Psychology Paper 1- social influence

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TYPES OF CONFORMITY- Compliance

Compliance:

This is when an individual may agree in public with a group of people but the person actually privately disagrees with the groups viewpoint of behaviour.The individual changes their views, but it is a temporary change. 

For example, a person may laugh at a joke because their group of friends find it funny but deep down the erson does not find the joke funny.

Evidence of this is in Asch's research. 

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TYPES OF CONFORMITY- Internalisation

Internalisation:

This is when an individual publicly changes their behaviour to fi in with the group while also agreeing wi them privately. An internal and external cange of behaviour. This is the deepest level of conformiy were the beliefs of the group become part of he individual's own belief. 

An example of this is, if someone lived with a vegeterian at uni and then decides to also become a vegeterian too because they agree with their friends view point. Another example is someone converting religion. 

Research that shows this is Jenness's. 

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TYPES OF CONFORMITY- Identification

Idenification:

Identification occurs when someone conforms to the demands of a given social role in society. 

For example, a policeman, teacher or politician. This type of conformity extends over several aspects of external behavior. owever, there still be no change to internal person opinion. 

Research that supports this is Zimbardo's Prison Study. 

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EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY- Normative Influence

Normative Influence:

This is the desire to be liked- when we conform to fit in with the group because we don't want to apear foolish or to be left out. 

For example, a person mat feel pressurised to smoke because the rest of their friends are. Normative influences tend to lead to compliance because the person smokes just f show but deep down they wish not to smoke. This means any change of beaviour is temporary. 

Research o suport his is Asch's experiment. 

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EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY- Informational Influen

Informational Influence:

This is the desire to be right- when we conform because we are unsure of the situation or lack knowledge, so we look at others who believe may ave more information tha us. This explanations tends to lead to internalisation

An example of this is, if someone was to go to a posh restauran for the first ime, the may be confrnted with several forks ad not know which one to use, so they might look to a near by person to see what fork they use first. 

Research to support this is Jenness's. 

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VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Asch's Line Study

Asch's Line Study:

 asch line studyAsch wanted to investigate whether people conform to the majority in situations where an answer was obvious. 

Procedure: In Asch's study tere were 5-7 participants per group. Each group was presented with a standard line and three comarison lines. Particiants had to say ut loud whcih comparison like matched the standard line. In each group, here was only one participant and the other 6 were confederates. The confederats were told to give the incorrect answer on 12 out of 18 trails. 

Results: True participants conformed on 32% of the citical trials where confederates gave the wrong answers. Additionally 75% of the sample conformed to the majority on at least one trial. 

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VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Asch's Line Study

Asch's Line Study Evaluation:

  • This study lacks ecological validity as it was based on peoples perceptions of lines, this does not reflect the complexiy of real life confrmity. 
  • There are also sampling issues regarding this study as the study was only carried out on men-which made the sample gender bias and therefore the results connot be alied to females. The sample therefore lacks population validity. 
  • There are also ethical issues- mention deception as participants were told the study was about perception of lines. As a result, they could not give informed consent. It is also possible that the participants may have felt embarrassed when the true nature of the study was revealed, which could possibly cause some form of psychological harm. However Asch did debrief at the end. 
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FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Group Size

Group Size:

Asch altered the number of confederates in his study to see how this effected conformity. The bigger he majority group (number of confederates), the more people conformed, but only up to a certain point. 

With one other person in the group, conformity was 3%, with two others i increased to 13% and with three or more it was £"%. However, conformity did not increase much after the group size was about 4/5.  

Because conformity does not seem to increase in groups larger than four, this is considered the optimal group size.

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FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Group Unanimity

Group Unanimity:

A person is more likely to conform when all members of the groups are in areement and give the same answer. 

When one other person in the group gave a different answer from the others, and the group answer was not unanimous, conformiy dropped. Asch found that even the presence of just one confederate that goes against the majority choice can reduce conformity as much as 80%.

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FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Difficulty of task

Difficulty of task:

When the comparison lines were made more similar in length it was harder to judge the correct answer and conformity increased. When we are uncertain, it seems we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the task, the greater the conformity. 

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FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY- Answer in Private

Answer in private:

When participants were allowed to answer in private (so the rest of the group does not knw teir response), conformity decreases. This is because there are fewer group pressures and normative influences is not as powerful, as there is no fear of rejection fom the group. 

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CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES

Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group (e.g. student, teacher, policeman etc.). There is considerable pressure to conform to the expectations of a social role. Conforming to a social role is called idenification. 

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CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES- Stanford Prison Experi

Zimbardo's Prison Experiment:

Zimbardo's aim was to investigate how people would conform to a the social roles of guards and prisoners in a role-playing exercise that simulated real life. 

Procedure: Zimbardi converted a basement of Stanford University into a mock prison. He advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for a fortnight. Participants were randomly assigned to their roles in a simulated prison environmnent. 

Both prisoners and guards were given their alloctaed uniforms to wear. Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards as a researcher but also acted as a prison warden. 

Findings: He found that in short time, prisoners adopted prisoner -like behaviour and the guards became stricter and more violent towards the prisoners who did not obey their rules.  

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CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES- Stanford Prison Experi

Stanford Prison Experiment Evaluation:

Limitations:

  • Demand characteristics- most of the guards later claimed that they were simply acting. Because both guards and prisoners were playing the role, their behaviour may not be the same in a real life situation. This means the studies findings cannot be reasonably generalised to real life, such as prison settings. This therefore means the study also lacks ecogological validity.
  • Lack population validity- this is because the study uses only US male students. The studies findings cannot be applied to female prisons or to those from different countries.

Strenghts:

  • Harmful treatment of participant led to the formal recognition of ethical guidelines, Studies must now gain ethical approval before they are conducted. 
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OBEDIENCE

Obedience is a type of social influence where a person follows an order from another person who is usually an authority figure. 

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EXPLANATIONS OF OBEDIENCE- Milgram's Shock Study

Milgram's Shock Study:

Milgrams wanted to find out why Germans were willing to kill Jews during the Holocaust.

Procedure: Milgram wanted to see whether people would obey a legitimate authority figure when given instructions to harm another human being. He created a set up in which two participants were assigned either the role of a teacher (always a true participant) or learner (confederate). The teacher and learner were pu in separate rooms. The teacher was then asked by the experimenter (who wore a lab coat) to administer electric shocks to the learner each time he gave a wrong answer. These shocks increased evrytime the learner gave a wrong answer (15-450 volts)

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EXPLANATIONS OF OBEDIENCE- Milgram's Shock Study

(procedure):

The experimenter also wore a lab coat and his role was to give orders when the participant refused to administer the shock. These include: Prod 1- please continue. Prod 2- the experiment requires you to continue. Prod 3- it is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4- you have no other choice but to continue. 

Results: He found that all participants went to 300 volts and 65% were willing to go all the way to 450 volts. He did more than one experiment- he carried out 18 variations of his study. All he did was alter the situation (IV) to see how this affected obedience (DV). For example, when the experimenter intructed and promoted the teacher by telephone from another room, obedience fell to 20.5%.

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EXPLANATIONS OF OBEDIENCE- Milgram's Shock Study

Evaluation of Milgrams Shock Study

Limitations: 

  • Lack of ecological validity- it was carried out in a lab under artificial conditions. This means that it might not be possible to generalise the finding to a real life setting, as people do not usually recieve orders to hurt another person in real life. 
  • Sample was biased-milgram only used male participants to carry out this experiment. 

Strenghts:

  • His work gives an insight into why people under the Nazi reign were willing to kill Jews when given orders to do so. 
  • used a standardised procedure as it was a lab experiment. Improves reliablity. 
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EXPLANATIONS OF OBEDIENCE- Milgram's Shock Study

Ethical issues for Milgram's study:

Deception: the participants believed that they were shocking a real person, and were unaware the learner was a confederate of Milgram's. However, Milgram argued that "illusion is used when necessary in order to set the stage for the revelation of certain difficult-to-get-at-truths". Milgram also interviewed participants afterwards to find out the effect of the deception. Apparently 83.7% said that they were "glad to be in the experiment", and 1.3% said that they wished they vhad not been involved. 

Protection of particpants: Participants were exposed to extremely stressful situations that may have the potential to cause psychological harm. Many of the participants were visibly distressed (panicked).

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THE AGENTIC STATE

Agency theory says that people will obey an authority when they believe that the authority will take resposibility for the consequences of their actions. This is supported by some aspects of Milgram's evidence. 

For example, when the participants were reminded they they had responsibility for their own actions, almost none of them were prepared to obey. In contrast, many participants who were refusing to go on did so if the experimenyer said that he would take responsibility. 

Another example of the agentic state involved a variation of Miklgrams study where participants could instruct an assistant to press the switches. In this condition 92.5% shocked to the maximum 450 volts. This shows when there is less personal responsibility obedience increases. 

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LEGITIMACY OF AUTHORITY FIGURE

People tend to obey others if they recognise their authority as morally right and legally based. This response can be seen in many situations; school, family, and workplace. 

Regarding Milgram's study, the experimenter is seen having legitimate authority as he has scientific status/ 

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SITUATIONAL FACTORS OF OBEDIENCE

Milgrams experiment was carried out many times where Milgram varied the basic procedure. By doing this, Milgram could identify which situational factors affected obedience (the DV). 

Obedience was measured by how many participants shocked to the maximum 450 volts (65% in the original study). 

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SITUATIONAL FACTORS OF OBEDIENCE

Uniform: Milgram's experimenter wore a lab coat which gave him a high status. But when the expermienter dressed in everyday clothes, obedience was very low. The unifrom of the authority figure can give them status. 

Location: Milgram's obedience experiment was conducted at Yale university. The high status of the university gave the study credibility and respect in the eyes of the particpants, thus making them more likely to obey. Howeve, when Milgram mobved his experiment to a set of run down offices rather than Yale university, obedience dropped 47.5%. This suggests that status of location effects obedience. 

Proximity: People are more likely to obey an authority figure who is in close proximity (nearby). In Milgram's study the expermienter was in the same room as the participant. 

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DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION- Authoritarian Personali

Adorno felt that dispositional (personality) factors rather than situational (environment) factors could explain obedience. He propsed that there was such thing as an authoritaian personality, for example, a person who favours an authoritarian social system and in particular admires obedience to authority figures. 

One of the various characteristics of the authoritarian personality was that the individual isn hostile to those who are of inferior status, but obedient of people with high status. 

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RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Independent behaviour is a term that pyschologists use to describe behaviour that seems not to be influenced by other people. This happens when a personj resists the pressures to conform or obey. 

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RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE- Social Support

Social Support:

In one of Asch's variation he showed that the presence of a dissent led to a decrease in the conformity levels in true participants- this is thought to be because the presence of a dissident gave the true participant social support and made them feel more confident in their own decision and more confident in rejecting the majority position. 

Social support also decreases obedience to authority. In variation of Milgram's study, two other confederate participants were also teachers but refused to obey. Confederate 1 stoppped at 150 colts and confederate 2 stoppped at 210 volts. The presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduced the level of obedience to 10%. 

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RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE- Locus of Control

Locus of Control:

Locus of control refers to how much control a person feels they have in their own behaviour. A peron can either have an internal locus of control or an external LoC. People with a high internal LoC periceve themselves as having a great deal of personal control over their behaviour and are therefore more likely to take responsibility for the way they behave. For example, "i did well on the exams because i revised extremely hard". 

In contrast, a person with a high external LoC percieve their behaviours as being a result of external influences or luck. For example, " i did well on the test because it was easy". Research has shown that people with an internal LoC tend to be less conforming and less obedient. Rotter proposes that people with internal LoC are better at resisting social pressure to conform or obey, perhaps because they feel responsible for their actions.

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MINORITY INFLUENCE

Mionority influence occurs when a small group influences the opinion of a much larger group. 

Consistency: Moscovici stated that being consistent and unchanging in a view is more likely to influence the majority than if a minority is inconsistent and changes their mind. 

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MINORITY INFLUENCE- Moscovici Experiment.

Procedure: Moscovi conducted an experiment in which female participants were shown 36 blut slides of different intensity and asked to report the colours. There were two confederates and four participants. In the first part of the experiment the 2 confederates answered green for each of the 36 slides. They were totally consistent in their resposnses. In the second part of the experiment they answered green 24 times and blue 12 times. In this case they were inconsistent in their answers. A control group was also used consisting of participants only- no confederates. 

Findings: When the confederates were consistent in their answers about 8% of participants said the slides were green. When the confederates answered inconsistently about 1% of participants said the slides were green. 

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SOCIAL CHANGE

Social change occurs when a whole society adopts a new belief or behaviour which then becomes widely accepted as the 'norm'. Social influence processes involved in social change include minority influence, internal LoC and disobedience authority. 

Social change is usually a result of minority influence. This is when a small group of people mamage to persuade the majority to adopt their point of view. This also links to independent behavior, because the minority resists pressure to conform and/ or obey. Usually the minority have an internal LoC. 

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SOCIAL CHANGE- Findings

Moscovici found that consistency is the most important factor in deciding whether the minority are influential or not. This means that the minority are influential or not. This means that the minority must be clear on what they are asking for and not change their minds, or disagree amongst themselves. This creates uncertainty amongst the majority. 

It has been found that once the minority begin to persuade the majority snowball effect begins to happen. This means that more and more people adopt the minority opinion, until gradually the minority becomes the majority. This process is also known as cryptoamnesia

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