SOCIAL INFLUENCE Flashcards
(23 cards)
what is obedience
what is conformity
what is deindividuation
complying with the request or order of an authoritative figure
behaviour of following what the majority of people are doing
process of losing our personal identity when part of a group
list the types of conformity and describe
compliance- going along with majority even though privately we may not agree with them. (normative social influence)
internalization-when placed in unfamiliar situation, you look to others how to behave
(informational social influence)
identification-person will change behavior whilst in the group, when left behavior goes back to normal (short-term normative)
describe by stander effect
when people dont help because they believe that someone else will help.
Situational factors affecting bystander effect and describe
Diffusion of Responsibility: Larger the crowd, less responsible we feel
Noticing the event: Larger crowd, more we keep to our selves, so dont notice
Pluralistic ignorance: If everyone ignores so do we, if everyone helps, so do we
Cost of helping: weighing the cost of helping and not helping and deciding thru this
Personal factors affecting bystander effect
Similarity: If we relate to a person more we are likely to help
Competence: If we have the ability to help we are more likely to do so
Mood: Good mood=more likely to help vice versa.
situational factors affecting conformity
Size of Majority= Solomon asch line experiment. Greater majority more conformity
Unanimity of majority= if everyone chooses same answer, we are more likely choose it
Task ambiguity/difficulty= more difficult will make us conform more.
Personal Factors affecting Conformity
Locus of control:
Internal=we believe we have a lot of personal control (less likely to comply)
external=we believe we do not have control over our behavior (more likely to comply)
What is blind obedience
Obeying authoritative figure without question
Describe Milgrams experiment
-It was an electric shock experiment
-Mr wallace was confederate and strapped to electric chair
-participants were told it was abt memory and learning
-if mr wallace did not remember, they needed to shock him
-shock volts also to be increased.
Situational factors affecting blind obedience
Proximity of victim (closer victim less obedience)
Proximity of authority figure (closer authority more obedience)
Legitimacy of the context (in uni more obedience, in run down office less obedience)
Authority figure himself (wearing white coat more obedience than when not)
Personal Responsibility (when participant asked another person to shock obedience increased)
Support of others (less obedience)
Other factors that could have contributed to milgrams shock experiment
-participants thought shocks were not deadly or harmful just a little pain
- momentum of compliance=tendency to continue after agreeing
-did not know their right to withdraw
-thought they were contributing to an important study so obedience increased
Personal factors affecting obedience
Authoritarian Personality
-respect for authority figures
-right-wing politics
-aggressive to inferior people
-rigid beliefs and attitudes
-strong belief in justice
F-scale determines your personality
-high f scale score = more obedient
Describe pro-social and anti-social behavior
pro-social= the behavior of the group is positive
anti-social= behavior of the group is negative
Ways to prevent blind obedience
Familiarity of situation
Distance from authority figure
Social support
Education
Aims of Piliavin Et al study
To investigate helping behavior in a natural environment and conditions in which people are more likely to help
Procedure of piliavin et al
Participants: Almost 4500 men and women
-covert observation
-four groups of four student (2 male and 2 female) from Columbia university
-female were observes, while one male was victim and other was pretend passenger
-victim in subway falls and people helping was noted down
-103 trials with diff situations (old victim/drunk etc)
-
Conclusion of piliavin et al study
-Men are more likely to help than women
-People help the old more than the drunk
-People tend to help their same race
-Larger groups provided more assistance than individiual
-models assistance did not influence assistance of others
Strengths and Weaknesses of Piliavin
S - Covert observation in natural environment so has ecological validity
W- not all representation of a sample would have been present at the same time in the train
W-No consent given, may have caused distressed
Aims of Zimbardos study
To investigate prison guard conflict in a simulated prison environement
How many participants in Zimbardo
-75 respondents to advert posted
-22 participants selected
-1 dropped out
-21 participants total
-10 prisoners and 11 guards
Procedure of Zimbardo
-Prison was set up in Stanford basement
-Participants were arrested, blindfolded and from home and brough to the prison
-guards were briefed to maintain order in prison
-both were given prison style clothes
Results/conclusion of Zimbardo
-Experiment stopped prematurely in 6 days (supposed to be 2 weeks)
-both prisoner and guard lost self identity
-everyone became aggressive
Strengths and Weakness of Zimbardo
S - prisoners had deindividuated and not just playing along as in their rooms they talked to each other about prison life rather than personal
W- caused distress, stopped in just 6 days
W- participants could have been acting to their roles so lowers ecological validity
W-only conducted on males, so lacks generalizability
