social influence Flashcards
(39 cards)
what was Asches aim In conformity.
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
what was Aschs procedure in his research into conformity?
123 male Americans
Lab experiment
Using a line judgement task
Put a participant in a room with seven confederates
Had to state which line was most like target Line answer was always obvious
Real participant gave ant last
In some trials, confederate gave wrong answers
what were the results of Aschs research into conformity?
on average around one third of participants on each trial conformed on clearly incorrect
3/4 of participants conformed at least once
what was the conclusion of aschs research into conformity?
conformed out of fear of being different or wrong
what is the evaluation for Aschs research in conformity?
not Representative of modern day- Americans in 1950s more likely to conform did not want to be different capitalist views, nowadays people are more accepting of differences
Artificial situation and task
Low population population validity only students and only males and only from USA
Research support -
Asked to solve maths problems given answers from three other confederates conformed more when questions were harder
what were the variations in aschs original research?
Size of group
Found that conformity increases as size of group increases
Change in conformity wants group size reaches four or five
Non-conforming role model one of a person does not conform conformity decreases
Difficulty of task
More difficult, more likely to conform informational social influence
Giving answers in private
Less likely to conform
what are the types of conformity?
compliance- simply going along with others in public but privately not changing personal opinions
Identification - publicly change opinions and behaviour to be accepted even if you don’t privately agree- both public and private acceptance
Internalisation - when a person genuinely accepts the group norms private as well as public change of opinions and behaviour
What are the explanations for conformity?
normative social influence- where someone conforms in order to fit in and gain approval or avoid disapproval
Informational social influence - where people because they are uncertain about what to do so look to others for guidance and want to be right
what is the evaluation for the types and explanations of conformity?
Research support- Ash interviewed participants and sam said they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer- afraid of disapproval
Individual differences - some people have an internal locus of control some people have an external locus of control
Research support for informational social influence - maths questions more difficult people conform more
Unclear if normative or informational and maybe both together
which researcher looked into conformity to social roles?
Zimbardo- prison experiment
What was the procedure of the Stamford prison experiment?
Mock prison with 21 student volunteers randomly assigned as guards or prisoners
Conformity to social roles created through uniforms and instructions about behaviour
what were the findings of Zimbardo’s research in the Stanford prison experiment?
Guards took the roles up with enthusiasm and on day two the prisoners rebelled
Guard’s harassed prisoners
Prisoners became depressed and anxious and released on the fourth day some
Guards identified more than more closely with their role and became brutal and aggressive
Study stopped after six days
what were the conclusions of Zimbardo’s research in Stamford prison experiment?
Participants strongly conformed to their roles
what was the evaluation of the Stanford prison experiment?
Control- randomly assigned to rules increased internal validity- emotionally stable individuals were chosen
Lack of realism - participants were acting rather than genuinely conforming to role performances were based on stereotypes of how they’re supposed to behave
Exaggerated powers of the roles - only third of guards were brutal so conclusions exaggerated
Ethical issues - psychological harm of participants and deception as did not tell them they would be arrested at home
What are the main factors of minority influence and who suggested them?
consistency
Commitment
Flexibility
Suggested by Nemeth
what is the snowball effect?
Minority view gathers force and becomes majority influence
what was the research into minority influence?
Moscovici et al-
Green blue slide study
Consistent versus inconsistent minority
Showed that more people views were changed when more consistent
Convinced that the slide was green
what is the evaluation of minority influence?
Artificial tasks- in study blue green slide task was trivial no meaning
Strength of real life application - suffragettes and environmental groups consistency commitment and flexibility
Weakness as in real life - majority have more power and status than minority not just about equal people e.g. government
moscovici had gender bias and cultural bias
More people may agree with minority in private
What is the research into social influence and social change?
lessons from minority influence research-
•drawing attention
• consistency
• deeper processing
• augmentation
• snowball effect
• social cryptomnesia
lessons from conformity research -
• where one Confederate gave correct Answer in ashes research broke the power of majority, could lead to social change
• normative social influence providing info about what others are doing and what the majority are doing could lead to change ‘ everyone is doing it’
Lessons from obedience research -
• mill showed importance of disobedient role model when teacher refused to give shock rate of obedience decreased
what is the evaluation for social influence and social change?
Research of support for normative influences- in a study to see if could change peoples energy uses research a hung messages with point that everyone was doing it significant decreases in energy usage
Barriers to social change - some people resist social change and don’t want to be associated with certain stereotypes
Real life - suffragette movement use the lessons e.g. drawing attention augmentation to proof point
What was Milgram’s research into obedience procedure
40 American men
Yale uni in USA
Supposedly on memory
Introduced a fake participant who was a confederate and to see who was the teacher
Experimenter dressed in white coat
Teacher had to give learner in different Room a shock high voltage with each wrong answer
what were the findings of milligrams research into obedience?
Every participant shocks up to 300 V, 65% continued to 450
Findings were unexpected
what were the conclusions of milligrams research?
People are willing to obey orders, even if my harm someone maybe certain factors in situations that encourage obedience
What are the situational variables of milgrams research in obedience?
proximity- obedient dropped from 65% to 40% when in same room
When teacher forced learners, hand onto shock obedience dropped to 30%
Location - rundown building obedience to 47.5
Uniform - in one variation experimenter was called an ordinary member of public replaced him obedience dropped to 20%
