Variables affecting conformity

Question 1

What are situational variables?

Answer 1

Features of an environment that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures

Question 2

What are the three situational variables affecting conformity?

Answer 2

Size of group
Unanimity
Task difficulty

Question 3

How does the size of the group affect conformity?

Answer 3

Conformity increases as the size of a majority influence increases (Asch found that conformity was low when his experiment was repeated with 2 confederates (13%)

Question 4

How does unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 4

Conformity rates have been found to decline when majority influence is not unanimous (important factor seems to be reduction in majority’s agreement rather than support for the individual) Asch found that when one confederate went against the others conformity dropped from 32% to 5.5%

Question 5

How does task difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 5

Greater conformity rates seen when task difficulty increases as the right answer becomes less obvious
Asch increased task difficulty by making the comparison lines similar to each other and found people were more likely to conform

Question 6

What are individual variables?

Answer 6

Personal characteristics that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures

Question 7

What three individual variables affect conformity?

Answer 7

Gender
Mood
Culture

Question 8

How does gender affect conformity?

Answer 8

Research suggests that women conform more readily. It may be due to socialisation
Eagly suggested it was because women focus more on the quality of relationships and take more responsibility for building relationships so may conform as an attempt to build interpersonal relationships

Question 9

How does mood affect conformity?

Answer 9

Research suggests that people conform more when they are happy
Tong found that participants were more likely to conform to wrong answers to maths questions when in a good mood rather than a neutral or negative mood

Question 10

How does culture affect conformity?

Answer 10

People from different cultures have been shown to conform more, possibly because some cultures are more uniform in their structures and have shared values among members
Smith and Bond found that an average conformity rate between collectivist cultures was 25-58% whereas in individualist cultures the average conformity rate was 14-39%

Question 11

What was Zimbardo’s experiment about and what was its aim?

Answer 11

A study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison
Aim was to investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guards and prisoners - test whether prisoner violence was due to guard and prisoner personalities or due to brutal conditions of the prison experiment

Question 12

Why was the Zimbardo study important?

Answer 12

Supports social roles - the part individuals play as member of a social group which meet the expectations of that situation

Question 13

What was Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 13

75 male uni students responded to a newspaper advertisement asking for volunteers of a study of prison life paying $15 a day. The 21 rated as the most physically and mentally stable, mature and free from anti-social / criminal tendencies were used
Roles allocated randomly - all wanted to be prisoners - Zimbardo played Superintendent
Basement of a psychology department converted into mock prison - prisoners arrested, fingerprinted, stripped etc - Dehumanised by given numbered smocks, and chain on ankle
Guards given khaki uniform , sunglasses, handcuffs, keys and truncheons
9 prisoners placed 3 to a cell and a regular routine of shifts, meals and visiting times established , as well as visiting times, a parole, disciplinary board and a chaplaim
Meant to run for two weeks

Question 14

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 14

Both guards and prisoners settled into their social roles - after initial prisoner rebelling was crushed guards became more sadistic taunting the prisoners and giving them pointless boring tasks to do - prisoners became more submissive and referred to eachother by number (de-individualisation)
After 36 hours one prisoner was released with fits of crying and rage - 3 more prisoners released . One prisoner developed rash when parole was denied
Study stopped after 6 days when Zimbardo realised the extent of harm that was occurring and increasingly aggressive nature of guards (prisoners happy, guards not)
In later interviews, both guards and prisoners admitted to being surprised at their behaviour in the study

Question 15

What were the conclusions of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 15

None of the participants had ever shown such behaviour before the study so it was the environment and the social roles that triggered the uncharacteristic behaviour
Individuals conform to the social roles demanded of a situation even when the roles override an individuals moral beliefs
Both guards and prisoners demonstrated social roles gained from media sources and learned models of social power

Question 16

What does Zimbardo’s study link to?

Answer 16

Reicher and Haslam (2002) recreated study with 15 men for a TV programme - however guards didn’t want to exert power so eventually small group of prisoners took prisoners however different as they knew they were being filmed

Question 17

What are two weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 17

Zimbardo hoped his research would lead to beneficial reforms within the prison system - in the way prisoners were treated however he regards his research as a failure as prison conditions in the US are worse now than at the time of the study

Question 18

Why are individual differences important in Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 18

Not all guards behaved brutally - some were harsh but fair and some rarely exerted control over prisoners - prisoners didn’t behave identically either

Question 19

What did critics argue about Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 19

Although he asked for consent from participants he got too involved to see clearly what was happening (study should have been called off early)

Question 20

What are two final evaluation points for Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 20

The sample was all male uni students so doesn’t represent the whole population
Some psychologists argue Zimbardo played key role in guards sadistic behaviour towards prisoners (suggesting demand characteristics)

Question 21

What was Milgrim’s experiment for and when was it?

Answer 21

Behavioural study of obedience in 1963

Question 22

What were the aims of Milgrim’s experiment?

Answer 22

To test the ‘the Germans were different’ hypothesis that suggested Hitler could not have committed the Holocaust without the unquestioning cooperation of the German population
To see if individuals would obey the orders of an authority figure that incurred negative consequences and went against one’s moral code

Question 23

Why was Milgrim’s experiment important?

Answer 23

It questioned why people are obedient

Question 24

What was Milgrim’s procedure (step 1 and 2)?

Answer 24

40 American males aged 20-50 responded to an advert to volunteer for a study of memory at Yale university. They were met by confederate experimenter wearing grey lab coat who introduced them into confederate participant (Mr Wallace) and they were told the experiment was on the effects of punishment on learning and were told student teacher roles would be randomly assigned (they weren’t)
2. The experimenter explained about increasing the shock and the pupil was hooked up to electrodes. Shocks available = 15v-450v. participant given 45v shock to show it was real

Question 25

What were Milgram’s findings?

Answer 25

Quantitative results- obedience was measured as the percentage of participants of participants giving shocks up to the maximum 450v. In the main experiment the obedience rate was 62.5%. 100% of participants continued up to at least 300v
Qualitative results- many participants showed distress such as twitching and sweating, 3 had seizure but others showed no signs of discomfort.

Question 26

What was Milgram’s procedure (step 3 and 4)?

Answer 26

Participants read out a series of questions to which they received a pre-recorded series of answers from the learner (participant believed this was real). They were told that when the learner answered incorrectly they should shock them - the shocks increased n 15v intervals
4. At 150v the learner began to protest and at 300v he refused to answer claiming he had heart problems. At 315v he screamed and at 330v silence. If the teacher was reluctant they were encouraged by the experimenter and instructed to continue

Question 27

What were the conclusions of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 27

The ‘German’s are different’ hypothesis is clearly false as Milgram’s participants were 40 ordinary Americans. Their level of obedience showed that people obey those regarded as authority figure suggesting this to be normal behaviour in a hierarchal society. We will obey orders that go against our moral codes.

Question 28

What is a key strength of Milgram’s study?

Answer 28

The Milgram paradigm- Milgram established the basic method or paradigm for studying obedience which was adopted by many subsequent researchers

Question 29

What was Milgram’s study intended as?

Answer 29

Pilot study - so it is therefore more useful to consider the research inspired by milgrim study than the study itself. Milgram was so astounded by his results he conducted 19 follow up studies each time one aspect of procedure to find out why people were so obedient.

Question 30

What are the arguments for psychological harm in Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 30

He is accused of exposing his participants to severe stress supported by extreme physical reactions exhibited by some (3 had seizures)
He didn’t debrief all his participants as he didn’t want word of his research spreading incase it affected results
Baumrind accused Milgram of abusing his participants’ rights and feelings

Question 31

What are the arguments against psychological harm in Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 31

Only 2% of participants regretted taking part in the study regretted taking part with 74% claiming to have learnt something about themselves
Psychiatric assessments held one year later - no one showed any signs of long term damage

Question 32

What are the arguments for deception/informed consent in Milgram’s study?

Answer 32

Milgram did deceive his participants leading them to believe that the study was about memory and learning and only after volunteers agreed to take part were electric shocks mentioned
Mr Wallace and Mr Williams were both confederates
Participants didn’t give informed consent as they didn’t know what it entailed

Question 33

What are the arguments against deception/informed consent in Milgram’s study?

Answer 33

Milgram defended the deception of the participants saying it was necessary. If the participants knew then they would have behaved differently so they had to believe that the electric shocks were real

Question 34

What are the arguments for right to withdraw in Milgram’s study?

Answer 34

There was no explicit right to withdraw given to participants before the study started and attempts to withdraw were met with encouragement to continue

Question 35

What are the arguments against right to withdraw in Milgram’s study?

Answer 35

Milgram argued that participants did have the right to withdraw as 35% exercised this option and refused to continue

Question 36

What are the arguments for inducement to take part in Milgram’s study?

Answer 36

The advert asking for volunteers stated that participants would each be paid $4 to take part so this may have led participants to believe they had to finish the study to get the money

Question 37

What are the arguments against inducement to take part in Milgram’s study?

Answer 37

The advert stated that the money would be paid upon arrival to the laboratory and no participants believed that they had to obey to get paid

Question 38

What is the internal validity criticism of Milgram’s study?

Answer 38

The degree to which the findings are attributable to the effect of the IV on the DV - Orne and Holland suggested that participants delivered the shocks because they knew they weren’t real. However 75% claimed to believe the shocks were real

Question 39

What are the four external validity criticism of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 39

Androcentrism
Cultural bias
Historical validity
Ecological validity

Question 40

Explain Androcentrism?

Answer 40

As only males were used in the study the accusation is that the results cannot be generalised to females. Many people imagine that females would be much less obedient to orders were destructive consequences yet research often suggests that the opposite is true - this may be due to gender roles and females being more submissive especially to assertive males.

Question 41

What was the research into androcentrism?

Answer 41

Sheridan and King (1972) - got male and female participants to give electric shocks to a puppy every time it got a command wrong. The participants believed the shocks to be increased by 15v every time and eventually rendered unconscious (using anaesthetic gas) making the participants believe they had killed the puppy. While upset 54% of males and 100% of females obeyed up to 450V

Question 42

What is meant by cultural bias?

Answer 42

Milgram’s study only used American participants so the results cannot be generalised to people from other cultures. Research suggests that there is various amounts of obedience in different cultures.
Meesus and Raajimakers found the highest level obedience in Spanish participants (92%) and Kilham and Mann found the lowest in Australians (27%) supporting the idea that obedience reflects cultural attitudes to authority

Question 43

What is meant by historical bias?

Answer 43

It has been suggested that the high rate of obedience found in Milgram’s study was a product of American culture being very authoritarian and obedient during the 1960’s and so it doesn’t reflect obedience levels today

Question 44

What is meant by ecological validity?

Answer 44

Milgram’s paradigm has been criticised for how unrepresentative it is of real life occurrences.

Question 45

What are the key ethical concerns of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 45

The prisoners were taunted with insults and petty orders, they were given pointless tasks generally dehumanized.
Push-ups were a common form of physical punishment imposed by the guards. One of the guards stepped on the prisoners’ backs while they did push-ups
After rebellion guards broke into each cell, stripped the prisoners naked and took the beds out. The ringleaders of the prisoner rebellion were placed into solitary confinement
Prisoners had to leave