Social Psychology

Question 1

Define the term conformity

Answer 1

a change in behaviour due to group pressure

Question 2

What is the type of conformity known as internalisation

Answer 2

when a person genuinely accepts the groups norms

Question 3

What is the type of conformity known as compliance

Answer 3

accepting peoples views in public however in private beliefs remain unchanged

Question 3

What is the type of conformity known as identification

Answer 3

accepting a groups view in public as you like the group and value it ; you want to fit in

Question 3

Define the term informational social influence

Answer 3

the desire to be right. They follow the majority cause they assume that the majority knows what the right thing to do is. This links to internalisation.

Question 3

Define the term anti-conformity

Answer 3

when a person opposes the groups norms

Question 4

Define the term normative social influence

Answer 4

the desire to be liked. Might publicly change their view, but in private views remain unchanged. Links to compliance.

Question 4

Define the term independance

Answer 4

when a person is unresponsive to group norms

Question 5

Define the term nAFFILIATOR

Answer 5

people who have a greater need for social relationships

Question 6

What was the aim of Asch’s experiment

Answer 6

to see if people would conform to the majority when given an unambiguous situation

Question 7

Give me a quick summary of Asch’s experiment

Answer 7

the study consisted of 123 male undergraduates. Each of them were put in a group of 8-10 people and in that group there was only one participant and the rest were confederates.Essenitally they had to match the lines with the same length. At the end of the study it was found out that 75% of participants conformed at least once and 25% did not conform on any trials.

Question 8

Give me an evaluation of Asch’s study

Answer 8

• the study was only conducted by men. The level of conformity might be different if only women conducted the experiment.This is because women tend to be more conformist due to the fact that they are Naffiliators.
• The study was only conducted by people in America the levels of conformity might be different in different cultures.For example, this is because America is a individualistic culutre( they care about themselves more than the social group). Similar conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures (where the social group is more important than the individual) have found that conformity rates are higher. This was concluded by Bond and Smith 1966.
• One strength of Asch’s research is support from other studies for the effects of task difficulty. Todd Lucas in 2006 asked his participants to solve easy and hard maths questions. Participants were given answers from 3 other students ( confederates). The participants conformed more often when the problems were harder. This shows Asch was correct in claiming task difficulty was one of the variables that affects conformity.

Question 9

What change in factors would affect Asch’s study ?

Answer 9

• Unanimity: if you add confederates giving the right answer conformity will decrease as participants will be more confident to give their answer.
• Task Difficulty: if task becomes harder conformity will increase due to Informational Social Influence
• Size of Majority: if group size increases conformity increases however that is only to a certain point after the addition of 3 confederates conformity becomes unchanged

Question 10

What was the aim of the Zimbardo Study?

Answer 10

he wanted to know why prison guards behaved so brutally was it down to their sadistic nature or was it down to their social role of being a guard

Question 11

Give me a quick summary of the Zimbardo Study.

Answer 11

The study was set up in the basement of Stanford University.24 male mentally stable students were randomly chosen to either be a prison guard or a prisoner. They were paid 15$ a day.The study began with the prisoners being arrested at their homes.The prison guards took their role enthusiastically, treating the prisoners harshly. After 2 days the prisoners began to rebel. However after the rebellion the prisoners became anxious and frightened it came to such a bad point that the study was cut short. It was originally supposed to last for 14 days but was cut short on the 6th.

Question 12

Give me an evaluation for the Zimbardo Study.

Answer 12

• he controlled important variables all volunteers were mentally stable and were randomly selected to their social roles.Therfore if the participants behaved differently it had to be down to their role as it was given by chance, therefore increasing the internal validity of the study.
• however the study lacked realism as all participants were merely acting and even one of the prisoners were basing their behaviour of an actor. Therefore if they were acting the results were fake and not a true representation of conformity in an actual prison setting.
• ethical issues: lack of informed consent

Question 13

Define the term obedience

Answer 13

a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.

Question 14

Give me a evaluation of the Milgram study.

Answer 14

• his findings are reliable as a documentary about a reality TV show in France did a replica of the study and the same results occurred.80% conformed and applied a 460 volt shock.
• Milgram’s study was set up in an artificial environment, therefore there is a high chance that their behaviour was fake, therefore so were the results.
• Milgram’s study caused the participants psychological pain as they were made to believe that they actually inflicted a life threatening shock to a person.

Question 15

Give me a quick summary of Milgram’s study?

Answer 15

in this study their were two roles the learner and the teacher. The teacher was always the participant and the learner was always the confederate. Every the time the learner got the question wrong the teacher had to inflict a electric shock and increase by 15V he got a question wrong again, until it reached 450V.At the end of the study Milgram found that all of the participants inflicted a voltage shock of 300V and that 65 % of all the participants reached a maximum voltage of 450 V.

Question 16

What were the different variations in the Milgram study?

Answer 16

• Proximity
• Location
• Uniform

Question 17

Why did obedience decrease when proximity increased?

Answer 17

as the participants were more aware of the harm they were causing to the learner.Obedience rate dropped to 40%.

Question 18

Why did obedience decrease when the location of the study was changed from Yale University to a run-down office block?

Answer 18

because at Yale University it gave Milgram’s study legitimacy and authority, therefore the participants believed that obedience was necessary. The obedience rate changed from 17.5% when the location changed from Yale University to a run-down office block.

Question 19

Why did obedience decrease when the experimenter’s uniform changed from a grey lab coat to ordinary clothes?

Answer 19

this is because uniforms encourage obedience because they are widely regarded as symbols of authority.

Question 20

Give me an evaluation of Milgram obedience variations study.

Answer 20

*external validity as Bickman in 1974 carried out a similar study and similar results were produced. This was a field experiment in New york city and he had 3 confederates dress in diferent outfits: jacket and a tie, a milkman’s outfit and a security guards uniform. The confedertaes indiviudally stood in the street and asked pedestrians to perform tasks such as picking up a coin or a piece of litter. The study showed that people were twice as likely to obey the security guard and than a person dressed in a jacket and tie.

• Milgrams research and findings have been replicated in other cultures.Wim Meeus and Quintin Raaijmakers in 1986 conducted Milgrams research in a similar manner. They told the participants to say stressful things in an interview to someone desperate for a job. 90% obeyed. They also replicated Miglrams findings concerning proximity. When the person giving orders was not present then obedience decreased drastically.

*low internal validity due to the over manipulation of variables some people could have possibly discovered the true motive of the study therefore this would encourage demand characteristics. This is because in one of Milgram’s baseline study the experimenter is replaced by a member of the general public. Proposed by Martin Ore and Charles Holland in 1968

Question 21

What is the agentic state?

Answer 21

this is where we blame the person giving the order of ant negative consequences of our actions

Question 22

What is the autonomous state ?

Answer 22

this is where you feel responsible for your own actions

Question 23

What is the agentic shift?

Answer 23

this is where you switch from the autonomous state to the agentic shift

Question 24

What is a binding factor?

Answer 24

a factor which allows the person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour

Question 25

What did Perrin and Spencer do and what did they find?

Answer 25

They replicated Asch’s experiment. However they used engineering students. From this study they found that there were lower levels of conformity as engineering students work in a field were they have to be accurate and precise therefore they are more confident in themselves.

Question 26

What is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 26

this is where we accept that in society some individuals hold authority or power over us. Many accept this in order to allow society to function adequately.

Question 27

What are the characteristics of someone who has an authoritarian personality ?

Answer 27

• shown an extreme respect for authority
• show contempt for those of inferior social status
• are uncomfortable with uncertainty

Question 28

What are the origins of an authoritarian personality ?

Answer 28

the authoritarian type forms in childhood, mostly as a result of harsh parenting. This parenting style tends to feature strict discipline, absolute loyalty, impossible high standards and severe criticism toward failure.

This then creates anger in a child. The child cannot express these feelings directly onto their parents as they are scared of punishment. So their fears are directed toward others who are seen as weaker, this is known as scapegoating.

Question 29

What was Adorno’s research based on authoritarian personality ?

Answer 29

In 1950 Adorno studied more than 2000 middle class, white Americans and their unconscious view toward other racial groups. The F-scale was the measurement used to measure the authoritarian personality. The study showed that people with authoritarian leanings showed great respect to those of a higher social status and contempt to those of a lower social status. In addition they had black and white thinking and had fixed and distinctive views on other racial groups.

Question 30

What are two explanations for the resistance towards obedience ?

Answer 30

• Social Support
• Locus of control

Question 31

What is social support for the explanation for resisting obedience ?

Answer 31

the pressure to conform/ obey can be resisted if other people present are also not conforming/obeying. This essentially enables the naïve participant to be free to follow their own conscience as the confederate or the person who is also not obeying or conforming acts as a model of independent behaviour.

Question 32

What is Locus of Control as an explanation for resisting obedience ?

Answer 32

this was proposed by Julian Rotter in 1966. And he stated that there are two
types of locus’s of control. Internal and external. Internal LOC is when an individual believes that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves. External LOC is when an individual believes that things that happen to them are outside of their control. People aren’t just internal or external. LOC is a continuum. He also proposed that people with a high LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey. This is because they a person with high LOC takes responsibility for their own actions and behaviours, therefore they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on the opinions of others.

Question 33

Give me an evaluation for social support ?

Answer 33

Strength: there have been studies conduced which prove the positive effects of social support. One study is the one conducted by Susan Albrecht in 2006 who evaluated an 8 week programme to help pregnant teens resist the pressure to smoke. Social support was provided by a slightly older mentor. At the end of the study the teenagers who had a mentor were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group of participants who did not have a mentor.

Question 34

Give me an evaluation for Locus of control ?

Answer 34

Strength: some prior studies support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience. Charles Holland in 1967 repeated Milgram’s baseline study and measure whether participants were internals or externals. He found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level whereas only 23% of externals did not continue to the highest shock level.

Weakness: some prior studies that don’t support the link between LOC and resistance. Jean Twenge in 2004 analysed data from a 40 year old LOC study. The data showed that over the time span people became more resistant to obedience but also more external. This is a surprising outcome. This is because if resistance linked to an internal locus of control, we would expect people to have become more internal.

Question 35

What is minority influence ?

Answer 35

this is where one person or a small group of people influence the beliefs of other people.

Question 36

What are the 3 main processes to minority influence ?

Answer 36

• consistency: they have to be consistent in their views. Synchronic consistency is where all people in the group are all saying the same thing. Diachronic consistency is where the group have been saying the same thing for a while now.
• commitment: minorities will engage in extreme activities to draw attention to their viewers, they have to involve some sort of risk as that will show greater commitment. This is known as the augmentation principle.
• flexibility: this is where the minority group have to accept valid counter arguments and be able to adapt their view. As if they don’t then they will seem rigid and unbending.

Question 37

Give me an evaluation for minority influence ?

Answer 37

Strength: supports the importance of consistency as a process to minority influence. Wendy Wood in 1994 carried out a meta analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that minorities who were seen as being consistent were most influential.

Question 38

What are the 6 stages to achieve social change ?

Answer 38

1) drawing attention: this can include marches, protests etc

2) consistency: being consistent in your views

3) deeper processing: the people who had simply accepted the status quo began to think deeply about the unjustness of it

4)augmentation principle: this is where people underwent extreme actions in order to grab the attention of the wider world and to show the public their commitment to their cause.

5) the snowball effect: this is where more and more people back the minority position

6) social cryptomnesia: this is where people have a memory that a change has occurred but are unsure how the change happened.