Social Influence

Question 1

Name the 3 types of conformity

Answer 1

Compliance
Identification
Internalisation

Question 2

What is Compliance

Answer 2

going along with a group publicly but no private acceptance, simply to fit in with a group and be accepted
-e.g. laughing at a joke you don’t find funny

Question 3

What is Identification

Answer 3

changing behaviour to fit in with a group as there is something you value about part of the group ,public and temporary private acceptance as it isn’t maintained when you leave the group
-e.g. wearing trendy clothes

Question 4

What is Internalisation

Answer 4

private and public acceptance of group norms,
permanent change in views/beliefs/behaviours even when group has left
-e.g. religion, politics

Question 5

What is conformity

Answer 5

A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person/group of people

Question 6

Explanations for conformity

Answer 6

• Informative Social Influence(ISI)-can lead to internalisation
• Normative Social Influence(NSI)-can lead to compliance

Question 7

ISI

Answer 7

Informative Social Influence-
-the need to be right
-individuals follow the behaviour of the group as they are unsure what beliefs are right or wrong and want to be right
-cognitive process
e.g.
new situations, situations w ambiguity, crisis situations, 1 person/group is regarded as an expert

Question 8

NSI

Answer 8

Normative Social Influence
-the need to be liked
-individuals follow the group as they don’t like the appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval
-emotive process
e.g
most likely in situations w strangers, people we know, stressful situations

Question 9

Conformity evaluation

Answer 9

research support ISI- students given maths answers that were easy or difficult, more conformity when difficult (conform in situations where they don’t know the answer)
Individual differences NSI-doesn’t affect everyone the same, those less concerned about being liked are less affected
-desire to be liked underlies+ weakens conformity explanation

together-deutsch and gerrard said ISI or NSI , usually is both(e.g. in Asch’s dissenter- could be social support or alternative info source), NSI often under detected as people rely on beliefs of what should motivate behaviour

Question 10

Asch’s research

Answer 10

procedure to assess how much people conform in a situation where the answer is unambiguous

• shown card w standard line and other comparison lines w 2 clearly wrong
• when asked for answer 6-8 confederates first all said right then all gave wrong answer

Question 11

Asch evaluation

Answer 11

• participants gave wrong answer 36.8% of the time
• 75% conformed at some point
• conformed to avoid rejection

Question 12

Asch effect

Answer 12

extent to which participants conform even in an unambiguous situation

Question 13

Asch’s variations

Answer 13

Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty

Question 14

Effect of group size

Answer 14

number of members within social group

• whether size is more important than agreement of group (more confederates)
• 3 confederates =conformity rose to 31.8%, more made little difference

Question 15

Effect of unanimity

Answer 15

degree to which the group members are in agreement with each other

• whether another non-conforming confederate affects participant conformity
• 25% conformity, reduced conformity and act more independently

Question 16

Effect of task difficulty

Answer 16

how obvious the correct answer is

• made task harder, more lines closer in length
• conformity increased

Question 17

Adorno et al

Answer 17

Investigated causes of obedient personality in 2000 white middle class Americans and measured on F(fascist) scale

Question 18

Authoritarian personality

Answer 18

Especially obedient and submissive to authority
Hatred for those w inferior social status
Inflexible outlook
Traditional attitudes to race, sex and gender
Need strong leader to solve this

Question 19

Authoritarian personality origins

Answer 19

Conditional love
Impossible high standards
Strict discipline
Create resentment and hostility,fear+anger displaced onto weaker people

Question 20

Agentic shift

Answer 20

Shift of responsibility from autonomous to Agentic state

Question 21

Result of Agentic shift

Answer 21

High moral strain

High anxiety as know it’s wrong but feel powerless

Question 22

Autonomous state

Answer 22

Individual feels responsible for their own actions and behave according to own principles

Question 23

Agentic state

Answer 23

Mental state where Individual feels no personal responsibility over their actions as they are acting for an authority figure

Question 24

Situational variables

Answer 24

Uniform
Location
Proximity

Question 25

Proximity situational variable

Answer 25

Physical closeness of authority figure to to person carrying out order and victim Teacher closer to experimenter -higher obedience levels Drop to 40% learner same room Drop to 20.5% experimenter different room

Question 26

Uniform situational variable

Answer 26

Clothes authority figure wears that symbolise position Wearing uniform increases obedience rate Normal clothes dropped to 20%

Question 27

Location situational variable

Answer 27

Place where an order is issued, status or prestige of place can impact obedience More likely to over in prestigious setting Run down office block dropped to 47.5%

Question 28

Authoritarian strengths

Answer 28

Small sample of participants interviewed after milgrams, more obedient= more authoritarian on d scale

Question 29

Authoritarian limitations

Answer 29

May be correlation not causation as 3rd factor is involved Limited explanation as social identity can explain obedience Methodological problems as all items worded in sane direction Can’t establish cause abs effect as ethical issues w experiments on it so limit validity

Question 30

Social psychological factors

Answer 30

Agentic state | Legitimacy of authority

Question 31

Dispositional factors

Answer 31

Authoritarian | Locus of control

Question 32

Situational factors

Answer 32

Social Support

Question 33

Legitimacy of authority factors

Answer 33

Different cultures Responsibility Location

Question 34

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 34

People are more likely to obey people they perceive to have authority over them Individuals granted power to punish if seen as legit authority figure but can turn destructive

Question 35

Legitimacy of authority- different cultures

Answer 35

Different degrees to which people are traditionally obedient

Question 36

Legitimacy of authority-responsibility

Answer 36

Given to person at top of hierarchy

Question 37

Legitimacy of authority-location

Answer 37

Can increase and decrease legitimacy if authority

Question 38

Social support

Answer 38

Resist pressure to conform or obey by having ally to break unanimity of group and avoid NSI More likely to disobey w support and doesn’t have to be valid to be effective,effected by when it arrives

Question 39

Social support and asch

Answer 39

Confederate gave correct answer throughout and conformity drops to 5% when they start conforming again so does participant

Question 40

Social support and milgram

Answer 40

2 extra confederate teachers who refused to go on, dropped to 10% went to 450v

Question 41

Locus of control

Answer 41

Ability of people to withstand social pressure to conform to majority or obey authority Can explain resistance to SI The degree to which an individual feels they have control over their own life measured on continuoum

Question 42

LoC types

Answer 42

Internal -things that happen to them effect by them self, so are more likely to resist social influence as personal responsibility so base choices in own believe e.g. hard work External- things that happen are outside their control so less likely to resist social influence e.g. less likely to resist SI

Question 43

LoC evaluation strength

Answer 43

Holland repeated M’s study and measured if p were internal or external and 37% of intervals and 23% of externals continued to 450 Intervals showed greater resistance and less affected by Agentic state

Question 44

LoC evaluation limitation

Answer 44

LoC only applies to new situations and in familiar previous experiences have more effect so only helpful explaining a few situations American public became more independent but also more external Could be due to changing society and more being out of control