Unit 2-social Flashcards

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0
Q

Compliance

1st type of conformity

A
  • when a person conforms out loud with the views or behaviours expressed by others in the group
  • but continues privately to disagree
  • their personal views on the subject do not change
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1
Q

Conformity

A

Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.

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2
Q

Identification (2nd type of conformity)

A
  • an individual adopts the views or behaviour of a group both publicly and privately
  • however the new attitudes and behaviour are temporary and not maintained after leaving the group
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3
Q

Internalisation

3rd type of conformity

A
  • occurs when an individual truly alters their behaviour and opinions to those of a group
  • the new attitudes and behaviours have become part of your value systems and are not dependent on the presence of the group (opinions remain the same even when they are no longer with the group)
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4
Q

Conformity to majority- Ao1 study

  • Asch 1956
  • participants
  • procedures
A

-123 American male student volunteers

  • believed they were taking part in a study of visual perception
  • individuals were placed in groups of 7-9 people who were confederates
  • task was to say which comparison line A,B or C was the same as the stimulus line
  • was a control group with no confederates to see if it was possible for participants to make a mistake
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5
Q

Conformity to majority- Ao1 study

  • Asch 1956
  • findings
A
  • on the 12 critical trials there was a 32% conformity rate to wrong answers
  • 75% of participants conformed to at least one wrong answer
  • 25% of participants never conformed in any trial
  • control group only had an error of 0.04>stimulus lines were unambiguous
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6
Q

Conformity to majority- Ao1 study

  • Asch 1956
  • conclusions
A

The judgments of individuals are affected by majority opinions, even when the majority are wrong

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7
Q

Variations in Asch study

1.) Difficulty of the tsk

A
  • when Asch made the lengths of the lines much smaller> the levels of conformity increased
  • suggests that we are more likely to conform to a majority when we are unsure about something
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8
Q

Variations in Asch study:

2.) Size of the majority

A
  • little conformity when the majority consisted of 2 or 3 individuals
  • when the majority was 3 conformity rate increased to 30%
  • further increases in the size of the majority did not make a difference
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9
Q

Variations in the Asch study

3.) The unanimity of the majority

A
  • when the real participant was given support by another real participant or a confederate conformity levels decreased
  • errors decreased from 32% to 5.5%
  • Asch concluded that it was breaking the groups consensus that caused a decrease in conformity
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10
Q

Asch- conformity AO2 (strength)

-Jenness (1932)

A
  • asked participants to guess the number of beans in a jar
  • after allowing participants to discuss their estimates with others
  • found that their estimates converged to the group norm
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11
Q

Asch-conformity AO2 (strength)

  • reliability
  • control group error rate
A
  • high in reliability because the research was carried out in a laboratory environment
  • suggests that the research can be tested and re-tested if replicated at a later date

-control group had an error rate of 0.04% (3/720) increasing the validity

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12
Q

ash- conformity- limitations AO2

-lacks population validity

A
  • only used on American male students
  • Problem because it makes the study difficult to generalise to other populations
  • e.g conformity rates could be lower if he used ,ale professionals
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13
Q

ash- conformity- limitations AO2

-Lacks mundane realism

A
  • carried out in an artificial setting
  • using unrealistic task
  • conformity rates would be lower if participants were tested in their natural environment with a more realistic task
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14
Q

ash- conformity- limitations AO2

ethical issue: deception

A
  • participant did not know the real purpose of the experiment
  • participants did not know that the other participants were confederates
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15
Q

ash- conformity- limitations AO2

-research contradicting -Perrin 1980

A
  • repeated the study in England with science and engineering students
  • 1 conforming response out of 396
  • suggests that Aschs findings are unique to the 1950s America when people were scared to be different
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16
Q

Culture and conformity- Smith and Bond

aim and procedure

A

aim: investigated cultural differences in conformity

Procedures: -carried out a meta-analysis of 134 studies which used the same/ similar procedure to Aschs original experiment

  • usa&uk are classified as individualistic
  • Japan and Fiji are classified as collectivistic
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17
Q

Culture and conformity- Smith and Bond

Findings

A
  • collectivistic culture had higher conformity rates than individualistic culture
  • Us conformity rates decreased steadily since Asch’s study
  • conformity rates were higher when: size of majority increased, more ambitious stimuli and women were included
18
Q

Culture and conformity- Smith and Bond

-Limitations

A
  • Line judgment task may be more meaningful in some countries/cultures
  • It is those differences rather than social differences affecting the results
19
Q

Explanation of conformity-Ao1

-Normative social influence

A
  • people have a need for social companionship and want to be accept and a fear of rejection
  • explanation of conformity type compliance
  • represents a compromise in a situation where there is a conflict between our opinions and others
20
Q

Explanation of conformity-Ao2

-strength of Normative social influence

A
  • Can be used to explain the negative and positive attitudes to groups as being related to how socially acceptable groups are
  • e.g negative attitudes towards groups as they are not socially acceptable leads to others conforming to that negative attitude as they fear rejection from their own group
21
Q

Explanation of conformity- ao1

-Informational social influence

A
  • argues that we have a need to be confident that our ideas and beliefs are correct
  • when we are unsure about something we seek others opinions(occur in unfamiliar situations)
  • form our own opinions when learning others
  • conformity type: internalisation
22
Q

Explanation of conformity- ao2

  • Informational social influence
  • Supported by wittenbrink and Henly (1996)
A
  • Found that participants who were exposed to negative comparison information about African Americans and were led to believe this was the view of the majority later in life were found to still have negative beliefs about black individuals
  • suggests that exposure to other people’s beliefs has an important influence
23
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) Ao1

-Aim,participants and sampling method

A

aim: to investigate whether ordinary pele will obey authority even when required to injure and ordinary person

Participants: 40 American males aged 20-50

Sampling method: Volunteer sampling

24
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO1

-findings

A
  • 65% of participants went to 450 volts
  • all participants went to 300 volts
  • findings demonstrate that ordinary people are obedient to authority
  • suggest that it is not evil people that commit atrocities but ordinary people
25
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO1

-procedure

A

-2 confederates 1= experimenter (authority figure)
1=man who played the learner
-participants were told that they must increase the voltage of the shocks the more questions the learner gets incorrect
-if the teacher asked to stop the experiment, the experimenter had a set of prods to ensure that the participant carries on

26
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO2

-methodological criticism
Only females

A
  • research was androcentric as only males were used
  • findings cannot be generalised to females
  • e.g obedience levels may be higher if Milgram had used females in his experiment
27
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO2

-methodological strength

A
  • a strength of mil grams research is that he established the basic method (paradigm) for studying obedience
  • Milgrams paradigm has been used in many countries to study obedience
28
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO2

-ethical issue
Deception

A
  • Milgram deceived his participants by not telling them the true aims of this study
  • However he argued that the experiment would have been meaningless without some degree of deception
  • this denied participants the right to informed consent
29
Q

obedience experiment -Milgram (1963) AO2

-ethical issue
Right to withdraw

A
  • criticised for not making it clear to participants that they have the right to withdraw l
  • however Milgram claimed that participants were able to leave at any time as demonstrated by the fact that some did leave
30
Q

Milgram variation: what actually happened

When the: location changed

A
  • university obedience levels were 65%
  • when location changed to a run down office obedience= 48%
  • suggesting that the location influences the level of obedience
31
Q

Milgram variation: what actually happened

When the: teacher was in the same room as the learner

A
  • level of obedience dropped to 40%

- suggesting that closer proximity to the victim causes higher levels of guilt>lower levels of obedience

32
Q

Milgrams explanation of why people obey-AO1

-Agentic shift

A
  • The Agentic state is the condition in which a person sees himself as an agent for carrying out another persons demands.
  • Milgram argued that people shift back and fourth between an Agentic state and an autonomous state
  • in an autonomous state an individual would see themselves acting on their own
  • When entering a hierarchy of authority Milgram argued that people no longer see themselves as acting out their own persons but as an agent of accomplishing others wishes
33
Q

Milgrams explanation of why people obey-AO2

-Supported by Blass and Schmitt (2001)

A
  • they showed students a video of Milgrams experiment and asked them about the responsibility of Milgram and his participants in giving the shocks
  • students believed that Milgram was the authority figure and that
  • believed he was responsible for the shocks not the teacher
  • Supports agency theory because participants were In an Agentic state therefore were not to be blamed for their actions
34
Q

Milgrams explanation of why people obey-AO1

-The role of buffers

A
  • Milgram suggests that people are more likely to obey authority when people are protected and buffered from seeing the consequences of their actions
  • e.g in his original study the teacher was buffered from having to see the learner therefore it was easier for him to administrate shocks
  • the teacher could hear but could not see the learne
  • Milgram suggests this was one of the main reasons why obedience levels were so high
35
Q

Milgrams explanation of why people obey-AO1

-The role of buffers: strength

A
  • -supported by Milgrams variation study where the learner was in the same room as the teacher and obedience levels were much lower at 40%
  • this supports the explanation as it shows that people are less likely to obey if they can directly see the consequences of what they are doing
36
Q

AO1: Individual differences in independent behaviour locus of control
Definition
High external
High internal

A

Refers to a person’s perception of personal control over their own behaviour
High internals=having a great deal of personal control over their behaviour>More likely to take personal responsibility for it
High externals= perceive their behaviour as being caused more by external influences or luck

37
Q

AO1: Individual differences in independent behaviour locus of control
Characteristics of high internal

A
  • Active seekers of information that is useful to them
  • less likely to rely on the opinions of others
  • more achievement-orientated>more likely to become leaders
  • resistant to social pressure
38
Q

AO2: Individual differences in independent behaviour locus of control
-internals are more likely to become leaders than follow others is supported by Anderson &schneier

A
  • found that group members possessing an internal locus of control were more likely to emerge as leaders in their groups
  • reason for this=individuals who take responsibility for their actions to themselves tend to assume they can cause certain changes in their environment, including the behaviour of others around them
  • eval: strength=could be applied to real world
39
Q

AO2: Individual differences in independent behaviour locus of control
-Shute: relationship between conformity and locus of control

A

-exposed undergraduates to peers who expressed either conservative or liberal attitudes to drug taking
-found that undergraduates with internal LOC conformed less to expressing pro-drug attitudes, supporting the idea that having internal LOC increases resistance to conform
Eval:limitation lacks historical validity was done 37y problem

40
Q

Ao1: the role of minority influence in social change

How minorities change attitudes and behaviour over time?

A
  • incurs a strong long-lasting form of conformity, involving fundamental changes in belief systems
  • new ideas&behaviours become adopted as mainstream practises.
  • requires minorities to be consistent&committed
  • gradual process by which minority beliefs become majority (at first converts to the viewpoint are view more join&minorities gain status, power&acceptability)
41
Q

Ao2: the role of minority influence in social change

-importance of being consist is supported by Moscovici et al

A
  • found that 8% of p’s in groups containing a minority of confederates who consistently called blue slides green agreed with this wrong answers
  • compared to 1% in groups containing confederates who gave inconsistent answers
  • shows that consistency is important when trying o convert people to a viewpoint
42
Q

Ao2: the role of minority influence in social change

-importance of being consist is supported by Moscovici et al: evaluation wood et al

A
  • meta-analysis on 97 studies of minority influence –found that minorities who were perceived as being especially consistent in their positions were particularly influential
  • study reinforces the importance of being consistent when trying to convert a majority to a minority