Unit 2 - Social Influence Flashcards
What is Conformity?
Effect of real or unseen group pressure.
Group Size affecting Conformity
When there was 2 confederates 13.6% of participants conformed, when there was 3 confederates 31.8% of participants conformed.
Weakness= if the answer is obvious then people will conform less and will not depend on the group size.
Anonymity affecting Conformity
When you write your answer anonymously then Conformity decreases.
Weakness= another research showed that being a friend or a stranger from the other people determined on wether you conformed or not without anonymity affecting.
Task Difficulty affecting Conformity
Making the task higher increases Conformity.
Weakness= expert people will still not conform when the answer is harder
Personality affecting Conformity
Internal locus of control= less Conformity
External locus of control= more Conformity
Weakness= locus of control is not that important in familiar situations, when your Behavior is determined on how you acted in the past.
Expertise affecting Conformity
When you have more knowledge about the task you will conform less.
Weakness= people might conform to be liked.
Conformity- Asch’s Study
Aim: investigate pressure in a situation in which the answer is clear.
Method: 123 American men, 2 cards: 1 with 1 standard line and 1 with 3 comparison lines, 12 times confederates gave the wrong answer.
Result: participants conformed 1/3 times and never conformed in 25% of times.
Conclusion: people are influenced by group pressure.
What is Obedience?
It is the response to a direct order from an authority figure.
Agency affecting Obedience
Being in an agentic state means you follow orders without responsibility.
Weakness= people may have not thought that shocks were real.
Authority affecting Obedience
When the authority is a high authority figure, Obedience increases.
Culture affecting obedience
Depending on were you are from you will conform less or more.
Weakness= people from countries which are supposed to be really obedient can not be obedient.
Proximity affecting Obedience
When the authority figure is nearer to the participant Conformity increases and when the participant is nearer to the victim then Conformity decreases
Weakness= if a child tells you to give him 5$ near to you and his mum tells you not to do it form a long distance you will obey the mother.
Authoritarian personality affecting Obedience.
People with authoritarian personality conform more.
Weakness= the test was based on a flawed questionnaire.
Cognitive Style affecting Obedience.
When people have a black or white way of thinking, things are bad or wrong and follow all stereotypes they are more likely to obey.
Childhood affecting Obedience.
When you have had a strict childhood with high standards of success you have more chances of having authoritarian personality.
Scapegoating affecting Obedience
When you feel angry to your parents for being too strict and put it into people who are socially inferior.
Obedience- Milgram’s Study
Aim: investigate if Germans are different in obedience.
Method: 40 male participants, that are ‘teachers’ who will give a shock to the learner each time he gives a wrong answer.
Result:
people who stoped=
Below 300 volts= 0
Up to 450 volts(end)= 65%
Conclusion: obedience is more related to social than Dispositional factors.
Weakness= Milgram made an experiment with people who followed orders till the end on his experiment and noticed that they gave positive on F-scale.
What is Prosocial Behaviour?
behavior which benefits others and may not benefit you.
Presence of others affecting Prosocial behavior.
The more people present the less prosocial behavior, Latané found that 85% people helped when alone but only 31% people with 4 others helped.
Weakness= it also depends on the situation
Cost of helping affecting prosocial behavior
When you are in danger of loosing something you help less
Weakness= the interpretation of the situation is really important.
Similarity to victim affecting Prosocial behavior
When the victim has something in common to you, you will help more.
Weakness= when helping costs you more you will not help
Expertise affecting Prosocial behavior
When you are an expert you will help more because you know more things so you can help more
Weakness= people from different cultures act different.
Prosocial behavior- Piliavin’s Subway study
Aim: investigate if the characteristic of the victim affects Prosocial behavior
Method: male confederate fell on the subway, 103 times being ‘drunk’ or ‘disabled’
Result= when disabled 95% helped, when drunk only 50% helped. Help was equally likely in empty or full carriages.
Conclusion= characteristics of the victim affect help, situation does not.
Strength=
real situation so real behavior
Qualitative data gives lots of detail about results
Weakness=
natural environment so lots of EVs
Only people from the city
What is Crowd and Collective behavior?
Behaving differently when you are with a group of people than when you are alone.
