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Social Psychology (SOC) Flashcards

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1
Q

Social Influence

A

Process by which individuals and groups change each others attitudes or behaviours

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2
Q

Conformity

A

Type of majority influence. An individual changes their behaviour or opinions to be the same as the group.

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3
Q

Obedience

A

An individual does what an authority figure tells them

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4
Q

Minority influence

A

Individual or small group persuades an individual or larger group to go along with minority instead of majority

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5
Q

Independent behavior

A

when an individual resists the pressures to conform or to obey. Behaves how they would have done without influence of others.

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6
Q

Asch: study of conformity

A

Sample: 123 American men in groups with 5-7 confederates.

Task: to identify which line is same length as a test line

Procedure: confederates gave wrong answer on 12/18 trials.

Control group of 36 ppts tested individually made very few errors

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7
Q

Basic results of Aschs experiment

A

Pps conformed on 37% of trials

i.e. total and overall average

(Each pp was tested for conformity on 12/18 trials)

75% conformed at least once

So, 25% never conformed

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8
Q

Compliance

A

Going along with the group publicly / in behaviour

…but holding a different opinion privately 

Superficial / temporary agreement with the group

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9
Q

Identification

A

Conforming to the group because we value it

Genuine change to opinion, not just behavior

Change of opinion not necessarily permanent 

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10
Q

Internalisation

A

Private and public agreement with group

Permanent change to opinion and behaviour

Conversion to opinion of group

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11
Q

Explain the key difference between:

Identification and compliance?

A

Change of belief in identification, whereas only a change of behaviour in compliance.

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12
Q

Explain the key difference between Identification and internalisation?

A

Change is temporary in identification whereas it is permanent in internalisation.

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13
Q

Informational social influence (ISI)

A

Conforming to have correct beliefs, want to be right, are uncertain, think that group are more likely to be right

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14
Q

Normative social influence (NSI)

A

Conforming to be liked / accepted, feel normal, think that group will reject us

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15
Q

What are extraneous variable?

A

Uncontrolled variables that interfere with the effect of the IV on the DV

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16
Q

What are demand Characteristics?

A

Any cue from the situation / researcher that leads to pps trying to guess the hypothesis

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17
Q

Explain one result from a variation of Asch’s research that supports the influence of normative social influence on conformity

A
  • Asch’s ‘private answer’ variation.
  • Participant arrives ‘late’, answers on paper

(This is just a cover story to get the pp to answer privately)

  • Exposed to confederates’ answers but not to normative influence
  • Conformity fell to 12.5%
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18
Q

In the private answer variation of Asch’s conformity experiment, conformity fell from 37% to 12.5%. Explain why this can be interpreted as showing that NSI is twice as important as ISI in explaining conformity

A
  • Answering privately eliminates NSI
  • Conformity drops by about 2/3…
  • …which is the proportion of the original conformity due to NSI, while the rest (1/3) is due to ISI
  • So, 2/3 of the conformity is due to NSI, 1/3 to NSI
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19
Q

Explain a variation of Asch’s research that supports the influence of informational social influence on conformity

A
  • Asch’s ‘task difficulty’ variation
  • Lines made more or less similar to each other
  • Making lines more similar in length increases conformity
  • Asch’s ‘task difficulty’ variation
  • Lines made more or less similar to each other
  • Making lines more similar in length increases conformity
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20
Q

Explain research by Lucas that supports the influence of informational social influence on conformity

A
  • Lucas’ ‘task difficulty’ experiments.
  • Participants asked maths questions in front of confederates giving wrong answers
  • Conformed more often when questions were hard than when they were easy.
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21
Q

What can ISI and NSI not explain about conformity

A

Individual differences

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22
Q

Explain reasons for believing that participants in Asch’s experiment responded to demand characteristics

A
  • Participants knew they were in an experiment
  • Might have been suspicious
  • e.g., of acting by confederates / obviousness or oddness of task
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23
Q

What did Asch do to reduce the possibility of participants responding to demand characteristics

A
  • Told them it was a study of perception of line length
  • Used deception
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24
Q

Identify one feature of Asch’s experiment that makes it lack ecological validity

A

· The task was trivial and being wrong had no real consequences

· Real- life conformity is more important, e.g., moral dilemmas

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25
Q

Identify ways in which the ‘groups’ in Asch’s study are (a) similar to and (b) different from everyday groups. What is the impact of each of these?

A

Similar

  • Participant was same age, gender and background as confederates
  • Reduces population validity / generalisability

Different

  • Group had no history, did not communicate and had no future
  • Reduces ecological validity
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26
Q

Explain limitations of the sample in Asch’s study of conformity

A
  • All male, young, students, from US.
  • Sample is unrepresentative of / results may not generalise to females, adults, non- Americans.
  • e.g., cross- cultural studies find higher rates of conformity in collectivistic cultures than individualistic cultures
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27
Q

What are confounding variable

A

a third variable that influences both the independent and dependent variables.
E.G.- Coffee drinkers may smoke more cigarettes than non-coffee drinkers, so smoking is a confounding variable in the study of the association between coffee drinking and heart disease. The increase in heart disease may be due to the smoking and not the coffee.

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28
Q

Naturalistic Observation

A

Takes place where behavior is normally likely to occur
More ecologically valid

29
Q

Controlled observation

A

Takes place in a set- up situation, often lab- like setting
More control over variables

30
Q

Overt

A

Participant aware they
are being observed
More
demand characteristics

31
Q

Covert

A

Participant unaware they are being observed, researcher is often hidden

32
Q

Participant

A

Researcher becomes part of the group
being observed
Useful for research on ‘closed’ groups

33
Q

Non- participant

A

Researcher is not part of the group being observed
More objective

34
Q

Explain (a) who participants were (b) how they were recruited and (c) allocated to roles in Zimbardo’s study of conformity to social roles

A
  • 21 ‘emotionally stable’ students …
  • Volunteers recruited through advertisement
  • .Randomly allocated to roles of prisoners and guards
  • 21 ‘emotionally stable’ students …
  • Volunteers recruited through advertisement
  • .Randomly allocated to roles of prisoners and guards
35
Q

Explain how guards and prisoners were inducted into their roles

A

Use of uniforms

  • Loose smock and cap for prisoners
  • Uniforms and shades for guards

Instructions about behaviour

  • Guards told they just had to keep order
  • Prisoners applied for ‘parole’ to leave study
36
Q

Identify two examples of behaviour exhibited towards prisoners by guards

A
  • Harassed prisoners / punished minor misdemeanours
  • Applied arbitrary rule / divide and rule tactics
  • About 1/3 behaved harshly, 1/3 fair, about 1/3 helped prisoners
37
Q

Identify examples of behaviour exhibited by prisoners

A
  • After initial revolt, became divided
  • Became submissive / withdrawn and depressed
  • 90% of conversations were about prison life
38
Q

Explain two conclusions that Zimbardo drew from his results

A
  • Shows power of conformity to social roles
  • Shows power of situation over behaviour
39
Q

Explain why random allocation to roles is key to Zimbardo’s experiment

A
  • This is a control for individual differences,
  • …i.e., to demonstrate that participants really were conforming to social roles
  • Random allocation reduces chances of individual differences affecting behaviour
40
Q

Explain why random allocation to roles may not have worked in the way it should have done in Zimbardo’s experiment

A
  • Small sample, so random allocation more likely to fail just by chance
  • Participants could influence each other as the study went on for a long time and they interacted
  • The ‘John Wayne’ guard seemed unusually dominant, and influenced other guards
41
Q

Explain reasons for the claim that Zimbardo’s experiment had good realism / ecological validity

A
  • Participants immersed in roles
  • e.g., 90% of prisoners’ conversations were about prison life, asked for ‘parole’ rather than to withdraw
42
Q

Explain reasons against the claim that Zimbardo’s experiment had good realism / ecological validity

A
  • ‘John Wayne’ guard admitted he was trying to make things happen / based his behaviour on a film character
  • …i.e., was acting
43
Q

Explain evidence on individual differences in behaviour between guards and what this suggests

A
  • Only 1/3 of guards were brutal
  • 1/3 were sympathetic to prisoners
  • Suggests Zimbardo overstated role of situation / social roles
44
Q

Explain the key aspects of the procedure of Milgram’s study of obedience

A
  • 40 US men given role of teacher through fixed draw.
  • Ordered to give ‘shocks’ to learner by experimenter….
  • …when a ‘learner’ made an error on a word recall task
  • Shocks increased 15 volts with each mistake, up to 450v.
  • 40 US men given role of teacher through fixed draw.
  • Ordered to give ‘shocks’ to learner by experimenter….
  • …when a ‘learner’ made an error on a word recall task
  • Shocks increased 15 volts with each mistake, up to 450v.
45
Q

Explain the findings of the baseline variation of Milgram’s study of obedience

A
  • 65% went up to the top of the shock scale, 450v.
  • 100% went to 300v
  • Many showed signs of stress, most objected but continued anyway.
  • Prior survey said 3% would obey.
46
Q

Explain what conclusions can be drawn (solely) from the baseline variation of the experiment

A
  • People much more likely to obey than most of us think
  • We underestimate impact of the situation on behaviour and overestimate impact of personality
47
Q

Identify where the ‘location’ variation took place, the % obedient and why the % obedience changed

A
  • Run- down office block: experiment run by a ‘business’
  • Obedience dropped to 47.5%
  • Business lacked authority of science present at Yale
48
Q

Identify how the proximity variation worked, the % obedient and why the % obedience changed

A
  • Teacher and learner in same room.
  • Obedience dropped to 40%
  • Teacher could see the learner’s suffering
49
Q

Explain reasons why some psychologists believe that participants in Milgram’s experiment were reacting to demand characteristics

A
  • Pps would not think that researchers would harm pps during experiments
  • Screams etc on tape might sound fake
  • Variations, e.g., other teacher replaces experimenter, might be unconvincingly acted
  • Perry found evidence of pps questioning experimenter on tapes
50
Q

Explain reasons why some psychologists believe that participants in Milgram’s experiment were NOT reacting to demand characteristics

A
  • Stressed behaviour during experiment suggests pps believed shocks were real
  • Majority of pps said afterwards that they did believe shocks were real
  • Pps gave real shocks to puppies in Sheridan & King’s experiment
51
Q

Identify some standardised elements of the procedure of Milgram’s study of obedience, i.e., examples of good control over extraneous variables

A
  • Feedback from learner on tape
  • ‘Prods’ used by experimenter
  • Feedback from learner on tape
  • ‘Prods’ used by experimenter
52
Q

Explain why there might have been extraneous variables that arose from the experimenter’s behaviour over time

A
  • Hard to be consistent actor over time / between conditions
  • Perry found evidence of increased confidence / authority over time from experimenter
53
Q

Explain reasons to think that Milgram’s study has good mundane realism

A
  • Involved an authority figure + subordinate / hierarchical relationship
  • Authority came from socially sanctioned role / uniform
54
Q

Explain reasons to think that Milgram’s study has bad mundane realism

A
  • Giving shocks for making errors in learning is an unusual / rare / extreme occurrence
  • Obedience usually builds up over time
55
Q

Explain the procedure and results of Hofling’s study of obedience

A
  • A confederate ‘Dr Smith’ phoned nurses working alone on wards at different hospitals.
  • He told them to give a patient 20 mg of a drug called ‘Astroten’
  • This broke hospital rules / was an overdose
  • 21/22 nurses obeyed the order
56
Q

Explain the procedure and results of Bickman’s study of obedience to authority

A
  • Confederates dressed in jacket and tie, milkman’s outfit or security guard’s uniform
  • Told pps to perform ‘helpful’ tasks, e.g., pick up litter
  • Pps were twice as likely to obey the confederate in a uniform
57
Q

Explain how Hofling and Bickman’s results are relevant to the ecological validity of Milgram’s study

A
  • Ecological validity = whether results generalise to other situations
  • Field experiments test whether the behaviour would occur in other, more realistic, situations
  • Show that people will obey authority figures (both studies)…
  • …even if this may harm others (Hofling)
58
Q

Explain how Asch’s study can be criticised for lack of protection of participants

A
  • Stressful to give different answer to rest of group
  • More stressful than everyday life
59
Q

Explain how Milgram’s study can be criticised for its use of deception

A
  • Contrary to what they were told, the experiment was about obedience (not learning and punishment)
  • They were the participant (not the ‘learner’) …
  • …and the screams were taped.
60
Q

Explain how Milgram’s study can be criticised for lack of protection of participants

A
  • Pps experienced lengthy, high anxiety as believed they were harming ‘learner’
  • More stressful than everyday life
61
Q

Explain how Zimbardo’s study can be criticised for lack of protection of participants

A
  • ‘Prisoners’ were humiliated / bullied by guards
  • More stressful than everyday life
  • ‘Prisoners’ were humiliated / bullied by guards
  • More stressful than everyday life
62
Q

Explain why there is a tension between validity and informed consent in much research in social psychology

A
  • Informed consent involves being aware of anything that might affect willingness to take part in a study
  • But knowing aim may well reduce / destroy validity
    *Conversely, therefore, a valid study may be unethical.
63
Q

Explain the concepts of the agentic state and agentic shift

A

*When a person acts on behalf of an authority figure
*Feels reduced responsibility and guilt for consequences of their actions

*When people move from the autonomous to the agentic state
*This reduces their sense of responsibility / guilt
* When we perceive someone else is an authority figure to be obeyed.

64
Q

Explain the concept of legitimate authority (3)

A

*Someone who is perceived to have the right to tell you what to do

*Because they have been entrusted by society with certain responsibilities

*We recognise the authority figure’s right to issue a demand

65
Q

Explain two incidents from Milgram’s experiment that support the idea that the agentic state leads to obedience

A

*When the experimenter said that he was responsible for what happened to the ‘learner’…

  • …most pps continued to give shocks

(Agentic shift)

*When the experimenter said, ‘You have no other choice; you must go on…’…

  • …all pps refused to continue

(Shift from agentic to autonomous state)

66
Q

Explain how results from Bickman’s and Hofling’s field experiments support the idea that perception of legitimate authority leads to obedience

A

*Bickman: 2x higher obedience when…

  • … confederate was dressed in security guard’s uniform than milkman’s uniform or suit and tie

*Hofling: 21/22 nurses obeyed a doctor’s order…

*… and were willing to give an overdose of a drug to a patient

67
Q

*During WW2, the German Police Battalion 101 was based in Poland

*Orders came from above to massacre Jews, but the order was not enforced, so taking part was voluntary

(i)Killing was performed face- to- face and they saw their suffering

(ii)The battalion members were alone with their victims

*Which two variations of Milgram do these resemble? (2)

*What were the obedience rates in these variations? (2)

  • What does the actions of the battalion suggest?
A

*Proximity variations

(i)Teacher- learner, in same room, obedience fell to 40%

(ii)Experimenter- teacher, orders by phone, obedience fell to 20%

  • Actions of battalion suggest they were prejudiced against Jews, not ‘just obeying orders’ (as Milgram argued)
68
Q
A

Psychology (8 decks)

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