Social Influence Flashcards

1
Q

What is conformity?

A

Yielding to group pressure, as a result of an indirect order

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2
Q

What are the three types of conformity?

A

-Compliance
-Identification
-Internalisation

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3
Q

What is compliance?

A
  • Conforming PUBLICLY, but NOT PRIVATELY to avoid ridicule.
  • Weak/temporary - only in the presence of group
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4
Q

What is identification?

A
  • conforming PUBLICLY and PRIVATELY to gain group acceptance.
  • temporary - not always agree with the group
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5
Q

What is internalisation?

A

• True conformity - PUBLIC AND PRIVATE acceptance of belief.
- permanent form of conformity

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6
Q

What is the dual dependency model?

A

An explanation for conformity suggesting we conform for 2 reasons:
- ISI (Informational social influence)
- NSI (Normative social influence)

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7
Q

Who created the “Dual Dependancy Model”?

A

Deutsch and Gerard

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8
Q

What is Informational social influence (ISI)?

A

Cognitive process - we agree with opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct.

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9
Q

What is Normative social influence (NSI)?

A

Emotional process - we agree with the opinion of the majority to be accepted/gain social approval

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10
Q

What is another word for normal?

A

Neurotypical

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11
Q

What was Asch’s experiment?

A
  • Participant has to choose the longest line, with confederates picking the wrong line.
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12
Q

What were Asch’s findings

A

• 2 Confederates - 14% conformity
• 3 Confederates - 31% conformity
Group size influences level of conformity

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13
Q

What are negative evaluations for Asch’s experiment?

A

• Lacks temporal validity - McCarthyism (people felt pressured to conformed in time where communists were persecuted)
- Perrin Spencer repeated experiment with engineering students (only 1 in 396 conformed): lacked temporal validity
- People less conformist today

• Artificial situation
- Task isn’t everyday task, therefore, more likely to conform
- Only men asked - not generalisable

• Cultural differences - individualistic cultures (UK&US) more concerned about self than others
- collectivist cultures (China) concerned by goals with the collective
(Bond and Smith, 1996 found that conformity rates are higher)

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14
Q

What are 3 reasons people conform?

A
  • Distortion of perception
  • Distortion of judgement
  • Distortion of action
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15
Q

What is distortion of perception?

A

Come to see the same way as the majority.

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16
Q

What is distortion of judgment?

A

Feeling doubt about accuracy of your judgement, so side with majority.

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17
Q

What is distortion of action?

A

Continue to trust their own judgement perception but changed behaviour to avoid disapproval.

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18
Q

Evaluation for Dual Dependancy Model (ISI & NSI)

A

Positive:
• Research support for ISI
- Luca (2006) people were found to conform more to harder maths questions

• ISI & NSI working together (two process approach)
- Asch suggested - conformity decreases when another dissenting participant is present, as it reduces power of NSI - as they provide social support.

• Extra evaluation:
- Asch repeated experiment and participants had to write down their answers - conformity rates dropped by 12.5%.
- This suggested that people were willing to give a wrong answer in order to be liked - as suggested by NSI

Negative:
• Individual differences
- NSI less likely to influence those who are less concerned about being liked
- Students high in “need for affiliation” are more likely to conform

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19
Q

What was Sherif’s experiment (1935)

A

Stationary spot of light was said to move. Participants were told to estimate how far it had moved.
- Participants were primarily tested individually
- Participants went out in groups of three and gave estimate with others present
- Participants then repeated experiment individually

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20
Q

What were the results of Sherif’s experiment?

A
  • Participants produced a stable number primarily, although this number varied.
  • When in a group, these number converged and become more alike.
  • When retested individually, the estimates were closer to the group estimate.
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21
Q

What conclusions can be drawn from Sherif’s experiment?

A

Participants were by a group, and a group norm was developed.

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22
Q

Positive evaluations for Sherif

A

Laboratory experiment - strict variables
- results unlikely to be affected by extraneous variables
- replicable

Repeated measures design -
Participants variables, that could’ve affected the results were kept constant

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23
Q

Negative evaluation for Sherif

A

Artificial situation - not realistic
Only males - cannot be generalised
Deception of participants may have affected the results.

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24
Q

What are social roles?

A

The parts people play as members of various social groups e.g. parent, child, student

  • These are accompanied by expectations of what is appropriate behaviour in each role.
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25
Q

What 3 situational factors influenced Asch’s participants?

A
  • Group size
  • Unanimity/Social Support
  • Task difficulty
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26
Q

What results were found on similar studies surrounding Asch’s experiment and gender?

A

Meta-analysis of conformity research found that females conform more than males

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27
Q

What was Zimbardo’s method?

A
  • Male students were recruited to act as either guards or prisoners in mock prison.
  • They were randomly assigned the roles of prisoner or guard and their behaviour observed.
  • The prisoners were arrested as they went about their day, taken to ‘prison’ and given uniforms and numbers.
  • The guards also wore uniforms and mirrored sunglasses.
28
Q

What were Zimbardo’s results?

A
  • Initially, the guards tried to assert their authority and the prisoners resisted by sticking together.
  • The prisoners then became more passive and obedient, while the guards invented nastier punishments. The experiment was abandoned early because some prisoners became very distressed.
29
Q

What are Zimbardo’s conclusions?

A

Guards and prisoners adopted their social roles quickly. Zimbardo claims this shows that our “social role can influence our behaviour”. Seeming well-balanced men became unpleasant and aggressive in the role of guard.

30
Q

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s experiment

A
  • Controlled observation so good control variables
  • Artificial environment - can’t be generalised
  • Ethical issues
  • Observer bias - zimbardo ran the prison himself
    LACK OF REALISM - “participants were only play-acting, rather than genuinely conforming.
31
Q

What happened in the mock psychiatric ward?

A

• 29 staff members of the hospital volunteered to be “patients” and held in a ward.
• Patients started behaving like real patients - conforming to the roles assigned to them.
• Showed depression and withdrawal and tried to escape.
• Afterwards stated they felt frustrated, anxious and loss their identity.

32
Q

What is obedience?

A

Obedience is a type of social influence, which means acting in response to a direct order, usually from an authority figure.

33
Q

What was Milgrim’s experiment?

A

Participants were told to electric shock people in response to questions to look at different levels of obedience

34
Q

What is internal validity?

A

Is the experiment testing what it stated?

35
Q

Why was Milgrim’s experiment said to have low internal validity?

A
  • Lacks realism - some suggested that participants knew it was a set up, and some suggested doubts about the shocks.
36
Q

What study proves Milgrim’s experiment has high internal validity?

A

Participants were asked to shock puppies
- 100% women shocked the puppies

37
Q

Evaluation for Milgrim

A

Positive - replication (game of death)
- Good external validity - as nurses had high levels of obedience to unjustified doctors demands

Negative:
- Ethical issues - betrayal of trust

38
Q

What are the three situation variables in Milgrim’s study?

A
  • Location
  • Uniform
  • Proximity
39
Q

What are the findings of different proximities of Milgrim’s study?

A

Study where participant and learner in the same room - 40%

Study where participant and leaner in adjoining room - 65%

40
Q

What are the findings of different locations of Milgrim’s study?

A

Original study - prestigious university setting - Yale. 65%.

Changed location to a run-down office down town - 47.5%

41
Q

What was Bickman’s experiment?

A

Requests were given to random pedestrians by people dressed in three different uniforms:

  • policeman/guard
  • milkman
  • civilian
42
Q

What was the findings of Bickman’s experiment?

A
  • Higher levels of obedience to policeman than milkman
43
Q

What was Bushman’s experiment?

A

Woman asked pedestrians to give change for an expired parking meter.

  • Woman dressed as police had higher obedience rate than beggar.
44
Q

What is the obedience alibi?

A

Suggests that bad acts can be justified as people were “only doing their duty by obeying orders”

45
Q

What is the agentic state?

A

Mental state when someone is free of personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.

46
Q

What is legitimacy of authority?

A

Explanation for obedience which suggests we are more likely to obey someone who has authority over us.

47
Q

What is the autonomous state?

A

Means to be acting freely and behaving to their own principles

48
Q

What is evidence against agentic state?

A

German reserve police battalion 101 - no direct orders

49
Q

What is minority influence?

A

A form of social influence in which a majority is persuaded to adapt their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

50
Q

What are the three conditions needed for minority influence to take place?

A

Consistency
Flexibility
Commitment

51
Q

Why does consistency lead to minority influence?

A

If there is a consistent approach, more likely that people will consider the issue more carefully.

52
Q

What are two types of consistency?

A

Synchronic consistency
Diachronic consistency

53
Q

What is synchronic consistency?

A

Everyone saying the same thing

54
Q

What is diachronic consistency?

A

One person says the same thing consistently

55
Q

Why does commitment lead to minority influence?

A

A more committed approach means it is harder to ignore.

56
Q

Why does flexibility lead to minority influence?

A

Must negotiate their position with majority

57
Q

What is the snowball effect?

A

Minority builds momentum and becomes majority

58
Q

Evaluation for 3 approaches to minority influence

A

Support for flexibility - Moscovici’s
- other study - jury - person who offered alternative view showed influence.

Support for consistency - meta analysis (Wood) found consistency is key.

59
Q

What is social change?

A

The process by which the individuals and groups change other’s attitudes and behaviours.

Includes:
- conformity
- obedience
- minority influence

60
Q

How does social change occur?

A

Deeper processing of the issue

61
Q

What is the augmentation principle?

A

If there are risks associated with the point of view, it is likely to be taken more seriously.

62
Q

What is social cryptomnesia?

A
  • People are aware of social change, but can’t identify how it occurred.
63
Q

What is terrorism as a tactic of social change?

A

The aim of terrorism is to bring about social change when direct social force is not possible.

64
Q

What 3 factors cause social change?

A

Strength - powerful, knowledge and consistent.

Immediacy - physical, social or psychological closeness of person providing influence.

Numbers - how many people in a group.

65
Q

What are barriers to social change?

A

Stereotypes
E.g. “tree huggers” (environmentalists) and “man haters” (feminists)