Social Influence

Question 1

What is informative social influence?

Answer 1

Conforming/ agreeing with the majority because we believe them to be correct. We want to be right.

Question 2

What is normative social influence?

Answer 2

Conforming/ agreeing with the majority in order to be liked and gain social approval. We want to be liked.

Question 3

What are the two explanations for conformity?

Answer 3

Informative social influence
Normative social influence

Question 4

What is internalisation ?

Answer 4

We take on the majority view publicly and privately because we accept it as correct. Permanent type of conformity.

Question 5

What is identification?

Answer 5

Temporary type of conformity whereby we publicly and privately accept the groups beliefs and behaviours.

Question 6

What is compliance?

Answer 6

Superficial and temporary type of conformity. We oublically agree with the majority but privately disagree.

Question 7

What are the 3 types of conformity?

Answer 7

Compliance, identification, internalisation .

Question 8

What is the meaning of conformity?

Answer 8

A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagines pressure from a person or a group of people.

Question 9

What was the procedure of Asch’s research?

Answer 9

50 male students were real participants and tested individually with a group of confederates.
Participants were tested in groups of 6-8 people.
Task: participants were shown a line and then 3 comparison lines. They were asked to identify which matched and to say their answer aloud.
At first the confederates gave the correct answers but started making errors,

Question 10

What were Asch’s findings?

Answer 10

Conformed to the majority and gave the wrong answer approx 32% of the time.
74% of participants conformed at least once.
26% of participants never conformed.

Question 11

What are factors/ variables affecting conformity?

Answer 11

GROUP SIZE
Would changing the size of the group affect the conformity rates?
UNANIMITY
Would the prescence of a non-conforming person affect the conformity rates?
TASK DIFFICULTY
Would making the task harder affect conformity rates?

Question 12

What were Asch’s variation findings?

Answer 12

When there was only one confederate conformity decreased as only 3% conformed.
When there were 3 confederates as the majority conformity rates decreased to 13%.
When there was up to nine confederates conformity rates stayed the same.
When Asch’s introduced a non-conformist who gave the correct answers but conformity rates decreases to 5.5% as the participants no longer felt alone.

Question 13

What is generalisability?

Answer 13

Can we generalise his finding to other populations?

Question 14

What is reliability?

Answer 14

The extent to which the measurement of a particular behaviour is consistent and we are able to replicate the study to check for this.

Question 15

What is the meaning of applications?

Answer 15

The extent to which the findings can or have been applied and contributes to society in a practical way.

Question 16

What are the two types of validity?

Answer 16

Internal
External

Question 17

What is internal validity?

Answer 17

Whether the study is measuring what it intends to, has the IV clearly impacted the DV.

Question 18

What is external validity?

Answer 18

Whether the study reflects that behaviour/ example in real life outside of the study.

Question 19

What are social roles?

Answer 19

The ‘parts’ we play as members of social groups.
For each social role there are experiences of what is appropriate behaviour.
E.g teacher, student

Question 20

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 20

To investigate how people conform to the social roles they are given ( how quickly would people adopt the roles of prisoners and guards.)

Question 21

What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 21

21 male university students from the US and Canada, volunteer sample.
They were all tested as “emotionally stable” and were offered $15 a day for their participation in a 2 week experiment.
They were randomly allocated as prisoners and guards.
Conducted in the basement of Stanford University.
The prisoners were ‘arrested’ at home, blindfolded and taken to the ‘prison’.
Prisoners were given smocks and a number.
Guards wore khaki uniforms, dark mirrored glasses and carried batons.
They were told they had complete power over prisoners.

Question 22

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 22

The first day was ‘boring’.
When it came to day 2 prisoners started rebelling by stacking their bed frames against their cells.
The guards later woke them up in the middle of the night and forced them to do tasks like clean the toilets with their bare hands.
A total of 4 prisoners left early.
The study ended on day 6, instead of the original 2 weeks planned

Question 23

What was the aim of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 23

To see whether individuals will conform to the opinion of others, even where the answer is certain.

Question 24

What is obedience?

Answer 24

A form of social influence whereby an individual follows an order from an authority figure.

Question 25

What was the aim of Milgram's study?

Answer 25

To investigate how far people would go in obeying the commands of an authority figure to cause harm to another person.

Question 26

What was the procedure of Milgram's study?

Answer 26

40 American males were recruited, they believed was on learning and memory. Milgram's recruited his participants through a newspaper advertisement and they were paid $4.50 for taking part. Milgram's lab was in Yale University. They were introduced to another participant called Mr Wallace (confederate, the one getting shocked) The researcher drew lots to see who would be in that role of teacher vs learner but the draw was fixed so the participant was always the teacher and Mr Wallace was always the learner. (Deception) Mr Wallace was strapped into a chair with electrodes attached while the teacher was in another room with a shock generator. The shock generator contained 30 switches ranging from 15-450 volts. The learner had to remember word pairs and every time he answered incorrectly, the teacher had to deliver a shock, with each error the voltage would increase. Mr Wallace would sometimes verbally complain and ask for it to stop, whether the experimenter in response would say "The experiment requires you to continue". The experiment stopped when the participant refused of had reached the maximum of 450 volts

Question 27

What were the findings of Milgram's study?

Answer 27

65% continued to the highest level 450V 100% of participants administered shocks to 300V Participants showed signs of extreme stress and anxiety. Three got so stressed they had ''full blown, uncontrollable seizures." (Protection from harm) They were sent a follow up questionnaire a year later and 84% said they were glad they participated.

Question 28

Generalisability of Milgram's research?

Answer 28

-lack of generalisability -only used male American participants Difficult to generalise Milgram's findings to other populations, cultures, nationalities etc.

Question 29

Reliability of Milgram's research?

Answer 29

-ease of replication -Milgram's had full control over variables in an artificial environment -standardise procedure -easy for researchers to replicate his procedure in order to check for consistency of results

Question 30

Milgrams 3 variations? (situational variables)

Answer 30

Proximity Location Uniform

Question 31

What percentage did obedience drop to when the teacher and learner were in the same room?

Answer 31

Obedience dropped to 40%

Question 32

What percentage did obedience dropped to when to when the teacher had to force the learners hand onto the shock plate?

Answer 32

30%

Question 33

What percentage did obedience drop to when the experiment took place in a rundown block?

Answer 33

47.5%

Question 34

What percentage did obedience rates drop to when the experimenter was called away and was replaced by "a member of public" wearing ordinary clothes?

Answer 34

20%

Question 35

What is 'legitimacy of authority' as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 35

We are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have more authority over us. This authority is justifies by the individuals position within a social hierarchy.

Question 36

What is 'destructive authority' ?

Answer 36

When individuals in power abuse their power/ status/ authority

Question 37

What is 'agency theory' as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 37

The idea that individuals obey as they do not feel responsible for their actions (they are obeying as an agent)

Question 38

What is 'agentic state' ?

Answer 38

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure (agent) This frees us from potential conflict with ourselves

Question 39

What is 'autonomous state' ?

Answer 39

Being free/ independent and therefore behaving according to ones own principles and beliefs

Question 40

What are 'binding factors' ?

Answer 40

Aspects of a situation that allow someone to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour. Individuals might also shift the responsibility onto the victim to ignore their damage further

Question 41

What is a strength of legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience? (Bickman)

Answer 41

- supported by research -Bickman, found that passers by are twice as likely to obey the individual dresses as a security guard compared to the individual dresses casually with a jacket and tie. -provides evidence to suggest that individuals are more likely to obey those who have uniform to suggest that they are an authority figure

Question 42

What is a weakness of legitimacy of authority as an explanation for obedience?

Answer 42

-previous evidence has shown that individuals will obey but not 100% of the time. -significant minority were able to disobey regardless of the experimenters status and authority -could be considered as incomplete explanation -should consider individual differences and get some individuals might still decide to disobey those with perceived higher status

Question 43

What is a strength of agency theory as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 43

-Blass and Schmitt investigated reasons as to why participants obeyed the authority figure -found that participants blamed the researcher -evidence to suggest that participants feel comfortable to obey when they realise they are no longer responsible

Question 44

What is a weakness of agency theory as an explanation for obedience? (limited view)

Answer 44

-has a limited view on the reasons for obedient behaviour -explanation suggests that individuals will obey purely due to others and on behalf of authority figures. -could be due to their own personality rather than the situation -can be considered an incomplete explanation, should consider individual differences and why some individuals might still decide to disobey

Question 45

What is another weakness of agency theory as an explanation for disobedience? (obedience alibi)

Answer 45

-gives a poor excuse for behaviour that is offensive -obedient individuals behaved in horrific ways -individuals are not taking responsibility for actions

Question 46

What is authoritarian personality?

Answer 46

A type of personality whereby an individual is susceptible to obey someone in authority

Question 47

What may the characteristics of someone with an authoritarian personality be?

Answer 47

-view someone with a higher status as authority -look down and criticise those who they believe to be below them -

Question 48

What causes someone to have an authoritarian personality?

Answer 48

-strict childhood experiences: -harsh parenting -strict discipline -conditional love -high expectations which were impossible to reach

Question 49

What was used to determine an authoritarian personality?

Answer 49

F- scale questionnaire

Question 50

What is a strength of authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 50

-supported by research -Milgram and Elms interviewed fully obedient participants from Milgrams study and found that those who obeyed and shocked to the full 450v scored higher on the f scale, compared to those who stopped -evidence to suggest that people with a high f scale score are more likely to obey those in power -increases the validity of the theory

Question 51

What is a weakness of authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience? (Cannot explain all cases of..)

Answer 51

-cannot explain all cases of obedient behaviour -struggles to explain the behaviour of those in pre-war Germany. -Milgram showed that variations such as uniform, proximity, location were primary causes of differences in participants levels of obedience, not authoritarian personality. -could be considered an incomplete, limited explanation, can't explain why people who have an authoritarian personality still obey

Question 52

What is a weakness of authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience? (flawed methodology)

Answer 52

-flawed methodology -social desirability may cause people to answer the F-scale questionnaire incorrectly/untruthfully due to them wanting their personality to be seen a certain way -this will cause incorrect results, if there's incorrect results the whole theory is incorrect -from inaccurate results on the questionnaire, questions the internal validity of the method used the measure the degree of authoritarianism

Question 53

What is another limitation of the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience?

Answer 53

-F-scale contains political bias -F-scale only measures the tendencies towards extreme forms of right wing ideologies which is an issue as both right wing and left wing ideologies can be linked to an authoritarian personality. -Adornos measurement and suggestions on an authoritarian personality could be considered incomplete as it does not consider the whole political spectrum

Question 54

What are the two explanations of resistance to social influence?

Answer 54

Social support Locus of control

Question 55

What is social support as an explanation of resistance to social influence?

Answer 55

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible.

Question 56

Where is social support seen in Asch's research?

Answer 56

Conformity decreased from 32% to 5.5% due to unanimity (introducing a non-conformer) participant no longer felt alone as someone was there to back them up.

Question 57

Where is social support seen in Milgram's research?

Answer 57

Obedience rates would decrease due to unanimity Rates of obedience dropped when the participant was joined by a disobedient confederate. Participants took charge of decisions.

Question 58

What is locus of control as an explanation of resistance to social influence?

Answer 58

Our perception on the amount of control we have over events that happen in our lives.

Question 59

What are the two types of locus of control?

Answer 59

Internal External

Question 60

What is internal locus of control?

Answer 60

Believe that they are hugely responsible and in control of things that happen to them. They are most likely to resist social influence

Question 61

What is external locus of control?

Answer 61

Believe that the things that happen to them are completely out of their control (a matter of luck outside forces) Most likely to give in to social influence.

Question 62

What is a strength of social support as an explanation of resistance to social influence? (can have positive outcomes)

Answer 62

-can have positive outcomes -Albrecht et al evaluated an eight week programme -help pregnant adolescents resist peer pressure to smoke -found that providing a 'buddy' who was able to resist the pressure, less likely to smoke. -provides evidence to suggest that participants felt more comfortable resisting pressure when there was someone else doing the same

Question 63

What is another strength of social support as an explanation of resistance to social influence? (supported by research)

Answer 63

-supported by research -Allen and Levine used one dissenter in an Asch type study -wore thick glasses and admitted to having poor vision -found that conformity decreased when this person was present and provided social support -increases validity of the theory -provides evidence to suggest that people are less likely to conform when there was someone else doing the same

Question 64

What is a strength of locus of control as an explanation of resistance to social influence? (Supported by research)

Answer 64

-supported by research -Holland repeated Milgram's study and measured whether openly had either an internal or external locus of control -found that 37% of internals did not continue to the maximum voltage as opposed to 23% in externals -people with internal locus of control are more likely to resist obedience (a type of social influence) -increases validity of this theory

Question 65

What is a limitation of locus of control as an explanation of resistance to social influence?

Answer 65

-research by Twenge questions locus of control -found that young Americans were increasingly believing that their lives were determined more by luck or powerful others as opposed by their own actions. -showed that they became more external yet also more resistant to obedience -therefore questions the study as even those with external locus of control can resist and disobey -incomplete explanation -decreases validity of the theory

Question 66

What is minority influence?

Answer 66

A form of social influence whereby a small amount of people persuades others to adapt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours Serge Moscovici was one of the first psychologists to identify and study minority influence processes and behaviours.

Question 67

What are the three main behaviours and processes involved in a minority influence?

Answer 67

Consistency Commitment Flexibility

Question 68

What is consistency in minority influence?

Answer 68

Minority must be consistent with their views, keeping the same beliefs and behaviours over time. Consistency will show togetherness within the minority (all saying the same thing and for some time now)

Question 69

What is commitment in minority influence?

Answer 69

The minority is more powerful if dedication is shown towards their position -extreme activities, personal sacrifices

Question 70

What is flexibility in minority influence?

Answer 70

Accepting the possibility of a compromise shows flexibility from a minority.

Question 71

What is Moscovici's research? (Minority influence)

Answer 71

- group of 6 people were asked to view a set of 36 blue- coloured slides that varied in intensity -had to state whether the slide was green or blue -each group contained 4 real participants, 2 confederates (all females) -if participants were in the consistent group, two confederates described all slides as green, participants conformed to the minority and gave the wrong answer 8% of the time. -if participants were in the inconsistent group, two confederates only described 24/36 slides as green rather than all), conformity rate was only 1.25%

Question 72

What can we conclude from Moscovici's research?

Answer 72

-people conformed to the minority when the confederates were consistent with their beliefs and views rather than when people were inconsistent with their views

Question 73

Issues with Moscovici's research?

Answer 73

-all females, cannot be generalised -not an everyday situation, lacks external/ecological validity

Question 74

What is one strength of minority influence? (Supported by research, Moscovici, counter argument)

Answer 74

-Moscovici found that during his study people conformed to the majority more when confederates were consistent with their answers (8% vs 1.25%) -provides evidence to suggest that people conformed more to the minority when consistency is shown -increases validity of theory -however moscovicis findings cannot be generalised due to using all females

Question 75

One weakness of minority influence? (Validity)

Answer 75

-lacks ecological validity -many studies like moscovicis take place with artificial environments, using a trivial and artificial task -limitation because research may not represent how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities within real life social situations

Question 76

What is social change?

Answer 76

When whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things

Question 77

What are the six steps involved in social change?

Answer 77

1. Drawing attention to the issue, if individuals are exposed to the views of a minority, this can bring attention to the issue at hand 2. Consistency, the minority will be more influential if they maintain their view point overtime and consistently express their arguments 3. Deeper processing of the issue, the minority must inspire people to seriously consider their view i.e the majority should start to put themselves in the shoes of the minority 4. the augmentation principle, the minority must sacrifice for their cause in order to show their determination and dedication to the issue 5. The snowball effect, if the minority spreads their message widely and starts to grow, the minority overtime will become the majority 6. Social cryptomnesia, the minority view is now the 'norm'. The social change has occurred but sometimes people might not always remember when it occured