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social influence- 1 Flashcards

1
Q

what is conformity

A

a change in opinions or behavior due to pressures from a majority position

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2
Q

outline compliance

A

change of behavior/ opinion in public but not private, weak and temporary, only last when they feel they are being monitored by the group

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3
Q

outline internalisation

A

change in behaviour/ opinions publicly and privately, powerful and permanent, even when apart from group

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4
Q

outline identification

A

changes in behaviour/ opinions to fit in with a group, they value membership of the group, only lasts as long as the person remains a member of the group.

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5
Q

outline NSI

A

normative social influence- accepting behaviour/ opinions of the majority to feel accepted, driven by emotions, leads to compliance

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6
Q

outline ISI

A

informative social influence- accepting behaviour/ opinions of majority because they view them as well informed, driven by cognition, leads to internalisation

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7
Q

limitation- types and explanations for conformity- socially sensitive

A

has the potential for harmful social consequences, people can be manipulated into making people agree with them if the other has knowledge of ideas of ISI and NSI, can undermine democracy,
could be useful to society and help encourage socially beneficial behaviours.

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8
Q

strength- types and explanations for conformity- research support

A

ISI as exp for conformity jenness jelly bean exp, final private estimate was closer to majority’s estimate- internalisation, lab conditions, artificial task, not generalisable

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9
Q

outline aschs original exp

A

(1951) line judgment task, investigating the extent individuals are affected by conformity, always clear what answer was

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10
Q

what happened in the control condition of aschs exp

A

participants completed it on their own, less than 1% answered wrong

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11
Q

what does the control condition suggest in aschs exp

A

the presence of a majority affected the judgment the participant gave

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12
Q

what are the findings and conclusions of aschs exp

A

over 75% of participants conformed at least once, 95% of participants gave a different response at least once, conclusion- although conformity had an impact, it was not overwhelmingly powerful

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13
Q

what happened in aschs group size variation of his exp, and what were the findings

A

he varied the number of confederates from 1-15, conformity rose steeply to 31.8% when there were 3 confederates, after this there was not much change

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14
Q

what happened in the unanimity version of aschs exp, what were the findings

A

introduced confederates who occasionally disagreed with the majority, conformity dropped to 25% in the presence of a dissenting confederate

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15
Q

what happened in the task difficulty version of aschs exp, what were the findings

A

asch made the answer less obvious, conformity increased here

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16
Q

strength- aschs study- experimental control

A

experimental control- control group, allows comparison to be made, allows more certainty that the majority influence was what made participants give incorrect answers

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17
Q

limitation- aschs study- population validity

A

population validity- consisted of 123 male US undergrad students, unrepresentative, biased sample size, difficult to generalise results, especially to women or those from other cultural backgrounds

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18
Q

outline the aims of zimbardos study

A

to investigate the cause of violence in military prisons- whether a persons disposition or situation could explain the behaviour seen in prisons

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19
Q

outline the findings and conclusions of zimbardos study

A

guards quickly conformed to roles, harassed prisoners, frequent head counts, humiliation.
prisoners conformed to their roles, rebelled, tore uniforms, started riots, went on hunger strike
-situation rather than dispositional

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20
Q

strength -zimbardos exp- controls

A

control of participant EVs- random allocation

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21
Q

limitation- zimbardos exp- ethics

A

ethical issues- zimbardos role in the exp, researcher and superintendent, interfered with his duty to protect rights of participants

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22
Q

what is obedience

A

form of social influence- following orders from someone perceived to have more authority

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23
Q

outline milgrams findings

A

100% shocked to 300vs, 65% shocked to 450vs

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24
Q

what was milgrams conclusion

A

destructive obedience is well within the behavioral repertoire for most people

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25
Q

outline the proxemics variable in milgrams exp- teacher/learner

A

having the teacher and learner in the same room- decreased obedience to 40%

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26
Q

outline the proxemics variable in milgrams exp- teacher/ experimenter

A

having the teacher and experimenter in different rooms -decreased obedience to 20.5%

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27
Q

outline the location variable of milgrams exp

A

moved the exp from a prestigious university to run down offices- decreased obedience to 47.5%

28
Q

outline the uniform variable of Milgram’s exp

A

replacing the experimenter from someone wearing a lab coat to another ‘participant’ in everyday clothes- obedience decreased to 20%

29
Q

strength- research into situational variables affecting obedience- ecological validity

A
  • Ecological validity is the extent to which an experiment’s findings can be generalised to real life settings
    -Milgram’s research, was conducted in the artificial setting of a laboratory, so might be criticised for lacking ecological validity
    -can also be argued that the laboratory setting is what gave the experimenter their authority- allowed Milgram to create a realistic situation where participants believed they were receiving an order from an authority figure.
  • his findings can be generalised to other real-life settings involving obedience
30
Q

limitation- research into variables affecting obedience - demand characteristics

A

Milgram’s research assistants divided participants into ‘doubters’ and ‘believers’- the doubters were more likely to shock the learner to the maximum
-demand characteristics may have compromised the internal validity of Milgram’s research
-evidence suggesting Milgram’s participants did not guess the aim of the experiment- many of Milgram’s participants exhibited signs of significant stress - stress reactions indicate they did not doubt the experiment, and therefore the findings cannot be explained away as demand characteristics

31
Q

limitation- Milgram’s research into obedience ( and variables affecting it)- ethics

A

deceiving his participants, failing to protect them from harm and preventing them from exercising their right to withdraw
-participants were told the learner was a fellow participant when in fact he was a confederate, and, crucially, they were also told the shocks were real
-belief in shocks caused significant psychological harm to the participants, who experienced obvious and profound signs of stress during the experiment. For example, many of the participants were seen to sweat, stutter, bite their lips, groan and dig their fingernails into their hands
-Milgram arguably prevented the participants exercising their right to withdraw, as the prompts from the experimenter were designed to encourage the participant not to withdraw
-ethical failings not only had the potential to harm his participants, they also posed a danger to the reputation of the profession of psychology

32
Q

outline the autonomous state

A

individuals are free to act according to their own principles

33
Q

outline the agentic state

A

people perceive themselves as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes
- explains obedience as people no longer see themselves as responsible for their actions

34
Q

outline moral strain and strain reducing mechanisms

A

being in the agentic state creates moral strain, strain reducing mechanisms help ease this;
-shifting the responsibility of their actions either onto the experimenter or, sometimes, the learner
- become completely absorbed in the technical aspects of the task thereby distracting them from the harm produced by their obedience

35
Q

outline binding factors

A

social pressures that act as barriers to disobedience
-Participants were encouraged not to take responsibility for obeying
-Participants had already consented to take part creating a pressure for their actions to remain consistent with this initial commitment, making it hard to leave the agentic state

36
Q

outline legitimacy of authority

A

person who is in a position of social control- provides sociocultural exp for obedience, can only be understood with reference to assumptions in a particular society

37
Q

strength- Milgram’s exp for obedience, legitimacy of authority and agentic state - research support

A

Blass and Schmidtt- showed students a film of the Milgram experiment and then interviewed them- held the experimenter, not the participant, responsible for the shocks, due to his authority as a scientist
-support both features of Milgram’s explanation
-participants identified the experimenter’s authority as arising from his role as a scientist findings is in line with Milgram’s argument that people derive their status as legitimate authority due to shared cultural assumptions
- participants held the experimenter rather than participants responsible, suggests they recognised the agentic shift had occurred, meaning participants had entered the agentic state and were no longer responsible for their actions

38
Q

limitation- Milgram’s exp of obedience in terms of legitimacy of authority and agentic state - role of free will

A

-deterministic- person will automatically enter the agentic state and obey an order if their cultural background leads them to view the authority giving the order as legitimate
-undermines the fundamental belief shared by most people that they have free will i.e., they have the ability to choose whether to obey or not
- might be used to excuse the terrible actions of those that follow destructive orders – if people aren’t really responsible for following orders, then we shouldn’t blame them
-incomplete exp- Many individuals disobey destructive orders Milgram’s explanation of obedience in terms of entering the agentic state after receiving an order from a legitimate authority doesn’t appear to account for this.

39
Q

outline the dispositional exp for obedience

A

how a person’s personality causes them to obey
- can be contrasted with situational explanations, which focus on the role of factors external to the individual

40
Q

outline the authoritarian personality

A

display authoritarian submission- have an unquestioning respect for authority figures that predisposes them to be highly obedient
-concept of an AP was developed after the Second World War in an attempt to explain why people would accept the Nazi regime
-range of other personality traits such as conventionalism (the desire to adhere to group norms) and authoritarian aggression (intolerance to those who violate group norms)

41
Q

outline the f-scale

A

measures whether someone has an AP
- uses statements such as ‘Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn’, and asks them to what extent they agree with the statement.
- Agreeing with statements leads to a higher score, which is indicative of an AP

42
Q

outline why people develop an authoritarian personality

A

experience an overly strict upbringing, focused on obedience and adherence to conventional norms
- produces feelings of admiration but also resentment
-child views parent as powerful so represses any conscious feelings of hostility
-child displaces unconscious resentment onto weaker targets

43
Q

strength- dispositional exp for obedience- research support

A

Milgram and Elms- interviews with participants after they had completed the Milgram procedure, found a positive correlation between scores on the F-scale and obedience, meaning people who scored highly were more likely to obey
-high score on the F-scale is indicative of an authoritarian personality, this finding provides support for the claim that the authoritarian personality provides a dispositional explanation of obedience
-research is correlational and therefore psychologists are unable to establish whether or not authoritarian personality traits cause obedience

44
Q

limitation- dispositional exp for obedience- psychodynamic basis

A

depends on psychodynamic ideas, like unconscious motivations and defence mechanisms that protect the unconscious from distress
-modern researchers have largely abandoned the psychodynamic approach on the grounds that it is unscientific
-Psychodynamic concepts like repression, displacement and unconscious desires – all of which are used by Adorno in his explanation of authoritarian personality – have proven difficult to investigate objectively using the empirical method

45
Q

what is resistance to social influence

A

the ability to withstand the social pressure to conform to a majority or obey a figure of authority

46
Q

outline locus of control

A

dimension of personality, the extent to which people believe they are in control of their own lives
-internal loc- the outcomes of their actions are the results of their own attitudes and efforts
- external loc- things that happen are out of their control, (fate, luck and influence of others)
- loc is a spectrum, people can vary in the extent of internal or external loc

47
Q

locus of controls effect on social pressure

A

those with an internal loc are better at resisting pressure to conform because they feel responsible for their own actions- have the free will to resist pressures

48
Q

outline social support

A

the presence (real or imagined) of others who resist pressures to conform

49
Q

outline the role of a dissenting voice

A

provides social support by breaking unanimity of majority
-power of nsi is reduced and individuals no longer feel emotional pressure to conform

50
Q

outline the role of a disobedient peer

A

acts as a role model, teaches others that;
-disobedience is possible
-how to disobey
-actual consequences of disobedience
- reduces binding factors that keep people in the agentic state

51
Q

limitation- locus of control in resisting conformity - limited exp

A

Social psychologists view the social situation as paramount in explanations of social behaviour, Personality is considered as a moderating factor
- locus of control may play a less significant role in explaining resistance to social influence than explanations that focus on the social situation
-loc may be an explanation of individual differences, not the rule itself

52
Q

strength- role of social support in resisting conformity- research support

A

Asch’s baseline study- 36.8% of participants’ responses conformed with the majority’s, This dropped to 25% when Asch introduced a dissenting confederate
- breaking the unanimity of the group through introducing social support increases the likelihood that a person will resist the social influence pressure of conformity
-low ecological validity of Asch’s research- highly artificial, so it may not reveal how people actually behave in real life situations of conformity

53
Q

what is minority influence

A

social influence process in which people change their opinions/ behaviour in response to the actions of a minority

54
Q

what did moscovici believe about minority influence

A

leads to deeper and longer lasting change than majority influence, called conversion

55
Q

outline the process of minority influence

A

minority challenges majority, majority will only accept their views if they believe they are correct, so minority influence relies on informational social influence
-isi leads to internalisation- change of private and public views and behaviours
- leads to conversion- moscovici

56
Q

compare minority and majority influence

A

minority influence presents messages that are controversial
- majority influence relies on nsi, minority relies on isi
-majority influence results in shallow conformity- compliance

57
Q

how do minorities influence a majority

A

-showing commitment- through making sacrifices
- showing consistency- synchronic(all members deliver the same message) or diachronic (members deliver the same message over time)
-showing flexibility- listening to alternative viewpoints

58
Q

strength- importance of consistency in minority influence- research support

A

Moscovici- participants on their own made almost no errors when asked to identify the colour of some blue slides, but made more errors if placed in a group in which a minority of members (confederates) occasionally gave the wrong answer, and significantly more errors if the minority consistently gave the wrong answer
- impact of a minority is considerably greater when the minority is consistent
- supports Moscovici’s claim that consistency is an important technique used by minorities to influence a majority
-laboratory experiment- careful manipulation of the independent variable in controlled conditions, control for extraneous variables and therefore safeguard the study’s internal validity

59
Q

limitation- research into minority influence- ecological validity

A

research into minority influence has relied on experiments, like Moscovici’s, which take place in laboratory conditions and require participants to complete artificial tasks
-highly artificial and may reveal little about real-life situations of minority influence
-Real-life instances of social influence involving minorities are complex and difficult, if not impossible to replicate in the lab
-The artificial nature of minority influence research means it may not be generalisable to real world cases of minority influence

60
Q

what is social change

A

significant sections of society adopt new ways of thinking and behaving

61
Q

role of resistance to social influence on social change

A

if resistance does not occur, no one will advocate for social change
-individuals with an internal loc can resist social influence and initiate the process of social change, in doing so they provide social support for others

62
Q

role of minority influence in social change

A

necessary for social change to occur
-can produce rapid social change since it is such a powerful form of social influence, causes those persuaded by it to persuade others, having an exponential effect on producing social change
-must show consistency, commitment and flexibility

63
Q

role of conformity in social change

A

initially acts as a block to social change
-if social change occurs, the new viewpoint/behaviour will become accepted by the majority and conformity can accelerate the process of social change

64
Q

role of obedience on social change

A

positive or negative effect depends on who relevant authority figure is
-can be driven by leader of social change movement

65
Q

limitation- research into factors affecting social change- socially sensitive

A

Sierber and Stanley- socially sensitive research is research which has social consequences for participants and for social groups connected to the research
- the research has the potential for beneficial but also harmful social consequences
- understanding the psychological processes behind social change can help activists fighting for worthy causes to campaign in more effective ways
- However, this could also apply to activists fighting for more controversial causes
- authoritarian regimes could make use of an understanding of social influence processes in order to stop social change occurring

66
Q

strength- research into role of social influence processes on social change- research support

A

Nolan- hung messages on doors in California with a message to reduce energy consumption, messages which stated other residents were trying to reduce their energy consumption were the most effective
-demonstrates the real-world effectiveness of using psychological insights into social influence processes to affect social change
-researchers used the power of conformity to influence people to change their social behaviour
-study’s demonstration that understanding social influence processes can affect social change is strengthened by this study’s use of a field experiment; conducted in naturalistic conditions, the behaviour they observe is more likely to be natural, and therefore the results are more generalisable than results from artificial laboratory studies- high ecological validity

67
Q

limitation- research into impact of social influence on social change- ecological validity

A
  • conducted in the laboratory e.g., Moscovi’s research on minority influence was conducted in controlled conditions using an artificial task
  • Social change is a very complex real world process that is very difficult to replicate in the laboratory
    -Since much of our understanding of how social influence process affect social change comes from laboratory research, it may tell us little or nothing about how these processes operate in the real world
    -field experiments allow real world research to be done, however these lack experimental control and therefore, internal validity

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