social influence Flashcards
(53 cards)
1
Q
name the 3 types of conformity
A
- internalisation
- identification
- compliance
2
Q
what is internalisation?
A
- private and public acceptance of group norms
3
Q
what is identification?
A
- change in behaviour to be apart of a group we identify with, may change privately too
4
Q
what is compliance?
A
- go along with a group publicly but no private change
5
Q
name the 2 explanations of conformity
A
- normative social influence (NSI)
- informational social influence (ISI)
6
Q
what is ISI?
A
- conforming to be right
- assuming the group knows better than you
7
Q
what is NSI?
A
- conforming to be liked or accepted by a group
8
Q
what was the procedure of Asch’s research?
A
- 123 male participants judged line lengths and said their answers out loud
- confederates deliberately gave wrong answers
- groups of 6-8 where only 1 participant was not a confederate
9
Q
what were the findings of Asch’s research?
A
- participants conformed on 36.8% of trials (about a third of the time)
- 25% never conformed
10
Q
Asch’s evaluation
A
artificial situation and task
- participants knew this was a study so played along with the trivial task which may cause demand characteristics
limited application
- Asch’s research was only conducted on American men therefore is not generalisable
research support
- Lucas et al found increased conformity as difficulty of maths problems increased
- conformity is more complex, individual factors must be considered such as confident participants being less likely to conform
11
Q
Zimardos research - stanford prison experiment (SPE)
A
- mock prison with 21 student volunteers randomly assigned as guards or prisioners
- conformity to social roles created through uniforms and instructions about behaviour
12
Q
zimbardo SPE - what were the findings related to social roles?
A
- guards became increasingly brutal
- prisioners became depressed and believed they could not leave
- the study had to be stopped earlier than planned
13
Q
Zimbardo SPE - what conclusions were made relating to social roles?
A
- participants strongly conformed to their social roles
14
Q
evaluation of the standford prision experiment
A
control
- random assignment of roles increased internal validity
lack of realism
- participants acted out their roles according to media stereotypes, lacking ecological validity
- whereas there is evidence that the prisoners believed that it was real to them
exaggerates the power of roles
- only 1/3 of guards were brutal, therefore conclusions are exaggerated and not representative
alternative explanation
- social identity theory suggests taking on roles due to active identification, not automatic
15
Q
what was the procedure of milgram’s research on obedience?
A
- American male participants gave fake electric shocks to a ‘learner’ in response to instructions from an ‘experimenter’
16
Q
what were the findings of milgram’s research?
A
- 65% gave the highest shock of 450 volts
- 100% gave shocks up to 300 volts
- many participants showed signs of anxiety
17
Q
evaluation of milgram’s obedience research
A
research support
- french TV documentary found 80% gave maximum shock and showed similar behaviour to milgram’s participants
low internal validity
- participants realised that shocks were fake
- whereas participants gave real shocks to a puppy
alternative interpretation
- Haslam et al found participants identified with scientific aims, not blind obedience
ethical issues
- deception meant that participants could not provide informed consent
- this could be balanced ethically by the benefits of the research
18
Q
name the situational variables which effected obedience
A
- proximity
- location
- uniform
19
Q
how did proximity effect obedience in milgram’s study?
A
- obedience dropped to 20.5% when the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the telephone
- some participants pretended to give shocks
- psychological distance effects authority
20
Q
how did location effect obedience in milgram’s study?
A
- obedience was 47.5% in a run down office building
- the universities prestige gave authority (yale)
21
Q
how did uniform effect the obedience in milgrams study?
A
- 20% when the experimenter was a ‘member of the public’ in basic day to day clothes
- uniform is a symbol of legitimate authority
22
Q
evaluation of situational variables
A
research support
- bickman showed power of uniform in a field experiment
cross-cultural replications
- dutch participants were told to say stressful things to someone being interviewed, decreased proximity led to decreased obedience
- most other studies are similar to western cultures (USA) so are not generalisable
low internal validity
-some of milgrams procedures in the variations were especially organised and intended, can’t be considered genuine obedience
the danger of situational perspective
- gives obedience an alibi for destructive behaviour
23
Q
what is agentic state?
A
- acting as an agent of another person
24
Q
what is autonomous state?
A
- free to act according to conscience
25
what is and agentic shift
- moving between an autonomous state and agentic state
26
evaluation of the agentic state
research support
- milgrams resistant participants continued to give shocks when the experimenter took responsibility
limited explanation
- cannot explain why Rank and Jacobsons nurses and some of milgrams participants disobeyed
27
what is legitimacy of authority
- created by the hierarchical nature of society
- some people are entitled to expect obedience
- learned in childhood
28
what is destructive authority?
- where problems arise when used destructively (Hitler)
29
evaluation of legitimacy of authority
explains cultural differences
- in Australia 16% obeyed, whereas 85% obeyed in Germany
- related to the structure of society
cannot explain all obedience/disobedience
- Rank and jacobsons nurses in a hierarchical structure but did not obey legitimate authority
30
what is the authoritarian personality (AP)?
- Ardorno et al
- extreme respect for authority and submissiveness to it
31
what causes an authoritarian personality?
- harsh parenting creates hostility which cannot be expressed against the parent
- is then displaced onto scapegoats instead
32
what was the procedure used during Adorno et al’s research on AP?
- F-scale was used to study unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
33
what were the findings in Adornos research using the F-scale?
- APs identify with ‘strong’ people
- have a fixed cognitive style
- hold steriotypes and prejudices
34
evaluation of the authoritarian personality
research support
- obedient participants had high F-scale scores (Elms and Milgram)
- obidient participants are also unlike authoritarians in many ways, personality is too complex
limited explanation
- can’t explain obedience across a whole culture
political bias
- authoritarianism is equated with right-wing ideology, ignoring left-wing authoritarianism
35
what 3 factors does minority influence consist off?
- consistency
- commitment
- flexibility
36
what is consistency for a minority group?
- being consistent attracts the attention of the majority over time
- the suffragettes consistently put forward the message that there was injustice of excluding women from political participation and argued for women’s rights to vote
37
what is commitment for a minority group?
- personal sacrifices show commitment, attract attention, and rienforce the message
- the suffragettes persisted in their efforts for many years by enduring hunger strikes and other forms of protest as well as facing opposition and imprisonment
- Emily Davidson died in front of the kings horse at the Epsom Derby to show her dedication
38
what is flexibility for a minority?
- the minority is more convincing if they accept some counterarguements
- suffragettes showed adaptability by suspending their campaign to support the war effort during WW1
- initially demanded equal voting rights but later accepted gradual legal reforms to gain broader support
39
what do the 3 factors help the minority achieve?
- makes the majority think more deeply about an issue
- can lead to the snowball effect
40
what is the snowball effect?
- minority view gathers support and gradually becomes the majority view
41
evaluation of minority influence
research support
- Moscovici’s blue-green slides and Wood et al’s meta-analysis
- participants exposed to minority view resisted conflicting view
- real-world majorities have more power/status than minorities, missing from research
artificial tasks
- tasks are often trivial and tell us little about real-world influence
power of minority influence
- more people agree with the minority in private
42
name the 6 steps from minority research which impact social influence/change
- drawing attention
- consistency
- deeper processing
- augmentation (risks)
- snowball effect
- social cryptomnesia (forgetting)
43
what is the augmentation principle?
- seeing the risks that the minority influence are willing to take, indicating strong belief and reinforces (or augments) their message
- Emily Davidson sacrificing her life at the Epsom Derby for the suffragette movement
44
what things learnt from conformity research effect social influence/change?
- deviance breaks power of the majority
- normative social influence draws attention to what the majority are doing
45
how does obedience research effect social influence/change
- gradual commitment leads to change (Zimbardo)
- disobedient role models
46
evaluation of social influence and social change
research support for normative social influences
- NSI is a valid explanation of social change
- does not always produce change
minority influence explains change
- minorities stimulate divergence with broader and more creative thinking
role of deeper processing
- majority views are processed more deeply than the minority which challenges a central feature of minority influence
barriers to social change
- people resist social change because it is seen in a negative light
47
how does social support effect resistance to conformity?
- conformity is reduced when their is the presence of someone who deviates
- even wrong answers can break the unanimity of the majority (Asch)
48
how does social support effect resistance to obedience?
- obedience decreases in the presence of a disobedient peer who acts as a model to follow
- challenges the legitimacy of authority
- obedience dropped from 65% to 10% (milgram)
49
evaluation of social support
real world research support
- having a ‘buddy’ reduces the effects of peer pressure to smoke (Albrecht et al)
research support for dissenting peers
- obedience to an order from an oil company fell when participants in a group (Gamson et al)
social support explanation
- resistance is lower when the confederate had poor eyesight
50
what is locus of control (LOC)?
- a sense of what directs events in our lives
- internal or external source
51
what is the LOC continuum?
- high internal LOC at one end and low LOC at the other
52
what is the relationship between locus of control and resistance to social influence?
- internals can resist social influence well because they have less need for approval
- externals struggle to resist social influence because they crave approval from others
53
locus of control evaluation
research support
- internals are less likely to obey in a a milgram-type procedure (Holland)
contradictory research
- people are now more independent but also have become more external (Twenge et al)
limited role of LOC
- the role of locus of control only applies to new situations
