Conformity - Social influence Flashcards

Question

What was the method of the Sherif (1935) study?

Answer 1

Part 1 - Lab experiment with the autokinetic effect, participants individually tested on how far the light moved and estimates varied. They were then tested in groups of 3 with 2 who had similar individual estimations and 1 different and they had to discuss Part 2 - In groups they had to agree on an answer and then when they were taken away and asked individually, their answers were similar to the group norm showing internalisation

Answer 2

A small spot of light gets projected on a screen and it appears to move when in a dark room even though it is still, it's a visual illusion.

Answer 3

Over numerous trials the group made a common estimate and the person whose estimate was different from the others would conform

Answer 4

In an ambiguous situation a person will look to others for guidance as they want to do the right thing but lack information. This shows ISI

Answer 5

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority could affect conformity in a non ambiguous situation

Answer 6

Lab experiment with 123 male US undergraduates and informed them that it was a vision test with a line judgement task and put one real participant in a group of up to 8 confederates who had agreed to give purposefully wrong answers to see if the participant would conform

Answer 7

35% of participants conformed in the critical trials. In the 12 critical trials 75% conformed at least and in the control group with no pressure of conformity, less than 1% gave the wrong answer

Answer 8

The participants went with the group to fit in showing that participants complied due to NSI

Answer 9

Group size, Unanimity and Task difficulty

Answer 10

Lacked temporal validity, Lacked ecological validity, Lacked population validity, Caused ethical concerns

Answer 11

Conforming to the expectations of a particular social role and behaving in the expected manner

Answer 12

To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise that stimulated prison life.

Answer 13

Converted the basement of Stanford University's psychology building into a mock prison - 24 male student volunteers (out of 75 volunteers), paid $15 a day. - Randomly assigned to be a prisoner or guard, there were 10 prisoners and 11 guards. - Prisoners arrested in their homes, taken to the local police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and booked - Then taken to the "prison" where they were stripped, deloused and had their belongings removed. - They were referred to by number only.

Answer 14

Prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles. Prisoners tried to rebel but guards swiftly stopped it. Guards dehumanised prisoners, giving them tiring, useless tasks and this made the prisoners increasingly submissive. 5 of the prisoners left early and the experiment was ended on day 6.

Answer 15

People quickly conform to social roles even when it goes against their morals and that situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour.

Answer 16

Good control over variables - participants selected were emotionally stable - no experimenter bias as roles were randomly assigned Relevance to Abu Ghraib - Zimbardo argues that USA Military police were victims of conformity to social roles when abusing Iraqi prisoners

Answer 17

*Lack of research support* - Reicher and Haslam (2006) did the BBC prison study and found that prisoners developed a shared identity as a cohesive group and guards didn't so prisoners eventually took control *Ethical issues* - Zimbardo played dual roles, researcher and superintendent so didn't adequately support the participants - deception and lack of informed consent regarding the prisoners getting arrested at their own homes

Conformity - Social influence Flashcards

(41 cards)