social influence Flashcards
Zimbardo, types and explanations, Asch (23 cards)
Conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: when and where was the Stanford prison experiment
1973 in a mock prison
Conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: how did they sample/select participants
put an add out for volunteers in paper ( volunteer sampling) and then selecting the most ‘emotionally stable’ after testing them
conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: how were social roles decided
randomly assigned to prisoner or guard role.
conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: how did Zimbardo increase the realism in his procedure
had the prisoners arrested in their homes and processed at a police station.
conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: how did Zimbardo enforce the social roles
prisoners daily routines were heavily regulated. guards had to enforce rules on the prisoners. prisoners were referred to by a number not their name.
conformity: Zimbardo - Procedure: how did Zimbardo enforce social roles through uniform
guards wore a uniform with shaded glasses, a wooden club, handcuffs and keys. prisoners wore a (‘emasculating’) smock, had a chain around their ankle and bags over their head
conformity: Zimbardo - findings: how did the prisoners respond to the guards harsh treatment initially
rebelled after 2 days, by ripping their uniforms and shouting at the guards, they responded by using fire extinguishers on them
conformity: Zimbardo - findings: how did the guards conform to their social roles
constantly harassed the prisoners, e.g. did frequent head counts in the middle of the night, humiliated them, verbally abused them, made them do press ups
conformity: Zimbardo - findings: how did the prisoners conform to their social roles
became subdued, depressed, anxious and showed little resistance to the guards after the initial rebellion was put down. On the 4th day one prisoner went on hunger strike and after trying to force feed him, he was put in ‘the hole’ (solitary confinement) and was shunned by the other prisoners once he was released.
conformity: Zimbardo - findings: when and why was the study stopped early
was stopped on the 6th day instead of 14 because the prisoners psychological and physical health was at risk. one prisoner was released on the 1st day for showing symptoms of psychological disturbance, two more on the 4th day and one on the 5th day for developing a psychosomatic rash
conformity: Zimbardo - conclusions: what conclusions can be drawn
the guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles - both groups became dehumanised to each other. Overall it supports the situational explanation
conformity: Zimbardo - evaluation: positive evaluation points
was a lab study so researchers had more control over the variables e.g. in the selection of participants only the most ‘emotionally stable’ were chosen, this reduces the impact of individual personality differences (dispositional) on the findings. this is a strength because it increases the internal validity.
conformity: Zimbardo - evaluation: negative points - ethical issues
lack of informed consent - the behaviour towards the prisoners couldn’t have been foreseen so there was no consent for what happened - they also did not consent to being arrested in their homes
conformity: Zimbardo - evaluation: negative points - lack of realism
it has been suggested that the participants were ‘play-acting’ based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards should behave instead of actually conforming to their roles. - the most cruel guard based his performance on a film called ‘Cool Hand Luke’
conformity: Zimbardo - evaluation: negative points - sample
the sample is not very representative/diverse as it consisted of white, middle class young men - this means it’s less generalisable
conformity: Zimbardo - evaluation: negative points - zimbardo’s role
Zimbardo had conflicting roles as he was the prison superintendent as well as lead researcher. this means he was too involved and may have conformed to his role as a superintendent and not acted as a psychologist which lead to him not protecting the participants from psychological harm.
conformity: what is internalisation
most severe type of conformity
private and public change in behaviour/opinions
long-term change
conformity: what is compliance
least severe type of conformity
public not private change of opinions/behaviour
short-term change
conformity: what is identification
moderate type of conformity
change to public and private beliefs, but only while they are in the presence of the group
short-term change
conformity: what is informational social influence
we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be right and think they are correct.
conformity: what is normative social influence
we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted and gain social approval from the group
explanations for resisting social influence: what is social support
the presence of people who don’t conform helps others to do the same
