psychology- social influence conformity

Question 1

what is internalisation

Answer 1

occurs when a person accepts group norms- results in private as well as public change of opinions and behaviour
change usually permanent because attitudes have been internalised
change in opinions and behaviour perisists even in the absence of other group members

Question 2

what is identification

Answer 2

conform to opinions and behaviours due to matching values- public change so we are accepted by the group even if we dont privately agree

Question 3

what is compliance

Answer 3

going along with others in public but privately not changing personal opinions and behaviour
results in superficial change
particular behaviour and opinions stop as soon as the group pressure stops

Question 4

what is informational social influence

Answer 4

who has the better info
follow behaviour of group because we want to be right
cognitive process- to do with what you think
leads to permanent change in opinion and behaviour
most likely to happen in new situations or if there is some ambiguity or crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume the group is more likely to be right

Question 5

what is normative social influence

Answer 5

typical behaviour for a social group
norms regulate behaviour of groups and individuals
emotional process
leads to temporary change in opinions and behaviours
likely to occur in situations with strangers where you feel concerned about rejection or with people you know because we are most concerned about the social approval of our friends
may be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have a greater need for social support

Question 6

what is research support for nsi evaluation point

Answer 6

strength
- evidence supports as explanation of conformity
- asch- interviewed pps some said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval, when pps wrote their answers down conformity fell to 12.5%, lack of normative group pressure
- at least some conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by group for disagreeing with them

Question 7

what is research support for isi evaluation point

Answer 7

strength
- research evidence to support isi
- lucas- pps conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when maths problems were difficult, when problems were easy pps knew their own minds but when it was harder the situation became ambiguous, pps didnt want to be wrong so they relied on answers given
- isi valid explanation of conformity because the results are what isi would predict
weakness
- unclear whether it is nsi or isi at work in research studies
- asch- conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting pps, dissenter may reduce the power of nsi because they provide social support or they may reduce the power of isi because they provide an alternative source of social info
- hard to separate isi and nsi and both processes probably operate together in real world conformity situations

Question 8

what are individual differences in nsi evaluation point

Answer 8

weakness
- nsi doesnt predict conformity in every case
- some greatly concerned for being liked by others- nAffiliators
- mcghee and teevan- students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform
- nsi underlies conformity for some more than it does for others
- individual differences in conformity that cant be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures

Question 9

what was aschs baseline procedure

Answer 9

devised procedure to assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others

Question 10

how did asch investigate group size

Answer 10

varied the number of confederates from one to fifteen
found curvilinear relationship between group sixe and conformity rate
conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
with three confederates conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31.8%
presence of more confederates made little difference
conformity rate soon levelled off
suggests people are very sensitive to the views of others because just one or two confederates was enough to sway opinion

Question 11

how did asch investigate unanimity

Answer 11

introduced confederate who disagreed with other confederates
genuine pps conformed less often in the presence of dissenter
rate decreased to less than a quarter of the level it was when the majority was unanimous
presence of dissenter appeared to free the naive pps to behave more independently and was true even when the dissenter disagreed with the genuine pps
influence of the majority depends to a large extent on it being unanimous
non conformity more likely when cracks are perceived in the majoritys unanimous views

Question 12

how did asch investigate task difficulty

Answer 12

increased difficulty of the line judging task by making the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar to each other in length- harder for pps to see the difference between the lines
conformity increased- more ambiguous
it is natural to look to other people for guidance and to assume that they are right and you are wrong

Question 13

what is artificial situation and task evaluation point

Answer 13

weakness
- task and situation were artificial
- pps knew they were in research study and may simply have gone along with what was expected
- task of identifying line was trivial and there was really no reason not to conform
- fiske- aschs groups were not very groupy meanign they did not really resemble groups that we experience in everyday life
- findings dont generalise to real world situations- consequences of conformity might be important

Question 14

what is limited application evaluation point

Answer 14

weakness
- aschs pps were american men
- women may be more conformist- concerned about social relationships and being accepted
- us individualist culture- people are more concerned about themselves rather than their social group
- collectivist cultures have found that conformity rates are higher
- aschs findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from some cultures

Question 15

what is research support evaluation point

Answer 15

strength
- support from other studies for the effects of tasks difficulty
- lucas- asked pps to solve easy and hard maths problems, were given answers from three other students, pps conformed more when problems were harder
- asch was correct in claiming that tash difficulty is one variable that affects conformity
weakness
- lucas- found that conformity is more complex than asch suggested
- pps with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
- individual level factor can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables
- asch did not research the roles of individual factors

Question 16

what was the stanford prison experiment

Answer 16

zimbardo-mock prison in basement at stanford uni, 21 men student volunteers who tested as emotionally stable, randomly assigned to play role of prison guard or prisoner, prisoners and guards encouraged to conform to social roles both through uniforms and instructions about their behaviour

Question 17

how did the uniforms encouraged people to conform to social roles SPE

Answer 17

prisoners-loose smock and cap to cover hair and identified by number
guards-own uniform relfecting status of their role, wooden club, handcuffs, mirror shades
uniforms created loss of personal identity (de-individuation) and meant they would be more likely to conform to the perceived social role

Question 18

how did instructions about behaviour affect the conformity to social roles SPE

Answer 18

prisoners- rather than leaving study eaely prisoners could apply for parole
guards-reminded they had complete power over the prisoners

Question 19

what were the findings to the stanford prison experiment

Answer 19

guards-took up roles with entusiasm treating prisoners harshly, within 2days the prisoners rebelled, they ripped off their uniforms and shouted and swore at the guards who retaliated with fire extinguishers guards used divide and rule tactics by playing the prisoners off against each other, harrassed prisoners to remind them of powerlessness, conducted frequent headcounts, guards highlighted differences in social roles by creating opportunities to enforce the rules and administer punishments, after rebellion prisoners became subdued depressed and anxious, one released because he showed symptoms of psychological disturbance, two more were released on the 4th day, one prisoner went on hunger strike guards tried to force feed him and then punished him by putting him in the hole, guards identified more closely with the role, guards behaviour became brutal and aggressive with some enjoying the power they had over the prisoners, study ended on day 6 out of 14

Question 20

what were the conclusions to the SPE social roles

Answer 20

social roles strong influence on behaviour, guards were brutal and prisoners were submissive, roles easily taken on by pps, volunteers who came in to perform specific functions found themselves behaving as if they were in a prison rather than in a study

Question 21

what was the control SPE evaluation point

Answer 21

had control over key variables
selection of pps-emotionally stable individuals chosen and randomly assigned roles of guard and prisoners
researchers ruled out personality differences as explanation of findings
increased internal validity
confident in drawing conclusions about influemce of roles on conformity

Question 22

what was the lack of realism SPE evaluation points

Answer 22

didnt have relaism of true prison
researchers pps were play acting rather than conforming to role
pps performances based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards were supposed to behave
one guard claimed he had based his role on brutal character from film cool hand luke-would explain why the prisoners rioted
tells us little about conformity to social roles in actual prisons

mcdermott pps behaved as if it was real to them
90% prisoners conversations were about prison life-discussed how it was impossible to leave SPE before their sentences were over, prisoner 416 explained how he believed the prison was a real one but run by psychologists rather than the gov
SPE did replicate social roles of prisoners and guards in real prisons- high interal validity

Question 23

what were the exaggerates the power of roles SPE evaluation points

Answer 23

exaggerated power of social roles influence behaviour
1/3 of guards behaved in brutal manner, 1/3 tried to apply rules fairly, rest actively tried to help and support the prisoners, they sympathised offered cigarttes and reinstated privileges
most guards able to resist situational pressures to conform to brutal role
overstated view that SPE pps were conforming to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors