Social Influence

What are the 3 types of conformity?

Compliance, Identification, Internalisation

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What is Compliance

A temporary type in which the person conforms publically with the group while inwardly disagreeing.

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What is Identification?

A medium type where we agree with the group because we value and idenity with it and want to feel part of it. Agreement is public but can also be private and may be longer lasting however may not agree with all views

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What is Internalisation?

The deepest level of conformity in which a person genuinely accepts the groups opinions which results in both public and private changes in opinion. The change is likely to be permanent because the opinions have been internalised

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Who suggested 2 explantions to why we conform and what were they?

Deutsch and Gerard. Normative social influence and Informational social influence

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What is Normative social influence?

We confrom to be liked and accepted by the group to avoid rejection. It is an emotional response and is most likely to occur where a person fears rejection and needs the social approval. The more important the group the greater the likelihood conform

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What is informational social influence?

Ocuurs in new and unfamiliar situations when a person is unsure of what to do. The person will look to the group for clues as to the correct behaviour because we believe they are right. It is a cognative response which occur when being right is impor

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What research study supports the concept of NSI?

Asch's line study where the results showed that people will conform to a group opinion even when it's wrong and when asked why they said they wanted to be liked and accepted

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What occured in the study whihc undermines NSI?

Not everybody conformed to the groups opinion which suggests that the explanation of conformity does not adequately explain everyone's behaviour

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What research supports ISI?

Fein et al showed how judgements of candidate performance in US presidental debates could be influenced by the knowledge of others reactions as it produced large shifts in Ps judgements of the candidates performance

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What was the aim and method of Asch's conformity study?

To investigate the effect of a majority influence on a minority of one, using a simple perception test. It was a lab experiement/controlled observation

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What was the procedure for this study?

7-9 male students were seated around a table to take part in a perception task when in actual fact only one of them was a participant. The Ps were asked to choose the line that they thought matched the standard line.

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What were the results for this study?

The average conformity was 37%. 75% conformed at least once. 25% didnt conform. 5% conformed on every trial

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What occured after the trial when Ps were interviewed?

A few Ps generally thought their perception of the lines may have been inaccurate. However, most said that they knew they were right but admitted to conforming to fit in. (NSI)

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What were the 3 things that changed in Asch's variations of the study?

Group size, unanimity, task difficulty

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What occured when Asch put a 1-1, 2-1, 2-1 ratio to conferderates to participant in the group size variation?

1:1= Almost no conformity. 2:1= 14% compliance. 3:1= 37% conformity and increasing the number beyond this did not produce high rates.

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What did the presence of a supporting dissenter do to conformity?

It reduced conformity to less than a quater of what it had been in the original which suggests the effect of a majority depends on whether they are unanimour or not

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What occured when Asch increased the difficulty of the task?

Conforming rates increased which sugests ISI played a role in these circumstances as people are more likely to look to others for guidance when the task is difficult

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Why does Asch's research study lack ecological validity?

It is a lab experiment which is a disadvantage as this isnt a task people would do in everyday life meaning that the results are not reliable

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Why does Asch's study present demand characteristics?

The experimeneters may have just done what they thought was expected because they knew they were in a study so may have worked out the aim

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Why is volunteer sampling a negative in Asch's study?

The Ps were self selected into the experiment which may mean they had an interest in the main topic

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Why does Asch's study lack temporal validity?

At the time of this test people were easily swayed to conform due to the society at the time which shows the study has low temporal validity due to changes in society from then to now

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What ethical issues are shown in Asch's study?

Ps didnt provide fully informed consent because this may have affected the final result Therefore this may have caused distress once they found out the reason for the investigation

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Why is his study reliable?

Ps didnt give consent meaning they didn't understand the point of the experiment until afterwards so would act like normal.

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What was the method and sampling method used in the Stanford Prison experiment by Zimbardo?

Controlled observation and volunteer sampling

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What was the procedure for this experiment?

Zimbardo set up a mock prison and advertised for students to volunteer. He selected those who deemed emotionally stable. The students were radnomly assigned the roles of guards of prisoners.

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What were the results and observations which Zimbardo saw?

Within 2 days the prisoners rebelled against the harsh treatment where guards harrassed them. After their rebellion the prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious. The guards behaviour became more brutal and they were enjoying the power they had

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What is the conclusion for Zimbardo's study?

The simulation revealed the power of the situation to influence peoples behaviour. Guards, prisoners an researchers all conformed to their roles and some believed they were in prison rather thna a study

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What was controlled in Zimbardo's study?

They had some control over variables and chose only emotionally stable individuals which ruled out individual personality differences, increasing external validity

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Why does Zimbardo's study lack realism?

Some argued the participants were play acting rather than generally conforming to a role so their performance was based on sterotypes.

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What was the role of dispositional influences and why did it have a negative impact?

Fromm accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence behaviour which was shown when only a minority behaved in a brutal manner and others applied the rules fairly.

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What were some ethical issues to Zimbardos study?

On one occassion a student who wanted to leave spoke to Zimbardo and the conversation was conducted on the basis that the student was a prisoner

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What was the aim and method used in Milgram's obedience study?

To investigate the extent to which people would obey instructions to harm or even kill another human being. It was a controlled observation/lab experiment

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What sampling method was used in the obedience study?

Milgram advertised via newspaper asking for volunteers to participate in a memory experiment (volunteer/self selected). 40 healthy male particpants took part

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What was the procedure for Milgram's study?

Ps arrived at the prestigious Yale uni where they were introduced to Mr wallace who they thought was a real P. P's were allocated as either teacher or learner however this was rigged so that the P was always the teacher and Mr Wallace the learner.

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What happened during this study?

Mr Wallace was seated in another room 'attatched' to an electric shock machine. The learner was told to memorise a word pair list and the P would test him on the task, whenever they got it wrong they would administer a shock.

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What were the results to this study?

100% of Ps continued to shock to 300volts. 65% of Ps gave the full 450volts. Many Ps were visibally upset, tense, sweating, trembling, biting their lips and digging nails into their hands.

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Does Milgram's study have internal validity?

Orne and Holland argued that Ps behaved as they did because they didn't believe in the set up so guessed they weren't real shocks even after Sheridan and King conducted a similar experiement on Puupies and retrieved similar results.

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IS the study reliable?

It was realible as the 'game of death' condeucted a replication of milgrams study where similar results were seen. The results from Hoflings doctors/nurses study were similar as 21/22 obeyed

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What ethical guidelines were not met in Milgram's study?

The study led Ps to believe the allocation of roles as teacher and learner was random but it really was fixed. The P also believed the electric shocks were real. However no ethical guidelines were broken back then as they weren't in place.

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Why does the sampling method used in Milgram's study cause issues?

Volunteer sampling causes issues becuase it may display a certain characteristic which may challenge the reliability of the study. The ps were also from the USA so reuslts can't be generalised.

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What were Milgrams variations?

Reducing the apperance of authority. Reducing the apperance of authority. Disagreement between 2 experimentors. Removing authority. Making the P responsible. Making Mr Wallace suffering more obvious.

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Who proposed the agency theory?

Milgram

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What does the agency theory suggest?

That humans have 2 menatl states which are the Autonomous state and the Agentic state.

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What is the autonomous state?

We percieve ourselves to be resposible for our own behaviour. In this state we are acting under our own free will according to our own conscience. We feel responsible for our own actions and therefore feel guilt for wrong doings

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What is the Agentic state?

Taking responsibility for their own actions means they are in the autonomous state but when they encounter an authorative figure they shift to an agentic state which is the agentic shift. We will act as an agent for the authorative figure

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What is moral strain?

If the authorative figure issues an order that goes against our conscience, we experience moral strain because we have 2 contradictory urges; to obey the figure or obey the conscience

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What did Milgram suggest about moral strain?

That it can be redueced by our tendency to use denial which is when we push uncomfortable thoughts into the unconsious part of the mind.

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What is a supporting study for Milgram's agency theory?

Hofling's nurses study and Bushman uniform study both support the fact that people are likely to obey authorative figures

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What is conflicting evidence for agency theory?

His theory does not explain individual differences. This means it does not explain why some P refused to follow other orders from an authorative figure

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What are some other explanations for Milgram's theory?

The charismatic leadership theory duggests by nature to their charismatic personalities, some individuals are likely to elicit obedience regardless of their position

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What is the usefulness of Milgrams theory

It helps to explain blind obedience, especially how ordinary people can follow appalling instructions to harm or kill others. Eg-the holocaustin which German soldiers obeyed their commanding officer.

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What is the testability of Milgrams theory?

It is difficult to prove the existence of the 2 mental states and are simply theoretical ideas which can't be scientifically tested.

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What is legitimacy of authority?

An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey those who we percieve to have authority over us. This authority is justifed by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy

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What did Adorno et al do?

They wanted to find out why some people had such a compelling tendency to obey appaling commands to muder after the horror of WW1. He investigated the causes of obedience and prejudice and concluded that obedience is the result of a charateristic

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What was the procedure for Adorno's experiment?

Adrono created 4 psychometric tests to measure attitudes towards various racial groups and other viewpoints. One being the F-scale

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What were the results for this experiment?

There was a strong correlaion between scores on all 4 scales, ie- Ps who scored highly on 1 scale also scored highly on the other 3.

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State 3 things in which Ps with high scores on the scale displayed?

Strong racial in group favouritism, traditional attidtudes, conscious of their own and others status

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High scoring resulted in having an authoritairan personality, what was the origin for this?

IT was found in early childhood where parenting had been strict, harsh and involved unconditioned love.

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What are supporting studies of Adorno's authoritarian personality?

Milgram and Alan Elms conducted a follow up study using Ps who had taken part in Milgram's orginal study. They found those who conducted 450volts scored higher on tests of authoritarianism than those who disobeyed the experimenter

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What is contradictory evidence of Adorno's authoritarian personality?

Milgram found that when situational factors changed, levels of obedience change. This suggests that the situation is a more satisfactory explanation of obedience rather than personality

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What are other explanations of Adorno's authoritarian personality?

Middendorp and Meleon found that less educated people are more likely to display higher levels of obedience compared to well educated people suggesting levels of education lead to obedience rather than personality

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What is the usefullness of Adorno's authoritarian personality?

The explanation has little to offer in terms of practical value, as it suggests the authoritarian personality is caused by early childhood experiences therefore the solution would be to change parenting which is unpractical

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What is the testability of Adorno's authoritarian personality?

The use of scales to measure the authoritarian personality has been criticised as the likhert scales includes all clsoed statements resulting in repsonse bias alongside social desirability

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Define the resistance to social influence

The ability to withstand social pressure to conform/obey

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What is social support?

Those who resist to comform or obey can act as a role model, enabling others to resist the pressure to conform or bey. The presence of someone who resists the social pressure increases an indivduals confidence in resisting also

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What are supporting studies to resisting social influence?

Ashc's line study 'dissenter' variation supports social support. Allen and Levine carried out an Asch style study where Ps worked in groups being instructed by an authority figure to carry out an unjust command. 32/33 groups rebelled

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What is Rotter's locus of control?

Refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they have control over the events in their lives. Rotter prosposed that eithe rpeople have an internal or external lous or control.

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Whats a high internal LOC?

Blieve that they have control over the things that happen to them

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Whta is a high external LOC?

Believe that fate, chance, destiny, or luck determines their life outcomes.

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What are individuals with a internal LOC more likely to do?

They ar emore likely to resist the pressure to conform or obey because internals are more liekly to be self-confident, achoevement orientated, have a higher IQ, less need for social approval and take personal responsibility for actions

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Why are those with an external LOC less likely to resisit social pressure?

because

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Social Influence

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