social influence

Question 1

internalisation

Answer 1

going along with others as their point of view is consistent with yours

private and public acceptance of group’s opinion

Question 2

compliance

Answer 2

going along with others to gain approval / avoid disapproval

little or no private attitude change

Question 3

identification

Answer 3

we identify with a group, so want to be part of it

we publicly change our behaviour to be part of it, even if privately we disagree

it is often temporary

Question 4

normative social influence

Answer 4

you conform as you want to be liked or respected by the group and because of the desire to ‘fit in’

Question 5

evaluation for normative social influence

Answer 5

asch - when answers were written down - conformity dropped to 12.5%

schultz et al - 25% reduction in need for fresh towels when told 75% of guests reuse

Question 6

informational social influence

Answer 6

you confirm as you believe the group has superior knowledge to you and is therefore right

Question 7

evaluation for informational

Answer 7

lucas et al - greater conformity to incorrect maths answers when problems we difficult

Question 8

asch - aim

Answer 8

to investigate the effects of conformity to a majority, when the task is unambiguous

Question 9

asch - procedure

Answer 9

123 male undergraduates from us

one naive pp and group of 6-8 confederates

shown 2 white cards, one with a single line

other with three lines of various lengths

asked which line is same length

Question 10

asch findings

Answer 10

control trials - in ordinary circumstances people made mistakes 1% of the time

critical trails - pp gave incorrect answers 36.8% of the time, 75% conformed at least once

Question 11

asch conclusion

Answer 11

showed convincingly that group pressures to conform to a majority are much stronger than been thought previously

Question 12

variations of asch - group size

Answer 12

1 confederate conformity was 3%
2 confederates was 12.8%
3 confederates was 32%

conformity is highest when the majority is only 3

Question 13

variations of asch - task difficulty

Answer 13

if the task is made more ambiguous then conformity increases - probably due to informational social influence

Question 14

variations of asch - unanimity

Answer 14

when a confederate gives the correct answer, conformity dropped to 5% - if they gave a different incorrect answer to the majority it dropped to 9%

Question 15

asch evaluation - ethics

Answer 15

participants were deliberately deceived as they were told it was a vision test - study would have lacked validity if the aim was known

some felt stressed and underwent psychological harm although asch argued he interviewed them after to overcome this

Question 16

asch evaluation - ethnocentric

Answer 16

perrin and spencer - replicated with british students and only 1 in 396 conformed

Question 17

asch evaluation - sample

Answer 17

a bias sample of 50 american students was used

we cannot generalise to other cultures or to women - lacks population validity

Question 18

zimbardo aim

Answer 18

see whether people would conform to the social role of a prison guard or a prisoner when placed in a mock prison environment and to test the dispositional explanation of conformity

Question 19

zimbardo procedure

Answer 19

21 healthy male volunteers randomly allocated role

participants blindfolded and taken to mock prison

given uniforms and numbers instead of names

the guards wore khaki shirts and trousers, dark sunglasses and carried wooden batons

Question 20

zimbardo findings

Answer 20

guards - brutal and sadistic - taunted prisoners - deindividualisation - decrease of sense of self-awareness that can occur in groups or crowds

prisoners - rebelled and ripped uniforms - some exhibited passive behaviour - crying

Question 21

zimbardo conclusion

Answer 21

study rejects the dispositional hypothesis for conformity - people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play in certain situations

Question 22

zimbardo evaluation - replication

Answer 22

reicher and haslam - replicated zimbardo’s study in the uk - participants did not conform to social roles, guards refused to impose authority and prisoners took control

conformity to social roles may not be automatic and the research can only be understood in the social and cultural context

Question 23

zimbardo evaluation - individual differences

Answer 23

guards did not all act the same

only 1/3 guards behaved brutally and 1/3 applied rules fairly - the rest helped the prisoners

Question 24

zimbardo evaluation - ethics

Answer 24

zimbardo is criticised for not protecting participants from harm - five had to leave experiment early due to distress, although he did debrief them

Question 25

milgram - aim

Answer 25

whether ordinary americans would obey an unjust order and inflict pain because instructed by an authority figure

Question 26

milgram procedure

Answer 26

40 American males - newspaper ad

greeted by two confederates - one was experimenter in labcoat - other was learning

participant was allocated the teacher role and sat infront of a shock generator

learner had to respond to a set of word pairs - increase by 15v if wrong
shouts at 315 v

4 main prods - please continue - you have no other choice, you must go on

Question 27

milgram findings

Answer 27

all continued to 300v
65% continued to 450v

Question 28

milgram conclusion

Answer 28

situational not dispositional explanation for obedience - most people would obey authority in these situations

Question 29

milgram evaluation - ecological validity

Answer 29

some have criticised milgram - study not reflective of real-life situations

hofling repeated the study in hospital - 21 out of 22 nurses gave lethal dose when ordered to by a doctor

Question 30

milgram evaluation - ethics

Answer 30

deceived participants so true aim hidden and made them feel as if they could not withdraw
many showed stress and guilt

milgram - 83.7% were happy to have taken part when asked during debriefing

Question 31

milgram evaluation - internal validity

Answer 31

orne and holland argue that the participants did not believe that the experiment was real - some suggest only shocked because offered payment for taking part

Question 32

agentic state

Answer 32

when you obey orders of an authority figure and do not feel responsible for their actions - 92.5%

shifted from autonomous state to an agentic state

Question 33

proximity

Answer 33

when the learner is in the same room, the obedience drops - 40%

if authority figure gives instructions by phone then obedience drops - 21%

Question 34

location

Answer 34

less credible locations eg run down office block causes obedience to reduce - 48%

Question 35

uniform

Answer 35

lab coat indicates status - when experimenter did not wear one, obedience dropped - 20%

Question 36

legitimacy of authority

Answer 36

uniform and location demonstrate legitimate authority

people will obey when the person giving orders seems to have authority due to these factors or perceives status in society

Question 37

authoritarian personality

Answer 37

adorno et al - f-scale - measure authoritarian personality disorder

• those who scored highly, identified with strong people and contemptuous of the week

showed respect to authority with fixed distinct stereotypes about others - positively correlation to prejudice

Question 38

resistance to social influence - social support

Answer 38

those with social support can be more confident and will not fear rejection or diciule

this means they are more likely to resist conformity and remain independent

Question 39

social support - conformity

Answer 39

when a confederate gave a correct answer in asch’s study the conformity dropped to 5%

Question 40

social support - obedience

Answer 40

when the participant was paired with two other teachers who refused to go on, the number of people who went up to 450v dropped to 10%

Question 41

locus of control

Answer 41

person’s perception of personal control over their own behaviour

high internal - active seekers of information - rely less on opinions - resist pressures - dont need social approval

oliner and oline - those who resisted orders in nazi Germany were more likely to have a high internal loc

Question 42

minority influence

Answer 42

consistency - continues to state the same thing over a period of time - more likely to convince others
- moscovici - blue slides - if consistently said green 8.2% vs 1.25%

commitment - confidence and courage and at a great cost to them

flexibility - adapt opinions and accept counter-arguments

Question 43

processes leading to social change

Answer 43

• drawing attention
• consistency
• deeper processing
• augmentation principle
• snowball effect
• social cryptoamnesia