PAPER 1- TOPIC 1 SOCIAL INFLUENCE ✅

Question 1

Definition of obedience

Answer 1

directly following orders, usually from a figure of authority, to avoid a consequence

Question 2

Explain the obedience experiment

Answer 2

•Milgram’s experiment 1963

• 40 American males age 20-50
• met a confederate and an experimenter (wearing lab coat)
• drew lots to see who was teacher and learner (real P always teacher)
• has to administer an electric shock every time leaner for a question wrong (P was told it was a memory test linked to how pain increases it)
• if the P asked to stop, the experimenter gave prompts to continue
• experiment ended after 4 prompts or the max 450V was reached

Question 3

Findings of Milgram’s research

Answer 3

• All P’s delivered shocks up to 300V
• 65% delivered the maximum (deadly) 450V (much higher than the estimation of 3% from the 14 psychologists asked to predict the behaviour)
• P’s also were observed to show signs of extreme tension: sweating, trembling, nail biting and 3 had seizures

Question 4

Strengths of Milgram’s research

Answer 4

•Findings replicated in French TV show ‘the game of death’

• P’s paid to give (fake) electric shocks to other P’s (actors) in front of audience
• 80% delivered max shock
• physical observation identical to that of the P’s in Milgram’s study: nail biting, nervous laughter
• shows reliability

•similar study was carried out by Sheridan and King by giving real shocks to puppies in vision of P (in order from experimenter)

• despite real distress of animal 100% of female and 54% of male P’s delivered supposedly the fatal shock
• increase validity as shows findings were accurate despite fake shocks

Question 5

Weaknesses of Milgram’s research

Answer 5

• low validity as 50% of people believed the shocks were real and of those 2/3 disobeyed
-suggests they responded to demand characteristics and did not express their real or natural behaviour

•ethical issues

• protection of P’s- under emotional duress. 3 had seizures
• deception- P’s didn’t know the learner was confederate and the shocks were fake
• right to withdraw- needed to ask more than 4 times to be able to leave

Question 6

What are situational variables

Answer 6

Features of the immediate physical and social environment which may influence a person’s behaviour

Question 7

Milgram’s 3 variations (situational variables)

Answer 7

•Proximity
- increased proximity from P to learner means they can’t psychologically distance themselves from their actions so obedience decreases (when in same room 65% obey to 40% )

•Location
-less prestigious environment gives study less legitimacy and authority- believe the experimenter shares the authority of the environment
(seedy office block 65% to 47.5%)

•Uniform
-recognised as authoritative so encourage obedience, without uniform seems less legitimate, authoritative and important
(experimenter in lab coat swapped with ordinary person in everyday clothes- 65% obey to 20%)

Question 8

define proximity

Answer 8

physical distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving orders to

(distance of P to learner)

Question 9

describe touch proximity variation

results

Answer 9

P had to force learner’s hand onto electroshock plate when they answered incorrectly and refused to put it there

• obedience dropped to 30%

Question 10

describe remote instruction variation

results

Answer 10

experimenter left room and gave instruction by telephone

• obedience dropped to 20.5%
• more pretended to give shocks

Question 11

define uniform

Answer 11

outfit of person of authority who is giving orders

• people of authority usually have outfits symbolic to their authority, entitling them to obedience

Question 12

define location

Answer 12

the place that the order is given in

• the status and prestige of location dictates level of obedience

Question 13

Strengths of the influence of situational variables on obedience

Answer 13

•Support of uniform as a SV from Bickman’s research

• three confederates in uniform of a milkman, a security guard and a suit and tie
• asked GP to pick up litter- more likely to do it if wearing security guard uniform

•Milgram’s findings have been replicated in other cultures

• study (Meeus) on Dutch P’s who were ordered to say stressful things to desperate interviewees
• 90% obeyed shows reliability of Milgram’s findings -also replicated proximity and same findings (when experimenter not present obedience decreased dramatically)

Question 14

Weaknesses of Milgram’s situational variables

Answer 14

•Research from Smith and Bond found shows different cultures have different notions about role of authority

• western countries and non western countries don’t have same views
• findings don’t apply to all people so not generalisable

•some P’s may have known that the procedure was faked

• situations like replacing experimenter with member of public is so contrived that many P’s would have realised the truth
• unclear whether findings are genuinely due to obedience or demand characteristics

Question 15

• ….% of people went to 450V
• When venue was moved to seedy office block - ……%
• When teacher and learner in same room - ……%
• Experimenter in lab coat replaced by member of public in everyday clothes - …..%

Answer 15

• 65% of people went to 450V
• When venue was moved to seedy office block - 47.5%
• When teacher and learner in same room - 40%
• Experimenter in lab coat replaced by member of public in everyday clothes - 20%

Question 16

Define agentic state

include binding factors

Answer 16

• mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour
• instead blame any negative consequence on the authority figure giving the order
• become an agent of their orders
• stay in this state due to binding factors (aspects that allow the person to minimise the damaging effect of thief behaviour)
  e. g. denial

Question 17

define binding factors

examples

Answer 17

aspects of a situation, that cause the person to remain in the agentic state

• minimising the damaging effects of their behaviour and so reduce their ‘moral strain’
• shift responsibility to victim
• deny any damage they were doing

Question 18

define moral strain

do agents have it

Answer 18

• state of high anxiety when agent’s actions conflict with their personal morality
• agents do have it but feel powerless to disobey

Question 19

autonomous state

Answer 19

opposite of agentic state

behave based on own principles, feel a sense of responsibility for our actions

moving from autonomous to agency is agentic shift

Question 20

Define Legitimacy of authority

Answer 20

more likely to obey someone who we deem to have power or authority over us

• authority is justified (as legitimate) by the individual’s position of power in the social hierarchy
• taught to accept society’s hierarchy: that some people have power than us, and we should hand control of power to them

Question 21

dangers of legitimacy of authority

Answer 21

it becomes destructive when powerful and charismatic leaders (e.g Hitler, Stalin) order their people to behave in cruel and dangerous ways

-shown in MIlgram’s study as 65% of p’s administered lethal 450V electric shock to learner

Question 22

1 Strength 1 weakness of legitimacy of authority

Answer 22

STRENGTH
•explains cultural differences in obedience
-countries differ in obedience (some accept it more cuz of their society structure)
-German Milgram P’s obeyed 85%, Australian Milgram p’s obeyed 15%
- can see effect that society structure has on how obedient people are

WEAKNESS
•doesn’t explain all instances of disobedience
-Rank study where 16 of 18 nurses refused orders from an authoritative doctor to give an excessive dosage to patient
-nurses were disobedient even tho work in a strict social hierarchy

Question 23

Strength and weakness of agentic state

Answer 23

STRENGTH
•Milgram support
-most p’s questioned who was responsible when giving the shocks and the experimenter said that he was
-the P’s perceived they were no longer responsible and so proceeded with the shocks

WEAKNESS
•doesn’t explain other research
-Rank nurse study
-16/18 nurses didn’t give excessive drug to patent even tho the doctor ordering had authority
-nurses remained autonomous
-agentic shift only accounts for some situations of behaviour

Question 24

The 2 psychological explanations for obedience

Answer 24

Agentic state
Legitimacy of authority

Question 25

What are dispositional variables

Answer 25

Individual characteristics and personality that influence behaviour

Question 26

Difference between dispositional and situation explanations for conformity

Answer 26

dispositional- personality affects behaviour and obedience

situational- features of immediate environment that influence behaviour

Question 27

describe Adorno’s dispositional explanation for obedience

Answer 27

Adorno believed that high obedience level was basically a psychological disorder

he believed the cause of the disorder was the personality of the individual, not the situation (challenges Milgram’s research)

Question 28

outline Adorno’s description of the authoritarian personality

Answer 28

• show an extreme respect to authority
• believe in strong leaders to enforce traditional values (love of country, family and religion) into weak society
• contempt for socially inferior
• see everything as right or wrong (inflexible outlook)
• conventional attitudes for sex, race and gender
• see society as weak

Question 29

Describe Adorno’s research on dispositional explanations for obedience

Answer 29

-using the F scale, studied 2000 middle class white American’s unconscious attitude to other racial groups

Found that people with high scores:

• identified with ‘strong’ people
• were contempt of ‘weak’
• had high servility and excessive respect to authority
• conscious of status
• they had certain cognitive style - creating perceptions of distinct stereotypes and categories of people

Question 30

Origins of the authoritarian personality

Answer 30

comes from harsh parenting in childhood

• conditional love
• impossibly high standards
• extremely strict discipline
• severe criticism of commonly perceived failure

creates resentment and hostility in child

can’t displace on parents due to fear of punishment

children therefore grow up to displace these emotions onto those socially inferior, or those in other social groups (scapegoating)

Question 31

Strengths of authoritarian personality

Answer 31

Milgram research support

• interviewed some who were in his original obedience study
• they completed F scale

-The 20 obedient P’s in the first Milgram experiment scored higher than the disobedient P’s

Question 32

Weakness of authoritarian personality

Answer 32

• counterpoint to Milgram’s research support
• the obedient P’s had unusual characterstics for an authoritarian
• they didn’t glorify their fathers or experience high levels of punishment as a child

•doesn’t explain obedience in pre war Germany were millions of people were anti-semetic

• these people can’t all have an authoritarian personality
• lower validity

Question 33

Social influence includes…

And is influenced by…

Answer 33

Obedience & Conformity

situational, psychological and dispositional factors

Question 34

Two reasons people resist pressures of social influence

Answer 34

Locus of control- internal and external

Social support- other people resisting influence makes it easier for others to aswell

Question 35

External locus of control

Answer 35

person who believes their behaviour is caused primarily by external circumstances (e.g fate, luck), don’t take responsibility for their actions

more likely to conform, as depend on opinions of others and believe things are out of their control

Question 36

Internal locus of control

Answer 36

A person who believes their behaviour is caused primarily by their own decisions, take responsibility for their actions

less likely to conform and more likely to resist, as:

• take responsibility for their actions and experiences so don’t depend on opinions of others
• tend to be more self confident
• tend to be of higher intelligence

Question 37

describe locus of control as a continuum

Answer 37

its a scale/contiuum

people are not internal or external, but they are positioned on a scale between High internal and high external

Question 38

Define social support

Answer 38

idea that when other people resist social influence it makes it easier for an individual to do the same, act as model for independent behaviour

more independent, free to follow conscience and choose

Question 39

Examples of how social support helps people resist

conformity

obedience

Answer 39

conformity decreases
When asch added a dissenter the pressure to conform dropped
- as showed majority isn’t unanimous, leading to more dissent

obedience decreases
When Milgram added a disobedient confederate the P feels more free to act from his own conscience, as the dissenter acts as a model of dissent for P to copy

-obedience to 450V went from 65% to 10%

Question 40

Strength of social support as causing social resistance

Answer 40

•research support

• Gamson told P’s to produce evidence as a group to help an oil company attempt to damage someone’s reputation through a smear campaign
• found higher levels of resistance (88%) than Milgram because they were in groups

•Allan et al

• did an Asch style task with a dissenter
• many more refused to conform with a dissenter involved

Question 41

Strength and weakness of locus of control as causing resistance to social influence

Answer 41

Strength
•Holland repeated Milgram’s study but measured whether these p’s were internal or external
-found that internals showed greater resistance to authority (increase validity)

WEAKNESS
•Twenge et al
-analysed data from LOC studies over 40 years
-Data showed that over time people more resistant to obedience but also more external
-challenges LOC which suggests that people would be less obedient and internals

Question 42

Define minority influence

Answer 42

a small proportion of larger group or society persuade others to adopt their beliefs or behaviours, leads to internalisation of their private and public attitudes
As more people convert the snowball effect occurs

Question 43

define the snowball effect

Answer 43

over time more people become converted to minority position

more this happens, the higher rate of conversion (snowball effect)

minority view eventually becomes the internalised majority view and social change occurs

Question 44

define the idea of deeper processing

Answer 44

people pay more attention to views that are new or they don’t currently agree with, and then think more deeply about the view

(especially if committed, consistent and flexible)

Question 45

3 processes that make minority influence more effective

Answer 45

•Consistency-stick with their argument and beliefs
(synchronic- all people say same thing)
(diachronic- saying the same thing for a while now)
-consistency draws attention to belief and makes people rethink own views

•Flexibility- prepare to adapt POV

-relentless consistency may be counter productive as may be seen as rigid/dogmatic and off putting — reducing minority influence
strike a balance between consistency and flexibility

•Commitment- demonstrates dedication to beliefs

• sometimes dangerous activities done to draw attention
• risk or self sacrifice shows greater dedication
• causes more attention to be payed to them, if minority puts themselves at risk (augmentation principle)

Question 46

Nemeth study

Answer 46

• created a mock jury and one confederate who were deciding on a compensation amount for a skier
• confederate started very low
• when he refused to change MI was very low
• when he compromised towards the majority they were more likely to compromise too

Question 47

Moscivi study

Answer 47

• Split P’s into groups of 6 (2 confederates 4 P’s) and told them to identify the colour of 36 blue coloured slides that varied in intensity, on a board
• one group had consistent confederates (always say green)
• one group had inconsistent confederates (said blue 12 times, green 24)
• They had to identify the colour of the blue slide

Question 48

Findings of moscivi study

Answer 48

• When green was said every time the MI was 8.42%
• When blue was said 1/3 of time and green 2/3 the MI dropped to 1%

Question 49

Strengths of minority influence

Answer 49

•Moscivi Research
-supports consistency as a factor increasing minority influence

•Nemeth Research
-supports the fact that flexibility has a positive impact on minority influence

Question 50

Weaknesses of minority influence

Answer 50

•Artificial tasks used
(Moscivi’s and Asch’s)
-no real life impact and so doesn’t reflect real world tasks (poor external validity)

•low power of minority influence
Moscivi’s figure for agreement with consistent majority was only 8%
-MI is rare and not a useful concept

Question 51

NOT IN ADVANCED INFO

Stages of how minority influence creates social change

with example

Answer 51

1. Drawing attention
   -social proof shown of a problem through drawing attention
   ++e.g. civil rights marches
2. Consistency
   -maintain views over time
   ++e.g. millions of people marching for the same message
3. Deeper processing
   - activism leads to people thinking more deeply about the view
   e. g. people realised the discrimination
4. Augmentation principle
   - extreme actions with personal risk reinforces the message
   - e.g. freedom riders being beaten
5. Snowball effect
   - as more people backed the minority, it cussed even more people to start backing it
   - e.g. MLK got the attention of government and lots of people started backing it
6. Social cryptomnesia
   - people have a memory of change but not how it came about

Question 52

Other data .. & Conclusions of Milgram’s experiment

Answer 52

• he asked psychology students to predict P’s behaviour - estimated 3% would go to 450V • all Ps were debriefed, assured their behaviour was normal and sent a follow up questionnaire • Milgram suspected there were certain factors in the situation that encouraged obedience , he conducted further studies to investigate them