social influence Flashcards
(31 cards)
Research support for ISI
Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. More conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were difficult as predicted by ISI
Individual differences in NCI
people are are less concerned at being liked are less affected by NSI than others who care more about being liked such people are described as NAffiliations
McGhee and teevan (1967)
Found that students high in need for affiliation were more likely to conform
Asch;1951
Tested conformity by showing participants two large white cards at a time
Procedure for asch study
- on one card was a “standard line” and one the other were comparison lines
- one of the three lines was the same length as the standard and the other two were always substantially different
- confederates deliberately gave wrong answers to see if participants would conform
How many participants too past in asch’s study
123 make undergraduates
How was each participant tested
Individually with a group of between six and eight confederates
How many trials did each participant take part in
18 trials and 12 critical trials
social groups
A social group is a group of two or more people who interact together, share things in common, and share a common identity.
what is social role
A social role is the behaviours and beliefs that are expected of a person with a particular position in a social group.
what is a social norm
Social norms are the unwritten rules for how members of a social group are expected to behave.
what type of experiment did Zimbardo conduct
Zimbardo conducted a controlled observation of his participants and an overt observation
the results of Zimbardo’s experiment
The prisoners started a rebellion causing the guards to treat them brutally
Normal men’s behaviour changed completely when their situation and social role changed dramatically
what did Zimbardo conclude about prison violence
people were conforming via identification
criticisms for Zimbardo’s experimental design
- Zimbardo’s study may not be generalisable because he mainly recruited men.
- Zimbardo may have influenced the results of the study due to investigator effects.
- Zimbardo’s study may have lacked ecological validity because it was not realistic.
why might Zimbardo’s study be considered unethical
people claimed that the participants were not protected from psychological harm - some participants were so upset they had breakdowns.
people claimed that the participants could not give informed consent because although they signed up for the study, they were not informed that they would be put through such a traumatic experience.
what were Zimbardo’s responses to the criticisms he faced.
- He claimed his study was generalisable because the results could explain real-world violence
- He claimed his study was not unethical because participants were screened to ensure they were psychologically healthy
- He claimed his study had ecological validity because participants did act as if it was real - they became distressed and 90% of conversations were about prison life
what explanation of conformity is compliance explained with
normative social influence
what explanation of conformity is internalisation explained with
informational social influence
Under what circumstances do both normative social influence and informational social influence explain why someone would conform?
high uncertainty
high social pressure
what was the aim of Asch’s study
His aim was to investigate whether people would conform to an obviously incorrect majority.
how many times was the answer wrong
12/18 trials
what were participants asked to do in Milgram’s study
His aim was to investigate whether people would conform to an obviously incorrect majority.
how many participants conformed to the answer given by the confederates on at least one trial.
75%
