social influence✅ Flashcards
(120 cards)
1
Q
what is conformity?
A
yielding to majority influence
2
Q
what did Aronson say about conformity?
A
‘a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of pressure from others.’
3
Q
what did zimbardo say about conformity?
A
‘tendency to adopt behaviour, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group’
4
Q
what are the 3 ways kelman say people conform?
A
compliance
identification
internilisation
5
Q
what is compliance?
A
people adjust behaviour and opinions to fit in and avoid disapproval from a group.
(weak conformity-does not affect private feelings)
6
Q
what is identification?
A
people adjust their behaviour and opinions publicly and privately to become permanently part of the group
(usually temporary)
7
Q
what is internilisation?
A
people truly accept the groups norms and make it part of their own behaviour and opinions.
(strong conformity as permanent)
8
Q
example of compliance
A
putting your hand up in class because everyone else is
9
Q
example of identification
A
smoking because everyone else is
10
Q
example of internilsation
A
becoming vegan or changing religion
11
Q
what psychologists suggest 2 types of social influence: NSI and ISI?
A
Deutsch and Gerard
12
Q
what is normative social influence?
A
our desire to be liked, by looking at what normal behaviour in the reference group is and reciprocating it. can also be with strangers in fear of being rejected
13
Q
what is informational social influence?
A
our desire to be right, when unsure we will look to others for guidance and follow them.
14
Q
example of normative social influence?
A
texting friends to see what they are wearing before you go out
15
Q
example of informational social influence?
A
following the crowd in an emergency
16
Q
what was Asch’s aim during his conformity research in 1951?
A
wanted to see what an individual would do in a group setting even if they didn’t agree with the majorities answer
17
Q
what was Asch’s procedure in his experiment on conformity?
A
confederates all said the wrong answer to a simple question, to see if the odd person would fall to perceived pressure.
18
Q
what did Asch find?
A
75% of the group comformed once.
32% of the group conformed every time.
19
Q
what conclusion did Asch come to?
A
the people knew they were correct but didn’t want to be ridiculed by group (NSI)
some people changed their judgment as they believed majority was correct.
20
Q
what were the criticisms of Asch’s study?
A
androcentrism- male only sample
small sample
unrepresentative- all undergraduate men, same class, gender, age etc.
21
Q
what are the situational variables in Asch’s study?
A
he is able to change and measure these:
size of majority, task difficulty, unanimity
22
Q
what is unanimity?
A
how many people agree
23
Q
what were the individual variables in Asch’s study?
A
unable to control these:
gender, mood, culture
24
Q
how does size of majority affect conformity?
A
conformity rate invcreases when majority does:
2 confederates= 13%
3 confederates=32%
after 3= no impact
25
how does unanimity affect conformity?
conformity dropped when one participant switched their answer
26
how does task difficulty affect conformity?
more difficult= more conformity as less obvious (ISI)
27
how does gender affect conformity?
females are more likely to conform given their submissive role in society
28
how does mood affect conformity?
when your happy you are more likely to conform as willing to please everyone
29
how does culture affect conformity?
individualist cultures (britain) are less likely to conform than collective cultures (china)
30
Asch evaluation point: temporal validity 'a child of its time'
-perrin and spencer (1980) repeated Asch's study with engineering students- 1/396 conformed
-2950 was way more conformist than 1980
-engineering students- more confident with lines
Asch's study is therefore inconsistent through situations and times
31
Asch evaluation point: artificial situation
- participants knew they were in a research study- may have went along with demands of situation
-task of identifying lines= trivial and no reason not to conform
-Fiske (2014) - 'Asch's groups were not very groupy' so findings aren't general
32
Asch evaluation point: limited application to findings
-only men were tested
- all men are from an individualist culture
-conformity is higher than Asch said
33
ethical issues of Asch's study?
- he deceived the participants (necessary)
- he embarrassed them
34
what is a social role?
the parts individuals play as members of a social group, which means the expectations of that situation.
35
what was Zimbardo's aim of the stanford prison experiment?
he wanted to understand why there was so much brutality in American prisons.
36
what were 2 ways the SPE could be approached?
1) prison guards and prisoners were violent and aggressive, so lead to natural brutality.
2) aggression and violence was a product of the prison system and dehumanisation of prisoners.
37
what was the procedure of the SPE?
-people assigned as guards and prisoner as their role for 2 weeks
- randomly allocated
-process of stripping, kidnapping, blindfolded for prisoners
-£15 a day
-prison was a uni basement
- zimbardo- super intendant
37
what were the findings of the SPE?
-guards took frustration out on prisoners
-prisoners started to think it was real life (distorted)
-prisoners felt dehumanised, no identity
- no support
- power corrupts
- depression and anxiety in prisoners
38
What were the conclusions of SPE?
-no good guards intervened when guards were acting vile and degrading
-conforming behaviour as environment (NSI) - none were previously aggressive
- people will readily conform to social roles
39
Why did zimbardo make the participants take a mental health exam before the SPE experiment?
To make sure they aren’t aggressive previously and will be able to deal with the stress
40
What are the methodological positives in zimbardos SPE evaluation?
-zimbardo had control over experiments variables e.g. selection of volunteers who are mentally stable
- increases internal validity
41
What are the methodological negatives in zimbardos SPE evaluation?
-zimbardo was chief investigator and prison superintendent so lost sight of impact on prisoners
- lack of realism- argued people were play acting for the stereotypical role
42
How does zimbardos SPE evaluation suggest he was harming participants?
-Savin (1973) criticised zimbardo for humiliating participants with extreme emotion and physical effects
-Zimbardo, however, says participants no longer have long lasting effects
43
How does zimbardos SPE evaluation suggest the need for independent surveillance?
-zimbardo has since realised he shouldn’t have involved himself in the study and remained as principle researcher
-he became influenced by his social role- super intendant
-argued studies should be carried out with more surveillance
44
How does zimbardos SPE evaluation suggest he was deceiving participants?
-critics argue that it isn’t necessary to deceive participants leaving them feeling foolish and humiliated
-although, you can’t tell the participants what the study is, as it won’t be accurate
45
Internal validity?
The study isn’t effected by other factors
46
External validity?
refers to weather your study can be generalised to population across setting and time
47
What was the aim of Milgram’s (1963) obedience study?
-To test the “Germans are different” hypothesis which claimed that Germans are highly obedient and that the holocaust couldn’t have happened without cooperation of German population
-to see if individuals would obey orders of an authority figure that incurred negative consequences that went against one’a morality
48
What did Adolf Eichmann say that made milgram want to do his obedience study?
“I was only following orders”
49
What was the procedure of milgrams obedience study?
- 40 20-50 year old American males volunteered for a study of memory at Yale university
-participant was greeted by experimenter (con) who allocated the PP the role of the teacher, same for all
-teacher would meet learner (con) and asked them questions through mic in diff room
-everytime answer was wrong, teacher would have to shock them 15v higher than last time
-teacher would test 45v to see authenticity
-no financial incentive
- Yale uni is prestigious and experimenter is in lab coat- authoritative
50
What were the findings of Milgrams study?
-Quantitative results- 62.5% of participants continued to the full 450 volts (25/40) and 100% continued to 300v
- qualitative results- most showed signs of distress, twitching, sweating or giggling nervously. However, showed no care and were concentrating on job
51
What were the conclusion of milgrams obedience study?
- the “Germans are different” hypothesis is clearly false as PPs were American
- the results show that obeying those in authority in normal behaviour in a hierarchy society
52
What is the problem with milgrams hypothesis “Germans are different”?
-not all people involved in holocaust were German
-not all Germans supported it
-cultural discrimination
53
What can we infer about milgrams and how can we make it better?
The sample is 40 males from America, age ranging from 20-50. It’s more representative that others but could have females, different cultures and more people so it’s more accurate
54
What was the need for a confederate learner?
So he could repeat the exact same answers for each teacher at the same voltage
Valid
55
Why did the teachers keep going with the experiment in milgrams obedience study?
Because experimenter kept giving tempted prompts
Saw him as a authority figure so followed
56
What was the rate of obedience? In milgrams obedience study
62.5%
57
What were the ethical issues in milgrams experiment?
The participants believe this was real and experienced unnessacary trauma and stress. Also, PPs were deceived to think it was a memory test
58
Why did it matter what the experimenter was wearing? Milgram
He was wearing a white lab coat, presumed to hold authority and hierarchy
More importance and worth listening to
59
Why is it key to not the research was at yale?
Because it was a prestigious and intimidating school, gave authority as difficult to get into so asserts authority over the ordinary men who entered
60
Ecological validity?
Applicable to real life
61
Temporal validity?
Will the study have the same affects in modern day
62
What did Sheridan and king say to counter milgrams obedience study?
- both male and female PPs had to give electric shocks to puppies each time they got a trick wrong (up by 15v)
- after a certain amount of shocks an anaesthetic has was pumped into the room to knock them out
- 54% of men-450v
-100% of female - 450v
Shows women are more obedient but Milgrams study was androcentric
63
What did the replication of Milgrams study show the obedience to be in other countries?
Spain- 90%
Australia- 28%
German-80%
64
What was the aim of holding et als study?
-To see if a nurse wil obey a doctor even when asked to break hospital procedure
-1966- not a huge amount of rights
65
What was the procedure of Hofling et als study?
-a con pretending to be a doctor calls the nurses
- doctor wasn’t known to them and never take orders over the phone
- 22 wards, a nurse from each-all female
-asked to administer an overdose of an unknown drug
- data in the feild experiment gathered by checking how many nurses obeyed
-experiment stopped if they obeyed/refused/ got upset
66
What were the findings of hofling et als study?
21/22 nurses obeyed
11 nurses didn’t realise it was an overdose but still broke protocol
67
What was the conclusion of Hofling et als study?
-almost complete obedience in real life setting even when asked to give fatal overdose
-nurses knew they were breaking rules but the doctor-nurse relationship was strong enough
68
Benefits of hofling et als study?
-positive contributions to make society by teaching us about how obedience affects us
-study carried out in nurses natural setting making the study have ecological validity
-clear controls- standardised script, the study could be replicated to test for same reliability
69
Limitations of hofling et als study?
-deception
-highly distressed after finding out
-no consent
-was in 1966 so findings may not apply to today since doctor- nurse relationship has changed
-Rac and Jacobson reported that the drug was unfamiliar and they had not been allowed to consult eachother
70
What was proximity 1, 2 and 3 in the milgram study
Proximity 1- teacher and learner in same room
Proximity 2- teacher forces students hands onto plate (touch proximity)
Proximity 3- experimenter gave orders by phone
71
What was bushman’s study to see if Milgrams idea on authority figures was true?
A female researcher dressed as - police uniform, business executive, beggar
They stopped people in the street and told them they needed change for a parking ticket
Police - 72%
Business executive- 48%
Beggar- 52%
However, costumes are questionable as why would police need parking ticket?
72
What are 2 examples of cross cultural replication? For milgrams study
Miranda et al- 90% of Spanish students obeyed so not just American males
Smith and bond- most replications take place in the western world- not much culturally different from US
73
What’s an example of how milgrams study lacks internal validity?
Orne and Holland-
-criticised milgram as most knew the shocks they were giving were fake
-changing variables will make pp’s more aware
74
Who thought of the F scale?
Adorno et al
75
What does the F scale stand for?
Potential for fascism
76
What is Adorno et al’s F scale?
High score- conservative, right wing
Low score- liberal, left wing
- 2000 middle class Americans
- wanted to see unconscious thoughts on racial groups
-questions were random
-conducted a study into obedient personalities
77
What are authoritarian personalities?
More hostile to ‘non conventional’ people to their own insecurity.
Have a belief for the need for power and toughness
Therefore more obedient to authority figures
78
Why did people vote for trump? (F scale)
Because he acts as a legitimate authority figure that the authoritarians felt the need to follow as he possesses a lot of power and same hostility
79
What causes someone to have an authoritarian personality?
- severely strict parenting with impossibly high standards and major punishments if there’s failure
- creates resentment and hostility
- however, this child can’t express this towards parents, so displace it with a scapegoat
80
Evaluation of Adorno et al’s F scale?
-questionairre- self report method soo not always truthful and valid
- research support- ELMS AND MILGRAM- conducted interviews with small sample of people who scored highly on F scale between authoritarian personalities and obedience. But, there was only a correlation not a straight conclusion
-HYMAN AND SHEATSLY- offer a third factor, stating that lower levels of education may play a role in obedience
-limited explanation- can’t account for a whole WW2’s population being authoritarian. Before the war anti dentist and racism was rife across Europe
-social identity theory- sense of self is based on their membership in social groups- TAJFEL ET AL
81
What is a social support? (Conformity)
The perception of assistance and solidarity available from others
-helps people resist conformity
- less pressure if others aren’t conforming also
82
What is social support? (obedience)
-helps people resist obedience
- milgrams obedience rate from 65% to 10% when a disobedient con was there
- the pp then used free will to disobey like the con, or obey like the experimenter
83
What is resistance?
The ways in which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice
84
What is locus of control?
An individuals beliefs about the causes of successes and failures
85
What is Allen and Levine’s research on social support (conformity)
- repeated asch type study
- Independence increases with one dissenter (con who doesn’t conform)
- even if dissenter wore thick glasses and said he couldn’t see
- resistance isn’t motivated by what someone else does, but relives pressure.
86
What is the characteristics of internal locus of control?
-high levels of personal control over their behaviour
- take personal responsibility for it - ‘I made that happen’
87
What are the characteristics of external LOC?
The belief that life is determined by external forces or environmental factors e.g luck
-‘wrong place, wrong time’
88
Resistance to social influence evaluation research. (HOLLAND and ASCH)
HOLLAND:
-rep of milgrams study, pp’s given LOC test first
- 37% with internal LOC refused to go 450v
- 23% with external LOC refused to 450v
ASCH VARIATION-
- one con disagreed and provided enough social support
-conformity dropped from 32.5% to 5.5%
89
Resistance to social influence evaluation research. (ROTTER ET AL and TWENGE ET AL)
Rotter et al:
- found LOC is only important in new situations
-can only explain limited range of situations (not valid)
-not important factor of research
TWENGE et al:
- analysed data from American obedience studies from 40 yrs ago
- overtime, more resistant to obedience but more external
- challenges link between LOC and resistance
- may be due to changing society
90
What is minority influence?
One person or small group influences behaviour and opinions of a larger group
91
What are the two types of consistency?
Synchronic consistency- people in minority all say the same thing
Diachronic consistency- all have been saying the same thing for a long while
92
Why is commitment important in minority influence?
-engage in extreme activities to draw attention
-important there is a risk involved
-the argumentation principles—> increases amount of further interest from majority groups
93
Why is flexibility important in minority influence?
-Nemeth—> if minority is inflexible and uncompromising, majority won’t change
94
What is the ski lift compensation study in relation to flexibility in minority groups (Nemeth)
-3 pp, 1con
- when con wouldn’t change from a super low sum of money, majority stuck together
- when con changed the offer slightly, so did majority
95
What is the snowball affect in minority influence?
The more who convert, the higher the rate of conversion
96
What is social change?
When society adopts a new way of behaving, which becomes widely accepted as “the norm”
Always starts with the minority to win over society
97
What is the aim of moscovici’s minority influence study?
To investigate the role of a consistent upon the opinions of a majority in an unambiguous situations
98
What is the procedure of moscovici’s minority influence study?
-32 groups of 6pps (4 real, 2 cons)
-informed they were part of an experiment on perception
-shown 36 blue sides with filters which changed colour intensity
-consistent- cons answered wrongly that all were green
-inconsistent- cons said 24 were green, 12 were blue
99
What is the findings of moscovici’s minority influence study?
-8.2% agreement with minority in the consistent conditions (all green)
-1.25% agreement in inconsistent conditions
100
What is the conclusions of moscovici’s minority influence study?
While 8.2% is a small figure, it still shows that consistency is important variable and small minority influence
101
What is the evaluation of moscovici’s minority influence study?
+consistent minorities have greater influence on private attitudes
- only female PPs because they were more interested in colour
-deceit- no informed consent
-doesn’t emphasise importance of group size, status etc like Asch
+Meyers et al supports findings in minorities that consistence means more success
102
Aim of Nolan et al: support for normative influences on social change
-Nolan et al hung messages on doors of homes in cali for a month
-informed residents that most neighbours were trying to reduce energy usage in area
-also did a control set of houses by asking them to save energy
103
Findings of Nolan et als support research?
A significant group drop in energy usage for the first group over control group
-conformity can lead to social change through NSI
104
What did zimbardo find on gradual commitment?
-obedience increases once small demand has been obeyed, as it’s difficult to resist further demands
-suggests there is a build up
105
What does Charles Nemeth say to evaluate minority influence?
Argues that the effects of minority influence are likely to be indirect and delayed
106
What’s a limitation of minority influence being indirectly effective?
Shows the effects are fragile and its role in social influence is limited
107
How is minority influence indirect?
Majority is influenced based on issues at hand, not the central issue
108
How is minority influence delayed?
Effects may not be shown straight away
109
What does mackie say about minority influence deeper processing?
majority influence makes people think more deeply as we like to think people share our views, so forces us to question ourselves
110
what is social change?
when society adopts a new way of behaving, which becomes widely accepted as the norm.
always starts with minority groups
111
How does social change take place
Drawing attention
Consistency
Deeper processing
Augmentation
Snow ball effect
Social cryptomnesia
112
What is the drawing attention stage of social change
Making the majority aware of the situation by providing social proof
113
What is the consistency stage of social change
There must be evidence and following through with cause and intent of the situation
114
What is the deeper processing stage of social change
People use the publicity of the unfairness of the situation to start to question it
115
What is the augmentation stage of social change
Starting to include the risk factor- this draws further attention to the cause
116
What is the snowball effect stage of social change
Attention continues to be drawn to the issue until majority changed its views
117
What is the social cryptomnesia stage of social change
Society holds a memory of the cause/situation but doesn’t remember how the change happened
118
Minority influence is not directly effective (ao3)
Nemeth argues social change is rare and very slow, so minority groups don’t have a great influence but the effect they do have will be indirect and delayed
Indirect- people are more focused on the issue at hand rather than the longer impact
Delayed- effects won’t be seen for long time
119
Role of deeper processing (ao3)
Moscovici argues minority influence causes people to think more deeply about an issue than majority influence
MACKIE says its majority influence as we like to think others share the same views as us
