Comformity Exam Questions Flashcards
(9 cards)
Briefly outline and evaluate normative social influence as an explanation for comformity
People agree with opinions of the majority in order to be liked and to gain approval
this often leads to compliance where people will change their public views but not change their private/personal views
Evidence to support this is Asch where he interviewed the ppts after and they said that they conformed to avoid rejection from others
identify and briefly discuss 2 reasons why people have criticised zimbardos prison study
unethical - Protection of ppts was not established (DRIPP)
ppts went through nervous breakdowns, hunger strikes
Zimbardo was in the study / investigator effects / research bias therefore unreliable lacks validity not useful cant be replicable
3 variables affecting conformity in Asch
group size- Asch increased the group size so more conformity
unaminity - the confederate would give a different answer to the real participant
task difficulty - asch increased the difficulty which led to more people to conform and change their answers so they can be correct. he did this by making the lines similar length
outline the procedure and findings of zimbardos research into conformity roles
the ppts were all male from standford university and they were paid to do the experiment and they were randomly allocated in the prison cells. the guards would wear sunglasses to dehumanize the prisoners
findings -> ppts went through nervous breakdowns and hunger strikes
what is meant by internalisation
where the behaviour or belief of a majority is accepted by an individiual and it becomes part of their own belief system.
it is permanent and it is linked in informational social influence (ISI)
you change your public and private views
what is meant by compliance
when an individual changes their behaviour in order to fit in with the group. they may not agree with the opinion / belief but they will still go along with it publicly. its not a permanent change. it can be linked to NSI
for example in aschs study the ppts went along with the WRONG answers to not look stupid they dont want to be the odd ones out
what is meant by normative social influence
when an individual goes along with the behaviour of the group so they can gain approval
to fit in
maintaining a social harmony
Evaluate Zimbarods Research
disadvantage
DRIPP (ethical issues)
zimbardo was involved so researcher bias investigator effects
demand characteristics
low ecological validity because lab study
lack of mundane realism
gender bias
advantage
high internal validity high control variables so more replicable and valid + useful + variable
Abu Ghraib real world practical application
what is informational social influence
when individuals change their behvaiour because they believe that others know something but they dont
