Social influence

Question 1

Define conformity

Answer 1

A change of belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group.

Question 2

Who proposed three types of conformity ?

Answer 2

Kelman 1958

Question 3

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 3

Compliance, internalisation, identification

Question 4

Define compliance

Answer 4

Temporary agreement , agreeing with the groups beliefs in public but disagreeing privately

Question 5

Give an example of conformity

Answer 5

Pressure from friends to drink when you wouldn’t drink in other situations

Question 6

Define internalisation

Answer 6

When a person accepts a groups norms and values and makes it their own. An individual’s change of view is permanent.

Question 7

Give an example of internalisation

Answer 7

Being brought up in a religious household and becoming religious yourself.

Question 8

Define identification

Answer 8

Publicly change our behaviour even if we don’t agree privately, short term change only in presence of group

Question 9

Give an example of identification

Answer 9

Acting more professional at work and less silly

Question 10

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 10

Normative social influence and informational social influence

Question 11

Define ISI

Answer 11

The desire to be right, usually leads to internalisation

Question 12

Define NSI

Answer 12

The desire to be liked usually leads to compliance

Question 13

Who came up with the two process theory?

Answer 13

Deutsch and Gerard 1955

Question 13

What is the two process theory?

Answer 13

Believed people conform because of two things ISI the desire to be right and NSI the desire to be liked.

Question 14

What research support is there for NSI?

Answer 14

Asch 1951 found ppts conformed rather than give the correct answer as they were afraid of disapproval, when ppts wrote down answers conformity dropped to 12.5%

Question 15

What does Asch 1951 research show about NSI?

Answer 15

Shows at least some conformity is due to the desire to be liked

Question 16

Evidence/research support for ISI

Answer 16

Lucas et al 2006 found ppts conformed more to harder maths questions as the answer wasnt as obvious so more people conformed to the wrong answer

Question 17

Whats a counterpoint to Lucas et al and Ash research support?

Answer 17

NSI and ISI are hard to identify in real life situations as they go hand in hand most of the time

Question 18

Whats a limitation of NSI?

Answer 18

Individual differences, McGhee and Teevan 1967 found that students who were affiliators were more likely to conform as they had a higher want of being liked.

Question 19

Who were the ppts in Aschs study?

Answer 19

123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6 including 5 confederates

Question 20

What were the aims of Aschs study?

Answer 20

To investigate conformity and majority influence

Question 21

What was the procedure in aschs study?

Answer 21

-ppts and confederates were presented with 4 lines ; 3 comparison lines and 1 standard line
-they were asked to state which of the three lines was the same length as a stimulus line
-the real ppts always answered last or second to last
-confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 out of 18 of the trials
-Asch observed how often the ppt would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates vs the correct answer

Question 22

What were the findings of Asch study?

Answer 22

-36.8% conformed
-25% never conformed
-75% conformed at least once
-in a controlled trial 1% of responses were wrong which eliminates the extraneous variable of eyesight increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn

Question 23

What were the factors affecting conformity in Asch study?

Answer 23

Size of majority/group size
unanimity of majority
task difficulty

Question 24

In relation to asch research, explain what is meant by the terms unanimity and task difficulty?

Answer 24

Unanimity: the extent to which all members of a group agree Asch: the majority was unanimous when all confederates chose the same comparison line = produced the greatest level of conformity Task difficulty: Asch study becomes more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer Asch: conformity increases with task difficulty as ppts assume the majority is right

Question 25

What are the 2 differences between internalisation and compliance?

Answer 25

Public acceptance and private rejection

Question 26

Describe Asch’s study of conformity. Include details of what he did and what he found in your answer.

Answer 26

Showed participant 2 white cards - one had three lines of different length and one had a standard line. Participants had to match the two lines of the same length. Each participant was tested with a group of confederates, who after the first few trials started given the wrong answer. All confederates gave the same wrong answer. Overall, the participants gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time. Every participant conformed at least once, meaning that 75% conformed once. When asked why they conformed, they said: “to avoid rejection”. → NSI

Question 27

“Asch’s study is a child of its time” - Explain what is meant by this

Answer 27

When Perrin and Spencer repeated Asch’s study in 1980, only one student conformed out of 396. The 1950s (the time when Asch’s study was conducted) was a particularly conformist time in America - it made sense to conform to established norms. Meaning that people may have conformed because it was the norm to do so → We now live in a less conformist age, meaning the results would be different i.e. the study is a child of its time.

Question 28

Why is it a limitation that aschs study is an artifical task and situation?

Answer 28

Ppts knew they were in a study which could create demand characteristics and they could have gone along with the situation. This is a limitation as it cant be generalised to real life situations.

Question 29

Explain the ethical issues with Asch research?

Answer 29

Deception- they thought the other people were part of the study

Question 30

Why do asch study have limited real life application?

Answer 30

Only men were tested and were all from the USA which is an individualistic culture where people are largely concerned with themselves

Question 31

Outline procedure, findings and conclusion of stanford prison experiment

Answer 31

Mock prison where ppts were randomly allocated a prisoner or guard role prisoners arrested from home, guards were dressed in uniform guards abused their role prisoners rebelled and became depressed. experiment ended after 6 days instead of 14.

Question 32

Why is a high level of control over variables in the spe a strength?

Answer 32

Ppt were randomly selected as they volunteered which meant individual differences could be minimised which increases internal validity as its easier to draw conclusions about the cause of behaviour.

Question 33

Why is it a limitation that zimbardo exaggerated the power of roles?

Answer 33

Only 1/3 of the guards behaved brutally so social roles may not have caused the behaviour as guards still seem to know the difference between right and wrong =dispositional factors are important as they were minimised

Question 34

Why does spe lack realism?

Answer 34

Banuazizi & Mohavedi Suggest the way ppts acted was based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are suppose to behave. This means the results may not have been down to social roles. However most prisoners believed they were in a real prison run by psycholgists which increases validity.

Question 35

Outline ethical issues with Zimbardos research

Answer 35

Zimbardo being part of the study meant when ppl asked to leave the study he was responding as a prison warden not a psychologists. Protection from harm was the biggest issue .

Question 36

Outline Milgrams research into obedience

Answer 36

Procedure: A teacher gave fake electric shocks to a learner during a learning task ordered to do so by the experimenter. The learner cried for help and told them to stop but the experimenter told them to carry on Findings: no pots stopped before 300v and 65% went all the way up to 450v.

Question 37

Evaluate milgrams research in terms of validity

Answer 37

low validity- Orne and holland ppts could guess the study- demand characteristics high. external validity- hofling et al nurses administrated drugs after being told by doctors shows milgrams finding can be applied to real life

Question 38

What is the social identity theory?

Answer 38

It’s about group identification. In milgrams study the teachers identified with the science and so obeyed the researcher. obedience dropped because ppts started to identify with the victim.

Question 39

Why is the social identity theory a limitation to milgrams conclusion about obedience?

Answer 39

Milgram claimed ppts obeyed due to the presence of an authority figure. SIT suggested obedience occurred due to identification with the researcher or victim.

Question 40

Outline the ethical issues of milgrams study.

Answer 40

Deception: didn’t know shocks were fake prevents ppts to give fully informed consent to take part and means the ppts are leaving themselves to psychological harm as they don’t knwo what the procedure involves

Question 41

What is meant by situational variables?

Answer 41

factors that effect someone’s level of obedience factors are all due to external circumstance

Question 42

situational factors in obedience

Answer 42

proximity - how close the researcher is location- study was conducted in a lab at yale uni location have them confidence in the integrity of people involved uniform- uniform symbols authority

Question 43

agentic state

Answer 43

an individual gives up their autonomy and moral responsibility to an authority figure

Question 44

legtimacy of authority

Answer 44

people will obey someone they perceive to be above them in the social hierarchy

Question 45

Reicher and Haslam 2006 the bcc STUDY procedure

Answer 45

Procedure: Randomly assigned men to the role of guard or prisoner and examined their behaviour within a specially created ‘prison’. P’s were divided into 5 groups of three people who were as closely matched as possible on key personality variables. From each group of three one person was randomly chose to be a guard and the other two prisoners.

Question 46

How long was the BBC study?

Answer 46

8 nights

Question 47

Reicher and Haslam 2006 bbc study findings

Answer 47

PPts didnt conform automatically to their assigned role as had happened in SPE prisoners increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively to challenge the authority of the guards and establish a more equal set of social relations within the prison. - guards failed to identify their role -lead to a shift in the power and the collapse of the prisoner guard system

Question 48

Findings of milgrams study

Answer 48

No ppts stopped before 300v and 65% went all the way to the top of the shocking scale, 450v.

Question 49

What were the factors affecting conformity in milgrams study?

Answer 49

proximity location uniform

Question 50

Dispositional explanation

Answer 50

INternal factors like personality for reasons why someone obeys.

Question 51

Locus of control Rotter 1966

Answer 51

The LOC is a measurement of an individuals sense of control over their lives i.e fate or hardwork

Question 52

Internal locus of control

Answer 52

Behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and effort

Question 53

External LOC

Answer 53

Behaviour is caused by luck or fate

Question 54

How were the ppts of Moscovicis study picked?

Answer 54

Randomly selected ppts and confederates

Question 55

What was the aim of Moscovicis study?

Answer 55

To observe how minorities can influence a majority

Question 56

What was the procedure of Moscovicis study?

Answer 56

-It was a lab experiment -Ppts were in a group where there were two confederates( the minority) and 4 ppts ( the majority) - everyone was shown 36 blue slides, each with a different shde of blue - they were each asked to say whether the slide was blue or green - confederates deliberately said they were green on 2/3 of the trials, thus producing a consistent minority view - the number of times that the real ppts reported that the slide was green was observed -a control group was also used consisting of ppts only- no confederates.

Question 57

What were the finding of moscovicis study?

Answer 57

When the confederates were consistent in their answers 8% of ppts said the slides were green. However, when the confederates answered inconsistently 1% said the slides were green. This shows consistency is crucial for a minority to exert maximum influence on a majority;.

Question 58

What are the two types of consistencys

Answer 58

Diachronic consistency synchronic consistency

Question 59

Diachronic consistency

Answer 59

When the group remains consistent over time - they dont change their views overtime

Question 60

Synchronic consistency

Answer 60

When the group is consistent between all the members of the group- everyone in the group has the same views

Question 61

Martin et al 2003

Answer 61

demonstrated that there is a greater degree of internalisation of a minority view compared to a majority view

Question 62

Adorno et al 1950

Answer 62

developed a questionnaire called the f scale to measure levels of authoritarian personality

Question 63

F scale

Answer 63

to measure levels of authoritarian personality

Question 64

Dispositional

Answer 64

Explanations of behaviours such as obedience emphasise the being used by individuals own personal characteristics rather than situation influences within the environment

Question 65

Authoritarian personality

Answer 65

A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obediance or submission to authority