social influence Flashcards

Question

the 'obedience alibi' criticism

Answer 1

milgram's findings from his variations support a situational explanation of obedience i.e. proximity, location, uniform, allies however Mandel has criticised this as an 'alibi for evil behaviour,'

Answer 2

- when people behave on behalf of an external authority, they're in an AGENTIC STATE --> they act as someone's agent, rather than taking personal responsiblity for their actions - this is the opposite to behaving AUTONOMOUSLY- not following orders - when we are someone's agent, we feel less responsible for our actions - this effect is seen in Milgram's studies some ppts were concerned for the welfare of the learner and asked who would take responsibility if they were harmed ---> when the authority took responsibility, often the ppt would continue - this agentic state was also encouraged by the experiment's set up --> the ppts voluntarily entered into a social contract (obligation) with the experimenter to take part and follow the procedure of the study autonomous --> obedient = agentic shift , entered agentic state * Milgram claimed that there were some binding factors that might have kept his ppts in the agentic state BINDING FACTORS: aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and therefore reduce the 'moral strain' they're feeling, when they want to leave but seem unable to do so. - reluctance to disrupt the experiment: ppt had already been paid, so may have felt obliged to continue - the pressure of the surroundings- the experiment took place in a prestigious university, this made the experimenter seem like a legitimate authority - the insistence of the authority figure- if ppts hesitated, they were told they had to continue the experiment Milgram proposed a number of strategies that the individual uses, such as blaming the victim and shifting the responsibility onto them, or denying the damage they were doing to the victims

Answer 3

- lots of experimental evidence, Milgram's variations - milgram's ppts often claimed they would not have gone as far by themselves, they were just following orders - sometimes people resist authority: may be due to situation/ individual differences - agency theory does not explain why some are more likely to exhibit independent behaviour more than others i.e. 1/3 of Milgram's ppts disobeyed

Answer 4

- we are socialised to recognise the authority of people e.g. parents, doctors, police officers - they are legitimate authorities- we obey them as they have the right to tell us what to do - legitimate authority comes from having a defined social role which people respect - when Milgram re-ran his study in run-down offices, obedience rates were lower than when the study was ran in Yale ---> authority figure was more legitimate in Yale due to its status - In another variation, the experimenter was 'called away' for an important phone call at the start of the experiment --> they were replaced by a 'random member of the public' in ordinary clothes ---> obedience rates fell to 20%, lowest Bickman - field experiment - researchers ordered passers-by to do smth - dressed either as a guard, milkman, businessman - people were much more likely to obey guard ---> most legitimate authority figure

Answer 5

explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual's personality

Answer 6

authoritarian personality: a type of personalty that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. such individuals were thought to be submissive of those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors - Adorno wanted to explain how Nazis were able to gain such a following in WWII germany - he suggested that, rather than being due to external situational factors, the personality type of the individual was responsible for obedience - e.g. not all of Milgram's ppts fully obeyed, some actively rebelled, despite them experiencing identical situations and social pressures - developed F-scale ---> 2000 white middle class american men *AUTHORITARIAN CHARACTERISTICS - especially obedient to authority - extreme respect for authority and submissiveness to it - show contempt for 'inferior' - highly controversial views about sex, race, gender - think we need powerful leaders to enforce traditional values - inflexible in their outlook- uncomfortable w uncertainty *ORIGIN OF THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY - formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting - extremely strict dicipline, expectation of absolute loyalty, high standards, severe criticism of severe failings - CONDITIONAL LOVE: love depends on how they behave - adorno argued that these experiences create resentment and hostility in the child, that they cannot express to their parents due to a fear of reprisals - so fears = displaced directly onto others who = percieved as weaker --> scapegoating - explains a central trait of obedience to higher authority, dislike for the socially inferior

Answer 7

the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority/ obey authority. the ability to withstand social pressure = influenced by both situational + dispositional factors

Answer 8

the presence of people who resist pressures to conform/ obey can help others do the same these people act as models to show that resistance to SI is possible

Answer 9

the sense we have about what directs events in our lives internals: believe they are mostly responsible externals: believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces

Answer 10

CONFORMITY - the pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming - as seen in Asch's research, the person conforming does not have to be giving the 'right' answer, but simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority appears to enable a person to be free to follow their own conscience!! this other person acts as a 'model' OBEDIENCE - the pressure to obey can be reduced when another person is disobeying - in one of Milgram's variations, the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate the ppt may not follow the disobedient person's behaviour, but the point is the other person's disobedience acts as a 'model' for the ppt to copy, that frees them to act from their own conscience

Answer 11

ASCH - ISI/ NSI decrease- expertise/ internal LOC - easy tasks - dissenters- social support (ALLEN + LEVINE) - gender

Answer 12

- internal LOC --> they are responsible so act according to own values + resist authority --> Holland analysis of Milgram - influence of disobedient role models - social support --> gives ppts free will to make own decisions --> gamson et al - lack of legitimacy of authority --> uniform/ location --> Milgram's variations

Answer 13

internals: things that happen to them = largely controlled by themselves externals: things happen without their own control continuum - people differ in the way they explain their successes and failures- is not just internal or external --> there is a continuum *resistance to SI - people who have a high internal LOC are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform/ obey - if a person takes personal responsibility for their actions and experiences, they are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs and thus resist pressures from others - people with a high internal LOC tend to be more self-confident, more achievement-oriented, have higher intelligence, have less need for social approval ---> so greater resistance to SI EVALUATION *research support Holland - repeated Milgram's baseline study, measured whether ppts were internals/ externals - 37% internals did not continue to highest shock level - 23% of externals did not continue --> so internals showed greater resistance - this increases the validity of the LOC explanation *contradictory research Twenge et al - analysed data from American obedience studies over 40 years --> people have become more resistant to obedience, but more external --> challenges link between internal LOC and increasing resistant behaviour --> however could be due to a changing society where many things are out of personal control limited role of LOC - LOC only comes into play in novel situaitons - has very little influence over our behaviour in familiar situations. where our previous experience = more important - so people who have conformed/obeyed in one situation will do so again, even if they have internal LOC

Answer 14

Moscovici was the first to identify the process of minority influence as a contrast to majority influence. he introduced the idea of minority influence to explain innovation- a new way of doing things minority influence: a form of social influence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours -- leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours

Answer 15

CONSISTENCY - most effective if minority keeps same beliefs, over time and between all individuals that form the minority - effective because it draws attention to the minority and makes people start to rethink their own views synchronic: all saying the same thing dichronic: been saying the same thing for a long time COMMITMENT - more powerful if the minority demonstrates dedication to their position e.g. by making personal sacrifices or engaging in extreme activities - effective as it shows the minority is not acting out of self interest - majority group pays even more attention- AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE FLEXIBILITY - relentless consistency could be counter-productive if its is unbending/ unreasonable - so minority influence = more effective if the accept the possibility of compromise - accept counter arguments - balance consistency and flexibility

Answer 16

CONDITIONS 1. drawing attention to an issue which opposes the majority view 2. the role of conflict: if we cannot immediately dismiss it, we examine it more deeply 3. consistency: expressing views with each other + over time so are taken more seriously 4. the augmentation principle- some risk associated with putting forward the point of view so it is taken more seriously 5. the snowball effect- the effect of minority influence is relatively small, but grows and eventually leads to widespread change consistency, commitment, flexibility --> make people think - if you hear something new, you stop and think, especially if the source = consistent and passionate it is this DEEPER PROCESSING which is important in the process of conversion to a minority viewpoint over time, increasing numbers of people switch to minority viewpoint - they have become 'converted,' - the more this happens, the faster the rate of conversion - this is the SNOWBALL EFFECT - results in CRYPTOAMNESIA - gradually the minority view --> majority + social change has occured EVALUATION * research support for consistency - Moscovici showed that a consistent minority was most influential - WOOD ET AL- carried out a meta analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as consistent were most influential --> suggests consistency = major factor in minority influence * research support for depth of thought - change to minority position does involve deeper processing of ideas MARTIN ET AL - gave ppts a message supporting a particular viewpoint + measured their support - one group heard minority group agree - one group heard this from a majority group - were then exposed to a conflicting view, attitudes measured again - people were less willing to change their opinions of they had listened to a minority group compared to majority group - suggests that minority view has been more DEEPLY PROCESSED and had a more ENDURING EFFECT * artificial tasks - tasks involved e.g. identifying slide colours = artificial - low mundane realism - research = therefore far removed from how minorities attempt to change the behaviour of majorities in real life - the findings of Moscovici's study therefore lacks external validity and so limits what can be proven about how minority influence works in real life situations *research support for internalisation - in a variation of Moscovici's study, ppts were allowed to write down their answers, so their responses were private, rather than stated out loud. - it appears that members of the majority were being convinced by the minority's argument and changing their own views, but were reluctant to admit this publicly - probably because they did not want to be associated with a minority position, for fear of being considered 'radical' or 'awkward.' *limits real world application - research studies usually make an obvious distinction between majority/ minority - being able to do so in such a controlled way = a strength - but real life SI situations = much more complicated than this -- e.g. majorities usually have much more power + status

Answer 17

the process of minority attitudes, behaviours and beliefs becoming the majority - the new belief takes form without a conscious understanding of where it came from or the process involved - stages involve initial conversion of a small number of people - as more people change their attitude, change quickens ---> SNOWBALL EFFECT

Answer 18

- minorities: consistency, commitment, flexibility --> deeper processing --> augmentation principle/ snowball effect/ cryptoamnesia - influences on obedience -> changes in laws to make behaviours more social 'norms' - snowball - minority --> majority --> conformity by ISI/ NSI --> fear of punishment if not obeying

Answer 19

- SI research has suggested that it is minorities and independent behaviour that brings about social change [CONFORMITY] maintains status quo e.g. a minority can challenge the beliefs and values of majority, causing deeper processing --> rethinking beliefs --> this can be slow --------> cryptoamnesia - important figures in history- individuals can bring about social change --> applicable to media

Answer 20

social change occurs when individuals or small groups change the way the majority thinks and acts - moscovici et al - historically - suffragettes

Answer 21

factors affecting: consistency/ commitment/ flexibility social change occurs when minority view challenges majority view ---> eventually accepted as majority NSI may play a part as, as views change, people dont want to be left behind changes to laws increase obedience -- new views become social nor,

social influence Flashcards

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