Social Influence Flashcards
(58 cards)
Conformity
changing belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group
Compliance
A temporary type of conformity where we outwardly agree with the group’s views but disagree privately. This only lasts while being with group in order to avoid social rejection
Identification
where we change our behaviours to fit in with a group because we want to be part of it and value it. This only lasts whilst the group is seen as desirable.
Internalisation
A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
Informational social influence (ISI)
An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want to be correct as well. This may lead to internalisation.
Normative social influence (NSI)
An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance.
Jenness
Investigated why people conform.
The study when participants were asked to estimate how many beans were in a jar on their own, then in a group and most people changed their answer to near their group. Concluded that judgement of individuals tended to conform more in ambiguous situations and supports ISI
Jenness AO3
✘ Doesn’t tell us about conformity in non-ambiguous situations
✘ NSI may also have contributed
Asch’s conformity experiment
Ppts asked to judge line lengths whilst in a group of confederates who gave the wrong answer.
Control group of ppts answering privately
75% of ppts conformed at least once
Asch’s Variations
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Task difficulty
Asch - Group size
- When there were 3 confederates conformity to wrong answers rose
- Addition of further confederates made no difference
- This suggests a small minority is not sufficient for influence to be exerted, but at the other extreme, there is no need for a majority of more than three.
Asch - Unanimity
- Presence of another, non-conforming participant.
- Presence of dissenting confederate meant conformity was reduced by a quarter from the level it was when the majority was unanimous.
- Dissenter enabled naive participant to behave more independently.
Asch - Task Difficulty
- When the line judging task was made more difficult (lines more similar in length) , conformity increased.
- This suggests that ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder, as the situation is more ambiguous.
Asch AO3
✘ Study suffers from gender and culture bias as the sample used were American male undergraduates therefore suffers beta bias
✘ materials lack ecological validity due to materials being unrealistic
✘ demand characteristics as ppts may have realised confederates were giving the wrong answers. However post study interviews suggest that ppts thought confederates were real ppts
Social Roles
The ‘parts’ people play as members of social groups. With each role your behaviour changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of the role.
Zimbardo study Aim
To investigate if prison brutality happens because of the personality of guards and prisoners or because they are conforming to social roles
(why good people do bad things)
Zimbardo Procedure and Findings
Had male undergraduates at Stanford play roles of guards and prisoners
The students were pre-screened and found to be psychologically stable and were randomly assigned roles
Prisoners arrested and given a number and prison uniform. Guards given uniform and blacked out shades
Prisoners would only discuss prison issues (forgetting about their previous life), refer to themselves and others by prisoner number rather than name and snitch to guards to please them.
“Guards” behaved in accord with their roles - became brutal and sadistic and harassed “prisoners” so severely that the planned 2 week study was stopped after only 6 days
Therefore suggested that prison brutality is driven by situation not personality
Zimbardo AO3
✘ Unethical; ppts suffered stress and had breakdowns
Zimbardo acted as both the main researcher and prison superintendant creating a conflict of interest seen when one ppt was refused his right to withdraw
✘ Gender and culture biased so lacks generalisability
✘ Lack of ecological validity since ppts knew they were taking part in study. Zimbardo argued that 90% of the conversations were about life in the prison
✘ Lack of research support
The BBC conducted a similar study but instead saw the prisoners take over the prison and humiliate the guards.
Milgram Procedure
-Ppts assigned the role of teacher and confederate became learner.
-Confederate’s task was to memorize pairs of words.
-The “teachers” role was to administer a shock every time the learner made a mistake.
-Each mistake would earn a progressively more powerful shock.
-Pre recorded screams would become louder each time until they became silent
-The experimenter would continue to encourage the ppt to administer the shock
Milgrams findings
-all ppts delivered shocks of at least 300V.
-65% of ppts delivered shocks at the highest level of 450 volts.
-observations showed ppts were experiencing extreme signs of tension, e.g. sweating & trembling.
Milgram’s Variations
Obedience increased when;
-Proximity of authority figure was closer
-Proximity of victim was further
-Location was a lab as opposed to a rundown office
-When experimenter wore a white uniform
Milgram AO3
✘ Demand characteristics; may have realised shocks were fake
✘ Lacks ecological validity;
The tasks given to participants are not
like those we would encounter in real life
✔ High internal validity; 70% of ppts believed the shocks were real in folow up interviews. Results seem plausable due to Sheridan and King’s study which saw 100% of women delivered real shocks to puppies
✔Hofling et al observed the behaviour of doctors and nurses in a natural experiment (covert observation). The researchers found that 95% of nurses in a hospital obeyed a doctor (confederate) over the phone to increase the dosage of a patient’s medicine to double what is advised on the bottle. This suggests that ‘everyday’ individuals are still susceptible to obeying destructive authority figures.
Obedience
A form of social influence that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in a position of authority
The Agentic State
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we shift responsibility to an authority figure, i.e. as their agent. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.
