Unit 5: Social Influence

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

matching your behaviour and beliefs to those of others in order to fit in of because we don’t know how to behave in an unusual situation

Question 2

What are the 2 types of social influence?

Answer 2

normative social influence: doing things to fit into a group

informative social influence: doing things because we don’t know how to behave, so we follow what everyone does in a group because we believe they know better

Question 3

What are the types of conformity?

Answer 3

compliance: going along with the majority even though privately you don’t agree (normative)

internalisation: going along with the majority because we don’t know how to behave, so we adopt their behaviours and beliefs (informative)

identification: temporarily adopting behaviours of a role-model/group

Question 4

What is obedience?

Answer 4

following orders of an authority figure

Question 5

Why is obedience necessary?

Answer 5

to maintain social order

Question 6

What is the Milgram experiment?

Answer 6

participants were told to shock someone everytime they got a question wrong, increasing volts each time. the person they were shocking were “in a different room” but wasn’t actually real, just a played recording of screams.

Question 7

What did the Milgram experiment want to test?

Answer 7

they wanted to test whether the participants would blindly obey the orders of the leader even if they were harming someone badly.

Question 8

What percentage of people continued the experiment till the end?

Answer 8

65% of people completed the experiment up to 450V, just because an authority figure told them to

Question 9

Why did soldiers do horrible things like murder without wanting to?

Answer 9

because they were obeying an authority figure, blind obedience

Question 10

What are the ethical conceptions of the Milgram experiment?

Answer 10

the participants were lied to and deceived into believing they were not causing any long term damage. they were not necessarily given the right to withdraw

Question 11

What are the situational factors affection obedience?

Answer 11

PPPALS
proximity of victim, proximity of authority figure, personal responsibility, authority figure, legitimacy of the context and support of others

Question 12

What is blind obedience?

Answer 12

comply with the orders of an authority figure without question. usually causing a negative outcome.

Question 13

What happens to the obedience level when the proximity of the victim changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 13

when closer/in room the obedience level dropped

Question 14

What happens to the obedience level when the proximity of the authority figure changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 14

when authority person is in person/close the obedience level increased

Question 15

What happens to the obedience level when the personal responsibility changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 15

when they weren’t the one doing the shocking and had someone else to do it the obedience levels increased, as they didn’t feel as much responsibility for hurting the victim

Question 16

What happens to the obedience level when the authority figure changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 16

when the authority figure was high status like wearing a lab coat the obedience levels increased, but when the authority figure wore a t-shirt and jeans the obedience levels dropped

Question 17

What happens to the obedience level when the legitimacy of the context changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 17

when at a prestigious place like Yale the obedience levels increased however when at a shady place obedience levels dropped

Question 18

What happens to the obedience level when the support of others changes during the Milgram experiment?

Answer 18

When participants have a partner/ally to discuss with obedience levels decreased

Question 19

What is locus of control?

Answer 19

how much control you feel you have over the events in your life

Question 20

What are the two types of locus of control?

Answer 20

internal locus of control: you make everything in your life happen

external locus of control: everything in your life just happens to you

Question 21

What are the personality factors affecting obedience?

Answer 21

• external locus of control follow orders as they are affected by what people tell them and take less personal responsibility
• internal locus of control people don’t follow orders of authority figures as they’re independent

Question 22

What is an authoritarian personality?

Answer 22

a type of personality that is respectful to authority figures. they are right wing in attituded and rigid in beliefs and more likely to follow orders as they respect the authority

Question 23

What was Adorno et al. (1950)?

Answer 23

he measured the characteristics of authoritarian personalities:

• respect for authority figures
• rigid beliefs and attitudes
• strong beliefs in justice
• right wing policy
• aggressive toward those inferior to themselves

Question 24

What was the F-Scale test?

Answer 24

a test designed by Adorno to identify authoritarian personalities or traits by asking questions about their views in situations

Question 25

What are the other factors that influence obedience in Milgram?

Answer 25

1. participants were told the shocks weren’t harmful
2. participants had volunteered and paid to take part - increasing feel of obligation
3. participants never done psychological study before (ambiguous situation so more compliance)
4. momentum of compliance - only small increase each time so didn’t feel drastic

Question 26

What are the ways to prevent blind obedience to authority figures?

Answer 26

FEDS
familiarity of the situation, education, social support, distance

Question 27

How does social support prevent blind obedience to authority figures?

Answer 27

in Milgram, social support was a situational factor and lowered obedience levels because when you had an ally you have a higher chance of following suit.

Rank and Jacobsen et al. (1977) replicated Hoflings study but allowed the nurses to have an ally and obedience levels dropped.

Question 28

How does familiarity of the situation prevent blind obedience to authority figures?

Answer 28

when in unfamiliar situations we follow orders as we don’t know how to behave. the nurses in Hofling et al. (1977) did not know of the drug before.

the nurses were given the results so that they can be encouraged to question authority figures if they feel the orders are wrong.

Question 29

How does distance prevent blind obedience to authority figures?

Answer 29

Milgram showed that the proximity of the authority figure is central to obedience. as the distance increased, impact is lessened. teaching us to walk away from uncomfortable situations and prevent blind obedience.

Question 30

How does education prevent blind obedience to authority figures?

Answer 30

when you are familiar with research we can stop blind obedience in the future, allowing us to resist it and gives insight to our own behavior.

many organisations give education programs to support employees wanting to question authority.

Question 31

What do the FEDS do?

Answer 31

prevent blind obedience

Question 32

Describe the study Ash et al. (1950)?

Answer 32

1. a participant was placed on a table with confederates
2. experimenter showed group a card of 3 lines and a second card with 1 line
3. experimenter asked them to pick the line most similar to the second card
4. all confederates lied and said something completely wrong
5. participants heard the confederates and sometimes picked the same as them

Question 33

What were the results for Ash et al. (1950)?

Answer 33

normative social influence
1 confederate - conformity 3%
2 confederates - conformity 13%
3 confederates - conformity 32%

Question 34

What are the situational factors affecting conformity?

Answer 34

size of majority, unanimity of majority, task difficulty/ambiguity

Question 35

Define confederate

Answer 35

someone who is in on the experiment

Question 36

How does size of majority affect conformity?

Answer 36

greater majority makes a greater influence they have on your behaviour - only up to point

Question 37

How does the unanimity of majority affect conformity?

Answer 37

if the change is not unanimous you have social support. Asch found if all confederates picked the wrong like but one picked the right one the participant could build courage to say the right answer.

Question 38

How does the task difficulty/Ambiguity affect conformity?

Answer 38

if the task is difficult we look to others for the right answer - informative social influence. Asch found that when the answer was obvious the conformity rate was low but when lines were very similar and hard to tell the rate of conformity was higher since it was ambiguous.