social influence Flashcards

Question

What is unanimity

Answer 1

Unanimity = Full agreement. If a decision is unanimous, everyone agrees

Answer 2

When unanimity is broken, conformity of the naïve ppt dropped from 37% to 5.5%! ⚫ This was the case, regardless of the answer given by the confederate that broke unanimity (whether it was the correct answer or the ‘other’ alternative answer

Answer 3

It increased

Answer 4

Low ecological validity -scenarios like this is very unlikely to occur in real life when it comes to conformity C: in court cases the jury do have to make group decisions and factors such as normative social influence play a role Low population validity 123 white males They didn’t test on females or other people However well replicated Low historical validity

Answer 5

A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors.

Answer 6

Adorno (1950)

Answer 7

Harsh parenting – strict discipline, expectations to be completely loyal, high standards, unconditional love for parents – even if they do not agree with them.

Answer 8

than 2000 middle-class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups. ⚫ They developed an ‘F’ scale to measure the relationship between a person's personality type and prejudiced beliefs

Answer 9

someone who believes in a totalitarian state rule by a supreme leader (dictator) who controls everything possible and treats people harshly

Answer 10

Those who had scored highly on the ‘F’ scale ,identified with ‘strong’ people were generally contemptuous of the ‘weak’. They were very conscious of their own and others’ status

Answer 11

Rigid beliefs in conventional values Very traditional ideas-dislike of change and disorder Submissive attitudes towards people in authority Respectful to authority figures General hostility towards other groups

Answer 12

Milgram & Elms (1966) conducted a follow-up study using ppts who had taken part in Milgram’s original study ⚫ They found that those who were fully obedient and went all the way to 450 volts scored higher on tests of authoritarianism and lower on scales of social responsibility than those who defied the experimenter ⚫ These findings support Adorno’s claims although only a correlation could be determined- what does this mean?

Answer 13

Hyman and Sheatsley (1954)- possible 3rd factor. Perhaps obedience and authoritarian personality are associated with a lower level of education for example, and aren’t directly linked with each other at all

Answer 14

The F-scale measures a tendency towards an extreme form of right wing ideology ⚫ A politically biased interpretation of an authoritarian personality - Christie and Jahoda (1954) However authoritarian personality is not entirely linked to politics and more of a way to describe the cause for obedience Measuring the wrong thing here

Answer 15

Can we explain the obedient behaviour of German Nazi’s in terms of a personality type? The majority of a country’s population Generalisability problem ⚫ So many displayed racist, anti-sematic attitudes, yet were likely to have very different personalities Counter ⚫ Social identity theory can explain this better ⚫ (when the sense of who you are is based on the group you belong to – in-group vs. out-group) ⚫ German people identified with the German Nazi state and they scapegoated the outgroup which was the Jews.

Answer 16

Agentic state ⚫ Legitimacy of authority

Answer 17

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure (we act as their agent)

Answer 18

autonomous state ⚫ This is when a person sees his or herself as responsible for their own actions.

Answer 19

Self-image – people usually want to maintain a positive self-image They are no longer responsible for their actions, so their self-image is protected

Answer 20

When interviewed at the end of the study, obedient participants said ‘I wouldn’t have done it by myself’. ‘I was just doing what I was told.’

Answer 21

For a person to shift to the agentic state (and therefore obey), they must perceive legitimately of authority An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us

Answer 22

As a symbol of legitimacy of authority, uniform aids our cognitive processing (perception) when working out whether the authority is legitimate or not E.g Uniform accessories like badges and weapons

Answer 23

Milgram believed the agentic state best explained his findings ⚫ However, other psychologists believed he had detected signs of cruelty among his ppts – they used the situation as an excuse to express sadistic impulses ⚫ Is there another study that can back this claim up? ⚫ Zimbardo’s study showed that ppts inflicted rapidly escalating cruelty within days of the experiment, despite no clear authority figure giving them orders to do so

Answer 24

Many studies show that countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally obedient to authority ⚫ Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated Milgram’s procedure in Australia and found that only 16% of ppts went all the way to 450v ⚫ Mantell found 85% of Germans went to 450v- suggesting what? ⚫ In some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals. ⚫ This reflects the ways different societies are structured and the way children are raised to perceive authority

Answer 25

Blass and Schmitt (2001) showed a film of Milgram’s study to students and asked them to identify who they felt was responsible for the harm to the learner, Mr Wallace. ⚫ The students recognised the ‘experimenter’ as being in a position of legitimate authority.

Answer 26

Social support ⚫ Locus of control

Answer 27

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform/obey can help others do the same These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible

Answer 28

Allen and Levine (1971) – conducted an Asch-type study, where one of the confederates were instructed to give a different wrong answer to the rest of the group ⚫ Conformity rates decreased – even when the confederate wore thick glasses and said he has difficulty with his vision – why is this important? ⚫ This shows that resistance isn’t motivated by what is being said, it’s motivated by the ability to behave freely without social pressure

Answer 29

Milgram’s ‘second teacher’ variation ⚫ When a second teacher (confederate) was instructed to disobey the authority figure’s instruction to shock Mr Wallace, the naïve ppt was more likely to disobey also ⚫ Only 10% of the sample continued to obey

Answer 30

An explanation for how we make sense of what directs events in our lives (how much control we have)

Answer 31

Someone with an internal LOC believes that they have personal control over the events in their live Those with an internal LOC are more likely to resist social influence ⚫ They are more likely to take responsibility for their actions whether good or bad, so are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs ⚫ They are shown to be more self-confident, achievement oriented, intelligent

Answer 32

Someone with an external LOC believes that they have little personal control over the events in their lives more likely to believe in fair, chance, luck)

Answer 33

Research support – Oliner and Oliner (1988) ⚫ They interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people that lived through the Holocaust and Nazi Germany ⚫ Group 1 (406) – protected and rescued the Jews ⚫ Group 2 (126) – Didn’t ⚫ Those who protected the Jews were more likely to have an internal LOC

Answer 34

Twenge et al. (2004) ⚫ Analysed data from a range American studies done on LOC that were carried out over 40 years ⚫ They found that people become more resistant to social influence over time – but also more external If resistance is linked to having an internal LOC, we would expect people to become more internal instead of external ,as they become more resistant

Answer 35

A form of social influence in which the minority of people (sometimes just one person) persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes change as well as public behaviours

Answer 36

Moscovici et al. Put ppts into groups of 6 – asked them to view a set of 36 blue coloured slides that varied in intensity ⚫ Ppts had to state whether each slide was blue or green ⚫ They had to agree on the colour as a group ⚫ Three groups ⚫ Group 1: Consistent minority. 2 confederates in the group gave the wrong answer on all of the trials (answered ‘green’) ⚫ Group 2: inconsistent minority. 2 confederates gave wrong answers on 2/3s of trials ⚫ Group 3: no confederates – all ppts were naïve

Answer 37

CM: ppts gave the same wrong answer 8.4% of the time – 32% conformed to the minority at least once ⚫ IM: ppts gave the wrong answer 1.25% of the time ⚫ Control: ppts only gave wrong answers 0.25% of the time

Answer 38

Consistency, commitment and flexibility

Answer 39

Minority influence is most effective when the group keep the same beliefs, both over a long period of time and between all individuals in the group

Answer 40

Minority influence is more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position, for example, making personal sacrifices. It shows that the minority is not acting out of self-interest ⚫ Minorities may engage in extreme activities and take risks to show their commitment to the cause

Answer 41

The minority influence is more effective if the minority show flexibility by accepting the possibility of compromise ⚫ Nemeth (1986): Argued that relentless consistency could be counter-productive if it is seen by the majority as unreasonable

Answer 42

All three of these factors contribute to the conversion process ⚫ Over time, more and more people convert from the majority to the minority views ⚫ The more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion ⚫ This is known as the ‘snowball effect’ ⚫ Gradually, the minority view becomes the majority view

Answer 43

Wood et al. (1994): carried out a meta-analysis on almost 100 studies on minority influence and found that those who were more consistent were more influential

Answer 44

Artificial tasks Low ecological validity Very unlikely people are to argue over the colour of which a card is However very controlled Easily replicated

Answer 45

In social psychology a clear distinction between majority and minority groups is made, making it easier to test ⚫ However, in real life it is much more difficult to distinguish between these groups You don’t know who the minority is Therefore it is hard to reach a certain audience

Answer 46

When whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things. Gay marriage rights ⚫ Global warming

Answer 47

Minority influence ⚫ Conversion process Majority influence ⚫ Obedience ⚫ Conformity

Answer 48

1.Drawing attention to the issue 2. Cognitive conflict: 3. Consistency of position 4. The augmentation principle: 5. The snowball effect:

Answer 49

the minority creates conflict between the majority’s original views and the views advocated by the minority

Answer 50

the more consistent the minority are with their views over time, the more influence they will have on the majority

Answer 51

if the minority are willing to suffer for their views, they seem committed and will be taken more seriously

Answer 52

Social norms – normative social influence ⚫ Perkins and Berkowitz (1986): if people perceive a particular behaviour to be the ‘norm’, then they will alter their behaviour to fit that norm Social change through ISI ⚫ Similarly, campaigns can be used to influence attitudes and behaviour with what is right (facts and statistics)

Answer 53

Strength : Research support: Nolan et al. (2008) ⚫ Investigated whether normative social influence processes led to a reduction of energy consumption in the community ⚫ They hung messages on the front doors of houses in San Diego every week for one month ⚫ Experimental condition: the message was the most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage ⚫ Control condition: told people to save energy but there was no reference to other people’s behaviour ⚫ They found that there was a significant decrease in energy usage for the experimental group

Answer 54

They don’t always work DeJong et al. (2009): tested the effectiveness of social norm campaigns to reduce alcohol levels in students across 14 colleges. ⚫ They were surveyed before and 3 years after the campaign had finished C: Although the campaign corrected their misconceptions about what was ‘actually normal’ regarding drinking levels, they did not report lower alcohol consumption levels

social influence Flashcards

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