Social Influence Evaluations

Question 1

3 Evaluation positives for explanations for conformity and Asch

Answer 1

Asch’s research supports NSI where 75% conformed at least once to avoid rejection

Also supports ISI where task difficulty was increased so participants had to rely on the judgement of others

Limited extraneous variables due to controlled standardised procedures

Question 2

3 Evaluation negatives for explanations for conformity and Asch

Answer 2

Lacks ecological and temporal validity

Lacks mundane realism

All participants were male

Question 3

Evaluation positives (Zimbardo’s 1973 Stanford Prison)

Answer 3

A controlled observation so there was good control of variables

Question 4

3 Evaluation Negatives (Zimbardo’s 1973 Stanford prison experiment)

Answer 4

Artificial environment so the results cannot be generalised to real life scenarios

Unethical: participants found it very distressing

Zimbardo became personally involved, creating an observer bias

Question 5

Positive Evaluations of situational variables and Milgram’s experiment

Answer 5

Milgrams research concluded that agentic state and legitimacy of authority do influence obedience

Standardised procedures enabled replication. Blass found an obedience rate of 65% across 8 countries

Question 6

Negative Evaluations of situational variables and Milgram’s experiment

Answer 6

Milgrams research had methodological flaws and lacked mundane realism and ecological validity

Criticised ethically for causing distress and being deceptive

Question 7

Positive Evaluation (Adorno’s 1950 study of the authoritarian personality)

Answer 7

Elms and Milgram found that participants who scored higher on the F scale had been willing to administer the bigger shocks in Milgram’s experiment.

35% resisted authority figure in Milgrams experiment - willingness to obey varies from person to person

Question 8

Negative Evaluation (Adorno’s 1950 study of the authoritarian personality)

Answer 8

Situational explanations of obedience (agentic state and legitimacy of control) backed up by experimental design (eg Milgram)

Question 9

Locus of Control Evaluations

Answer 9

Spector found people with internal LOC were more able to resist NSI but were just as likely as externals to conform to ISI

Other factors such as social status and anxiety are involved in resistance

Question 10

Evaluations of Resistance to Minority Influence

Answer 10

Moscovici found consistency exerted more influence on a majority

Lacked ecological validity being a laboratory experiment

Cannot generalise results; only women were involved

Question 11

Positive Evaluations of Social Change

Answer 11

Civil rights movements were successful by taking a consistently unified front through non-violent protests

Showed commitment to their ideals through enduring abuse

Led to Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts

Question 12

Negative Evaluations of minority influence

Answer 12

Not all social norms interventions have led to social change- change is slow if at all

Controlled lab experiments that establish cause and effect is not possible for research on social change