Social Psychology

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What did Kelman propose as the three types of conformity?
Compliance, Internalisation and Identification.
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What is compliance?
Compliance is going along with others to gain their approval or avoid their disapproval.
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What is Internalisation?
Internalisation is going along with others because you have accepted their point of view because it is consistent with your own.
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What is Identification?
Identification is going along with others because you have accepted their point of view but only because of a desire to be like them.
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What did Asch do?
In total Asch tested 123 male American undergraduates were tested. Asch showed a series of lines to participants seated around a table. Participants always answered in the same order with real participants answering last.
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What was the purpose of the confederates?
The confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer on 12 out of the 18 trials.
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What did Asch find?
Asch found that on the 12 critical trials, 36.8% of the responses made by true participants were incorrect showing they conformed with the confederates. One quarter of the participants never conformed on any of the trials.
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Why did people conform?
Asch interviewed some of his participants and found that they tended to give one of three reasons. Distortion of judgement, Distortion of perception, Distortion of action. (Ask what each one is)
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What variations did Asch complete for his study? - Difficulty of the task
Asch made the differences between line length smaller so that the answer was less obvious. The level of conformity increased.
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What did Lucas et al find?
Found that the influence of task difficulty on conformity is moderated by the self efficacy of the individual. They found that individuals with high self efficacy remained more independent than low self efficacy individuals.
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What variations did Asch complete for his study? - Size of the majority
Asch found that there was very little conformity when the majority consisted of just one or two individuals. However under the pressure of three, the proportion of conformity jumped to 30%.
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What variations did Asch complete for his study? - The unanimity of the majority
When the real participant was given the support of either another real participant or a confederate who had been instructed to give the right answer throughout, conformity levels dropped reducing from 32% to just 5.5%
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What are the criticisms of Asch's research? - Is the study a 'child of its time'
The findings were done on all American men and also during the 1950's when people were used to conforming after the war. Therefore the levels of conformity may have been higher during this time.
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What did Perrin and Spencer find?
Perrin and Spencer used youths on probation as participants and probation officers as the confederates. They found similar levels of conformity as Asch originally found. Conformity is more likely when the costs of nonconformity are higher.
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What are the criticisms of Asch's research? - The Asch effect
Lalancetter and Standing modified Asch's methodology to make the test stimuli more ambigous and so increase the likelihood of obtaining conformity. As in the study with Perrin and Spencer no conformity was observed.
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What are the criticisms of Asch's research? - Conformity or independence
Only one third of participants in the research conformed meaning that two thirds of the participants did not. This shows that in fact Asch's study found that people were more independent than first thought.
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What did Smith and Bond do?
They conducted a meta analysis of conformity studies that had used the same or similar procedures to Asch. Some countries were classified as individualistic and some others were classed as collectivist.
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What did Smith and Bond find?
Collectivist countries tended to show higher levels of conformity than individualistic cultures. The impact of the cultural variables on conformity levels was greater than any other variable.
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What are the criticisms of Smith and Bond?
Cultures are not homogenous and differences between indivdualist cultures and collectivist values within different cultures have been established in other research. In cross cultural comparisons there is a problem of cultural differences.
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What did Moscovici do to find out about conformity into minority influence?
Moscovici et al tested 32 groups of 6 women each. Of the six participants in each group, two were confederates and four were real participants. The group was shown blue coloured slides with different hues. Confederates said the slide was green x24
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What did Moscovici find?
Overall the participants agreed with the minority on 8.42% of the trials. Most impressively 32% gave the same answer as the minority at least once. The physical position of the confederates made no difference.
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What is the conversion theory for explanation of why people conform to minority influence?
Based on the idea that if an individual is exposed to an argument that is contradictory to a currently held attitude this creates a conflict. Conversion theory assumes that individuals are motivated to reduce this conflict.They examine the argument
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What is the evaluation of conversion theory? - Mackie
Mackie claimed that it is the majority that promotes greater message processing. People generally share belief that they share similar views to the rest of the majority group.When faced with a different view they examine it to see the difference.
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When is internalisation more likely?
The effect of the minority influence appears to be different according to whether it comes from an ingroup minority or an outgroup minority. Martin found that ingroup minorities have greater influence in public whilst outgroup have effect privately
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What are the lessons of minority influence research?
Nermeth suggests that the lessons are minorities can actively promote a differing viewpoint but need to be consistent, even with consistency and commitment minorities often do not prevail, exposure to a minority viewpoint stimulates the majority.
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What explanations are there to why people conform? - Normative social influence
A majority may be able to control other group members by making it difficult for them to deviate from the majority point of view and thus exerting pressure on them to conform. Going against the majority isnt easy.
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What evaluation is there of normative social influence?
The practical value of this explanation has been highlighted in recent research emphasizing the normative social influence in bullying. Garandeau and Cillessen have shown how groups with a low quality of friendship is influenced by a skilful bully.
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What explanations are there to why people conform? - Informative social influence
In some cases individuals go along with others because they genuinely believe them to be right. We can change our own point of view in line with the position of those doing the influencing.
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When is informational social influence most likely?
When the situation is ambigous, the situation is a crisis, We believe others to be experts.
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What evaluation is there of informational social influence?
Some studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people's beliefs has an influence on stereotypes. Wittenbrink and Henly found that participants exposed to negative information about African Americans later reported more negative beliefs.
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What is the social impact theory?
Latane developed the social impact theory to explain why people conform in some situations but not others. There are several principles included in this explanation.
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What are the several factors in the social impact theory?
Number - the more people present the more influence they have on the person. Strength - the more important the majority the more influence they have. Immediacy - each individual will influence others.
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What support is there for the social impact theory?
Sedikides and Jackson found that high strength and high immediacy sources exerted more impact than low strength and low immediacy sources.
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What is the dynamic social impact theory?
Consolidation - over time the majority grows in size and minority decreases, Clustering - people are more influenced by their closest neighbours, Correlation - opinions converge, Continuity diversity - member of minorities are shielded from influence
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What did Milgram do to research obidence to authority?
Milgram got a real participant and a confederate who was always the learner. The learner went into the other room whilst the participant (teacher) went into another room and asked them questions. They believed they were given electric shocks.
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What did Milgram find?
65% of the participants continued to 450 volts although this was marked as extremely dangerous. All participants went to 300 volts and only five stopped at that point, the point when the learners first objected to being shocked.
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What conclusions did Milgram come up with?
Demonstrate that ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority even when asked to behave in an inhumane manner. This suggests that it is not evil people who commit atrocities but ordinary people who are obeying orders.
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What variations did Milgram conduct for his study? - Proximity of the victim
Both teacher and learner were placed in the same room. Obidence levels dropped to 40% as the teacher was now able to see the learners anguish more directly.
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What variations did Milgram conduct for his study? - Proximity of the authority figure
Milgram made the experimenter absent during the experiment and gave orders over the telephone. Only 21% continued to 450 volts. Participants were also found to give weaker shocks than were required and lying to the experimenter.
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What variations did Milgram conduct for his study? - Presence of allies
Milgram found that when he gave the real participants two allies who did not adminster the shocks but refused to go any further almost all real participants also withdrew their cooperation with only 10% carrying on to max level.
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What variations did Milgram conduct for his study? - Increasing the teachers discretion
In a further variation the level of shock delivered was left to the participants discretion. Under these conditions only one out of 40 participants and 95% of participants refused to deliver any shocks beyond the point where the learner protested 1st
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What are the ethical issues in obedience research?
Deception, Informed consent, right to withdraw, protection from psychological harm (Ask about each one)
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Why was Milgram's research subjected to so much hostile criticism?
Milgrams results appeared all the more shocking because they challenged Western assumptions about freedom and personal responsibility
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What are the methodological issues in obedience research?
Realism, Generalisability, The obedience alibi (Ask for more)
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Why do people obey? - Gradual Commitment
As participants had already been given a lower shock it becomes hard to resist the experimenters requirement to increase the shock as the experiment continues. Similar to the foot in the door method of persuasion.
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Why do people obey? - Agentic shift
The agentic state is the condition a person is in when he sees himself as an agent for carrying out another person's wishes.The participants felt they could blame their actions on the experimenter.
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Why do people obey?- The role of buffers
In Milgrams original study the teacher and the learner were in different rooms with the teacher protected from having to see his victim. This acted as the buffer.
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Why do people obey? - Justifying obedience
The fact that they were in a university and that the participants thought they were helping a science means that they had justification for their actions.
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What criticisms are there of Milgrams explanation of obedience? - Monocausal emphasis
Mandel suggests that by focusing solely on obedience as an explanation for atrocities carried out in the Holocaust and other crimes, Milgram ignored many other explanations e.g. anti semitism during the Holocaust.
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What criticisms are there of Milgrams explanation of obedience? - Agentic shift
Unlike the experience of the Holocaust perpetrators who carried out their duties over months if not years whilst Milgrams participants were only in a room for half an hour and were subjected to constant pressure.
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What are the consequences of an obedience alibi?
Mandel believed the use of an obedience alibi to explain events have negative consequences; the conclusion that obedience had a key role in Holocaust events is unjustified, suggestion that Holocaust perpetrators were just obeying orders is distressin
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What does the role of allies show about the resisting pressures to conform?
The social support shown by a fellow dissenter provides the individual with an independent assessment of reality that makes them feel confident in their own decision and more confident in rejecting the majority position.
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What did Allen and Levine do in relation to the role of allies?
They produced three conditions in an Asch like study. In one the supporter had extremely poor vision and in the second the supporter had normal vision.
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What did Allen and Levine find in relation to the role of allies?
Both conditions were sufficient to reduce the amount of conformity. However the valid social support had much more impact showing that the presence of an ally is helpful in resisting conformity but more so when they are perceived as valid.
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What do moral considerations show about resisting pressures to conform?
Most research comes from physical reality. Research shows that people are clearly motivated to move towards the majority position and is about being liked by the group. However by using moral considerations such as cheating people did not shift views
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What does the non conformist personality show about resisting pressures to conform?
The extent to which people are influenced is also affected by their personalities. Individuals who respond to majority influence with independence tend to be unconcerned with social norms (Naire et al)
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What do insights into Milgrams studies show about resisting pressures to obey?
Milgram moved one of his variations to a downtown office in Boston. More people felt able to resist authority. This shows that status is a key factor in obedience and resistance.
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What do moral considerations show about resisting pressures to obey?
Lawrence Kohlberg presented a group of Milgrams volunteers with a set of imaginary moral dilemmas. He found that those who based their moral decisions on more general moral principles were more defiant in the Milgram study.
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What does social heroism show about resisting pressures to obey?
Zimbardo suggests that while the majority of humanity is bowing to unjust authority the few who resist are really hereos. Social heroism involves putting oneself at risk in pursuit of an important principle. e.g. Nelson Mandela
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What is meant by locus of control?
The term locus of control relates to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour. It is measured along a dimension of high internal to high external.
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What are high internals?
High internals perceive themselves as having a great deal of personal control over their behaviour and are therefore more likely to take personal responsibility for it. What happens to a person is therefore seen as a product of their own ability.
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What are high externals?
High externals perceive their behaviour as being caused by more by external influences or luck.
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What has research on locus of control uncovered about internal and externals?
High internals are active seekers of information that is useful to them, High internals tend to be more achievement orientated, High internals are better able to resist coercion from others.
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What research support is there for locus of control and leadership?
Research suggests that internals are more likely to become leaders than to follow others. The rationale for this is that individuals who attribute responsibility for their actions to themselves tend to assume they can cause certain changes.
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What did Anderson and Schneier find?
They found that group members possessing an internal locus of control were more likely to emerge as leaders in their groups.
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What evaluation is there for locus of control? Are we becoming more external?
Twenge et al found that young Americans increasingly believe that their own lives are controlled by outside forces rather than their own behaviour. Researchers found that locus of control scores had become substantially more external in students.
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What does Twenge et al suggest about the implications of these findings?
The implications are almost uniformly negative as externality is correlated with poor school achievement, decreased self control and depression.
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What is attributional style?
It is a personality attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event. Psychologists have identified three components in attributional style.
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What is the personal component of attributional style?
Can be seen as either dispositional or situational. An individual may see themselves as the cause of an event or may attribute the cause to situational factors
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What is the permanent component of attributional style?
Can be seen as either stable or unstable. An individual may see the situation as unchangeable or changeable
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What is the pervasive component of attributional style?
Can be seen as either global or local. An individual may see the situation as affecting all aspects of their life or being restricted to just that event.
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What are negative attributional styles?
Some people blame themselves for negative events believing that some events will continue indefinitely and tending to let this negativity affect many different aspects of their lives. This is a negative attributional style.
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What are positive attributional styles?
People who generally blame others for negative events, believe that negative experiences are relatively transient and do not let the negative events affect their lives. These characteristics make up the positive explanatory style.
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What did Heaven et al do to research attributional style?
Studied young adolescents in Australia to see if there was an association between attributional style and attitude to school.
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What did Heaven et al find?
They found significant differences between self identified studious students, and rebel students. Rebels were found to score lowest on positive attributional style and highest on negative attributional style.
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What are the implications of a minority becoming a majority?
When a minority succeeds in attracting enough supporters it is transformed into the new majority. Prislin and Christensen concluded that losing the majority position can decrease satisfaction and increase hostility and a desire to exit the group.
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Why is terrorism a tactic of social change?
Krunglanski argues that terrorism might be considered a form of social change through the process of majority influence. The aim of terrorism is to bring about social change when direct social force is not possible.
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Why is consistency and persistence relevant to terrorism?
According to research into minority influence, the influence of a minority is most effective when it is consistent and persistent.
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Why is internalisation of the majority position relevant to terrorism?
An effective minority may lead to the internalisation of the minority position. Terrorism attempts to bring social change by conveying the desperation of minorities and by drawing attention to the possible legitamacy of their claims
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Why is conformity to the zeitgeist relevant to terrorism?
The zeitgeist is an important concept in minority influence. A group is more likely to internalise a minority position if this position already has widespread popular support.
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What are the implications to obedience research of obedience as a mechanism of social change?
Human history is littered with examples of this destructive obedience in the name of social change. Many Nazi leaders claimed they were simply following orders when it came to the Holocaust.
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What role do disobedient models play in social change?
In one variation of his experiment placed the participant with two other confederates who disobeyed the experimenter. He found that 36 out of 40 participants also refused to give any more electric shocks.
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What does a 'drift to goodness' have to do with implications to obedience research?
Zimbardo suggests that despite the dangers of a drift into destructive obedience reasearch also supports the possibility of a reverse drift into goodness making use of the same principles to promote all sorts of pro social behaviour.
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How does Gradual Commitment show a drift to goodness?
In Milgrams initial studies the teacher began by delivering just 15 volts and then continued in small groups up to 450 volts. Researchers have also found that even just signing a petition leads to increased monetary support for charities.
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How does using social models show a drift to goodness?
Milgram found that the presence of obedient models increased obedience in the participant and the presence of disobedient model decreased it. Social role models have been shown to influence positive social change causing an increase in positive acts
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How is dissent a catalyst for social change and how does this implicate research into independent behaviour?
In Aschs studies, one of the most important variables for IB was the presence of a dissenter. The presence of a dissenter appears to liberate participants from the need to conform to the majority and leaves them free to express what they truly believ
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What does the role of moral principles have to do with implications into research for independent behaviour?
Kohlberg found that in Milgrams study those who based their ideas on moral principles tended to be more defiant whilst those at a more restricted level of moral development obeyed the experimenter completely.
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What is compliance?

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Compliance is going along with others to gain their approval or avoid their disapproval.

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What is Internalisation?

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What is Identification?

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What did Asch do?

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