Unit 2-Social Influence

Question 0

What are the two different types of conformity?

Answer 0

Compliance and Internalisation

Question 1

Define Confomity

Answer 1

The tendency to change what we do (behaviour) or think and say (attitudes) in response to the influence of others or social pressure. This pressure can be real or imagined.

Question 2

State the differences between Compliance and Internalisation

Answer 2

Compliance involves public conformity(still have own views) whereas Internalisation includes a belief change(conversion)

Compliance is a superficial type whereas Internalisation is at the deepest level(converted)

Compliance involves a private disagreement whereas Internalisation involves views retained permanently

Question 3

Suggest a real life example of Compliance

Answer 3

~pretending to like the new film to agree with the majority when in reality you dislike it

Question 4

Suggest a real life example of Internalisation

Answer 4

~ Concerting to a new religion from the influence of others

Question 5

What is the method of Asch (1951) a study showing ‘compliance’

Answer 5

He devised an unambiguous task which involved judging the length of lines.

123 make undergraduates were shown a series of lines- 1 standard & 3 comparisons, one correct, all but one of participants were “confederates”

Confederates answered incorrectly on 12 out of the 18 trials, true participant was always the last or last but one to answer..

Question 6

What did Asch (1951) find from his study?

Answer 6

Asch found a mean conformity rate of 37%. Within this, 5% conformed on every critical trial yet 25% remained completely independent.

The participants explained that a reason they agreed with the majority on the wrong adhere was so as not to stand out from the crowd- this is an example of compliance.

He concluded that he found a stable phenomenon. He called the effect of going along with the majority the Asch Effect

Question 7

What is the temporal validity of Asch’s Study (1951)?

Answer 7

It has low temporal validity..
~it occurred in 1950’s America which is the era of McCarythism. During this time, 10’s were accused of being Communists.. This lowers the temporal validity as we may find different findings if we were to carry out the study today..

Question 8

What is the population validity of Asch’s study (1951)?

Answer 8

It had a low population validity.

~was done with only male American undergraduates so the results cannot be generalised to the whole population.

Question 9

What is an advantage of Opportunity Sampling?

Answer 9

It is Quick, Convenient & Economical..

~It doesn’t require the level of planning and preparation that other sampling methods require..

Question 10

What is a disadvantage of Opportunity Sampling?

Answer 10

It can be unrepresentative..

Everyone available at the time of the study may not represent everyone in the target population.

Question 11

What is an advantage of Random Sampling?

Answer 11

It can be representative..

Everyone in the target population is in the sampling process so can often be representative of everyone.

Question 12

What ethics did the Asch study violate?

Answer 12

Deception - the true participant was deceived as they were not aware that they were taking part.

Psychological stress- caused to the true participant as they may feel under a lot of pressure to conform or to be independent.

Question 13

How does Perrin & Spencer support the Asch study?

Answer 13

-The second one supports Asch as the conformity rates were very similar, however, the participants were on probation & were surrounded by authority figures so the group dynamic may have affected it.

Question 14

How does Perrin & Spencer criticise the Asch study?

Answer 14

-it criticises it as the results were very different and has a much lower conformity rate. Although, this may be due to the study not being in the era of McCarthyism.

Question 15

How does Bond & Smith (1996) criticise the Asch study?

Answer 15

It criticises the idea of the Asch effect as they found that there’s been a steady decline in conformity rates since the original study. This shows that the time of study affects the stability of the results.

Question 16

What are the two main reasons as why people conform?

Answer 16

Normative Social Influence(NSI)

Informational Social Influence (ISI)

Question 17

Compare NSI and ISI

Answer 17

NSI is based on the desire to be liked whereas ISI is based on the desire to be right.

NSI involves public compliance whereas ISI involves private acceptance.

NSI is usually in a situation such as adapting to a group whereas ISI is usually in ambiguous situations.

Question 18

Evaluate ISI

Answer 18

Bond and Smith (1936)

This study found that the more ambiguous the task the higher the levels of conformity rates are in all cultures.

Question 19

Define Obedience

Answer 19

A type of social influence whereby someone acts in response to a direct order from a perceived figure of authority. There is also the implication that the person receiving the order is made to respond in a way that he or she would not otherwise have done.

Question 20

Describe the method of obedience to authority research - Milgram (1963)..

Answer 20

Wanted to test if ‘Germans are different’

40 male participants were selected to take part in Yale Uni (prestigious setting)

Used a confederate and fixed the selection of roles so the confederate was always the learner and participant the treacher

Used a fake set up whereby the teacher was instructed by an authority figure to punish from 15V increasing in 15V increments up to 450V if answer incorrectly on a memory test

Wanted to see how far they’d go

Question 21

Describe what Milgram (1963) found..

Answer 21

He found that many of the participants showed signs of extreme tension. They shook, sweated and stuttered. Many repeatedly argued yet ALL continued to deliver shocks up to 300V.

65% continued up to 450V.

Estimated that most would stop at 100V and so confused that Germans are not different and we are all capable of blind obedience to unjust orders.

Question 22

Evaluate Milgram’s Research

Answer 22

It is a lab experiment… This is a strength as it can be easily replicated for future studies.

High internal validity as all variables are easily controlled.
The same conditions were used.

HOWEVER

It has a low ecological validity. With it being in a lab which is an artificial setting, the study cannot be generalised to ‘normal environments.

There is a lack of mundane realism of the task. Which may encourage demand characteristics..

Question 23

What are the Ethical Issues of the Milgram Study?

Answer 23

Deception.. The participants were deliberately mislead regarding the true nature of the experiment. Led them to believe that the participant was in pain.

Denied informed consent as they were not informed about the true nature of the study and their role within it.

Question 24

What are the four explanations of why people obey?

Answer 24

The ‘Agentic Shift’

Legitimate Authority

Gradual Commitment

Dehumanisation

Question 25

What is the ‘Agentic Shift’?

Answer 25

We are more likely to obey when we become ‘agents’ of an external authority.

External Authority = authority of experimenter/authority figure

Internal Authority = authority of your own conscience

Question 26

What is Legitimate Authority?

Answer 26

Real authority..
We may obey people with legitimate authority because we TRUST them. Or we may obey them because they have the POWER to punish us.

Question 27

What is gradual commitment?

Answer 27

Participants become locked into obedience in small stages.
Also known as the ‘foot in the door technique’ which means once you have made some form of commitment it is hard to go back on it.

Question 28

What is Dehumanisation?

Answer 28

We are more likely to inflict harm on someone if we can distance ourselves form the person we are causing pain to.

Question 29

Why might people resist to conform?

Answer 29

• Resistance from the majority-would rather be an individual.
• morals
• support from others

Question 30

Why might people resist obedience?

Answer 30

• have strong opinions
• ‘screw you’ effect, just to annoy them.
• humanisation
• support from others

Question 31

What are the 2 types of factor that influence people to behave independently?

Answer 31

Those that vary from one situation to another (Situational)

Those that are constantly with the person (Dispositional)

Question 32

What is the effect of “unanimous” majorities?

Answer 32

It tells us that people are more likely to resist to conform when they are with another person who also resists.

Asch’s variation of the study added one more naive participant and found that the percentage of conformity went from 32% to 10%

Question 33

What is the effect of withdrawal of a “true partner”?

Answer 33

If a confederate

Question 34

What is the Moscovici et al (1969) aim?

Answer 34

To investigate the process of innovation- social influence occurs not only through conformity but through change to previously held opinions of the group.

Question 35

What is the procedure of Moscovici?

Answer 35

172 participants.. 36 groups of 6 females, 2 were confederates

All were screened for colour blindness. They had to judge the colour of the 36 slides of varying brightness. The confederates have the incorrect answer purposely.

We’re told that the purpose was about colour perception and asked to give their answer out loud.

In 1st Var - same task but gave answers individually.

In 2nd Var - answered green 24 times & blue 12 times.

Question 36

What are the findings of Moscovici et al? & conclusion

Answer 36

8.42% of the time, participants agreed with the minority..

32% have the same answer as the minority at least once..

In second experiment, there was greater private agreement with the minority.

In the third experiment when the minority were inconsistent, conformity was reduced to 1.25%

Conc= minorities can influence the majority when they are consistent.

Question 37

Evaluate the Moscovici et al (1969) study

Answer 37

S- Nemerh (1986) consistency is most important factor.

N- lacks mundane realism, task is not an everyday one so results cannot be generalised to all situations.

S- Is a lab experiment so all extraneous variables can be controlled which increases the internal validity

N- only female participants were used so it’s gender biased and the conclusions may not apply to make participants. (Gynoxcentric)