Social Influence Flashcards
(30 cards)
What are the 3 variables investigated by Asch that affected conformity
-Group Size: Curvilinear relationship between groups size and conformity rate, rose highest with 3 confederates
-Unanimity: Presence of a dissenter reduced conformity considerably
- Task difficulty: Conformity increased the harder the task (Informational social influence)
What did Asch find in his research
Participants conformed on average 36.8% of trials, 25% never conformed
Evaluate Asch’s research
-Artificial Stimulus: Participants knew this was a study so play played along with a trivial task (Demand Characteristics)
-Research Support: Lucas et al found more conformity when the problems were harder
-Limited application: research was only done on American men, so hard to generalize
Who suggested the three types of conformity and outline them
-Kelman (1958)
-Internalisation: Private and public acceptance of group norms
-Identification: Changing behavior to be apart of a group we identify with (may change privately)
-Compliance: go along with the group publicly but no private change
What are the two explanations for conformity
-Informational social influence: Conform to be right e.g conforming to other peoples questions on maths
-Normative social influence: Conform to be liked or accepted by group
What was the procedure of the Stanford Prison Experiment
Mock prison with 21 student male volenteers randomly asigned as a guard or prisoner, with conformity to social roles created through uniforms and instructions about behaviour
What were the findings of the Stanford Prison Experiment
Found guard became increasingly brutal, prisoners rebellion put down. Stopped early after 6 days, participants strongly conformed to their social roles
Evaluate Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
-Randomly assignment to roles increased internal validity by removing investigator effects
-Lack of realism led to participants play acting their roles due to media derived stereotypes COUNTERPOINT: evidence that the prisoners thought the prison was real to them, 90% of the conversations were about the prison
-Only one third of the guards were brutal, so the conclusions are exaggerated
Outline Milgrams research
-American men gave fake shocks to a “learner” in response to instructions (prods) from an “experimenter”
-65% gave highest shock of 450V, 100% up to 300V
-Many showed signs of anxiety e.g sweating
Evaluate Milgrams research
-Research Support: French TV game show found 80% gave maximum shock plus similar behaviour to milgrams participants
- Low Internal Validity: Participants realised shocks were fake so play acted, supported by sperry tapes of participants showed only 50% thought were real
-Participants were deceived and showed significant psychological distress.
What are the three situational variables of obedience
-Proximity
-Location
-Uniform
Evaluate the situational variables in obedience
-Research Support: Bickman showed power of uniform in field experiment
-Cross cultural replications: Dutch participants to say stressful things to interviewee, decreased proximity led to decreased obedience COUNTERPOINT: most studies in countries similar to US so not generalisable
-Dangerous real world consequences: gives obedience an alibi for dangerous and destructive behaviour
What is the Agentic State
Acting as an agent of someone with no personal responsibility for behaviour resulting in binding factors
What is the autonomous state
Free to act according to consciousness, opposite to the Agentic state
What is legitimacy of authority
-Created by hierarchical nature of society
-Some people entitled to expect obedience
-Learned in childhood
-Problems arise when this turns into destructive authority
Evaluate the agentic state as a situational explanation for obedience
-Research support through Milgrams research
-Cannot explain why Rark and Jacobsons nurses and some of Milgrams participants disoebeyed
Evaluate legitimacy of authority as a situational explanation for obedience
-Explains cultural differences: In Australia 16% obeyed, 85% obeyed in Germany, relates to the structure of society
-Rank and Jacobsons nurses in hierarchical structure did not obey legitimate authority
What is the authoritarian personality
-Extreme respect for authority and submissiveness to it
-Contempt for inferiors
-Created from harsh parenting creating hostility that is disposed onto scapegoats
Outline Adorno et al’s research
-Used F Scale to study unconscious attitude towards other ethnic groups
-AP identifies with “strong” people who have fixed cognitive style and have steryoptypes and prejudices
Evaluate the authoritarian personality
-Research support: obedient participants had high F scales (Elms and Milgram)
-Limited explanation: cannot explain obedience across a whole culture
-Political bias as it ignores the role of left wing authoritarianism
What are the three factors for minority influence
-Consistency: if minority is consistent this attracts attention of the majority over time
-Commitment: personal sacrifices show commitment, attract attention and reinforce message
-Flexibility: minority more convincing if they accept counter arguments
How does minority change occur
Three factors of minority make majority consider and think more deeply about an issue leading to a snowball effect becoming majority influence
What increases resistance to conformity
Conformity reduced by presence of majority in group, even wrong answers breaks unanimity of majority (Asch)
What increases resistance to obedience
Obedience decreases in the presence of a disobedient partner who acts as a model to follow: Challenges legitimacy of authority figure, obedience dropping from 65% to 10% (milgram)
