Paper 1 - Social Influence Flashcards
(39 cards)
Types of conformity
Kelmsn (1958) Internalisation, identification, compliance
Internalisation
Accepts group norms - private and public change likely permanent
Identification
Public change of behaviour because of desire to be accepted by group- not necessarily a private change
Compliance
Going along with group norms but no change in personal opinions. Behaviour stops once group pressure stops
Conformity
A change in behaviour as a result of real or imagined pressure from a group or person
Explanations of conformity
Deutsch and Gerard- informational social influence, normative social influence
Informational social influence
Who has better information? Conforms because they want to be right
Normative social influence
Do not want to be rejected. So conform with what seems “normal”/”typical”
Asch’s study (procedure)
- showed participants two cards, one with a single line and another with three line of which one was clearly identical to the single line on the other card
- 123 american males tested alongside 6-8 confederated who gave the wrong answers 12/18 of the trials
Asch’s study (findings)
Naïve participants gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time, 25% did not conform at all, so 75% confirmed at least once.
- most people said they confirmed to avoid rejection
Asch’s study variations (group size)
Conformity rose by 31.8% with the addition of 3 confederates but the addition of more had little/ no effect. There is no need for a majority of more than 3
Asch’s study variations (Unanimity)
The presence of a non conforming confederate reduced conformity by a quarter compared to when the majority was unanimous
Asch’s study variations (Task difficulty)
When the task was made more difficult, conformity increased
Zimbardo’s prison experiment (procedure)
“Emotionally stable” volunteer students were randomly assigned to guard or prisoner roles in a mock prison. Guards were given total control over the prisoners movement except being told not to use violence
Zimbardo’s prison experiment (findings)
Study stopped after 6 days instead of 14 for ethical issues. Prisoners rebelled against the guards and so guards oppressed them with harsh tactics. 3 prisoners released within the first 4 days, one with signs of psychological disturbance
Milgram’s study (procedure)
40 male participants Through newspaper ad
Told the study was about memory
Rigged “random” assigned roles where confederate was always “learner” and participant “teacher”
Participant could leave at any point
Experimenter positioned next to Participant (teacher) to ensure they were giving real shocks. Each time the learner made a mistake in their task the participant was ordered to administer the student with shocks from 15 V to 450 (Increasing with each mistake but not real shocks) and given a warning at 300volts that am intense shock was coming
Milgram’s study (findings)
No participant stopped below 300V 12.5% stopped at 300V and the rest continued to the highest 450V
Obedience: situational variables e.g. Milgrams variations
Proximity, uniform, Location
Milgram’s variations (proximity): findings
when proximity from experimenter decreased e.g. giving orders by phone so did obedience
Milgram’s variations (proximity): Location
when experiment done in run down building rather than Yale university, obedience fell to 47% rather than the original 65%
Milgram’s variations (proximity): Uniform
obedience rate dropped by 20% when experimenter was played by a confederate acting as a member of the public in ordinary clothes
Obedience: social- psychological factors
agentic state, Autonomous state, binding factors, legitimacy of authority
agentic state
state of mind in which a person will allow other people to direct their behaviors and pass responsibility for the consequences of the behaviors to the person telling them what to do
autonomous state
(opposite of agentic) individuals direct their own behaviors and actions and take responsibility for consequences themselves.
