Paper 1 - Social Influence

Question 1

Types of conformity

Answer 1

Kelmsn (1958) Internalisation, identification, compliance

Question 2

Internalisation

Answer 2

Accepts group norms - private and public change likely permanent

Question 3

Identification

Answer 3

Public change of behaviour because of desire to be accepted by group- not necessarily a private change

Question 4

Compliance

Answer 4

Going along with group norms but no change in personal opinions. Behaviour stops once group pressure stops

Question 5

Conformity

Answer 5

A change in behaviour as a result of real or imagined pressure from a group or person

Question 6

Explanations of conformity

Answer 6

Deutsch and Gerard- informational social influence, normative social influence

Question 7

Informational social influence

Answer 7

Who has better information? Conforms because they want to be right

Question 8

Normative social influence

Answer 8

Do not want to be rejected. So conform with what seems “normal”/”typical”

Question 9

Asch’s study (procedure)

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

Asch’s study (findings)

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Asch’s study variations (group size)

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Asch’s study variations (Unanimity)

Answer 12

The presence of a non conforming confederate reduced conformity by a quarter compared to when the majority was unanimous

Question 13

Asch’s study variations (Task difficulty)

Answer 13

When the task was made more difficult, conformity increased

Question 14

Zimbardo’s prison experiment (procedure)

Answer 14

“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

Question 15

Zimbardo’s prison experiment (findings)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Milgram’s study (procedure)

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Milgram’s study (findings)

Answer 17

No participant stopped below 300V 12.5% stopped at 300V and the rest continued to the highest 450V

Question 18

Obedience: situational variables e.g. Milgrams variations

Answer 18

Proximity, uniform, Location

Question 19

Milgram’s variations (proximity): findings

Answer 19

when proximity from experimenter decreased e.g. giving orders by phone so did obedience

Question 20

Milgram’s variations (proximity): Location

Answer 20

when experiment done in run down building rather than Yale university, obedience fell to 47% rather than the original 65%

Question 21

Milgram’s variations (proximity): Uniform

Answer 21

obedience rate dropped by 20% when experimenter was played by a confederate acting as a member of the public in ordinary clothes

Question 22

Obedience: social- psychological factors

Answer 22

agentic state, Autonomous state, binding factors, legitimacy of authority

Question 23

agentic state

Answer 23

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

Question 24

autonomous state

Answer 24

(opposite of agentic) individuals direct their own behaviors and actions and take responsibility for consequences themselves.

Question 25

Binding factors

Answer 25

Allow individual to ignore the damaging effects of their obedient behaviour.

Question 26

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 26

Milgram suggested that we are more likely to obey a person who has a higher position or status in a social hierarchy.

Question 27

Authoritarian personality

Answer 27

• using f(ascism) scale questionnaire to measure authoritarian personality
• characterized by extreme obedience and unquestioning respect for and submission to authority
• consider those perceived as having lower social status as inferior
• everything is either right or wrong
• uncomfortable with uncertainty

Question 28

Authoritarian personality (origins)

Answer 28

• ( Adorno et al) formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting
• conditional love as a child

Question 29

resistance to social influence

Answer 29

social support, Locus of control

Question 30

social support: conformity.

Answer 30

conformity reduces when there are other non- conforming individuals, but if the non- conforming person starts to conform so does the individual

Question 31

Social support: obedience

Answer 31

pressure to obey is reduced when when there is a disobeying individual
Milgrams study- obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the participant was joined by a disobeying confederate

Question 32

Locus of control:

Answer 32

refers to how strongly people believe they have control over the situations and experiences that affect their lives. In education, locus of control typically refers to how students perceive the causes of their academic success or failure in school.

Question 33

Locus of control: resistance to social influence

Answer 33

• people with internal locus of control more likely to resist pressure
• they are more self- confident so trust their instincts more

Question 34

Minority influence characteristics for effectiveness

Answer 34

consistency, commitment, flexibility,

Question 35

what type of conformity is minority influence most likely to lead to?

Answer 35

internalisation

Question 36

Minority influence: consistency,

Answer 36

• consistency in the views of the minority increases interest from other people

Question 37

synchronic consistency vs diachronic consistency

Answer 37

synchronic consistency- all saying the same thing or consistency over time
diachronic consistency- been saying the same thing for some time

Question 38

minority influence: commitment

Answer 38

engaging in sometimes dangerous activity to show commitment to the cause.
causes majority to think “ wow if they are willing to do … then they must really believe in this cause”

Question 39

minority influence: flexibility

Answer 39

being overly consistent can be seen as closed- minded, rigid…

• adapting views can be seen as reasonable
• strike a balance between consistency and flexibility