Social Influence Flashcards
(69 cards)
What is conformity
A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group
What is identification
A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with the group because we share their values and want to be accepted. May be temporary
What is internalisation
A deep type of conformity where a person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised and accepted the view of the group
What is compliance
Confirming publicly but privately disagreeing
Only superficial and will stop as soon as group pressure stops
What is Informational social influence
We accept it because we believe the info is correct
What is normative social influence
We agree because we want to be accepted and gain social approval
What are aschs variations
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
Explain aschs study
123 american male undergraduates in 1951,1955
Line and comparison line
Critical trials
Confederates and naive
What were the findings
Naive people conformed 36.8% of the time
25% didn’t at all
75% did at some point
Did it to avoid rejection
What does the asch effect mean
The extent to which p’s conform even when the situation is unambiguous
What did Perrin and Spencer in 1980 do that went against asch
They repeated it with engineering students in the UK and did 396 trials and only one conformed
Different social norms
His was too andro and ethnocentric
Were there demand characteristics in aschs study
Yes
Name another negative
There are limited applications of findings as the US is a individualist culture and it’s ethno and androcentric
And it was answered out loud
And a group of strangers
Explain the Stanford prison experiment
By Haney et al in 1973
Mock prison in basement
Volunteer sampling of students who were mentally stable
Randomly assigned guard or prisoner
Arrested in home by police to heighten realism
Prisoners then blindfolded, strip searched, de loused and given a uniform and number
16 rules to follow, 3 guards at a time
Guards had uniform and accessories and told they had full control
What were the findings of the Stanford prison experiment
Guards behaviour became a physical and mental threat to prisoners wellbeing
Stopped after 6 days instead of 14
Riots
Divide and rule tactic which played prisoners off each other
One prisoner released early because of signs of mental disturbance
2 released on day 4
One went on hunger strike, put in the ‘hole’ and shunned
Guards seemed to enjoy the power and hit more brutal and aggressive
What is the conclusion of Zimbardos research
The power of the situation influences people’s behaviour
All people conformed to their roles
Name the strength of SPE about control
Had some control over variables such as selection of participants and randomisation which removes the explanation of different personalities
This increases internal validity
What is the limitation of SPE from Banuazizi and Mohavedidi
In 1975 said they were play acting and acting for the stereotypes rather than genuinely conforming which suggests a lack of realism
What was zimbardos counter to banuazizi
There is quantitative data that 90% of the prisoners conversations were about prison life
Why was zimbardos conclusions overstated
As only a third of the guards were aggressive and brutal
What were the ethical issues with the SPE
That one prisoner asked to leave but zimbardo treated the conversation as if he was the superintendent and he was talking to an actual prisoner
Explain the participants in Milgram’s obedience study
40 male p’s through newspaper ads aged between 20-50, unskilled to professional
told it was about memory
paid $4.50 to take part
Explain Milgram’s method
In a lab, paid straight away and did a rigged draw with Mr Wallace
told they could leave at any time
low level shock was demonstrated to teacher
learner strapped into chair
teacher told to give an increasing shock every time a mistake was made in word pairing
shocks were labelled from slight shock to danger severe shock
at 300v, learner pounded on the wall
at 315v, no response was given
experimenter told teacher that no answer is a wrong answer
What were the 4 standard verbal prompts that the experimenter could use
1) please continue 2) the experiment requires that you continue 3) it is absolutely essential that you continue 4) you have no other choice, you must go on
