Social Influence Flashcards

Question

What is conformity?

Answer 1

Following a group, changing behaviour or beliefs

Answer 2

Aim: to see if ordinary American people would obey and commit acts against their morals because of the presence of an authority figure Research method: lab study Sample: volunteer sample of 40 US men, aged 20-50 Research design: repeated measures Procedure: • Participants are assigned as the ‘teacher’ and the confederate (Mr. Wallace) is assigned as the ‘student’ • The student sits in an adjoining room and is hooked up to a fake electric shock generator. At this point he mentions that he has a heart condition. • The teacher sits on the other side of the wall and tests the student on some word pairs • Every time the learner makes a mistake, the teacher must shock him (starting at 15V). He must then increase the voltage for the next question in 15V steps, up to 450V (a potentially lethal amount) • Meanwhile a second confederate (Mr. Williams) wearing a lab coat must remind the teacher of their task, and must try to keep them in the experiment using verbal ‘prods’ (see top right) • The learner confederate does not make a sound about the shocks until the 300V mark, at which point he complains and makes no response • At 315V, he again makes no response and from then on says nothing and doesn’t answer any questions Findings: before the study Milgram asked people what percentage would go all the way to 450V Most people believes that almost nobody would do it - some predicting as little as 1 in 1000. • 100% of participants went to 300V (not surprising since Mr. Wallace hadn’t complained) • 12.5% of pp’s left at 300V when he complained • 65% of pp’s went all the way to 450V – even when it seemed that Mr. Wallace could be dead! Conclusion: Milgram concluded that most people, even hard working Americans citizens, could be made to obey a command beyond their morals

Answer 3

• After the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust, some people in the UK and the USA viewed German people negatively • They believed that there was something different about Germans; in particular, that they were too obedient as a nation • This is what allowed them to follow the orders of Nazi generals and commit terrible acts • The GAD hypothesis is a dispositional hypothesis – it says that they are just different as people

Answer 4

- the original study doesn’t contain and IV - milgram conducted some variations which will give us some IV’s later - we can say that the voltage is the IV and the maximum voltage is the DV

Answer 5

- Ethical issues - right to withdraw (it is essential you carry on). - lab study so lacks ecological validity. Only 56% believed he was really being shocked. - lacks population validity as only carried out on men. - lacks temporal validity as carried out in the 1960’s.

Answer 6

- can justify ethical issues

Answer 7

• Milgram noted how participants often looked to the experimenter, Mr. Williams, and would only proceed once they knew that Mr. Wallace’s safety was not their own concern • The authority figure was only wearing a lab coat. He was not a policeman or anyone with genuine authority over the participant • Participants reported a wide range of psychological and even physical effects of the study - Signs of tension included trembling, sweating, stuttering, laughing nervously, biting lips and digging fingernails into palms of hands. Three participants had uncontrollable seizures, and many pleaded to be allowed to stop the experiment.

Answer 8

1 ally agreed - 5 % Different wrong answer - 9%

Answer 9

More confederates = more conformity Until a certain point - 15 participants = less conformity As participants became more expectant of the study

Answer 10

- proximity of the victim - touch proximity - remote authority - experimenter absent - location of study moved to a rundown office - authority without uniform

Answer 11

1. Milgram repeated the experiment with the learner sat in the same room a) Obedience to 450V was reduced to 40% Extreme proximity: Touch Proximity condition – the learner refused to continue after 150V so the participant had to force the learner’s hand onto a shock plate a) Obedience reduced to 30%

Answer 12

Experimenter left the room and gave orders of the phone Obedience went down 20%

Answer 13

Original experiment was located at Yale university a very prestigious location On variation they carried out the experiment in a run down office in Bridgeport a far less prestigious setting Obedience dropped to 48%

Answer 14

In Milgram original experiment mr Williams wore a lab coat A man in ordinary clothes came up with the idea of increasing the voltage every time the learner made a mistake Obedience dropped to 20%

Answer 15

When the participant was joined by two other confederates acting as teachers, their obedience was affected When the other ‘teachers’ obeyed, participant obedience increased to 92.5% When the other ‘teachers’ disobeyed, participant obedience decreased to 10%

Answer 16

carried out a study using nurses. A confederate known as Dr. Smith would phone the nurse’s at hospital (22 nurses in all) and ask them to administer 20mg of a drug called ‘astroten’ (which was a fake drug made for the study – just a sugar pill) to a patient known as Mr. Jones. On the bottle it said the dose should be 10mg. This contravenes three rules: • Cannot take orders over the phone • Dose was double the stated maximum on the box • The drug was not an approved drug on the stock list. Hofling found that 21/22 (95%) nurses administered the drug to Mr. Jones.

Answer 17

• Obedient individuals attribute responsibility for their own actions and instead shift the responsibility onto an authority figure. • In follow up interviews for Milgram’s study, when participants were asked why they did what they did, a lot of them said they wouldn’t have continued if they were on their own and they only did what they were told. E.g. nazi soldiers blame hitler - Milgrams participants blame experimenter - blaming a teacher for a bad grade

Answer 18

- taking responsibility • Process called agentic shift – Milgram suggested that this occurs when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure

Answer 19

• We obey orders from people above us in the hierarchy as they are legitimate authority figures. • Some people have real authority over us (agreed by society) • We accept that these authority figures should have power to socially control us/punish use • We learn this through socialisation in schools and in the home. • Problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive e.g. Hitler.

Answer 20

P One limitation of this theory is that there are stronger explanations of obedience such as situational variables E This explanation suggests that obedience is due to external factors such as the uniform the authority figure giving the orders is wearing. E This is a stronger explanation of obedience because there is ecologically valid evidence to support this explanation from Bickman (1974). This was conducted in the participant’s real life environment and found that people were twice as likely to obey orders from an individual wearing the uniform of a security guard than one dressed in a jacket and tie, as this shows they are a legitimate authority figure. L This suggests the agentic theory is not valid explanation of obedience as most of the evidence for the agentic state is based on Milgram’s study which was done in an artificial setting, whereas other explanations provide research evidence that is ecologically valid

Answer 21

Aim - to understand the anti - semitism of the holocaust - his belief of obedience was negative. Conducted a study using over 2000 middle class, Americans to find it their unconscious views towards other racial groups. Method - To do this, Adorno and his colleagues developed a number of questionnaires including one called the f scale, which measures facist tendencies, as racism is thought to to be at the core of the authoritarian personality. Findings: Individuals who scored highly on the F scale and the other questionnaires self reported identifying with strong people and showed disrespect towards the ‘weak’. In addition, those high on f scale were status conscious regarding themselves and others, showing excessive respected to those in higher power. Adorno and colleagues also found that authoritarian people had a particular cognitive style, which categorised other people into specific stereotypical categories, leading to a string positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice. Conclusion; It was concluded that individuals with an authoritarian personality were more obedient to authority inures and showed an extreme submissiveness and respect. They are also uncomfortable with uncertainty, with everything being seen as either right or wrong with ‘no grey areas’ in between, demonstrating an inflexible attitude. They, therefore, believe that society requires strong leadership to enforce rigid, traditional values Examples of items from the f scale include; - obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn - homosexuals are hardly better than criminals and ought to be severely punished - there is hardly anything lower than a person who does feel great love, gratitude and respect for his parents. O

Answer 22

Adorno claimed that some people are more obedient than others and it is because they have an authoritarian personality People with authoritarian personality tend to be right wing in their political beliefs and at the extreme end they have similar beliefs to facists Strictly adhere values and believe in absolute obedience or submission of authority Adorno came up with the f scale a way of measuring how facist your views are.

Answer 23

- caused by having strict parents who us physical punishments - conditional love - created resentment which is displaced onto others as we are fearful of our parents -this explains their hatred towards people who are socially inferior

Answer 24

- highly aware of hierarchy - admire strength and power - look down on people with low status - traditional, conservative beliefs - obeying authority figures

Answer 25

Is it measuring what it is supposed too?

Answer 26

Aim; To test the theory that authoritarianism is linked to obedience Method: Questionnaire and interview Sample: 20 men who were obedient and 20 who were defiant in previous milgram studies Design; Independent groups Procedure; Elms and milgram used participants who were in milgrams original study for a follow up study. They selected 20 ‘obedient’ personalities who went to the highest electric show I level, and 20 ‘disobedient’ ones who didn’t continue to the end of the experiment. Each participant completed a personality questionnaire and the f scale to measure authoritarianism specifically. They were also asked questions about upbringing. Childhood, feelings the experimenter and learner in the original experiment. Findings; There was little difference between obedient and defiant participants when looking at the personality scored from the MMPI scale. However, there was higher levels of authoritarianism amongst obedient participants when looking at the scores from the f scale. There were also differences between their ideas on obedience, as the more obedient participants saw the authority figure in the original whereas the defiant participants did not. Conclusion; Elms and milgram found that people with an authoritarian personality were more likely to obey the experimenter Therefore, having an authoritarian personality makes you more obedient.

Answer 27

Robert Altemeyer (1981) refined the concept of the authoritarian personality to 3 of the original personality variables that he referred to as right-wing authoritarianism. Altemeyer suggested the 3 key personality characteristics for an obedient personality are: Conventionalism – to social norms and values Authoritarian aggression – aggressive feelings to people who violate normal social norms Authoritarian submission – uncritical submission to legitimate authorities Altmeyer tested the relationship between RWA and obedience in an experiment where participants had to give themselves levels of shock if they got an answer wrong. There was a significant correlation between having a RWA and the level of shocks they were willing to give themselves.

Answer 28

This is even effective if the support is from a less trustworthy source. Allen and Levine had an ‘ally’ participant who wore thick rimmed glasses (highlighting a visual impairment) and a participant with seedling fine eyesight. Found that introducing a dissenter in an ash style study greatly reduced conformity levels, even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and claimed they had poor eyesight, supporting that having social support increases resistance to social influence.

Answer 29

- Reece and Wallace; Social support by friends can help adolescence to resist conformity - resist pressure to drink when 1 or 2 friends also dont drink - rosenstrasse protests In 1943 a group of German women protested in nazi Germany to have their husbands and sons released They stood in process against the gestapo who threatened to open fire on them if they remained. They did stay and eventually the Jews were released Milgram said this was evidence of disobedient peers providing a platform to resist social influence.

Answer 30

The amount of control we perceive to have over our own behaviour.

Answer 31

- avtgis (1998) carried out a meta analysis of studies relating to locus of control and social influence. They found a strong positive correlation between high internal locus of control and how easily a participant resisted social influence (conformity and obedience). - Spector (1983) found that locus of control was a predictor of resistance to social influence with tasks that would create NSI but not ISI. This suggests our tendency to conform due to informational social influence might be related to other factors, such as educational level.

Answer 32

Consistency Commitment Flexibility

Answer 33

When people are first exposed to a minority view, thy assume th majority has made an error. If they are consistent with their view, it forces people to reassess and evaluate their opinion and consider it more carefully.

Answer 34

Commitment suggests confidence, certainty and courage in the face of a hostile majority. It takes more commitment to be a part of the minority than the majority and it is this commitment that persuades majority group members to take the minority seriously.

Answer 35

Minorities are typically powerless, thy have to negotiate their position with th majority rather than force it. A rigid minority runs the risk of being perceived as dogmatic and narrow minded. However, the minority has to be careful not to be too flexible as they may then appear to be inconsistent in their argument.

Answer 36

A) to test the idea of flexibilty in which participants had to agree on the amount of compensation they would give to a victim of a ski lift accident. P) in groups of 4, 1 of the participants in each group was a confederate and there were two conditions 1) the the minority argued for a low rate of compensation and refused to change their position (inflexible) 2) the minority argued for a low rate of compensation but a slightly higher rate of compensation (flexible). F) Inflexible condition: the minority had little or no effect on the majority Flexible condition: the majority was much more likely to compromise/change their view. C) Nemeth & Brilyamayar’s research highlights the importance of flexibility in persuading the majority

Answer 37

Aim) to determine whether a minority can influx a majority of participants could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task. Procedure) the participants were pre tested to check colour blindness. 172 female participants were randomly allocated to either a consistent, inconsistent or control condition. Each condition involved six participants bing present at the same time: four participants and two confederates. Each of the six participants at the time were asked to describe the colour of 36 slides, all of whcih were blue, but differed in brightness.

Answer 38

When one minority group manages to make a significant change in society, such as their views become the majority views.

Answer 39

- the minority must make the majority aware of the issue - this could involve a publicity stunt or a viral campaign - this will force the majority to consider their view.

Answer 40

- minorities create a cognitive conflict between what the majority believes and the views if the minority. This doesn’t necessarily lead the majority to shift their opinion, but it can make them think more deeply about an issue. - now that the majority is thinking about the minority view, they are forced to debate the idea in their own head.

Answer 41

- evidence has shown that when the minority is consistent in their position, they are more successful in bringing about social change.

Answer 42

If a minority is willing to suffer and make sacrifices for their views, then they are seen as more committed and are therefore taken more seriously. Link to commitment.

Answer 43

- this is where the message spreads exponentially - if each person tells 3 people, it will rapidly increase. - through this process, the minority view will reach a ‘tipping point’ where it becomes the majority view. - once the majority are behind the idea, they can put normative and informational pressure on the rest to make real change.

Answer 44

- majority opinion then becomes law - minority position becomes dominant position in society - people dont remember where the opinion originated from.

Social Influence Flashcards

(68 cards)