Social Influence Flashcards

Question

What are the variations of ash?

Answer 1

group size, unanimity and task difficulty

Answer 2

when there was: 1 confederate = real participant conformed on 3% of trials. 2 confederates = real participants conformed on 12.8% of the critical trials 3 confederates = real participant conformed 32% of trials. (same % as ash's original E) - shows that conformity reaches it's highest level with just 3 confederates 15 confederates conformity dropped to 29% - could be a case of demand characteristics - where participants become suspicious of the experiment and not because the pressure to conform is necessarily less in larger groups

Answer 3

the extent to which the members of the majority agree with one another

Answer 4

one confederate gave the correct answer = conformity dropped to 5%. if one confederate still gave a different incorrect answer to the majority = conformity dropped to 9%.

Answer 5

- by increasing the difficulty of the task, by making the difference between the line lengths significantly smaller conformity rates increased. - Likely to be the result of ISI as individuals look to another for guidance or believe the other person to be correct when undertaking an ambiguous task

Answer 6

Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group, with each social group you adopt, your behaviour changes to fit expectations

Answer 7

where an individual adopts a particular behaviour and a belief when put into a certain social situation

Answer 8

identification

Answer 9

Zimbardo (1973) conducted a very controversial study on conformity to social roles called the Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 10

- to see whether people would conform to social roles, of a guard or a prisoner - examine whether behaviour displayed in prisons was due to internal dispositional factors, (the people themselves) or external situational factors, (the environment and conditions of the prison)

Answer 11

–sample of 24 male University students. -volunteered in response to a newspaper advert. -Selected based on their physical and mental well being -paid $15 each day. -Randomly assigned to the role of a prisoner or a guard -Basement of Stanford uni turned into a mock prison. -Zimbardo wanted to make this as realistic as possible -Prisoner were arrested by the local police and then fingerprinted, stripped and given numbered uniform to wear, chains around their ankles -The guards were given uniforms, dark reflective sunglasses, handcuffs and a baton , and were instructed to run the prison without using physical violence -The experiment set to run for two weeks

Answer 12

-Zimbardo found that both the guards and prisoners quickly identified with their social roles. -Within days prisoner rebelled quickly crushed due to guards enforcing control. -This soon led to the guards humiliating and becoming increasingly abusive to prisoners. -By waking them up in the middle of the night and forcing them to clean the toilets with their bare hands. -Which led to prisoners becoming submissive identifying further with their subordinate roles -Five of the prisoners left early due to adverse reactions to physical and mental torment. -Terminated after 6 days, even though the experiment was set for 2 weeks. -Only after being convinced that conditions in his experiment were inhumane.

Answer 13

-He concluded that people quickly conform to their social roles even when the role goes against their moral principles -Furthermore, he concluded that situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour found, as none of the participants had ever demonstrated these behaviours previously

Answer 14

-recent replication of Stanford prison experiment REICHER AND HASLAM (2006)– contradicts the finding of Zimbardo. They replicated Zimbardo's study by randomly assigning 15 men to the role of a prisoner or guard. The participants did not conform to social roles automatically. For example, the guards didn’t identify with their status and refused to impose their authority. Instead prisoners identified as a group to challenge the guard's Authority. Which resulted in a shift of power and collapse of the prison system. Therefore these results contradict Zimbardo's findings and suggest conformity to social roles may not be automatic as Zimbardo originally implied -Individual differences and personality determine the extent to which a person conforms to social roles. In Zimbardo's original experiment the behaviour of the guards varied from extremely sadistic behaviour displayed by around 1/3 of the participants in that role, to a few guards who actually helped the prisoners by offering support, sympathy, offering them cigarettes and reinstating any privileges lost. This suggests that not only situation factors are the cause of conformity to social roles but dispositional factors play a role, implying that Zimbardo's conclusion had been overstated . -Ethical issues – did not protect them from harm. Five of the prisoners had to leave early due to adverse reaction to physical and mental torment. Furthermore, Some guards reported feelings of anxiety and guilt. To deal with this issue he debriefed his participants afterwards acknowledged that the study should have been stopped earlier, but it was suggested that he was responding to the role of the superintendent of the prison rather than as a researcher with responsibility for his participants - Beta bias – ignored the differences between men and women -Lacks ecological validity - The study suffered from demand characteristics. For example, the participants knew that they were participating in a study and therefore may have changed their behaviour, either to please the experimenter (a type of demand characteristic) or in response to being observed (participant reactivity, which acts as a confounding variable). The participants also knew that the study was not real so they claimed that they simply acted according to the expectations associated with their role rather genuinely adopting it. This was seen particularly with qualitative data gathered from an interview with one guard, who said that he based his performance from the stereotypical guard role portrayed in the film Cool Hand Luke, thus further reducing the validity of the findings

Answer 15

Real world application to improve the us prison system. Initially there was some beneficial reforms in the way that some prisoners were treated for example juvenile detainees were no longer kept with adult prisoners to prevent the bad behaviour perpetuating. And Beehive-style prisons, where all cells are under constant surveillance from a central monitoring unit, are also not used in modern times. However Zimbardo considers his research a failure in meeting this overall objective since prison conditions in America are arguable worse now than when he conducted his research decades ago. One strength of the Stanford Prison experiment is that Zimbardo and his colleges had great control over key variables. The most obvious example was the selection of his participants. Emotionally-stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles of a prisoner and guard. This was one way in which the researchers ruled out individual differences as an explanation of the findings. If guards and prisoners behaved very differently, but were in those roles only by chance, then their behaviour must have been due to the role itself. The degree of control over variables increased the internal validity of the study, so we can be more confident in drawing conclusions about the influence of roles on conformity. Ecological validity – can generalise to real life situations

Answer 16

a type of of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person the person who usually gives the order is a figure of authority with power to punish if obedience is not forthcoming

Answer 17

comes from the fear of punishment

Answer 18

the holocaust he believed that if millions of people in germany obeyed hitlers commands maybe germany was just more obedient.

Answer 19

whether ordinary people would obey an unjust order from an authoritative figure

Answer 20

–40 male American participants recruited through a newspaper advert -They volunteered to take part for a study for memory and learning for $4.50. -Invited to a laboratory at Yale uni. -In the lab they there met with the a confederate, who they thought was another participant and the experimenter -The experimenter told them draw names from a hat to decide who would be the teacher and who would be the learner -They were assigned teacher and learner.However these roles were fixed. Confederate was always the learner, Participant was always the teacher -The participant and asks the leaner a series of questions -Whenever the confederate got an answer incorrect the participant had to administer an an electric shock increasing every time by 15Volts, up to 450Volts, where 330V was labelled with lethal. - The participant thought the shocks were real but in fact they were not -The learner was strapped in the room next door. -Through out the experiment Verbal prods were used if the participant didn’t want to continue. The verbal prods became more demanding every time participant refused. - The same 4 verbal prods were used. -The learner would bang on the wall and complain

Answer 21

-All participants went to at least 300 Volts and 65% continued and administered the full 450 volts -In addition He made a report that participants showed signs of distress and tension, for example sweating, stuttering and trembling

Answer 22

Ordinary people will obey orders from someone perceived to be a legitimate authoritative figure

Answer 23

Debriefing - The participants were thoroughly and carefully debriefed on the real aims of the study, in an attempt to deal with the ethical breach of the guideline of protection from deception and the possibility to give informed consent. In a follow up study conducted a year later, 84% of participants were glad they were part of the study and 74% felt as if they learned something. This suggests that the study left little or no permanent or long-term psychological harm on participants. EXTERNAL VALIDITY- HOFLING ET AL – carried out a study in a hospital. Nurses were given instructions on telephone by Doctor Smith who asked that they give 20mg of a drug to a patient. Nurses were not supposed to take instructions over the phone from an unknown doctor and dosage was twice what was on the bottle. 21/22 (95%) did as requested. This shows support for Milgram's findings as obedience had occurred in a real life setting (hospital ward) where individuals (nurses) obeyed the destructive order as it came from a person with higher authoritative position (Doctor). Highly replicable – The procedure has been repeated all over the world, where consistent and similar obedience levels have been found. For example, in a replication of Milgram’s study using the TV pseudonym of Le Jeu de la Mort, researchers found that 85% of participants were willing to give lethal electric shocks to an unconscious man (confederate), whilst being cheered on by a presenter and a TV audience. Such replication increases the reliability of the findings. High in internal validity — Gina Perry reviewed the interview tapes and found that a significant number of participants raised questions about the legitimacy of the electric shocks. However, quantitative data gathered by Milgram directly suggested that 70% of participants believed that the shocks were real - these findings appear plausible when considering that 100% of the females used in Sheridan and King’s study administered real electric shocks to puppies. This suggests that although the findings were certainly surprising, they were also likely to be accurate.

Answer 24

DECEPTION - Milgram deceived his participants as they believe they were partaking in an experiment on how punishment effects learning rather than obedience. They were also deceived by the rigging of the role allocation that was in fact pre-determined. Furthermore Due to the nature of the experiment Milgram did not protect his participants participants from psychological harm. NOT PROTECTED FROM HARM – many of them showed signs of real distress and guilt as they may have inflicted harm upon another person. LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDTY - This is because he conducted a laboratory study which is very different from real life situations of obedience. In real life we obey less harmful instructions, far different to giving electric shocks. As a result, we are unable to generalise his finding to real-life situations of obedience and we can not conclude if people will obey less severe instructions to the same degree. However, Milgram counters this claim, stating that the laboratory can reflect wider authority relationships seen in real-life situations. For example -HOFLING ET AL (1966)- found that nurses were surprisingly obedient to unjustified instructions from a doctor in a hospital setting. LACKS POULATION VALIDITY - Milgram used a biased sample of 40 male American volunteers from an individualistic society. Therefore we are unable to generalise to other populations, particularly collectivist cultures, or explain the behaviour of females, since it cannot be concluded that those with other cultural experiences, or female participants, would respond in a similar way to that observed originally by Milgram. LACKS INTERNAL VALIDITY - ORNE AND HOLLAND (1968) proposed that many of the participants went up to the higher voltages as they didn’t believe the shocks were real and were in fact not fooled by the experimental set-up. This means that Milgram may not have been testing what he intended to investigate, thus lowering the internal validity. Furthermore, there is research supported by GINA PERRY (2013)– who listened to the tapes of Milgram's participants and reported that many of them expressed vocalised doubts about the nature of the electric shocks. COUNTERPOINT - SHERRIDAN AND KING (1972) replicated Milgram's study. However, in this study the participants gave REAL shocks to a puppy in response to orders from an experimenter. Despite the real distress of the animals, 54% of male participants and 100% female went up to the full volt and delivered what they thought was a fatal shock. This means that people are more obedient than what we want to expect, suggesting that Milgram's results were genuine, because people behaved obediently even when the shocks were real. EXTERNAL VALIDITY- HOFLING ET AL – carried out a study in a hospital. Nurses were given instructions on telephone by Doctor Smith who asked that they give 20mg of a drug to a patient. Nurses were not supposed to take instructions over the phone from an unknown doctor and dosage was twice what was on the bottle. 21/22 (95%) did as requested. This shows support for Milgram's findings as it was done in a real life setting (hospital ward) and individuals obeyed the order as it came from a person with higher authoritative position (Doctor).

Answer 25

proximity location uniform

Answer 26

Teacher and learner in adjacent rooms (original) = 65% teacher and learner in same rooms dropped from -40%. teacher pushes learners hand on electrodes - 30% Instructions over the phone -20.5% Ally (confederate) disagrees with the experimenter - 10% Ally (confederate) gives shocks when the teacher says so - 90%

Answer 27

obedience rates fell as the teacher was able to understand the learner's pain more directly when placed more close together A person is more likely to obey when they are less able to see the negative consequences of their actions and are in closer proximity to the authority figure. This is because it increases the pressure to obey and decreases the pressure to resist

Answer 28

changed from yale uni to run down building dropped to 47.5% This is because the prestigious nature of specific locations demand obedience from participants as it assures/ increases the trust of legitimacy of authority they place in the researchers.

Answer 29

white lab coat vs ordinary clothes dropped to 20% from 65% A person is more likely to obey someone wearing a uniform as uniforms are widely recognised as symbols of authority and we accept that it gives them a higher status and a greater sense of legitimacy.

Answer 30

HIGHLY CONTROLLED - he systematically altered one variable at a time (such as proximity) to see what effect it would have on the level of obedience. All the other procedures and variables were standardised as possible and the study was repeated over and over again with more than 1000 participants in total. This suggest that since Milgram had asserted a high level of control over these variations, it was possible to closely monitor the effect each was having on obedience rates without extraneous variables affecting them, Therefore, the findings of Milgram have a high internal validity and can be praised for high reliability. BIKMAN (1974) – There is research supporting the influence of uniform on the level of obedience. Bickman (1974) conducted a field experiment, where he had 3 confederates dressed as a non authoritative figures such as Milkman or normal civilian and an authoritative figure such as a security guard. The confederates individually stood in the street and asked passers-by to perform simple tasks such as picking up litter and placing it in the bin. Bickman found that people were more likely to obey the guard than the Milkman and the civilian. This shows the power of uniform and people's perception of perceived legitimate authority. Therefore this provides support for Milgram's findings on how situational variable such as uniform has an impact on obedience. Another strength of Milgram's research on situational variables is that his findings have been replicated in other cultures. Meeus and Raaijmakers (1986) used a more realistic procedure than Milgram's to study obedience in Dutch participants. The participants were ordered to say stressful things in an interview to someone (a confederate) desperate for a job. 90% of the participants obeyed. The researchers also replicated Milgram's findings surrounding proximity. When the person giving the orders was not present, obedience decreased dramatically. This suggests that Milgram's findings are not just limited to Americans or men but are valid across cultures and apply to women to. KILLMAN AND MANN – cross cultural replications replicated experiment 16% conformed – Australia In Germany 85% conformed. this shows that different societies follow alternative hierarchal structures and children have been socialised differently to be more or less obedient towards figures who are viewed as legitimate - needs to be renewed

Answer 31

One limitation is that participants may have been aware that the procedure was fake. ORNE AND HOLLAND (1968) made this criticism of Milgram's baseline study. They point out it is even more likely in his variations because of the extra manipulation of variables. A good example is the variation where the experimenter is replaced by 'a member of the public'. Even Milgram recognised that this situations was so contrived that some participants may as well have worked out the truth. Therefore in all of Milgram's studies it is unclear whether the findings are genuinely due to obedience or because the participants saw through the deception and acted in response to demand characteristics. Milgram concluded that situational factors determine obedience. However, Mandel (1998) argues that this perspective provides an excuse (or ‘alibi’) for destructive obedience (e.g. ‘I was just following orders’). People can excuse their antisocial behaviour because it isn’t their fault. In his view it is offensive to the survivors of the holocaust to suggest that the Nazis were simply obeying orders. Furthermore, Milgram's perspective overlooks the role of dispositional factors (such as personality). Some people may be more obedient – either as a consequence of genetics or because of their upbringing. This may be just as important in determining whether people obey authority. This suggests that Milgram’s explanation based solely on situational factors is likely to oversimplify the causes of obedience.

Answer 32

agentic state + binding factors legitimacy of authority + cultural differences. (can also be proximity, uniform, location)

Answer 33

our default state is known as our autonomous state when in this state we are free to behave/act as we please (independently) and according to our own moral code and therefore we accept responsibility for our actions.

Answer 34

when faced with a person of perceived authority agentic shift occurs meaning we go from being in an autonomous state to being in an agentic state as an agent we follow the orders of the person of perceived authority ignoring our own principles and relinquishing (giving away) personal responsibility for our actions.

Answer 35

- is where you do not feel in control of your actions, Milgram believed that when people did not take responsibility for their actions they would be more likely to follow orders.

Answer 36

agency theory is the idea that people are more likely to obey when they are in the agentic state as they do not believe they will suffer the consequences of those actions. This is because they believe that they are acting on behalf of their agent.

Answer 37

Milgram's participant spoke as if they wanted to quit but couldn't so binding factors allow a person to ignore or minimise the damage caused by their behaviour thus reducing moral strain they are feeling. e.g shifting responsibility to the victim or denying the damage they were doing

Answer 38

BLASS AND SCHMITT (2001) - show the film of Milgram's study to students and ask them to identify who they felt was responsible for the harm to the learner. The students blamed the 'experimenter' rather than the participant. The students also indicated that the responsibility was due to legitimate authority the experimenter was on the top of the hierarchy and therefore had legitimate authority and also expert authority because he was a scientist. One strength is that Milgram's own studies supports the agentic state in obedience. Most of Milgram's participants resisted giving shocks at some point, and often asked the experimenter questions about the procedure. One of these was ''Who is responsible if the learner is harmed?''. When the experimenter replied ''I'm responsible'' the participants often went through the procedure quickly with no further objections. This shows that that once participants perceived that they were no longer responsible for their actions, they acted more easily as the Experimenters 'Agent'.

Answer 39

However, Agentic shift does not explain many of Milgram's results, such as why some people did not obey (following agentic shift they should have all obeyed). It also doesn't explain the results found in Hofling et al's study as the nurses did not show any anxiety when relinquishing responsibility, remaining autonomous, as did many of Milgram's participants, suggesting that Agentic Shift only accounts for some explanations of obedience. Furthermore, Mandel (1998) described how members of German Reserve Police Battalion 101 murdered civilians without being directly ordered to. They did not see themselves as acting as the agents of a higher authority. Instead, they were given a choice, so acted autonomously. They had many reasons for doing so – hatred, prejudice, racism and probably greed. This is quite a different picture from the oversimplified one presented by Milgram, in which such behaviour is the result of a single factor – acting as the agent of a destructive authority. This suggests that the agentic shift is not required for destructive behaviour and Milgram's theory play as an excuse for destructive behaviour.

Answer 40

This describes how credible the figure of authority is. (People are more likely to obey them if they are seen as credible in terms of being morally good/right, and legitimate (i.e. legally based or law abiding). This is why students are more likely to listen to their parents or teachers than other unknown adults) Most societies are structured in a Hierarchal way. This means that people in certain positions hold authority over us. For example, parents, teachers and police officers. Most of society accepts that they have the right to exercise power over others to allow society to function normally.

Answer 41

The extent to which we will actually obey a so-called Authority figure depends on whether or not we accept that authority figures can give orders as well as punishment. We learn acceptance of legitimate authority from childhood.

Answer 42

destructive authority

Answer 43

History has shown that charismatic and powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes. E.g Hitler ordered many of his people to do nasty, cruel things.

Answer 44

In Milgram’s study, the people saw the experimenter as legitimate as they knew he was a scientist and therefore is likely to be knowledgeable and responsible - this is called expert authority. This authority was legitimate (justified) because the researcher held the highest position within the social hierarchy of the experimental scenario.

Answer 45

One strength of the legitimacy explanation is that it explain cultural differences in obedience. Many studies show that countries differ in the degree to which people are obedient to authority. For example Kilman and Mann (1974) Replicated Milgram's study and found that 16% of Australian women went all the way up to 450 Volts. However, Mantell (1971) found a very different figure for German participants -85%. This shows that in some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals. This reflected the way that some societies are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures. + Agentic state and legitimacy of authority theories can be used to successfully explain several real-life examples of obedience towards destructive authority figures. Kilham and Mann put forward the example of the My Lai Massacres, whereby thousands of American soldiers pillaged through Vietnamese villages and murdered civilians. This can be explained in terms of agent state theory, where the soldiers were simply obeying orders from their Generals and so shifted responsibility for their actions onto them. This authority was legitimate (justified) due to their high position within the Army’s social hierarchy ranks. Therefore, this suggests that both theories are valid explanations of obedience.

Answer 46

One limitation of is that legitimacy cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted. This includes Hoflings et al study. Most of them were disobedient despite working in a rigidly hierarchical authority structure. Also, a significant minority of Milgram's participants disobeyed despite recognising the Experimenters scientific Authority. This suggest that some people may be more or less obedient than others. It is possible that innate tendencies to obey or disobey have a greater influence on behaviour than the legitimacy of an authority figure.

Answer 47

the authoritarian personality

Answer 48

Adorno et al (1950) - investigated the causes of obedient personality using the f-scale which is used to measure the authoritarian personality

Answer 49

- be especially especially obedient to authority people with authoritarian personality - have extreme respect and submissiveness to authority - in addition they show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status - and have highly conventional attitudes towards race sex and gender bigger

Answer 50

- They have extreme respect and submissiveness towards authority - such people view society as'weaker' than it once was, so believe we need strong powerful leaders to enforce traditional values such as love of country and family. - Both of these characteristics make people with authoritarian personality more likely to obey

Answer 51

- in childhood as a result of harsh parenting - an expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards, and severe criticism of perceived failings - Furthermore, it is characterised by conditional love, where parents love depends entirely on how they behave. - Adorno states that this is what creates resentment and hostility in the child - However the child cannot express their feelings to their parents due to fear of reprisals. - thus fears are directly displaced onto others who are seen to be weaker (scapegoating)

Answer 52

He based his theory on research on 2000, middle class Caucasian Americans to find out their Unconscious views towards other racial groups

Answer 53

- developed a questionnaire called the F-scale, which measures fascist tendencies, as fascism is thought to be the core of Authoritarian personality.

Answer 54

- individuals who scored highly on the F-scale and other questionnaires self-reported identifying with 'strong' people and showed disrespect towards the 'weak' - they were also very conscious of their status and others, and showed excessive respect to those in higher power - He also found that they had a certain cognitive style (way of perceiving others) which characterised people into fixed and distinctive stereotypical categories. - leading to a strong, positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Answer 55

concluded that individuals with authoritarian personality were more obedient to authority figures and showed an extreme submissiveness and respect.

Answer 56

Milgram and his assistant interviewed a small sample of obedient participants who had participated in the original obedience studies and been fully obedient. They all completed the F-scale as part of the interview. These 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher on the overall F-scale than a comparison of 20 disobedient participants. These findings support Adorno's view that obedient people may be linked to having similar characteristics to Authoritarian personality. COUNTERPOINT: However, when the researchers analysed the individuals subscales of the F-scale, they found that the obedient participants had a number of characteristics that were unusual for authoritarians, Milgram's obedient participants generally did not glorify their fathers, did not experience unusual levels of punishment in childhood and did not have particularly hostile attitudes towards their mothers. This means that the link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex. The obedient participants were unlike authoritarians in many ways that authoritarianism is unlikely to be a useful predictor of obedience.

Answer 57

— There are serious methodological issues associated with the F-scale, as suggested by GREENSTEIN (1969). This scale is particularly susceptible to acquiscence bias. Where an individual can get a high score on the scale simply by agreeing with every item. This would show them to have an Authoritarian Personality even when they have not thought properly about their responses. So research studies that use the F-scale may not be measuring Authoritarian Personality accurately (or even at all). Therefore, this suggests that the findings produced by the F-scale may be lacking in validity and reliability. — The Authoritarian Personality has little ecological validity because it cannot explain many real-life examples of mass obedience. For example, it is very unlikely that the whole German population during Nazi occupation had an Authoritarian Personality, but rather many shared the same struggles in life and displaced their fear about the future onto a perceived ‘inferior’ group of people - (social identity theory), through the process of scapegoating. This means that such a theory is a limited explanation for some examples of obedience.

Answer 58

Social Support and Locus Of Control

Answer 59

Social support is when someone has a ally, so someone who has the same supporting point of view as them. Individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed and have the confidence to remain independent

Answer 60

however when the dissenter then turns again to conform so does the naïve individual.

Answer 61

when a person has someone who supports their point of view they are more likely to disobey and resist the pressure to conform.

Answer 62

There is research support for social support in reducing pressure to conform. In one of Ash's variations, one confederate was instructed to give the correct answer throughout. In this variation, the rate of conformity dropped to 5%. This demonstrates that if the real participant has social support for their belief, then they are more likely to be able to resist the pressure to conform. therefore this suggests that social support lowers the pressure of the group making it easier to demonstrate independent behaviour. Furthermore, in Milgram's variation, the real participant was paired with 2 additional confederates who also played the role of the teachers. In this variation, The two additional participants refused to carry on and withdrew from the experiment early. The percentage of real participants who proceeded to the full 450 Volts dropped from 65% to 10%. This shows that if the real participant had support for their desire to disobey, then they are more likely to resist pressure of an authority figure. One strength is research evidence for the positive effects of social support, for example. Albrecht at al (2006) evaluated Teen Fresh Start USA, an eight-week programme to help pregnant adolescents age 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke. Social support was provided by a slightly older mentor or ‘buddy’. At the end of the programme, adolescents who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke that a control group of participants who did not have a buddy. This shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world.

Answer 63

A weakness of social support is that some people who have social support still do not conform.

Answer 64

Rotter (1966) proposed the idea of LOC which proposes that people can resist the pressure to conform or obey because of their personality. LOC is the extent to which people believe they have control over their own behaviour. This can be measured on a dimension from high internal locus of control to high external locus of control.

Answer 65

Those who have a high internal LOC believe that what happens in their life is usually a result of their own actions and behaviour. Therefore they have control over their life, and more independent and find it easier to resist pressure to conform

Answer 66

individuals who believe that such things happens in their life is due to external factors and they do not have complete control over their life. This means that they are more likely to succumb to pressure to conform or obey and les likely to show independent behaviour.

Answer 67

this is because those with high internal locus of control believe that whatever happened in their life is because of their own actions so believe they have control over themselves and are more independent, have a growth mindset so are more likely be able to resist the pressure to social influence.

Answer 68

There is RESEARCH SUPPORT for the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform - SPECTOR (1983) used Rotter's LOC scale to determine whether LOC is associated with conformity. From 157 students, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with High external locus of control, but only found this to be true only in situations of NSI where individuals conform to be accepted. There was no difference for ISI. This shows that NSI is more powerful than ISI, when considering LOC. OLINER AND OLINER (1998) – interviewed non-Jewish survivors of WW2 and compared those who resisted orders and protected the Jewish from the Nazis with those who had not. OLINER AND OLINER (1998) found that '406 rescuers' were more likely to have a high internal LOC in comparison with the 126 people who had just simply followed orders. These results appear to support the idea that a high internal locus of control makes individuals less likely to follow orders, although there may be other factors which cause them to follow orders in WWII and is difficult to conclude that LOC is the only factor. Holland (1967) In a replication of Milgram's study were assessed for internal and external locus of control. Holland (1967) found that 37% of those with an internal LOC refused to continue to the maximum shock level compared to 23% of individuals with an External LOC. This shows that those with a High internal LOC are more able to resist orders.

Answer 69

However, there is contradictory evidence since not all research supports the link between locus of control and resistance to social influence. Twenge et al. (1967) conducted a meta analysis of studies spanning over four Decades, and found that over time, people have become more external in their locus of control, but also more resistant to obedience, which is incongruent to Rotter's original suggestions. If resistance was linked to internal locus of control, then we would expect people to become more internal. This suggests that Locus of control is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence. Rotter (1982) - LOC is not necessarily the most important factor in determining resistance to social influence. According to Rotter this link only exists in new situations. LOC is irrelevant in situations that are familiar because it doesn’t really affect our behaviour. In such situations, your previous responses have more influence on your current behaviour than your LOC. For example, if you have refused to conform with friends in the past in specific situations, you probably will continue to do so in these situations even if you have a high external LOC. Therefore LOC is a valid explanation because it is linked to resistance. But its validity is limited because it does not predict resistance in new social situations.

Answer 70

Uses a nomothetic approach to establish general laws of behaviour relating to characteristics displayed by those scoring high or low on Rotters internal/external scale.

Answer 71

refers to situations where one person or a small group of people influences/changes the beliefs and behaviour of other people or where a minority changes the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of a majority.

Answer 72

internalisation

Answer 73

- the suffragette movement - civil rights movement - climate change - greta thunbegr

Answer 74

consistency, commitment and flexibility

Answer 75

refers to the way in which minority influence is more likely to occur when minority members share the same beliefs and retain it overtime.

Answer 76

this then draws attention of the majority group to the minority position and is said to be the most influencial

Answer 77

Synchronic - all people in the same group are saying the same message which makes others start to question/rethink their views Diachronic - consistency overtime starts to instill an ideology - 'maybe they've got a point if they are still saying it'

Answer 78

to see if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer, in a colour perception task

Answer 79

- sample consisted of 172 female participants who were told they were taking part in a colour perception task. - the participants were placed in groups of 6 and were shown 36 slides, which were all varying shades of blue. - participants had to state the colour of each slide out loud - Two of 6 participants were confederates in one condition (consistent) and two of them said that all 36 slides were green. - in the second condition (inconsistent) the confederates said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue

Answer 80

moscovici found out that in the consistent condition the real participants agreed on 8.42% of the trials whereas in the inconsistent conditions the participants only agreed on 1.25% of the trials

Answer 81

a consistent minority is x6.95% more effective than an inconsistent minority. Therefore, being consistent is an important factor in exerting minority influence.

Answer 82

-biased sample of 172 female participants. As a result we are unable to generalise the results to other populations for example male participants, and we cannot fully conclude that male participants would respond to minority influence in the same way. Furthermore, research suggests that females are more likely to conform. Therefore more research is required to determine the effect on minority influence on male participants to improve the low population validity of this experiment. Moscovici has also been criticised for breaching the ETHICAL GUIDELINES in his study. he DECEIVED his participants as they were told they were taking part in a colour perception task when in fact it was an experiment on minority influence. this means that Moscovici did not fully gain informed consent. Although it is unethical to deceive participants, Moscovici's experiment required deception in order to receive valid results. If the participants were aware of the true aims , they might have displayed demand characteristics and acted differently. Thus a cost-benefit analysis would deem that the insight gained from such research was worth the short term cost to the participants which could have been dealt with by a means of a debrief following the study. There are methodological issues with research into minority influence. Judging the colour of a slide is an artificial task and therefore lacks mundane realism since it is not something that occurs everyday. Therefore Moscovici's research does not reflect how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of the majority in real life. For example, members of women's rights are very different from participants in a lab. They operate in different settings with different constraints They face much more determined opposition. Therefore Moscovici's research lacks external validity as we are unable to generalise results to real world minority influence.

Answer 83

Moscovici research also supports Informational social influence. in one of his variations, participants were asked to write down their answers rather than say the colour out loud. This meant that their responses were private and not shared with the other group. it was later found that agreement with the minority group was higher, suggesting that they had internalised the viewpoint as true and correct. Moscovici stated that it was easier for the majority group to confess this privately as being associated with the minority position may seem 'radical'. Therefore, this provides support for Moscovici's findings that a minority group can influence members of the majority by being consistent. Another strength of Minority influence research is that Moscovici used a lab experiment. this allowed for the researchers to control the variables within the study. This heightened control allows the study to be replicated to see if the findings are consistent. this means that the research is reliable. However, lab research studies make it very clear which group is the minority and which group is the majority. this is problematic because in real life social situations this is much more complicated . there is more of an involvement of power and status. Therefore it lacks ecological validity and can not be generalised to actual minority social situations.

Answer 84

when minorities exert the influence by showing dedication sometimes engaging in risky or extreme behaviour willing to make sacrifices.

Answer 85

When the majority pays attention to selfless and risky actions being taken by the minority group and is more likely to integrate the group's opinion into their own personal viewpoints due to the personal sacrifice made by the minority

Answer 86

This gives minorities message credibility because people are unlikely to suffer for a cause which is not worthwhile. Also the AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE helps the majority to pay more attention to their actions being taken an example more likely to integrate into their personal viewpoints, augmenting it's importance, due to the personal sacrifice made by the minority

Answer 87

refers to way in which minority influence is more likely to occur when the minority is willing to compromise this means they cannot be viewed as dogmatic (to follow a set of rules no matter what) and unreasonable

Answer 88

Nemeth believed that consistency was not the most important factor in minority influence suggesting that it can often be misinterpreted as a negative trait. she set about investigating flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities who exert pressure.

Answer 89

Participants in groups of 4 had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give to a victim of a ski lift accident. One of the participants in each group was a confederate and there were two conditions: 1). when the minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change their position (inflexible) 2). in the second condition the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but compromised by offering the slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible).

Answer 90

- in the inflexible condition the minority had little or no effect on the majority - in the flexible condition the majority members were much more likely to compromise and change their view.

Answer 91

highlights the importance of flexibility; striking a balance is the most successful strategy in influencing a majority. Also shows that consistency is not the most important factor there may be others which contribute just as much as this one.

Answer 92

refers to the way in which society develops overtime to replace beliefs attitudes and behaviour and becomes the norm.

Answer 93

- consistency - deeper processing - drawing attention - the augmentation principle -the snow ball effect - social Cryptoamnesia - Normative social Influence - Gradual commitment

Answer 94

The more people think about the issue at hand, rather than blindly accepting it, the more they will, in turn, be able to challenge the existing social norms to bring about change.

Answer 95

In order for social change to occur, the majority must first be aware of the need for change

Answer 96

When the majority pays attention to selfless and risky actions being taken by the minority group and is more likely to integrate into the majority group's opinions and their own personal viewpoints due to the personal sacrifice made by the minority. Furthermore, respect for the minority group increases and slowly the majority is convinced.

Answer 97

once the minority viewpoint has got the attention of some of the majority group members, more and more people begin paying attention and the minority viewpoint gathers momentum, much like a snowball growing in size when rolled across a snowy field

Answer 98

Social change can be encouraged by reporting the behaviour of attitudes of the majority, to urge others to follow for normative reasons e.g fit inn with the majority

Answer 99

Once small instruction as been followed, it is harder for large requests to be denied. this is often reffered to as 'the foot in the door technique' and means that people find themselves adopting a new way of behaving gradually overtime.

Answer 100

In Ash's variation where one confederate gave all the right answers, this encouraged more people to do the same as it broke the power of the majority. This shows that social change can be brought through Normative social influence. This has been helped to stop people from litering, smaking by producing slogans which say 'bin it other do.

Answer 101

to get people to obey is a gradual process, instructions are given step by step. Grdually people start to drift into certain behaviours. Also when they have a disobedient ally, it is easier for them to be disobedient

Answer 102

one weakness of how social influence leads to social change is that it focuses heavily on research studies such as Moscovici, Asch and Milgram. These studies include artificial Tasks and therefore mundane realism as they do not represent tasks which we partake in everyday life. As a result, this can lead to demand characteristics , where the participants guess the true aim of the research and display inaccurate behaviour. Therefore these studies which aim to investigate the influence of the minority on the majority are not accurately measuring what they had intended to investigate. Thus, we are unable to generalise the findings from these studies to genuine cases of minority influence. Minority influence can act as a barrier to social change. Bashir et al (2013) were interested in investigating why so many people resists social change even when they believe that it is needed. It was found that some of minority groups, such as environmentalists/ feminists, often live up to the stereotypes associated to the groups, which can be off putting for outsiders. this means that the majority often does not want to be associated with a minority for fear of being stereotypically labelled. Another limitation is that deeper processing may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change. Some people are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about the minorities views. Mackie (1987) disagrees and presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views. this is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in a similar way. When we find that a majority thinks something different, then we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning.

Answer 103

There is research supporting Normative social influence as a process for social change. NOLAN ET AL (2008) conducted a study which spanned one month in California and involved hanging messages on the front doors of people's houses in San Diego encouraging them to reduce energy consumption by indicating that most other residents in the neighbourhood were already doing this. As a means of control, some houses received a message about energy usage but with no references to the behaviour of other people in the area. it was found that the experimental group significantly lowered their energy consumption. This shows that majority influence can lead to positive social change, through the Normative Social Influence Another strength is that psychologists can explain how minority influence brings about social change. Nemeth (2009) claims that social change is due to the type of thinking that minorities inspire. When people consider minority arguments, they engage in divergent thinking. This type of thinking is broad rather than narrow, in which the thinker actively looks for information and weighs up more options. Nemeth argues this leads to better decisions and more creative solutions for social change. Therefore this shows that dissenting values are important, they stimulate new ideas and open minds in ways that a majority can not

Social Influence Flashcards

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