social influence - obedience and conformity

Question 1

what is social influence?

Answer 1

“process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people”

Question 2

what is implied presence?

Answer 2

because people through agency of society have constructed norms that dictate appropriate behaviours in a certain audience

these norms imply an audience

Question 3

what are social norms?

Answer 3

“rules and standards that are understood by members of a group and that guide and/or constrain social behaviour without the force of laws. These norms emerge out of interaction with others; they may or may not be stated explicitly, and any sanctions for deviating from them come from social networks, not the legal system”

Question 4

who investigated norm development and when?

Answer 4

Sherif

1936

Question 5

what did Sherif (1936) say about norm development?

Answer 5

social norms emerge to guide behaviour in conditions of uncertainty - condition ambiguous

Question 6

how did Sherif (1936) investigate norm development?

Answer 6

autokinetic effect (point of light appears to move)

asked how far light moved

judgements alone or in groups of 2/3

use judgements of others as frame of reference

converge away from individual to common standard - group norm

once norm developed, when asked individually, used group norm - internalised

Question 7

what is conformity?

Answer 7

tendency to change opinions, behaviours, attitudes to be like group norms

Question 8

who investigated conformity and when?

Answer 8

Asch

1951

Question 9

what did Asch (1951) say about conformity?

Answer 9

rational process

people construct norms from others’ behaviour to determine appropriate behaviour

Question 10

how did Asch (1951) investigate conformity?

Answer 10

line study - visual discrimination task

between 7-9 people

which of 3 comparison lines is same length as first line?

18 trials

only one real participant - everyone else was confederate

unanimously gave wrong answer in 12 trials

average conformity = 33%

Question 11

why did people conform in Asch’s (1951) experiment?

Answer 11

self-doubt

self-conscious

fear of social disapproval

Question 12

what happened to conformity when judgements were anonymous (Asch, 1951)?

Answer 12

conformity dropped to 12.5%

Question 13

who investigated informational and normative influence and when?

Answer 13

Deutsch and Gerard

1955

Question 14

what is informational influence?

Answer 14

ambiguous/uncertain situation

need to feel confident our perceptions/beliefs/feelings correct

influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality

true cognitive change

Question 15

what did Sherif’s study show about informational influence?

Answer 15

ambiguous

uncertainty

use others’ estimates as information to resolve subjective uncertainty

Question 16

what is normative influence?

Answer 16

need for social approval and acceptance

avoid disapproval

surface compliance - change publicly, not privately

Question 17

what did Asch’s study shown about normative influence?

Answer 17

unambiguous

go along with group, especially when under surveillance

Question 18

who investigated minority influence?

Answer 18

Moscovici

Question 19

what is minority influence?

Answer 19

“social influence processes whereby numerical or power minorities change the attitudes of the majority”

Question 20

when is minority influence effective?

Answer 20

consistent

not rigid

committed

Question 21

what processes do majorities use to influence?

Answer 21

public compliance via social comparison

Question 22

what processes do minorities use to influence?

Answer 22

indirect, private change in opinion

conversion effect as a consequence of active consideration of minority point of view - augmentation process

Question 23

what is obedience?

Answer 23

following the demands of someone who is higher in the social hierarchy than oneself, someone that is considered to be an authority figure or someone who has power over us

Question 24

who investigated obedience and when?

Answer 24

Milgram

1963

Question 25

what is agentic state?

Answer 25

mentally absolve of own responsibility and transfer responsibility over to person giving order frame of mind that characterises unquestioning obedience

Question 26

what was Milgram's (1963) study into obedience?

Answer 26

electric shocks to confederate in mock learning study people socialised to respect authority of state

Question 27

what was the procedure of Milgram's (1963) study?

Answer 27

recruited participants from community using adverts take part in experiment that they thought was looking at effects of punishment on learning in a laboratory at Yale University amount of electric shocks that a participant is willing to administer to another person when ordered by the experimenter to given an individual, increasingly more severe participant was a teacher (real participant) and learner (confederate) following instructions of experimenter participants told randomly assigned to one of roles (teacher or learner) but were always given teacher told to teach learner list of paired associates, test learner on list and give shocks when make mistake learner was seen being strapped to a chair in adjacent room and learner said they had a heart condition shock generator had descriptive labels incorrect answer = shock (increase by 15V)

Question 28

what happened at the different shock levels in Milgram's (1963) experiment?

Answer 28

75V - learner grunted in pain 125V - learner shouted to experimenter that shocks were becoming painful 150V - learner demanded to be released from experiment 300V - learner stopped responding

Question 29

what prods did the experimenter give the teacher if the participant was hesitating?

Answer 29

"please continue" "the experiment requires you to continue" "it is absolutely essential that you continue" "you have no choice, you must go on"

Question 30

what were the results of Milgram's (1963) experiment?

Answer 30

80% went past 150V 62.5% went to 450V (all the way)

Question 31

what factors influence obedience?

Answer 31

gradual change and commitment immediacy of victim immediacy of authority figure legitimacy of authority figure

Question 32

how does gradual change and commitment influence obedience?

Answer 32

participants committed to course of action difficult to change mind during experiment

Question 33

how does immediacy of victim influence obedience?

Answer 33

as immediacy increased, obedience decreased how close or obvious victim is when individual unseen and unheard by participant = 65% provided shocks to 450V when learner visible in same room, 40% obeyed to 450V obedience dropped further when teacher had to put victim's hand on electrode (30%) prevent dehumanisation of victim

Question 34

how does immediacy of authority figure influence obedience?

Answer 34

obedience decreased when experimenter not in room and directions given by telephone when experimenter not in room and directions given by telephone, obedience decreased to 20.5%

Question 35

how does legitimacy of authority figure influence obedience?

Answer 35

lab coated experiment = Yale University reduction when experiment was conducted in industrial setting (48%) allows people to abdicate personal responsibility

Question 36

what were the ethical issues with Milgram's (1963) study?

Answer 36

is research important? (objectivity) is participant free to terminate the experiment? (but purpose of study was to persuade to carry on) does the participant freely consent to take part? (fully informed consent vs deception)