Social Influence Studies

Question 1

Who did research for conformity?

Answer 1

Asch

Question 2

What was the aim of Asch’s study?

Answer 2

To examine how social pressure from a majority could affect someone’s behaviour

Question 3

What was the procedure for Asch’s study?

Answer 3

-123 male students believed they were taking part in a visual perception task

-Asch used a line judgement task , where he placed real participants in a room with seven confederates, who agreed their answers in advance

-The real participant was always sat second to last or last

-Each person had to say out loud which line (a, b, or c) was like the target line in length. The correct answer was always obvious

-Each participant completed 18 trials and the confederates gave the same incorrect answer on 12 trials, called critical trials

Question 4

What were the findings for Asch’s study?

Answer 4

-The real participant conformed to the incorrect answers on 36.8% of the critical trials

-75% of participants conformed on at least on critical trial and 25% never conformed

-Asch also used a control group, in which one real participant completed the same experiment without any confederates. He found that less than 1% of the participants gave an incorrect answer

Question 5

What did Asch’s study conclude?

Answer 5

-Individuals’ judgements are affected by majority influence

-Participants conformed due to normative social influence out of a desire to fit in and fear of rejection

Question 6

What was the purpose of the critical trials?

Answer 6

The purpose of these critical trials was to see if the participants would change their answer in order to conform to how the others in the group responded

Question 7

What were the variables used in Asch’s study?

Answer 7

-Group size
-Unanimity
-Task difficulty

Question 8

Explain the effects of group size in Asch’s study

Answer 8

-Between 1-16 confederates, there was a linear relationship with conformity only to a certain extent

-When there were 3 confederates, this lead to conformity rising to 31.8% but any more made little difference. This shows that people are sensitive to the view of other people

Question 9

Explain the effects of unanimity in Asch’s study?

Answer 9

• In study 1, the dissenter gives the correct answer
• In study 2, the dissenter gives a different, incorrect answer

-The genuine participant conformed less often, when in the presence of a non-conforming person, even when they disagreed with them

Question 10

Explain the effects of task difficulty in Asch’s study?

Answer 10

He made the lines more similar, increasing the rate of conformity as the answer was more ambiguous

Question 11

Evaluate the limitations of Asch’s study

Answer 11

-The experiment was artificial

-Participants knew they were in a study, so they may have been going along with what was expected. This increases demand characteristics

-The task was trivial as it wasn’t that serious

-It doesn’t resemble a real life situation

-Limited application as there were only American men. The US is more individualistic compared to other countries

Question 12

What other research was there that contested Asch’s study?

Answer 12

Todd Lucas et al.

Question 13

Explain Todd Lucas et al’s variation of Asch’s study

Answer 13

Todd Lucas et al asked participants to solve easy and hard maths questions

Question 14

What were the findings of Todd Lucas et al’s research?

Answer 14

He found that when presented with difficult maths problems to solve, participants were more likely to conform to the majority answer, showing that people will conform out of a need to be right (ISI)

Question 15

What did Todd Lucas et al conclude?

Answer 15

-Conformity is more complicated as ability and characteristics affect conformity

Question 16

Who did research for conformity to social roles?

Answer 16

Zimbardo

Question 17

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 17

-How readily people would conform to the
social roles of guard and prisoner in a role
playing exercise that simulated prison life

-He also wanted to examine whether the behaviour displayed was due to the people themselves (internal dispositional factors) or the environment and conditions of the prison (external situational factors)

Question 18

What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 18

-Zimbardo converted a basement of Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison

-He advertised for 21 male students to play the role of prisoners and guard for 2 weeks

-Participants were randomly assigned

-Prisoners were:
Blindfolded, strip-searched, issued a uniform, referred to by number only

-Guards were:
Issued a khaki uniform together with whistles, handcuffs, and dark glasses

-Guards worked shifts , eight hours each

-No physical violence was permitted

-Zimbardo observed behaviour as researcher and prison warden

Question 19

What were the findings for Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 19

Guards:
-Harassed prisoners
-Behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner
and apparently enjoyed it
-As the prisoners became more submissive,
the guards became more aggressive and
assertive

Prisoners:
-Soon adopted prison-like behaviour
-They told tales on each other to please the
guards
-They started taking prison rules very seriously

Question 20

What were the conclusions from Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 20

-People quickly conform to social roles even
when the role goes against their moral
principles

-Situational factors were largely responsible
for the behaviours found as participants
had never previously demonstrated these
behaviours

Question 21

Evaluate the limitations Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 21

-People quickly conform to social roles even
when the role goes against their moral
principles

-Situational factors were largely responsible
for the behaviours found as participants
had never previously demonstrated these
behaviours

Question 22

Evaluate the strengths of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 22

-People quickly conform to social roles even
when the role goes against their moral
principles

-Situational factors were largely responsible
for the behaviours found as participants
had never previously demonstrated these
behaviours

Question 23

Who did research on obedience?

Answer 23

Milgram

Question 24

What was the aim of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 24

-He wanted to know if the Germans were different and more obedient to authority figures than people in other countries

-If ordinary American citizens would obey an unjust order from an authority figure to inflict pain on another person because they were instructed to

Question 25

What was the procedure of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 25

-40 male participants from a range of occupations and backgrounds responded to an ad in the local paper to take part in an experiment on “punishment and learning “

-The experiment was conducted at Yale University

-The experimenter explained one person would be randomly assigned to role of teacher , the other , learner

-The real participant was always teacher, and the learner was a confederate that gave predetermined answers

-Teacher watched learner being strapped to to electric chair and were given an example shock to convince them the procedure was real

-Learner was placed in adjacent room and the teacher was given a series of words to read

-The learner’s recall was then tested

-The teacher was told to give a shock for each incorrect answer and to increase after each incorrect answer

-As shocks increased the screaming became louder. 300v =weak heart, 315=bang on wall, 330=silence

-Experimenter continued until participant refused to continue or 450v was reached

Question 26

What were the findings from Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 26

-All real participants went to at least 300v

-65% continued until 450v

-Many participants showed signs of distress. Some trembled, stuttered, bit their lip, 3 had full blown, uncontrollable seizures

Question 27

What were the conclusions from Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 27

-Under the right circumstances ordinary people will obey unjust orders

-The Germans are not different to other people from different countries

Question 28

Evaluate the limitations of Milgram’s experiment

Answer 28

-Participants were allowed to leave, however may have felt uncomfortable exercising this right as they were being ordered to continue

-Participants thought shocks were real so potentially faced psychological harm

-The experiment is only targeted on white American men

• Use of deception

Question 29

Evaluate the strengths of Milgram’s experiment

Answer 29

-The laboratory setting allowed for a controlling of many variables

-Internal validity was good

-The experiment was reliable as it can be replicated and the results are consistent.