social influence Flashcards

Question

zimbardos study: conclusion (A01)

Answer 1

simulation revealed power of situation to influence peoples behaviour-guards + prisoners conformed to their social roles-taken on very quickly

Answer 2

P: zimbardos procedure broke several ethical issues E + E: right to withdraw: one occasion student spoke to zimbardo-he wanted to leave the study-however, zimbardo responded to him as superintendent + persuaded him to remain protection from harm: 5 prisoners left experiment early because of adverse reactions to physical + mental torment-some of the guards also reported feelings of anxiety + guilt as result of their actions during the study L: weakness as even though zimbardo followed ethical guidelines of Stanford uni + debriefed his Ps after-he acknowledged the study should have stopped early

Answer 3

P: procedure affected by demand characteristics E: Banuazizi + Movahedi argued that Ps were merely play-acting rather than genuinely conforming to a role-their behaviour was a response to powerful demand characteristics in the experimental situation itself E: In order to back up this claim, Banuazizi + Movahedi presented details of the SPE to a group of students who had never heard of the SPE- vast majority of these students correctly predicted that the guards would act in hostile way + that the prisoners would react in a passive way L: suggests that Zimbardo’s study may not be measuring conformity to social roles accurately + lacks internal validity

Answer 4

under certain circumstances people will unwillingly go against their moral judgements + will instead obey demands of perceived authority figure

Answer 5

P: Reicher and Haslam conducted a modern-day replication of the original study in the UK E + E: findings were very different to those of Zimbardo- in this replication prisoners took control of mock prison and subjected guards to a campaign of harassment + disobedience L: issue as it demonstrates that findings are not consistent + that people may not conform to social roles in modern society

Answer 6

Milgram wanted to find out whether ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from person in authority

Answer 7

P: findings have application to modern day event E: Zimbardo argues that same conformity to social role effect was evident in study was also evident in Abu Ghraib-military prison in Iraq notorious for torture + abuse of Iraq prisoners by US soldiers in 2003 + 2004 E: Zimbardo believed that guards who committed abuses were victims of situation factors that made abuse more likely L: strength of Zimbardo’s research as it can give us insight into conformity of social roles in modern day events

Answer 8

40 male volunteers were recruited by newspaper advertisement-paid $4.50 + deceived to believe they were giving electric shocks Ps were told the study was test of role of punishment + learning-genuine participant always had teacher’s role + confederate played part of learner whose task was to memorise word pairs teacher’s role was to administer shock every time learner made mistake teacher watched learner being strapped to chair in adjoining room w/electrodes attached to his arms-teacher also received practice shock begin w/accomplice answered correctly + then began to make mistakes-every time he made an error-he was given shock administered by participant- shocks started at 15 volts + increased in 15 volt increments to 450 volts experiment continued either until teacher refused to continue or until 450 volts were reached + given four times Ps was then debriefed + taken to meet learner

Answer 9

All Ps went to at least 300 volts on shock generator 65% of Ps went up to max 450 volts which was marked as XXX

Answer 10

P: Orne and Holland argued that Ps in Milgram’s study gave very high electrical shocks because they had guessed that shocks aren't real E: point of view is supported by Perry who discovered that many of Milgram’s participants had been sceptical at time about whether shocks were real E: One of Milgram’s research assistants divided Ps into what he called ‘doubters’ + ‘believers’. He found that ‘believers’ were more likely to disobey + give only low intensity shocks L: problem w/Milgram’s research as it supports view that study lacked internal validity

Answer 11

P: supporting replication E: Blass carried out statistical analysis of all of Milgram’s obedience experiments + studies conducted by other researchers between 1961 + 1985-later studies found no more or less obedience than ones conducted earlier E: More recently- Burger found levels of obedience almost identical to those found by Milgram 46 years earlier L: strength as evidence suggests that Milgram’s findings still appear to apply as much today as they did back in early 1960s

Answer 12

P: only male participants from America took part in Milgram’s study E + E: means that study only gives us an insight into obedience in limited sample that suffers from culture + gender bias + findings to obedience may differ when carried out w/females or other cultures L: issue as it may be difficult to generalise findings about obedience to other populations However, Blass studied nine other replications of Milgram’s study-which also had male + female Ps + found no evidence of any gender differences in obedience suggesting findings may be generalisable after all

Answer 13

Proximity of victim-teacher + learner in same room-obedience fell when Ps were forced to see + hear distress caused by their actions=40% Touch Proximity of victim-teacher had to force learner’s hand onto an electrified plate to receive shock-obedience fell further when Ps were required to use physical force to personally administer shock=30% Proximity of authority figure-experimenter left room + gave instructions over phone-obedience fell considerably when experimenter supervised participants less closely=20.5%

Answer 14

Original experiment=65% Location-venue moved from Yale University to seedy offices-obedience fell when experiment was in less respectable + prestigious surroundings=47.5%

Answer 15

In baseline study-experimenter wore grey lab coat as symbol of this authority-this variation experimenter was replaced w/ordinary member of public in everyday clothes rather than lab coat-obediences rates fell to lowest level of these variations=20%

Answer 16

P: situational variables explanation ignores effect of INTERNAL factors-eg. disposition or personality on obedience E: eg. research has shown that people w/authoritarian personality are more likely to show blind obedience to those whom they perceive to be higher in status than themselves E: supported by research conducted by Elms + Milgram who found that those w/authoritarian personality traits were more likely to administer bigger shocks in Milgram’s experiment L: reduces validity of this explanation- bc obedience could be due to internal dispositional effects-rather than external situational factors

Answer 17

P: Milgram’s variations support view that situation person finds themselves is mainly responsible for their obedience E + E: but this explanation has been criticised as psychologists argue that it offers an excuse or ‘alibi’ for evil behaviour L: criticism of situational explanation of obedience as it is offensive to survivors of Holocaust to suggest that Nazis were simply obeying orders + were victims themselves of situational factors beyond their control

Answer 18

We are socialised to recognise authority of people like parents, police officers, doctors, teachers-these kinds of people are legitimate authority figures-we are willing to give up some of our independence + hand control of our behaviour to these legitimate authority figures Certain factors eg. presence of uniform can increase legitimacy of authority figure eg. you are more likely to obey policeman when they are wearing uniform than when they are plain clothed legitimate authority figure has power to punish-eg. policeman has legitimate authority to issue ticket if you exceed speed limit whilst driving

Answer 19

mental state where you are more likely to obey an order because you see yourself as having no personal responsibility for your behaviour as you are acting for authority figure opposite of being in an agentic state is being in an autonomous state-shift from autonomy to ‘agent’ is called agentic shift Milgram suggested that this occurs when person perceives someone else is an authority figure- Once in an agentic state person starts to believe that they are no longer responsible for their own actions-instead they feel responsible to higher authority + are mainly concerned that they should ‘do job right’

Answer 20

P: support for ‘agentic state’ explanation comes from Milgram E + E : variation to his original study- researcher was placed in different room to real participant (teacher)- rather than giving orders face to face Ps were instructed to administer electric shocks via telephone link-resulted in dramatic fall in obedience (from 65% to 20.5%) Without presence of authority figure, participants had shifted to an autonomous state-they now saw themselves as responsible for their actions resulting in large fall in obedience L: supports view that obedience increases when in an agentic state + falls when in an autonomous study

Answer 21

P: research evidence to show obedience is not always due to being in an agentic shift E: Mandel described one incident where Nazi soldiers were ordered to shoot civilians in small town in Poland-despite fact that they did not have direct orders to do so E: suggests that dispositional factors may also play role in explaining obedience-although Milgram believed that agentic state best explained his findings-he did concede that some individuals are just plain cruel + will use situation to satisfy their sadistic impulses L: problem as explanation may be limited + cannot account for why only some people ‘shift’ to agentic state whilst others do not

Answer 22

P: strength of ‘legitimate authority’ explanation comes from variations of Milgram’s obedience research E: He found that Ps were more likely to obey researcher when research took place in prestigious setting of Yale University compared to everyday setting of run-down office E: suggests we do obey because we perceive that authority figure has greater legitimate authority + social power Bickman found that when he asked passers-by in New York to lend money to stranger for parking meter-they would obey 49% of time when he was dressed in street clothes but this increased to 92% when he was dressed in security guard’s uniform L: supports explanation bc it shows that we will follow orders provided person giving them is seen to have legitimate authority

Answer 23

People with an authoritarian personality tend to be very obedient to authority because they have enormous respect for authority figures- also show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status- believe that we need strong + powerful leaders to enforce traditional values.

Answer 24

P: supporting evidence for authoritarian personality E: Elms + Milgram found that when 20 obedient participants from Milgram’s original obedience research were questioned using F-Scale obedient Ps scored higher on authoritarianism E: obedient Ps also reported viewing experimenter as more admirable + learner as less so L: supports findings of Adorno et al that authoritarian personality makes us more likely to obey

Answer 25

Adorno’s explanation is dispositional explanation Authoritarian Personality: personality type especially susceptible to obeying people in authority-people w/this personality type: 1. extremely respectful and submissive to those in authority 2. believe that strong + powerful leaders are needed to enforce traditional values eg. love of country + family 3. hostile to people of inferior social status- there are no ‘grey’ areas-everything is either black or white-people who belong to other ethnic groups eg. responsible for problems of society According to Adorno et al, an authoritarian personality type is formed in childhood-mostly because of harsh parenting- parenting style features extremely strict discipline-impossibly high standards + severe criticism of perceived failings Adorno argued that these childhood experiences create resentment and hostility in child However child unable to express their feelings to their parents because they fear punishment- child displaces their fears onto others who they perceive to be weaker process known as scapegoating

Answer 26

P: evidence by Milgram shows that situational variables have greater effect on obedience than disposition E + E: eg. levels of obedience dropped considerably when researcher gave orders over phone rather than in person- also research by Bickman showed that wearing uniform, rather than ordinary clothes, doubles obedience levels L: limitation because it appears that personality has limited effect on obedience- it appears that external factors are more important than dispositional ones

Answer 27

Those with an authoritarian personality (who scored high on the F-scale) were: 1. Contemptuous of those thought to be ‘weak’. 2. Conscious of other peoples’ status. 3. Had fixed stereotypes about other people. A strong positive correlation was found between those with an authoritarian personality and prejudice

Answer 28

Attitudes toward racial minorities were measured in 2000 middle class, white Americans F-scale (Fascism scale) was also used to measure different components that make up an authoritarian personality

Answer 29

P: weakness of the theory is that it cannot easily account for obedience of an entire group or society E + E: unlikely that high levels of obedience-racism + anti-Semitic behaviour seen in Germany during WWII could be due to dispositional factors-eg. it seems extremely unlikely that whole population possessed an authoritarian personality L: weakness as it appears that alternative explanations must influence obedience much more than authoritarian personality

Answer 30

P: comparison to Milgram who carried out lab study- Adorno measured people’s attitudes using an attitude scale E + E: Rating scales are criticised as they are subject to social desirability as participants may not tell truth about their attitudes to look desirable to researcher L: weakness as questionnaires may not be valid measure of personality which reduces validity of dispositional explanation of obedience

Answer 31

P: social psychological research is criticised due to use of deception E + E: Asch misinformed his participants to the true aim of the study-he said they were taking part in study on perception of line length Milgram told participants that study was a test of role of punishment and learning-he also misleads participants to believing that someone was being deliberately shocked Zimbardo did not inform Ps of some aspects of his experiment for example that they would be arrested at home + strip searched at prison L: weakness because Ps were misled about true aim of research, they also were unable to give FULLY INFORMED CONSENT

Answer 32

P: their where no signs to protect the Ps from being harmed E+E: Ps in Asch’s study could have been embarrassed by fact that they had conformed to an unambiguous task Ps in Milgram’s study showed signs of distress such as nervous twitches + some had panic attacks Zimbardo acknowledges that study should have been stopped earlier as some of Ps were experiencing severe emotional distress + some argue that this harm should have been anticipated L: problem of research into social influence because by misleading participants + causing harm it can damage the reputation of Psychologists and their researchers and deter people from being involved in further research

Answer 33

Resistance to social influence refers to ability of people to withstand social pressure to conform to majority or obey authority-most people may conform or obey there are always those who refuse to do so-in Milgram’s study, 35% disobeyed researcher at certain point

Answer 34

Pressure to conform is at its most powerful when group is ‘unanimous’ -likewise pressure to obey is at its most powerful when everyone obeys figure of authority if at least 1 person in group resists pressure to conform or obey ‘dissenter’- this can help others to do same-people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible by demonstrating how to resist as well as demonstrating consequences of resisting eg. if someone rebels + disobeys an authority figure but avoids punishment- this may reduce fear of disobeying in others- social support provided by allies ‘frees’ others up to act according to their own conscience

Answer 35

P: there is supporting evidence E: Asch found in his line judgement task that when one of group of confederates became dissenter + gave different answer to other confederates conformity rate dropped sharply from 33% to on average 5% E: strength was true even when dissenter gave different incorrect answer to majority L: finding support view that social support helps people to resist social influence

Answer 36

P: 1 of Milgram’s variations P was one of team of three testing learner E +E: other two were actually confederates who 1 after another refused to administer shocks. Milgram found that confederates defiance resulted in dramatic drop in obedience from 65% to just 10%. It appears that confederations had ‘freed up’ Ps to disobey L: positive as it supports view that we are more likely to resist pressures to obey if we have social support

Answer 37

P: Allen and Levine conducted an Asch-type study to support social influence explanation E + E: found that not only did conformity rate decrease when dissenters were present-but this occurred even when dissenter wore thick glasses + said he had difficulty w/his vision L: supports view that resistance is not just motivated by following what someone else says but it enables someone to be free of pressure from group

Answer 38

extent to which people feel that they have control over events that influence their lives

Answer 39

can control events in their life what happens to them is consequence of their own ability and effort eg. if they fail an exam, they will blame their lack of hard work or effort more likely to rely less on the opinion of others MORE LIKELY TO RESIST SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Answer 40

P: problems when investigating link between LOC + resistance to social influence is that it relies on correlational evidence E: Correlational evidence fails to establish cause + effect eg. that having an internal LOC causes person to defy authority or not conform E: there could also be another unknown variable apart from type of locus of control that is causing the defiance, such as individual personality L: issue because LOC explanation for resisting social influence may lack validity

Answer 41

P: there is supporting evidence E: Crowne et al completed an Asch-type experiment + then measured whether Ps had an internal or external LOC- found that internals conformed less than externals E: Holland repeated Milgram’s baseline study + found that internals were more likely to disobey + refuse to go to highest shock level than externals L: strength as both of these studies clearly demonstrate a link between LOC + resistance to social influence

Answer 42

P: not all evidence supports link between + internal LOC + resistance to social influence E + E: Twenge et al analysed findings from obedience studies over a 40-year period (from 1960-2002) + found that despite people becoming more resistant to social influence-they increasingly believed that their fate was determined more by luck rather than their own actions suggestive of an EXTERNAL LOC L: problem as it goes against the LOC explanation because if resistance were linked to an internal locus of control- we would have expected people to have become more internal

Answer 43

have a sense that things ‘just happen to them’ + are largely out of their control happens to them is determined by external factors, such as friends, parents or luck eg. if they failed an exam, they might blame the teacher or fact they had bad luck w/ questions. Take less personal responsibility for their actions. LESS LIKELY TO RESIST SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Answer 44

form of social influence in which minority of people persuade others in majority to adopt their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours- different from conformity where minority is doing influencing W/ majority influence, people identify w/majority view to ‘fit in’ w/ norms of society-w/ minority influence conversion process occurs whereby people scrutinise minority viewpoint in order to understand why they hold this position minority influence is more likely to lead to internalisation in which both public + privation views are changed

Answer 45

minority to be successful + win over majority- minority must be consistent-involves keeping to + frequently repeating same beliefs/message There are two types of consistency: Synchronic consistency- when members of minority are all saying same thing eg. all suffragettes want women to have vote Diachronic consistency- they have been saying same thing for some time now eg. suffragettes have been asking for vote for many years consistency draws attention to minorities’ point of view causing majority to rethink their own views: ‘Maybe they’ve got point if they all think this way’ or ‘Maybe they’ve got point if they have kept saying it’- consistency leads majority to doubt themselves which can lead to behaviour change

Answer 46

groups of 6 Ps were asked to view set of blue-coloured slides that varied in brightness + then state whether slides were blue or green 2 of the 6 Ps were confederates Consistent condition: 2 confederates consistently called blue slides green on all trials Inconsistent condition: 2 confederates called slides green 24 times + blue 12 times control group also judged colour of slides w/x any confederates present

Answer 47

Consistent condition: Ps called slides green in 8.42% of trials + 32% of these Ps called slide green at least once Inconsistent condition: Ps called slides green on only 1.25% of trials strength as consistency in views and behaviour of minority was most important factor in determining degree of minority influence upon social change

Answer 48

P: importance of consistency in minority influence is further supported Wood et al E +E: carried out meta-analysis of 97 studies of minority influence + found that consistent minorities were most influential L: VALIDATES importance of consistency in influencing + converting majority

Answer 49

minority need to be thoroughly dedicated to cause to win over majority-commitment is demonstrated by taking part in extreme activities that help to draw attention to their views important that these extreme activities are at some risk to minority because this demonstrates greater commitment-majority group members then pay even more attention greater commitment may persuade majority group members to take them seriously or even convert to minority position- known as augmentation principle- principle states that if there are risks involved in putting forward particular point of view or others take those who express those views more seriously eg. many suffragettes took part in extreme activities such as hunger strikes, force feeding + imprisonment in order to draw public’s attention to issue

Answer 50

P: evidence support role of commitment E + E: Xie et al found that when Ps communicated on social network w/people who were committed to an alternative point of view to their own this had most significant influence on them adopting this new point of view L: supports importance of commitment in minority influence

Answer 51

If minority consistency adheres to their message without any attempts to modify it- they could be viewed as being inflexible + rigid- may cause majority to ‘switch off’ + ignore minority view

Answer 52

tested mock jury situation where group members discussed amount of compensation to be paid to someone involved in ski-lift accident found that when confederate put forward an alternative point of view + refused to change his position, this had no influence on group but when they showed flexibility + compromised- they did have an influence on group positive as it suggests flexibility might play an important role in minority influence

Answer 53

P: extreme activities that are used to demonstrate commitment could lead to minority being viewed as ‘deviants’ + ‘troublemakers’ E + E: members of majority may avoid aligning themselves w/ minority position because they do not want to be seen as deviants themselves L: weakness of role of commitment in minority influence

Answer 54

important to be consistent in your viewpoint repeating same old arguments and behaviours again + again can be off-putting-also being rigid + unbending can give the impression that you are narrow minded + uncooperative. Instead members of minority need to be prepared to adapt their point of view + accept reasonable and valid counterarguments-there needs to be strike balance between consistency and flexibility

Answer 55

P: research indicates that if majority identifies w/minority they are more likely to change their own views in line w/minority E + E: eg. 1 study showed that straight majority were influenced more by minority arguing for gay rights if minority were straight rather than gay- because straight majority identified w/straight minority-whereas they tended to see gay minority as different from themselves + self-interested L: study illustrates that despite behavioural style used-unless majority can identify in some way w/minority change is unlikely to occur

Answer 56

Whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs + ways of doing things eg. SUFFRAGETTE MOVEMENT for women’s rights, CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN AMERICA, movement for GAY RIGHTS + various environmental issues such as RECYCLING

Answer 57

Minorities can bring about social change by drawing majority’s attention to an issue- 1950’s in America, black separation applied to all parts of America-southern states of America, places such as schools and restaurants were exclusive to whites civil rights marches of this period drew attention to this situation

Answer 58

Moscovici et al minorities tend to be more influential in bringing about social change when they express their arguments consistently- civil rights movement held marches + demonstrations over many years Even though they were a minority in American population- civil rights activists displayed consistency in their message.

Answer 59

minority appears willing to suffer for their views-they are seen as more committed + are taken more seriously by others eg. civil rights movement ‘freedom fighters’ were mixed racial groups who got on buses in south to challenge fact that black people still had to sit separately on buses many freedom riders were beaten + there were incidents of mob violence

Answer 60

few members of majority start to move towards minority position, then influence of minority begins to gather momentum-more people gradually pay attention to the minority view until it reaches ‘tipping point,’ at which point it leads to wide scale social change 1964 US Civil Rights Act was passed which prohibited discrimination This represented change from minority to majority support for civil rights

Answer 61

research has also shown that ‘conformity’ can play a role in social change-because many of attitudes + behaviours of individuals in society are shaped by what they perceive to be ‘social norms’ NSI suggests we will often change our behaviour out of a desire to be liked + accepted by majority and to gain social approval-individuals in society are led to believe that majority are behaving differently to the way they behave they may change their behaviour to avoid being seen as socially deviant

Answer 62

people conform to social change because they dont want to be left out-environmental campaigners use psychological tactics such as printing normative messages on litter bins in order to bring about social change

Answer 63

Milgram’s research demonstrates how social change may be more likely if the changes start small + gradually increase eg.once small instruction is obeyed it becomes much more difficult to resist bigger one-people essentially ‘drift’ into new kind of behaviour

Answer 64

P: Nolan investigated whether social influence processes led reduction in energy consumption in community E + E: hung messages on front doors of houses in California every week for one month- key message was that most residents were trying to reduce energy usage control, some residents had different message that just asked to save energy Nolan found significant decreases in energy usage in first group L: strength because it shows that conformity can lead to social change through operation of normative social change

Answer 65

P: potential for minorities to influence social change is often limited because they are seen as ‘deviant’ in eyes of majority E+ E: members of majority may avoid aligning themselves w/ minority position because they do not want to be seen as deviants themselves L: issue for minorities trying to bring about social change as minorities face double challenge of avoiding being portrayed as deviants + also making people directly embrace their position

Answer 66

way in which minority attitudes, behaviours + beliefs become majority held views takes form w/x conscious understanding of its origins

social influence Flashcards

(90 cards)