Social Influence Flashcards
(26 cards)
Social Change by minority influence
(With Limitation)
- Drawing Attention
- Consistency
- Deeper Processing
- Augmentation Principle
- Snowball Effect
- Social Cryptomnesia
Nemeth-> effects of minority influence are indirect + delayed
Shows effects are fragile + limited
Social change by conformity
(With Support)
Exploitation of conformity processes by appealing to NSI (provide info of what others are “doing”)
Shown by Asch-> only 1 confed to dissent, broke power of majority encouraging others
Nolan-> messages on front doors of San Diego
Social change by obedience
Milgram demonstrates importance of disobedient role models
Zimbardo suggests gradual commitment can create change
- 1 Small instruction obeyed, more difficult to resist a bigger one
Ppl drift into new behaviour
Mackie
Minority influence does not cause deeper processing
When the majority believe something different to us, it makes us think long and hard about the majority’s arguments and reasoning
Casts doubt on validity of Moscovici’s theory
Minority Influence
- Consistency
Synchronic- all say same thing
Diachronic- same thing for long time
Miscovici’s blue-green slides
2 confeds, consistent/inconsistent - Flexibility
Nemeth- consistency can be interpreted -vely (rigid, dogmatic…).
Off putting + results in no conversation - Commitment
Augmentation Principle - prepared to be extreme to draw attention
Martin
Gave pps message supporting particular viewpoints + measured support. 1 group heard minority agree, another heard majority agree
Ppl less willing to change view if heard from minority
Suggests minority message more deeply processed + had more enduring effect
Rotter
Locus of Control
Internal LOC more likely to resist pressures to conform/obey. Base decisions on own beliefs + resist pressures
Also more self confident and less need for social approval
Holland
Repeated Milgram’s study + measured PPS as internals or externals
37% internals didn’t continue to highest shock
23% externals didn’t continue to highest shock
Increase validity
Twenge
Analysed American obedience data over 40 yrs
Over time ppl have become more disobedient, but also more external
If resistance were linked to an internal LOC then ppl should have become more internal
Legitimacy of Authority
We are more likely to obey those we perceive to have authority over us
The authority they have is legitimate in that it is agreed by society as by exercising their social power they allow society to function smoothly
Adorno
Ppl with authoritarian leanings identified with strong ppl with contempt for the weak
Conscious of own and others status
Cognitive style where there was no fuzziness between ppl
Fixed distinct stereotypes
Strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
Origin of Authoritarian personality
(Which Approach?)
Result of harsh parenting:
Strict discipline
Impossibly high expectations
Severe criticism of failings
CONDITIONAL LOVE
Create resentment + hostility that can’t be expressed to their parents for fear of reprisals
Fear displaced onto others (weaker)
Psychodynamic
Milgram + Elms
Conducted interviews of small sample of fully obedient ppl who scored highly on F-scale
Correlation
Christie and Jahoda
F-Scale is politically biased
Reality of left-wing authoritarianism e.g. Russian Bolshevism
Extreme left + right wing ideologies have lots in common in that both emphasise importance of complete obedience to political authority
Greenstein
Acquiescence Bias
F-scale may measure tendency to agree with something, not necessarily authoritarianism
Allen and Levine
(Resistance to Conformity)
Conformity decreased when 1 dissenter in Asch-type study
Even occurred when dissenter wore thick glasses and said they had trouble seeing
-Resistance isn’t just motivated by following another, it enables freedom from the pressure of a grp
Gamson
(Resistance to obedience)
Found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram because they were in grps
88% rebelled suggesting peer support linked to greater resistance
Agentic State
(W/ limitation- Holfing)
Mental state where we feel no responsibility for our actions bc we believe to be acting for an authority figure
-nurses nurses handed over responsibility to doctors so they should have shown similar levels of anxiety to Milgrams pps as they understood their role, but didn’t
Shows agentic shift can only account for some situations
Autonomous state
Opposite to an agentic state
Free to behave according to own principles so feel a sense of responsibility
Binding factors
Aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour which reduces moral strain
e.g. shifting responsibility to victim/denying damage
Bless + Schmitt
Showed Milgrams study to students
Blamed experimenter rather than pp due to legitimate authority and expert authority
Kilham + Mann
Mantell
(Legitimacy of authority limitation)
- Repeated Milgram in Australia
Only 16% went all the way
-85% German pps went all the way
Shows some cultures are more likely to accept authority as legitimate. Reflects how societies are structure + how children are raised to perceive authority
INCREASE validity
Evaluation of Milgram
Orne + Holland-pps didn’t believe the set up
Perry-pps expressed they doubted the shocks
Sheridan + King- real shocks given to puppy (54% men + 100% women delivered what they thought was fatal shock)
Suggests effects were genuine as ppl acted the same with real shocks
Milgram-70% thought they were real
Hofling’s nurses - 21/22 nurses obeyed unjustified demands from Doctors
Situational variables of Milgram’s study
Proximity- obedience dropped from 65% to 40% when researcher left
Location- obedience dropped to 47.5% in run down building
Uniform- obedience dropped to 20% in normal clothes
