social influence

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

conformity is the change of behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people

Question 2

difference levels of conformity
(types of conformity)

Answer 2

complaince
identification
internalisation

Question 3

what is compliance?

Answer 3

when individuals go along with the group to gain approval
does not result in change in underlying attitude, only in the views expressed in public so its temporary
- smoking to look cool

Question 4

what is identfication?

Answer 4

has elements of both compliance and internalisation as the individual accepts the attitudes and behaviours they are adopting as true (internalisation) but the purpose of doing so is to be accepted as a member of the group (compliance)
smoking relives stress + they think im cool

Question 5

what is internalisation?

Answer 5

individuals go along with a group because of an acceptance of their views
this can lead to the acceptance of a groups point both publicly and privately - permanent chane

Question 6

what is ISI

Answer 6

when an individual is conforming to be right especially in ambiguous situations needed and to reduce uncertainty. This often leads to internalisation.OTHERS MORE KNOWLDGEABLE

Question 7

explanation of conformity

Answer 7

• normative social influence (NSI)
• informational social influence (ISI)

Question 8

what is NSI

Answer 8

when an individual is conforming to be liked to gain acceptance through agreeing with a group to be accepted and not rejected - it is a temporary effect results in superficial change of behaviour

Question 9

evidence for NSI

Answer 9

• supporting evidence for Asch study (1951) unambigous line - it shows pps conformed selecting wrong answers when the confederates did and after the interviews pps said that they conformed to avoid rejection from others. This shows people will show complaint behaviour in order to fit in and and be approved by the majority

Question 10

CONS of the supporting evidence for NSI

Answer 10

line experiment was unusual not like everyday real life tasks therefore it lacks mundane realism it could be argued conformity would act differently in real word situations

Question 11

evidence for ISi

Answer 11

Jenness (1932) - Jelly beans in jar
asked to guess alone then with others - an ambigious task
Jennes found the individuals second guess would move closer to the groups demonstrating ISI
bonus fact women conformed more

Question 12

con for the evidence of ISI

Answer 12

• Also lacks mundane realism

Question 13

eval of types and explanation conformity

Answer 13

-some people are more able to resist social pressures to conform this raises questions on why that may occur

Question 14

what did zimbardo want to investigate

Answer 14

whether the aggressive behaviour seen in american prisons was due to dispositions( perosnalities) or because of the prision environment itself

Question 15

set up of zimbardos study

Answer 15

he created a fake prison in the basement of Stanford university 21 male students rated as both physically and mentally well were chosen for 75 volunteers
there was a random selection of 10 guards and 11 prisoners
the prisoners were given a realistic arrest by police, wore prisoner uniform and they were labelled as just a number this was to try dehumanise them.
the guards were given uniform, handcuffs , clubs and sunglasses to avoid eye contact.

Question 16

findings of zimbardos study

Answer 16

prisoners and guards conformed to their roles very quickly , in two days the prisoner revolted against the guards and the experiment had to be called off on day 6 in regards to the concern about the mental health of the prisoners

• everyone conformed to their social roles within the prison very quickly encapsulating he situational power of the prison environment to change of behaviour

Question 17

evaluation of Zimbardos study

Answer 17

it is thought that the prisoners and guards of stanford uni may have just been roleplaying / acting according to stereotypes rather than conforming social roles. Imitating deceptions of prisoners and guards they had seen in the media
Zimbardo used his study to argue that the prison situation made guards become aggressive however only 1/3 of the guards were excessively aggressive
zimbardos study can be seen as a failure as he wanted to reduce the aggression in american prisons however depssite his findings american prisons still remain excessively agressive on the part of both prisoners and guards