07. Social Influence I

Question 1

Milgram: experiment overview

Answer 1

Obedience experiment

• Will people do horrible things because they’re ‘just following orders’?
• Learner and experimenter are confederates
• The participant is always the ‘teacher’, responsible for administering an electric shock (at increasing voltage) when the learner gets questions wrong
• Do they continue to shock the learner, even when it seems the learner is dead?

Question 2

Milgram: experimenter prods

Answer 2

When people are hesitant to continue, there are ‘prods’ used by the experimenter

• 1: Please continue
• 2: The experiment requires that you continue.
• 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
• 4: You have no other choice, you must go on (an order – not actually as effective as the other prods)

Question 3

Milgram: how far did participants go?

Answer 3

The mean level of shock applied was extremely high (over 330 volts), higher than any predictions.

Question 4

Burger (2009)

Answer 4

Modern replication of Milgram

• ethical adjustments: experiment is stopped at 150v (most people that did 150v continued to the end)
• additional condition: get to see a teacher refuse to participate before beginning
• personality analysis: 2 traits analysed - empathy and desire for control

Question 5

How did Burger’s results compare to Milgram’s?

Answer 5

Similar findings - people still obeyed.
Personality does not predict compliance but when people need prods

Question 6

How many participants go to 450v?

Answer 6

65%

(voice-feedback condition AKA normal)

Question 7

Criticisms of Milgram

Answer 7

• ## If people believe the experiment is real, they are more likely to disobey (e.g. touch condition (have to hold down person’s hand to shock them) it is obvious that the person is not dead)

Question 8

Meta-analysis by Haslam et al. (2014)

Answer 8

• variation between conditions – 10%-90% obedience rates
• minor differences have large effect - directiveness of experimenter

Question 9

Reicher & Haslam (2012)

Answer 9

• Milgram describes obedience, but doesn’t explain it
• It’s not just about authority. People are very responsive to other voices in the experiment – the learner (at 150v!), the second experimenter, other teachers…

Question 10

What is Majority Influence?

Answer 10

The influence of the (wrong) majority on your own perception of the truth

Question 11

Majority influence experiments

Answer 11

Muzafer Sherif’s (1936) auto-kinetic effect
Asch

Question 12

Asch (1955) Conformity Experiment

Answer 12

• used ambiguous stimuli
• asked people which line was longer
• when confederates consistently gave the same wrong answer, participants changed their answers to reflect the group
• however participants were very confused

Question 13

What did Asch believe?

Answer 13

People don’t mindlessly conform

Question 14

What influenced the results of Asch (1955)?

Answer 14

• Larger group sizes indicate greater conformity
• Having a real participant / an actor that gives the right answer increases non-conformity

Question 15

Asch results

Answer 15

• The modal response was not to conform at all
• People tended to conform very few times, not every time
• A confusing situation = conforming as a way of communication

Question 16

Asch (1955): What reasons did participants give for conforming?

Answer 16

• “I didn’t want to spoil the study results”
• Many didn’t want to appear foolish or the odd one out
• Some thought they were suffering from an optical illusion
• Some Ps thought the first person had a visual impairment and everyone else conformed to not make them feel bad
• Reasoning that people give is NOT mindless

Question 17

Asch (1955): What reasons did participants give for conforming?

Answer 17

• Confidence in own judgement
• Thinking they were wrong but still wanting to say what they thought
• “Is something wrong with me?”

Question 18

Asch: why do we see these effects?

Answer 18

Asch’s experiment centres on disagreement over reality, not opinion

Not applicable to real life