Social influence

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  • Created by: amm242
  • Created on: 16-05-18 15:04

Types of conformity

Internalisation - a person accepts group norms both privately and publicly

Identification - identifying with a group that we want to become part of by changing our opinions publically but not privately 

Compliance - a superficial change in opinions which is forgotten when the group are not present

Informational social influence - when we are uncertain about what is right or wrong so we follow the majority because we want to be right as well

Normative social influence - copying the norms of  a social group because we want to gain approval and not be rejected

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Evaluation 1

P = ISI has research support

E = Lucas et al. asked students to give answers to easy and hard maths problems

E = More conformity to incorrect answers when problems were hard

L = People conform in situations where they are unsure as they think everyone else knows

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Evaluation 2

P = ISI and NSI are too oversimplified

E = The two process approach states behaviour has to be ISI or NSI

E = Conformity was reduced with a dissenting partner (Asch) so it may reduce power of NSI or ISI

L = Not possible to know whether NSI or ISI is responsible

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Evaluation 3

P = NSI has research support

E = Asch asked participants to explain why they agreed to the wrong answer 

E = Felt self-concious and afraid of disapproval - conformity fell to 12.5% when writing down answer

L = Conforming due to NSI

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Conformity: Asch's research

Conformity research

  • Each tested in group with 6-8 confederates
  • Identified length of standard line
  • Confederates all gave wrong answer on some trials
  • Participants gave wrong answer 36.8% of the time - high level of conformity
  • 75% conformed at least once
  • NSI & compliance

Variables affecting conformity

  • Group size: varied from 1-15 - 3 confederates increased conformity to 31.8% from 13.6% with 2.  Adding more made no difference
  • Unanimity: dissenting confederate - reduced conformity
  • Task difficulty: Stimulus line and comparisons more similar - increased conformity due to ISI
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Evaluation 1

P = Findings outdated

E = Perrin & Spencer found only one conforming response in 396 trials

E = 1950s were very conformist times in America 

L = Asch effect irrelevant nowadays

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Evaluation 2

P = Situation and tasks were artificial

E = Line task unlike anything done in daily life

E = Lab study and trivial task led to demand characteristics

L = Not generalisable to everyday life conformity

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Evaluation 3

P = Findings only apply to certain situations

E = Participants answered out loud to strangers they wanted to impress

E = Williams and Sogon found conformity higher with friends than strangers

L = Asch effect varies with circumstances

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Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo

Stanford prison experiment

  • Mock prison set up to test whether brutality of prison guards was due to sadistic personalities
  • Emotionally stable students randomly assigned to prisoner or guard role
  • Prisoners daily routine regulated, names never used (de-individuation), guards wore uniform and had complete power
  • Within 2 days prisoners rebelled
  • Guards harassed prisoners by conducting headcounts constantly
  • Guards punished slight misdemenaours and enforced rules heavily
  • Guards threatened psychological and physical health 
  • Prisoners became depressed and subdued
  • 3 released early for psychological disturbance
  • One on hunger strike force fed and put in 'hole'
  • Revealed power of situation to change behaviour and conformity to roles
  • Guards became more aggressive the more they conformed
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Evaluation 1

P = Researchers had control over variables

E = Participants allocated roles at random and all tested for emotional stability

E = Behaviour due to pressures of situation not personalities

L = Internal validity so shows influence of social roles on behaviour

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Evaluation 2

P = Lack of realism

E = Banuazizi and Mohavedi thought they were play-acting - reflected stereotypical behaviour

E = One guard based role on character from film and prisoners rioted like they thought real prisoners did

L = Not showing full conformity to social roles justing acting

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Evaluation 3

P = Dispositional influences understated

E = Third of guards behaved brutally, third followed rules, third helped prisoners

E = Guards were able to excercise own right and wrong choices despite situational pressure

L = Conclusion exaggerates power of situation to change behaviour

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Obedience: Milgram's research

  • Confederate was always learner, participant was teacher and experimenter wore white lab coat 
  • Teacher had to give learner in other room increasing electric shocks when they got the answer wrong
  • Shocks started at 15 and went up to lethal 450 volts
  • If teacher felt unsure of continuing experimenter encouraged them to go on, eventually saying they had no choice and must continue
  • 100% went up to 300 volts
  • 65% continued to 450 volts
  • Participants showed extreme tension
  • All debriefed and told behaviour was normal
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Evaluation 1

P = Good external validity

E = Milgram said experiment reflected real-life authority relationships

E = Hofling et al. found levels of obedience in nurses to unjustified demands by doctors was high

L = Process of obedience is generalisable

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Evaluation 2

P = Lacks internal validity

E = Orne and Holland thought participants guessed shocks were fake

E =  Obedience was not being tested 

L = Cannot draw conclusions about obedient behaviour

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Evaluation 3

P = Replications support Milgrams findings

E = French documentary contestants in game show were paid to give electric shocks to confederates

E = 80% gave maximum 450 volts and many showed anxiety behaviour

L = Supports conclusions about obedience and it wasn't just one-off

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Obedience: Situational variables

Proximity: When teacher and learner were in the same room obedience dropped to 40%.  When teacher forced learners hand onto shock plate dropped to 30%.  Experimenter giving instructions dropped it to 20%

Location: Conducted in run down building rather than prestigious university - dropped to 47% - experimenter had less authority

Uniform: Ordinary member in casual clothes took over role of experimenter - dropped to 20% - had less authority

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Evaluation 1

P = Research support

E = Bickman dressed confederate in different uniforms (milkman, suit and tie or security guard) and got them to ask public for change for parking meter

E = Security guard twice as likely to be obeyed than suit and tie man

L = Uniform conveys authority and effects obedience

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Evaluation 2

P = Been replicated in other cultures

E = Miranda et al. found 90% obedience in Spanish students

E = Findings are not just relevant to American males

L = Generalisable to other Western cultures

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Evaluation 3

P = Lacks internal validity

E = Orne and Holland thought participants would know it was fake in variations - extra manipulation

E = When experimenter was replaced by member of public Milgram suggested it was too contrived

L = Unclear whether results are valid and due to obedience

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Obedience: social-psychological factors

Agentic state

  • Acting on behalf of another person who we percieve to have authority, so you don't feel responsible for your actions
  • Autonomous state is acting according to your own principles so you are responsbile
  • Agentic shift is moving from autonomy to being as agent for someone with high social status
  • Reduces moral strain 

Legitamacy of authority

  • Obey people at the top of social hierarchy
  • Authority's legitimacy is agreed by society and they have power over us
  • Give up some independence to authority figures we trust so they can enforce rules and punishments fairly
  • Some use it for destruction eg. Hitler
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Evaluation 1

P = Agentic state has research support

E = Blass and Schmidt showed students Milgrams study and asked them who was responsible

E = Blamed experimenter due to legitimate authority and expert authority

L = Legitimate authority recognised as cause of obedience 

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Evaluation 2

P = Can't account for behaviour of Nazi's

E = Mandel said how German Reserve Police shot civilians in small Polish town in WW2.

E = This was done without direct orders from authority figure

L =  Reserve Police were not powerless to disobey

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Evaluation 3

P = Shows cultural differences in obedience

E = 16% of Australians went to 450 but 85% of Germans did

E = Authority accepted as legitimate more in some countries showing difference in societies

L = Increased validity of findings

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Obedience: dispositional factors

Authoritarian personality

Unquestionning obedience is psychological disorder

Exaggerated respect and submissiveness to authority, contempt for lower social status, conventional attitudes towards race and gender

Forms in childhood from harsh parenting - hostility towards parents directed towards inferiors

Study - Adorno et al. :

Potential for facism scale (F-scale) made - state whether you agree or disagree with statements in questionnaire

High score (authoritarians) identified with strong, contempted weak, concious of status

Fixed stereotypes about other people/groups

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Evaluation 1

P = Support for link to obedience

E = Elms and Milgram interviewed fully obedient participants - got high scores on F-scale

E = Correlation so shows relationship but not definite cause

L = Both may be caused by third variable so link still present

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Evaluation 2

P = Limited explanation

E = Millions of Germans displayed obedient Anti-Semistic behaviour without having same personality

E = Not everyone in Germany was authoritarian 

L = Social identity theory more likely explanantion

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Evaluation 3

P = F-scale potentially biased

E = Christie and Jahoda said it measures tendency towards right wing ideology

E = Right wing/left wing authoritarianism insist on complete obedience to politcal authority

L = Not comprehensive explanation 

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Resistance to social influence

Social support

Conformity reduced by dissenter even if wrong - reduces pressure

Temporary - start conforming when dissenter does

Disobedient peer allows action from own conscience

Locus of Control 

Internal LOC - things happening are down to their actions

External LOC - things happening are outside of their control

Continuum - High & low internal/external

Internals more resistant to social influence - base decisions on own belief, more self achievement orientated

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Evaluation 1

P = Research support for social support

E = Allen and Levine found independence decreased with dissenter in Asch type study

E = Occurred even if dissenter had sight problems

L = Resistance motivated by freedom from pressure

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Evaluation 2

P = Supports role of dissenting peers

E = Gamson et al. found higher levels of resistance than Milgram 

E = 29 out of 33 rebelled because they were in groups

L = Peer support is linked to greater resistance

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Evaluation 3

P = Link between LOC and resistence

E = Holland et al. repeated Milgram study and found if they were internals or externals

E = 37% of internals didnt continue to highest shock, 23% of externals didnt

L = Increases validity and confidence in explanation

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Minority influence

Leads to internalisation

Consistency: Gains interest, makes others question themselves, shows genuinity

Commitment: Gains attention by posing risk to members of minority to show importance

Flexibility: Too consistent and uncompromising is offputting - accept other views

Snowball effect: Majority convert increasingly until minority is majority

Moscovici et al. study:

Viewed blue-green slides and had to say whether they were blue or green

Confederates either consistently said green, were inconsistent or control had no confederates

Consistent minority: 8.42% wrong answer agreement

Inconsistent minority: 1.25%

Control: 0.25%

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Evaluation 1

P = Demonstrates importance of consistency

E = Moscovici found consistent majority had greater effect than inconsistent

E = Wood et al. found similar results in meta-analysis

L = Consistency major factor in minority influence

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Evaluation 2

P = Research supports involvement of internalisation

E = Moscovici varied study - answers were written down so agreement with minority was greater

E = Internalisation took place - majority reluctant to convert publically

L = Influence by minority is not apparent as people won't admit it 

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Evaluation 3

P = Artificial tasks

E = Moscovici's task was identifying slide colours which is far from reality

E = In jury decisions outcomes are more important so answers may not be conforming

L = Lacks external validity 

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Social influence and social change

Minority influence

  • Civil rights marches drew attention to segregation
  • Consistent intent and message
  • People questionned unjustness
  • Augmentation principle - beaten for mixing with other groups
  • Snowball effect - Civil Rights Act passed
  • Social cryptomenesia - no memory of life before change

Conformity

  • Dissenters increase social change
  • Majority influence and NSI to encourage change in others

Obedience

  • Disobedient people increase social change
  • Gradual commitment leads to continual resistance 
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Evaluation 1

P = Research support for role of NSI

E = Nolan et al. hung messages on doors to reduce energy usage by stating most others are doing it

E = Decreases in usage greater than control group

L = Conformity leads to social change through NSI

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Evaluation 2

P = Minority influence indirectly effective

E = Nemeth said it takes decades for change eg. attitudes against drink driving

E = Majority is only influenced by matters related to issue not to issue itself and effects are very delayed

L = Role is narrow

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Evaluation 3

P = Identification overlooked in minority influence

E = Bashir et al. less likely to be environmentally friendly in case they are labelled as minority 'environmentalists'

E = Minorities wanting social change should avoid reinforcing stereotypes

L = Identifying with minority group is as important as agreeing with views

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