Social Influences on Behaviour Flashcards
Definition of group.
2 or more people who interact with each other, influence each other and share a common purpose.
Definition of status.
An individuals position in the group that are perceived by other people in the same group.
Definition of power.
An individual to an extent can influence or control other individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
Types of Power.
Reward power, Coercive power, Legitimate power, Expert power and Referent power.
Reward Power.
Example:
Provide the desired response, and get a reward.
Eg. parents giving their child a treat.
Coercive Power.
Example:
Use an unpleasant consequence (force).
Eg. Police.
Legitimate Power.
Example:
The power is given by a higher authority. A role/position.
Eg. School principle
Expert Power.
Example:
Power due to skills and depth of knowledge.
Eg. A doctor.
Referent Power.
Example:
Desire to relate to a powerful person; wanting to be like them/well liked.
Eg. A celebrity.
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, Aim:
To investigate Status and Power on behaviour.
Zimbardo’s IV.
Prisoner or Guard.
Zimbardo’s DV.
How they acted; their actions.
Zimbardo’s Participants:
20 male students, who were either a Guard or Prisoner.
Zimbardo’s Method:
Prisoners were “arrested” by real police, and were taken to a mock prison in the basement of a university campus building. They were put in certain circumstances, where the guards had more power over them. This experiment was to run for 14 days but got cut short to 6 days.
Zimbardo’s Results:
None of the prisoners stood up for themselves, they accepted that they were prisoners and the guards were of a higher status.
The guards abused their power, and none of the other guards stood up to Jone Wane (the main guard) he was the group leader; took charge.
The experiment only lasted for 6 days.
Ended because the guards’ treatment of the prisoners got out of hand.
Zimbardo’s Criticism:
Prisoners did not consent to being “arrested” at home, and the experiment was unpredictable and he didn’t know what would happen.
Zimbardo’s Ethical Issues:
- Withdrawal rights, tried to bribe them to stay.
- No harm principle, mentally harmed.
- Debriefing, appropriate debriefing was was not shown.
- Beneficence, more risks than benefits, risk of the prisoners getting hurt and PTSD.
Definition of Obedience.
Following the instructions of people of authority or rules/laws of society.
Factors that affect obedience:
- Status or authority figure.
- Proximity, how far or close someone/something is.
- Group pressure, (peer pressure)
Milgrim’s obedience experiment, Aim:
To investigate whether participants would obey an authority figure and carry out actions that cause severe pain to another person.
Milgrim’s Method:
The teacher (participant) would give the learner a shock, for every wrong answer they got. each time they got a question wrong, the voltage of the shocks got higher. This looked at obedience to see how obedient they were when the authority figure was in close proximity, and /or in the other room. In some cases, some of the participants could see the learner.
Milgrim’s IV:
How close or far away the experimenter is. In the room or outside the room; proximity of the authority figure.
Milgrim’s DV:
The obedience of the participants; how far they went on he volt level.
Migrim’s Results:
65% of the participants administered shock up to 450 volts - the highest shock level.
people were likely to perform actions contrary to their beliefs if they were instructed to do so by authority.
Milgrim’s Ethical Issues:
- No harm principle.
- Withdrawal rights.
- Beneficence.
- Deception.
- Debriefing
Definition of Conformity:
An alignment of one’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviour to match others or social expectations.
Doing something because others are doing it; want to fit in with the crowd.
Definition of Social Norms:
Unofficial rules and expectations of society, which regards how we ought to act that most people follow without thinking.
Asch’s Conformity Experiment, Aim:
To measure the extent to which individuals would conform to the majority group.
Asch’s Method:
There were 3 lines, and the participant was to align the target line with a, b or c. The target line was obvious with which line it matched up with. The participant was in a room with other people who were helping with the experiment. If everyone said the answer was “b” when the participant knew it wasn’t, they still conformed and said what everyone else thought.
Asch’s results:
74% of the participants conformed at least once, and 24% of the participants didn’t conform at any point during the study.
Asch’s conclusion:
People were willing to give the wrong answer in order to conform with the rest of the group.
So they weren’t sticking out from the group etc.
Their own opinions were influenced by the group.
Factors that affect conformity:
- Normative influence.
- Culture.
- Informational influence.
- Group size.
- Unanimity.
- Deindividuation.
- Social Loafing.
Normative influence.
People sometimes change their behaviour to be liked/accepted by others.
Culture:
Collectivist culture:
Individualistic culture:
Collectivist:
Prioritise the needs/goals of groups. (Asia)
Individualistic:
Prioritise the needs/goals of individuals and value independence. (Western)
Informational influence
Observe behaviours/information on an individual, which influences behaviour in certain environments:
eg. Asch’s experiment they said other people’s answers rather than their own.
(Conformity)
Group size.
Tendency to confrom to a larger group of people.
Big impact to conform to a large group.
(15 people???)
Unanimity.
When everyone in the group does the same thing.
Eg. In Asch’s experiment everyone said the same answers.
Deindividuation.
Tendency where individuals may lose their sense of identity and individuality due to being within a group.
Social Loafing.
To put less effort in when in a group, than a person would when alone.
Prosocial Behaviour.
Example:
Behaviour that is intended to help and benefit others, with little regard for one’s self-interest or personal safety; intentionally and voluntarily help someone or society.
Eg. Valued by society in a positive way.
Environmental (nurture) - Prosocial Behaviour.
- Personal satisfaction.
- Friendships.
Biological (nature) - Prosocial.
- survival of humankind (evolutionary).
- family/community.
(Prosocial Behaviour)
Situational Factors:
- Presence of others (bystander effect).
- Physical proximity.
- Risk.
- Timing.
- Sensory environmental cues.
(Prosocial)
Personal Factors:
- Empathy (understanding a person’s difficulties).
- Mood (being in a good mood increases wanting to help others).
- Ability (if you’re able to help or not).
- Attributions.
- Competence.
(Prosocial behaviour)
Social Factors:
- The social norm (norm; an action/behaviour that is expected in society).
- Reciprocity principle (‘Do unto (to) others as they do unto (to) you.’).
- Social responsibility ( Expected to help someone out in times of need and who are less fortunate than ourselves/depend on us).
Bystander effect:
The presence of other people (groups) in an emergency situation reduces the likelihood that someone else will provide help.
No one helped Kitty Genovese when she was getting harmed in an apartment building. Everyone could hear her screams, but no one got help, because they think someone in the group will, so they don’t have to.
Bystander intervention:
A bystander intervenes when there are less people around.
Why the bystander effect occurs.
- Diffusion of responsibility (someone else will step in).
- Ambiguity (unclear who is responsible).
- Audience inhibition (worried about being embarrassed/humiliated).
Bullying definition:
Making an individual or group feel distressed deliberately (on purpose). It can be either physical or verbal.
Overt Bullying:
Example:
The visible form of bullying, the physical harm of name calling. It is visible and explicit.
Eg. Someone intentionally pushes another person over several times (repeatedly).
Covert Bullying:
Example:
Indirect bullying (not visible), still causes significant levels of distress. Eg. Cyberbullying or intentionally inviting everyone in the group but one person.
Cyberbullying:
Example:
Bullying that occurs online and still causes psychological harm. (Falls into category of covert bullying).
Eg. Sending harmful messages online, posting something harmful towards a certain individual or group.
(Influence Bullying)
Situational Factors:
- Context of bullying.
- Number of bystanders.
- Sense of recognition/performance.
- Involved with aggressive peer groups.
- Social dominance.
(Influence Bullying)
Environmental Factors:
- Family or home environment.
- Poor parental supervision // negative home environment.
- Lack of safety or security at home.
- Taking negative emotions out on other people.
- Financial security // past trauma.
- Level of emotional support from family/friends.
Effects Of Bullying:
- Serious psychological and physical consequences of those involved.
- Weakening immune system.
- Stress.
- Mental health.
- Lead to illness.
- Prolongedd stress.
Influence of Social Media:
Includes every broadcasting medium, such as, the internet, newspapers, magazines, T.V, radio, billboards, telephone.
What are the 3 main uses of social media?
- A source of information.
- Entertainment.
- Social Communication.
Positive and Negative influences of T.V and Movies.
Positive:
- Increases general knowledge. eg. documentaries.
Negative:
- Provide inaccurate representations of peoples behaviour in the real world.
Positive and Negative influences of Video Games.
Positive:
- Educational games.
Negative:
- Social isolation; inhibits important social interactions.
Positive and Negative influences of Social Media.
Positive:
- Catch up with family and friends or meet new friends with similar interest.
Negative:
- Less face-to-face contact with people/social isolation.
Positive and Negative influences of Advertising.
Positive:
- New products and sevices; good deals etc.
Negative:
- Unrealistic beauty standards; false and misleading.
What are the ethical considerations?
- No harm principle.
- Withdrawl rights.
- Beneficience.
- Deception.
- Debriefing.
No harm principle definiton.
Participants don’t experience any pysical or psychological harm.
Withdrawal rights definition.
Participants are able to leave the expierment whenever they leave, without any question.
Beneficience definition.
Consider the welfare of the participants.
Deception definition.
Misleading others.
Debriefing definition.
Talk to the participants about the experiment afterwards.
Independent Variable.
Variable you are controling and manipulating.
Dependent variable.
what you are trying to measure.
Extraneous Variable
Potentional to affect the experiment.
Something experimenters cannot control.
Control groups.
Not exposed to independent variable.
Determines significant indifference.
IV has an impact on the DV.
Experimental groups.
Group exposed to the independent variable.
What are the research designs?
- Experiment.
- Case Study.
- Naturalistic.
- Self-reports.
Experimental reseach design.
Manipulates the IV and measure its effect on the DV.
+ Controlled condition; reduces EV’s.
- Not always in ‘normal’ environments; can be confound (confusion).
Case study research design.
In depth account of individuals/groups; interviews, observations and psychological tests.
+ Direct future research.
- Time consuming.
Naturalistic (observe) research design.
Actively watching behaviour in natural settings
+ View peoples normal behaviour.
- Observer bias may occur.
Self reports research design.
Freely express thoughts, by answering quesions based on a particular object/person/experience/issue.
+ Better understand perspective of participants.
- Difficuly to validate because data is subjective.
