social influence Flashcards
(47 cards)
What are the SITUATIONAL explanations of obedience?
-Agentic state
-Autonomous state
-legitimate authority
What are the DISPOSITIONAL explanations of obedience?
-Authouritarian personality
-Adorno et al
-F-scale
What is the legitimate authority?
-Legitimacy=justified power due to position in social hierarchy
-The legitimate authority is an authority figure that we are socialised to obey because they are higher up in the social hierarchy
-This is heightened when the authority has expertise and credentials we respect so we are more likely to become agents of a legitimate authority
Strength of the legitimate authority explanation of obedience
Hint.. cultural differences
-It explains cultural differences
Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated Milgram’s procedure in Australia and found that only 16% went all the way to top of the voltage scale. However, Mantell (1971) found 85% of German participants went to the end. Explain how this may be due to cultural differences towards authority figures
weakness of legitimate authority explanation
ignores individual variables and personality. this may mean that some are less likely to obey than others
research support for legitimate authority explanation (strength)
uniform:
Uniform is strong symbol of legitimate authority. experimenter wears casual clothes(ordinary member of public seemingly to be) rather than a lab coat from original exp. obedience=20%
original obedience=65%
what is:
-the agentic state?
-autonomous state?
-agentic shift?
-Agent does not take responsibility for their actions and believes they are acting on behalf of an authority
-in control and takes personal responsibility for their actions=less likely to obey
-giving up free will in autonomy to an authority figure(shifting the responsibility(consequences) of their actions the authority figure
What is the agency theory?
Agents experience anxiety and feel powerless to disobey.
They deal with this by shifting the responsibility(consequences) of their actions the authority figure
‘Moral strain’ is reduced by binding factors - aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of obeying e.g blaming the victim.
strength of agentic state theory
(Research support_milgram)
Most of Milgram’s participants experienced distress when following researcher’s orders= moral strain(when following destructive orders of a legitimate authority)
When the experimenter responded that they were responsible, the teacher often continued giving shocks without any further protest= they adopted agentic state
* they were more likely to obey when they were **further away from the learner **so they could stay in the agentic state and did not have to face the consequences of their actions
weakness of agentic state theory
-Limited explanation bc…
- It does not take dispositional factors into account
-Some of Milgram’s participants did not go all the way to 450 volts.
What is the authoritarian personality?
type of personality that is more susceptible to obeying people of authority
They have extreme respect to an authority and obedience to it. They have an inflexible outlook on the world(black and white)
–Extreme respect to people of authority and they show contempt (viewing one as worthless) to people of inferior status.
Where does the authoritarian personality originate from?
(Psychodynamic explanation—-> displacement=Freud)
-harsh parenting
-conditional love(love of parent depends on how child behaves)
-creates hostility and resentments towards parents onto child, which cannot be expressed directly onto parents because of fear of punishment. Displaced onto others perceived as weaker((by) scapegoating)
what does Adorno et al’s research measure
-Adorno believed that a high level of obedience was a pathological condition
-developed the F-scale which measures authoritarian personality and tendency towards fascism/potential for fascism (fascism is extreme right wing ideology-dictatorship support)
procedure and findings of Adorno et al’s research
procedure–studied over 2000 white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups, and gave statements varying in intensity relatedto fascism as a measurement —–
those who scored high on F-scale:
+identified with the strong and were contemptuous of the weak(saw the weak as worthless). +conscious of status
+extreme respect for those of higher status
+black and white thinking- fixed stereotypes about other social groups
STRONG POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN AUTHORITARIANISM AND PREJUDICE
define authoritarianism
overly respectful of an authority
strength of dispositional explanation(AP theory) of obedience
-Research support
-Milgram and Elms–> interviewed 20 participants from Milgram’s original study that went to 450 v.
They scored higher on the F-scale than a control group of 20 participants that did not go up to 450v. suggests that high levels of authoritarianism is linked to obedience
counter point—–
complex link between authoritarianism and obedience, Those who went to 450v had very different characteristics to authoritarians e.g. they did not glorify their fathers, or have a harsh childhood. They were very different to authoritarians. authoritarianism may not be a USEFUL predictor of obedience.
weaknesses of dispositional explanation of obedience
-AP cannot explain the obedience of an entire population, such as Germans during the Nazi regime.
There would be differences in personalities within such a large group. unlikely for all of them to possess AP.
Social identity theory is a better explanation- they identified with the anti-semetic Nazi state, and scapegoated the ‘outgroup’ of Jews.
-Flawed F-scale
response bias- individual gets a high score on F-scale by agreeing with every item(cos they cant be asked) they are not thinking about their responses properly. F-scale lacks internal validity because it is not accurately measuring authoritarianism therefore authoritarian personality is not a valid explanation of obedience
define social roles
-the parts people play as members of a specific social group
* - conforming to social roles would involve behaving in the way you would deem as appropriate for that role
why did zimbardo carry out the stanford prison experiment?
-investigated conformity to social roles.
Do prison guards behave brutally and conform to this behaviour because they have sadistic personalities (dispositional explanation)
or is it the situation that creates such behaviour (situational explanation)?
procedure and findings of stanford prison experiment
-‘Mock prison’ set up in the basement of Stanford university.
-Advert asked for male volunteers.
-24 most ‘psychologically healthy’ selected.
-Participants randomly allocated to role of ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’.
‘Mock prison’ set up in the basement of Stanford university.
-Prisoners - unexpectedly arrested at home, deloused, given a uniform and number.
-Guards - given uniforms, clubs, whistles & reflective sunglasses.
-Prisoners can only be referred to by number.
-Prisoners have rules to follow.
-Guards enforce the rules.
-Zimbardo took the role of prison superintendent(prison manager- he gave the gaurds rules on how to treat prisoners)
findings
Some guards became increasingly tyrannical
Within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled
The guards retaliated with harsher and treatment - night time headcounts and punishments.
Prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious.
3 prisoners were released in four days. some prisoners forgot that it was an experiment. Not all gaurds were sadistic, some were kind and gave prisoners food, some were tough but not extreme.
One prisoner went on hunger strike.
The guards attempted to force feed him. Instead of being considered a hero, he was shunned by the other prisoners.
Research was planned for 14 days but had to be stopped after 6 days.
conclusion of stanford prison expetriment
- The guards with the most sadistic behaviour conformed the most to their social roles
-Social roles have a strong influence on behaviour – brutal guards, submissive prisoners.
-social roles are easily adopted e.g. zimbardo was so immersed in his role as superintendent that it took another researcher’s alert to stop the experiment
-The simulation revealed the power of the situation to influence people’s behaviour.(shows how situational factors strongly influence people’s behaviour)
strengths of zimbardo’s prison experiment
-high level of control over variables. Participants were randomly assigned to roles of guard or prisoner. reduces individual differences/participant variables. =high internal validity
weaknesses of zimbardo’s prison experiment
-ethical issues. The prisoners were deceived because they didn’t know they were going to be arrested which may have lead to psychological harm. Some prisoners displayed disorganised thoughts and mental trauma during the 6 day experiment
-dispositional factors may also influence the extent to which a person conforms to social roles. the behaviours of guards varied significantly-some were sadistic whereas others were kind. situational factors may not be the only factor influencing conformity to social roles.
-contradictory research by Reicher and Haslam. eplicated Zimbardo’s research by randomly assigning 15 men to the role of prisoner or guard. In this replication, the participants did not conform to their social roles automatically.
For example, the guards did not impose their authority; the prisoners identified as a group to challenge the guard’s authority, which resulted in a shift of power and a collapse of the prison system.
procedure of Milgram’s experiment
-40 white american male volunteers obtained via advertising
-participants=teacher
experimenter and learner confederates
experimenter and teacher in same room. learner in diff room so teacher cannot see learner. teacher gives learner an electric shock each time learner makes a mistake on a memory task
shocks range from 15v-450v and increase each time learner makes a mistake
if teacher does not want to continue, they are prompted by the experimenter to go on and continue giving shocks
the shocks weren’t real but teacher participant did not know that. Screams and shouting were pre-recorderd, again, not real :)
