Social Influence-paper 1 Flashcards
(31 cards)
Explain what is meant by internalisation.
Internalisation is where the behaviour or beliefs of the majority is accepted by the individual and becomes part of their own belief system.
It is the most permanent type of conformity and usually lasts even if the majority is no longer present.
Type of conformity most likely to be linked with informational social influence.
Explain what is meant by complience.
Compliance is where an individual changes their behaviours to fit with the group, they may not agree with the beliefs/ behaviours but will go along with it publicly.
It is not permanent and will only continue until the group is no longer present.
Most likely to be linked with normative social influence.
Explain what is meant by identification.
Identification is a moderate type of conformity based on group membership, where an individual changes their behaviour to match the behaviours of the group because they value the groups beliefs and want to be part of it.
However, conformity only lasts as long as the group is present.
Explain what is meat by normative social influence.
An emotional process in which we follow the majority because we want to gain social approval and be accepted. This is based of the desire the be liked.
This is most likely to happen in situations with strangers to avoid rejection and in stressful situations to gain social support.
This is most likely to lead to compliance.
Explain what is meant by informational social influence.
A cognitive process in which we follow the majority as ewe feel it is the correct thing to do and we want to be correct.
This is based on the desire to be right.
This is most likely to occur in ambiguous situations or when someone is regarded as an expert.
This is most likely to lead to internalisation.
Describe Asche’s baseline study and findings into conformity.
123 American male participants, in groups of 6-8 with the rest being confederates. The participants were sat last or next to last and all confederates gave incorrect answers.
Findings: participants agreed with the confederates wrong answers 36.8% of the time.
Describe the effect group size had on Asche’s study into conformity.
Asche varied group size from 0-15 confederates and found that conformity increased with group size up until 3 confederates (rate rose to 31.8%), but more confederates after that made little difference.
This suggests people are sensitive to others view of them as just 1-2 confederates was enough for conformity.
Describe the effect of unanimity had on Asche’s study into conformity.
In the presence of a dissenter, conformity reduced on average to less that a quarter of when there was no dissenter. Conformity reduced when the dissenter gave a right or wrong answer, this enables the naive participant to behave more independently.
Describe the effect of task difficulty on Asche’s study into conformity.
Making the task more difficult by making the lines closer together and closer in length caused conformity to increase as the situation is more ambiguous. This caused the participants to look for guidance and to assume they are right and we are wrong.
This informational social influence plays a greater role when the task is harder.
Discuss limitations of Asche’s study.
Lacks temporal validity; research by Perrin and Spencer repeated Asche’s study in 1980 and found only one instance of conformity. This suggests the findings could be due to society being more conformist in 1950’s USA.
Artificial task; The task was relatively trivial and there was no real reason not to conform. The tasks did not resemble everyday life.
Population validity is an issue; Asche only studied American men. Research by Neto suggested that women might be more likely to conform.
As America is an individualist culture where people are more concerned with themselves rather than their social group. Smith and Bond suggests that conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures (e.g. China) which are more concerned with their social groups than themselves.
Discuss strengths of the Dual Process Theory by Gerald and Deutch.
Research support for NSI; Asche’s study can be used to support NSI as after the study many participants said they chose incorrect answers to gain approval and that they were self concious. When privately writing their answers, conformity dropped to just 12.5%.
Research support for ISI; Lucas et al found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers when the maths questions were more difficult making the answers ambiguous because they did not want to be wrong.
Discuss a limitation of the Dual Process Theory by Gerald and Deutch.
Individual differences in NSI; some people are concerned with being liked by others a study done by McGhee and Teevan found that these people are more likely to conform.
Explain the procedure and aims of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment.
A mock prison was set up in the basement of Stanford University to investigate conformity to social roles.
21 Male volunteers, who were tested as ‘emotionally stable’ were randomly assigned either the role of a prisoner or guard. Both were encouraged to conform to their social role.
Uniform; A prisoner would have a loose smock, a cap and a number they were identified by.
Guards were given uniform, a wooden club, handcuffs and mirror shades. These uniforms were to de-individualise them.
Instructions; prisoners were further encouraged to identify with their role by: having to request parole in order to leave the study early.
The guards were encouraged by bring reminded that they have complete control over the prisoners.
Explain the findings of Zimbardo’s study into conforming to social roles.
The guards played their role enthusiastically, treating the prisoners harshly.
Within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled ripped their uniform and swore at the guards. The guards used ‘divide and rule’ tactics on prisoners. After the rebellion was shut down the prisoners were subdued, depressed and anxious. One participant was released due to signs of psychological disturbance and 2 more were released on day 4 and one prisoner went on hunger strike.
The guards behaviour became more aggressive and increasingly brutal.
The study ended after 6 days instead of 14 days.
Explain how Zimbardo having control over key variables is a strength of his study
Zimbardo used emotionally stable ppts, who were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles, this was in order to eliminate any individual differences. This also avoided any researcher bias, increasing the internal validity of the findings.
Describe how lack of realism is a weakness of Zimbardo’s study.
Research suggests ppts were acting and their performances were based on stereotype of prisoners and guards rather than authentic behaviour. One guard explicitly said they based their role off of a film character. However, Zimbardo’s data showed that 90% o the prisoners conversation was about prison life and one ppt thought the prison was a real prison run by psychologists.
Explain how a lack of research support is a limitation of Zimbardo’s study.
Reicher and Haslam partially replicated the study with different findings; the guards were unwilling to impose authority over the prisoners, who eventually took control over the prison. The researchers used social identity theory to explain their findings. Guards in the replication failed to develop a shared identity as a group, but the prisoners did. They actively identified as a cohesive group and refused to accept the limits of their assigned roles as prisoners.
Describe the effect proximity had on obedience in Milgram’s situational variables study.
Physical closeness between the researcher and the ppt decreased conformity.
62% conformity dropped to 40% when they were in the same room, this further reduced to 30% in the touch condition.
Describe the effects location had on obedience in Milgram’s situational variables study.
Ppts obeyed more when the study was at a prestigious university (Yale), this is because the location demands obedience and may increase the trust that the ppts have in the integrity of the experiment. 65% conformity dropped to 47% in a rundown building.
Describe the effects uniform had on obedience in Milgram’s situational variables study.
People in positions of authority often have specific uniforms which symbolise their authority. This indicates t others that these figures are entitled to expect obedience. In the baseline study the experimenter had a lab coat on and conformity was 65%, however in the uniform condition the experimenter wore regular clothes and conformity dropped to 20%.
Explain why internal validity is a limitation of Milgram’s situational variables study.
Orne and Holland argued hat ppts in Milgram’s original study figured out the study was fake. This is even more likely when Milgram was investigating the situational variables. e.g. when an experimenter was replaced with a ‘member of the public’. However, Milgram argued that in the post- experimental interviews all ppts thought the shocks were real.
Explain why population validity is a strength of Milgram’s situational variables study.
Miranda et al found obedience rates of over 90% amongst Spanish students. Meeus and Raajakers found a obedience rate of 92% in the Netherlands general population. This suggest Milgram’s findings can be valid and generalisable outside of America and also to females.
Explain a counterpoint to Miranda et al’s study which suggests Milgram’s situational variables study has good population validity.
Smith and Bond make the point that most replications have taken place in Western, developed societies, which are not entirely different to America. Furthermore, Kilman and Mann’s replication in Australia yielded much lower rates of obedience, 40% in males 16% in female students. This suggest that different societies follow alternative hierarchical structures and children are likely to socialize differently.
Describe the agentic state as a social-psychological explanation of obedience.
When a person believes that someone else will take responsibility for their actions, and they themselves will no have to.
This happens through an agentic shift from an autonomous state to an agentic state. Therefore, agency theory is the idea that people are more likely to obey when they believe there will be no consequences for their actions.
