social influence

Question 1

social influence

Answer 1

process where a persons attitudes are modified by the presence/actions of others.

Question 2

conformity - Jenness

Answer 2

process of giving in to majority influence.
gave PTs a task with no obvious answer, estimated n discussed, new estimate closer to group estimate discussed.

Question 3

types of conformity - compliance

Answer 3

going along with others in public, not privately changing behaviour. (superficial change).
stops when pressure does

Question 4

types of conformity - internalisation

Answer 4

genuinely accepting group norms. private +public change, permanent as been internalised.
change persists even in absence of group.

Question 5

types of conformity - identification

Answer 5

confirm bc value something about them, identify with it.
Public opinion changed to be accepted but privately don’t agree.

Question 6

why do ppl conform - normative SI

Answer 6

people don’t like to appear foolish n prefer gaining social approval.
leads to temporary change

Question 7

why do ppl confirm - informational SI

Answer 7

follow behaviour of group bc we want to be right n assume they r. permanent change.

Question 8

social impact theory - Latané

Answer 8

conform in some situations, no. in group has effect - more, more influence.
also whether we view group as important to us effects likelihood.

Question 9

Schultz et al

Answer 9

133 hotels. sign advising to reuse towels (control group) sign saying 75% of our guests choose to reuse (exp group). reduced need for fresh by 25%

Question 10

evaluation of explanations for conformity

Answer 10

research support from schultz, lots of people in study.
social impact theory better as explains why so better in social situations.
unlikely due to one separately - lack face validity.

Question 11

Asch (1956)

Answer 11

123 american men in groups. lines n 1 same length as ‘x’.
1 real PT, seated last.
interviewed after, 97% agreed with wrong answer.
25% never gave wrong answer.

Question 12

why did ppl conform in Aschs study

Answer 12

distortion of perception - come to see differently.
distortion of judgement - feel doubt about their accuracy.
distortion of action - avoid disapproval but privately trust themselves.

Question 13

variations in asch study

Answer 13

task difficulty - conformity increased as difficulty did.
group size - curvilinear relationship, increased conformity with group size only up to point.
unanimity of the majority - conformed less often when presence of none conforming person.

Question 14

evaluation of Asch

Answer 14

pts were aware taking part - demand characteristics. insignificant task. can’t generalise
ethical issue - didn’t know they were being tricked.
1960s so could’ve changed - 20yrs later, 1 conforming response in 396 trials.

Question 15

conformity to social roles: zimbardo

Answer 15

mock prison in basement.
21 volunteers assigned to either prisoner or guard.
guards took to their roles with enthusiasm, prisoners rebelled after two days.
prisoners harassed by guards and became depressed.
3 had to leave the study.
guards enjoyed their power.
ended after 6 days instead of 14.

Question 16

evaluation of zimabrdo 1971

Answer 16

controlled, random assignment - ruled out individual personality differences which increased internal validity.
lacks realism - play acting not conforming to a role, however 90% converse about prison life

Question 17

ethical issues of Zimbardos study

Answer 17

unethical - protection from harm, deception, right to withdraw forgotten by PTs
ethical - partial informed consent, psychological evaluations every day, debrief at end

Question 18

obedience to authority

Answer 18

Direct form of social influence where an individual is feast with the choice of either complying with or defying a direct order from an authority figure

Question 19

Milgram 1963

Answer 19

40 males.
Confederate as learner, PT as teacher and experimenter in lab coat.
Level 15-30.
the experimenter said the absence of response should be treated as a wrong answer.
no PT stopped below 300 V.
65% continued to 450v.
showed signs of distress.

Question 20

variations of Milgram’s study

Answer 20

proximity of victim: in the same room beady dropped from 65% to 40%.
Proximity of authority figure: experimental left room, obedience dropped to 25%.
Presence of allies: if two confeds refused almost all PTs did.
Location: obedience failed to 41.5%.
Uniform: obedience dropped to 20%.

Question 21

evaluation of milgram study

Answer 21

Deception and lack of informed consent.
Right to withdraw, however some knew
Protection from physical harm - debriefed, offered counselling.
Lax external validity - lab experiment.

Question 22

explanations of obedience: situational

Answer 22

socialisation of obedience to legitimate authority: more likely to obey to people we see have authority over us.
Gradual commitment
Agentic state: feel no personal responsibility for behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.

Question 23

evaluation of situational explanations for obedience

Answer 23

Supporting research - blass and schmitt students blamed experiment rather than PT for Milgram study.
Limited - doesn’t explain why some didn’t obey and left, only account for some situations.
alternative explanation for obedience - didn’t focus on differences in personality, situational factors don’t influence everybody the same

Question 24

explanations of obedience:dispositional

Answer 24

authoritarian personality: very obedient to authority, extreme respect for superiors.
adorno et al: view society as weaker so need strong leaders to enforce traditional values. Everything right or wrong. Raised by strict parents using harsh physical punishments.
F scale: religion, sex, power etc. 30 statements that measure aspects of attitudes, if high score, authoritarian personality.

Question 25

Evaluation of dispositional explanations for obedience

Answer 25

those up to 450 V in milligram study scored highly on the F scale. F scale can have response bias worded in conforming direction questions internal validity Can’t explain for large groups, for example, the Nazi is unlikely all had that personality - situational more important

Question 26

resistance to social influence

Answer 26

Ability to withstand social pressure to conform to the majority

Question 27

social support

Answer 27

Presence of people who resist pressure helps others act as models to show it’s possible. Mullen - found when disobedient models broke the law joy walking participants more like likely to joy walk than if model not present.

Question 28

evaluation of social support

Answer 28

Independence affected by cultural differences. Practical applications shows how to resist social influence and provide provides advice to achieve independence

Question 29

locus of control

Answer 29

Sense about what directs in our lives. Internal locus of control believe mostly responsible for what happens to themselves External loops of control believe it’s a matter of luck or outside forces

Question 30

LOC continuum

Answer 30

Scale. internals take responsibility for actions more likely to become leaders . rotter - use 29 statements high score equals external LOC low score equals internal LOC

Question 31

evaluation of locus of control

Answer 31

Contradictory evidence link between independence and internal LOC is incorrect. Practical applications independent behaviour encouraged by training programs.

Question 32

Minority social influence

Answer 32

Minority persuade others to adopt their beliefs leads to internalisation.

Question 33

moscovici et al

Answer 33

32 groups of six women. 2 confeds. Shown blue colour slides, different intensity of blue on each. confeds, answering 1st and 2nd or 1st and 4th said green. 3rd experiment confeds answered green 24 and blue 12 times. PTS agreed with minority 8%. In third experiment when inconsistent agreement was only 1%

Question 34

consistency

Answer 34

Taken more seriously encourages majority to rethink their own views if all saying the same thing for a long time

Question 35

commitment

Answer 35

Drawing attention to the issue engage in extreme activities at risk to the minority demonstrates commitment.

Question 36

flexibility - nemeth

Answer 36

don’t be rigid. be prepared to adapt to other POV’s.

Question 37

evaluation of moscovici

Answer 37

asch line task artificial lacks external validity. Moscovich’s research has low population validity as small sample and only women Highly controlled research simplified compared to real life low external validity

Question 38

The snowball effect

Answer 38

Increase number switch from majority to minority as gathers momentum and more people pay attention so social change occurs

Question 39

Group membership

Answer 39

More likely to be influenced by people we perceive to be like us.

Question 40

social change

Answer 40

Consistent committed drawing attention and deeper processing of the issue flexible snowball effect social cryptoamnesia - change occurred but don’t know how

Question 41

evaluation of social change

Answer 41

Moscovich lax generalisability as artificial task. Moscovici, asch and milgram evaluated for methodology criticisms raised doubts about validity. nolan et al - Hung signs on doors every week for a month. More residents are trying to reduce energy usage/save energy drop in first group.