 27

Support for view that those with authoritarian personality are more obedient?

Answer 27

Elms and milgram carried out a follow up study using ps who had previously taken part in one of milgram experiments into obedience selected 20 ps who had gone up to 450v (obedient) and 20 who refused to continue at some point during the experiment (defiant) they completed 2 personality tests including the f scale. Findings indicated that there were no differences between obedient and defiant ps on MMPI however those found to score higher on F scale (score higher on authoritarianism than defiant) this suggests that authoritarian personality has an effect on level of obedience while other personalities don’t seem to have an effect on obedience. However.... two thirds of ps in milgrams experiments were fully obedient but far fewer would actually have an authoritarian personality. Social context variations of experiment had a significant impact on obedience levels indicating that situational variables are the primary influence rather than personality variables.

Question 28

Evidence for social support in resisting SI?

Answer 28

Asch found if there was a dissenter amongst the confederates (one person gave a diff answer than other confederates) the real p more likely to give correct answer thus resist group pressure to conform with conformity levels dropping to 5.5% when ps received social support from an ally. Social support also breaks unamity in this case whether giving right or wrong answer. Breaking unanimous position of majority indicates to individual that there are alternative legitimate ways of thinking/responding. Also importance of response order found by Allen and Levine with one condition where correct answer given first and p give answer last. Other condition confederate gave correct answer following all wrong answers just before p answered. Found condition 1 produced least conformity. Thought that this condition lead to early enough commitment for own judgement to endure exposure to group pressure. Also shows mere presence of a dissenter not enough as order makes it more complex than originally thought.

Question 29

Studies into locus of control

Answer 29

Avtgis carried out a meta analysis of studies which considered locus of control and conformity n found those who scored higher on external locus of control were more easily persuaded and likely to conform than those with a low score. Average correlation was 0.37 which was statistically significant which supports the link between conformity and locus of control. Elms n milgram investigated ps who’d been disobedient in first four of milgrams experiments. Found that ps with a high level of internal locus of control and also scored high on social responsibility scale were disobedient supporting link between LOC and obedience with those who disobeyed feeling they have high social responsibility. Oliner and Oliner nazi germany study

Question 30

Describe procedure and findings of Moscovici et al (study into minority influence)

Answer 30

Procedure - each group comprised of four naive ps and a minority of two confederates. They were shown a series of blue slides that varied only in intensity n were asked to judge the the colour of each slide. In the consistent experimental condition the two confederates repeatedly called the blue slides green saying green on every trial. In inconsistent condition confederates called slides green on two thirds of trials and remaining one third called slide blue. Control condition had no confederates and slides were called blue throughout . Findings - a consistent minority had the most influence on % green responses.

Question 31

Evaluation point for tipping point of commitment

Answer 31

After development of tipping point (when no of people holding minority position is sufficient to change majority opinion)they developed computer models of social networks with individuals being free to chat with one another. Each individual held a traditional view but were also open to other views. Researchers then added some committed individuals representing an alternative view which was expressed consistently. If listener held same opinion as speaker it reinforced listeners belief. If opinion different listener considered it and moved on to talk to another individual. If that individual held the new belief the listener adopted it. After a while opinions began to shift. Percentage of committed opinion holders necessary to tip majority into accepting minority position was just 10% . Also refers to snow ball effect.

Question 32

Research evidence to support flexibility

Answer 32

Nemeth and Brilmayer studied the role of flexibility simulated in a jury situation where group members discussed the amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in a ski lift accident. When confederate put forward alternative point of view and refused to change his position this had no effect on group members. A confederate who compromised and thus showed some degree of shift towards the majority did exert an influence on the rest of the group however this was only evident in those who shifted late in negotiations showing flexibility here in shifting late rather than shifting early where it made the minority see as if they had caved in.

Question 33

Explain what is meant by the question do we really process the minority's message more

Answer 33

Mackie 1987 argues that the views of the minority do not necessarily lead to greater processing but rather it is the majority who are more likely to create greater message processing we tend to believe that the majority of group members share similar beliefs to ours . If the majority express a different belief from the one we hold we must consider it carefully to understand why this is the case. By contrast people tend not to waste time trying to process why a minorities message is different therefore it tends to be less rather than more influential .

Question 34

Explain the most of us study to support social norms interventions

Answer 34

Most of us don’t drink and drive - designed to reduce drinking and driving among young adults aged 21-34 in Montana USA. This age group had been over represented in alcohol related crashes state wide . An initial survey found that while only 20.4% of Montana young adults reported having driven within one hour of consuming two or more drinks in the previous month . 92% of respondents believed that the majority of there peers had done so by correcting this misperception with the simple message that most Montana young adults four out of five don’t drink and drive . The research has found that the prevalence of reported driving after drinking was reduced by 13.7% compared to counties that did not run the campaign . The corrections of misperceptions about the norm of driving after drinking led to positive changes in personal attitudes among the target population along with a reduction in there reported frequency of risky behaviours.

Question 35

Explain what is meant by the boomerang effect in social change

Answer 35

SCHULTZ et al suggested an unwelcome problem with social norms interventions. While they are typically aimed at individuals whose behaviour is less desirable than the norm the wide spread nature of the approach can mean that those whose behaviour is more desirable may Engage with more destructive behaviour with evidence for this in there own research where a social norms campaign was effective in getting heavy energy users to use less electricity, but also caused those who used less than the norm to increase there usage.

Question 36

Explain the evaluation point of being perceived as a deviant minority and how it limits influence of minorities and how it can be overcome.

Answer 36

There is a potential for minorities to influence social change in a limited way because they are seen as deviant in the eyes of the majority. Members of the majority may avoid aligning themselves with the minority position because they do not want to be seen as deviant themselves. The message of the message of the minority would then have very little impact because the focus on he majorities attention would be the source of the message rather than the message itself. An example of over coming this is the birth of communism . To avoid being portrayed as the deviants communists made it clear in there communist manifesto that they had no interests separate from the working class (the majority). In fact the communist minority emphasised that they were part of the working class saying it was those above them that were against them.

Question 37

What are the limitations of the social norms approach to social change?

Answer 37

Not all social norms interventions have led to social change researches tests the effectiveness of social norms marketing campaigns to drive down alcohol use among students across 14 different college sites. Surveys were conducted by post at the beginning of the study and three years after the campaign had finished. Despite receiving normative information that corrected their misperceptions of subjective drinking norms students in social norms condition did not show lower perceptions of student drinking levels nor did they report lower self reported alcohol consumption as a result of the campaign.