Social influence descriptions

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

change in behaviour due to real or imagined pressure from other people

Question 2

3 types of conformity

Answer 2

-Compliance= publicly conform, privately keep your own views
-Identification= temporary change in belief, public and private
-Internalisation=permanent change in belief

Question 3

Dual process model of conformity

Answer 3

Deutsch + Gerard
-compliance explained by normative SI (desire to be liked)
-internalisation explained by informational SI (desire to be right)

Question 4

Normative social influence study
(pps, procedure, results %)

Answer 4

Asch
-123 male US undergraduates
-pps sat in a row and had to match length of line to comparison line
-confederates gave their answers first, and pp gave last
-to start confederates gave right answer
-after trials started to give wrong answer
-74% conformed at least once

Question 5

Informational social influence study
(pps, procedure, findings)

Answer 5

Sherif
-male pps
-used a visual illusion called autokinetic effect
-pps falsely told the light had moved
-they had to estimate how far it moved
-first tested alone, then in a group, then alone again
-when in group estimates were similar to group
-when alone again estimates more like the group than original guesses

Question 6

Variables affecting conformity

Answer 6

-size of majority - conformity increased up until group of 3, then group size made little difference
-unanimity of majority- if one confederate gave different answer from group, you’re less likely to conform
-difficulty of task- more difficult task= more likely to conform

Question 7

The stanford prison experiment

Answer 7

Zimbardo
-investigate how readily people conform to social roles
-article in newspaper, 24 males passed psychological tests
-flip coin, random allocation, to prisoners or guard
-prisoners arrested at their home + stripped of clothes etc.
-guards were given sunglasses and told to keep prison in order
-guards banned prisoners from using toilets at night, took their beds, gave rations, chained their legs etc.
-after 36hrs on prisoner left due to psychological distress
-study meant to last 2 weeks but stopped after 6 days
-90% of convos were about prison life
-zimbardo prison superintendent

Question 8

BBC prison study

Answer 8

Reicher + Haslam
-examine consequences of randomly assigning 15 men role of prisoner or guard
-lasted for 8 days
-found pps didn’t automatically conform to their role like in stanford prison study
-guards were reluctant to exert authority on prisoners

Question 9

Obedience

Answer 9

type of social influence where someone acts in response to a direct order from another person

Question 10

Obedience research
(aim, pps, procedure, results %)

Answer 10

Milgram
-find how far people obey an authority figure
-40 male pps
-pp made to believe roles of learner + teacher randomly allocated
-pp watched confederate be connected to electrode
-pp given 45V shock
-pps did memory test on confederate
-for every wrong answer they would give them a shock starting with 15V to 450V
-60% pps went all the way to 450V

Question 11

Situational factors in obedience
%

Answer 11

-proximity of researcher to teacher- researcher gave orders over the phone, obedience dropped 21%
-proximity of teacher to learner- both in same room obedience dropped to 40%
-location- when carried out in run down office obedience dropped to 48%
-uniform- experimenter role taken over by member of public, obedience dropped to 20%
-two teacher condition- pps gave orders to confederate to press switches, obedience increased to 92.5%

Question 12

Explanations for obedience
Situational

Answer 12

-Agentic state- we act as agents of an authority figure and pass responsibility to them
-Legitimate authority- obedience is more likely when the individual believes the authority to be legitimate and credible

Question 13

Explanations for obedience
Dispositional
(Research)

Answer 13

Authoritarian personality
Adorno- prejudice is a result of personality type
-more than 2000 middle class Americans studied using F scale
-pps who scored high on scale identified with strong people and showed respect to those of higher status
-people with authoritarian personality are especially obedient to authority but hostile to those of lower status
-people who grew up under authoritarian personality are more likely to become one due to displacing their anger on someone else

Question 14

More research authoritarian personality

Answer 14

Elms + Milgram
-20 obedient pps (who went to 450V)
-20 defiant pps (refused to go to 450V)
-pps completed MMPI scale and F scale
-higher levels of authoritarianism in obedient pps than defiant
-obedient pps had less close relationships with fathers

Question 15

Explanations of resistance to social influence

Answer 15

1. Locus control- Rotter
   -extent to which people believe they have control over the events that occur in their life
   Internal locus of control- believe what happens is down to their behaviour, more independent, less likely to rely on others opinions, less likely to conform and obey
   External locus of control- believe what happens to them is down to external factors, things are uncontrollable, luck or fate play important roles, rely on others opinions, more likely to conform and obey
2. Social support
   -presence of someone who resists pressure to conform helps others to do the same eg. Asch’s study when one confederate went against majority, pp more likely to do the same
   -social support has to be continuously present for it to be long lasting

Question 16

Factors needed for minority to make an influence

Answer 16

-consistency- supported by Moscovici
-commitment- allows minority to be confident in their cause and have courage against majority
-flexibility- more effective than rigid arguments, but can’t compromise too much. Supported by Nemeth who found when a confederate compromised in a jury, they had a greater influence

Question 17

Moscovici

Answer 17

-compare effect of consistent and inconsistent minority
-pps describe colour of 36 slide
-of 6 pps, 2 confederates
-slides were all blue but had different filters
-consistent condition= confederates called all 36 slides green
-inconsistent condition= confederates called 24 green, 12 blue
-in consistent condition pps called slides green 8.42% of time
-in inconsistent, only called green slide 1.25% of time

Question 18

Social change

Answer 18

-occurs when a society adopts a new belief or way of behaving
-is a result of minority challenging majority but is eventually accepted as majority view
-it takes time for minority view to become majority and create social change

Question 19

How do minority bring about social change

Answer 19

-drawing attention through social proof- protests draw attention to a problem by showing proof eg. gay right marches to allow gay marriage
-Consistency- gay rights movement were consistent with messages and intent
-Deeper processing of the issue- attention made people think more about gay rights
-Flexibility
-Commitment- gay people were committed despite a number of hate crimes towards them
-Snowball effect- as minority ideas take effect, member of majority move to minority. Minority turns to majority
-Social cryptomnesia- when social change has occurred but the source of minority influence is forgotten. eg. women forget about suffragettes when they vote

Question 20

Barriers to social change
research

Answer 20

-Bashir
-investigated why people resist socal change even when its necessary
-found people don’t behave in an environmentally friendly way because they don’t want to be associated with tree huggers
-minority needs to avoid behaviours that lead to stereotypes, because its off putting for the majority