Social psychology

Question 1

Minority influence

Answer 1

One person or a small group of people influences the beliefs and behaviour of other people.

Question 2

What type of conformity is minority influence most likely to lead to?

Answer 2

Most likely to lead to internalisation - both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed by the process.

Question 3

Process of minority influence

Answer 3

• If you hear something new, you might think about it.
• Deeper processing
• Snowball effect
• Minority becomes majority
• Social cryptoamnesia

Question 4

Commitment

Answer 4

When minorities engage in extreme activities which are at some risk to them, majority group members pay more attention - the augmentation principle

Question 5

Flexibility

Answer 5

Being extremely consistent can be seen as being rigid. If minority members can adapt their point of view and accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments they are more successful.

Question 6

Consistency

Answer 6

Sticking to an argument

Question 7

Diachronic consistency

Answer 7

Consistency over time

Question 8

Synchronic consistency

Answer 8

Consistency over group

Question 9

Moscovici

Answer 9

Blue/green slides, confederates said green shows importance of consistency.
In 8.42% of trials, participants agreed with minority as opposed to 1.25% when there was no consistency.

Question 10

Nemeth

Answer 10

When a minority compromised and moved towards the majority, the majority compromised also. ski lift and compensation study

Question 11

Wood et al (1994) (evaluation)

Answer 11

Strength of consistency
Wood et al (1994) carried out a meta-analysis of almost 100 similar studies and found that consistency was seen as being the most influential factor

Question 12

Martin et al (2003) (evaluation)

Answer 12

Strength of minority influence
Martin et al (2003) found people were less willing to change their opinions if it was the opinion of a minority than a majority.

Question 13

Tasks (evaluation)

Answer 13

Weakness of minority influence

The tasks are ‘artificial’ and so can’t accurately measure it in real life situations.

Question 14

Real life situations (evaluation)

Answer 14

Weakness of minority influence
Real life social influence situations are more complicated than how they are shown in research studies - the differences between minorities and majorities is far less distinguished.

Question 15

Social change

Answer 15

The process by which attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups are modified.
When a minority changes the view of the majority leading to a change in the law.

Question 16

Process of social change

Answer 16

1. Drawing attention
2. Consistency
3. Deeper processing
4. Augmentation principle
5. Snowball effect
6. Social cryptomnesia

Question 17

Real life (evaluation)

Answer 17

Weakness of social change

Takes a loooooong time

Question 18

Nolan (evaluation)

Answer 18

Strength of social change
Put up loads of signs everywhere - one condition was to stop using energy because others do, the other was to just stop using energy. There was more social change for the first condition.

Question 19

Mackie (1987) (evaluation)

Answer 19

Weakness of social change
Found that majority influence is more influential than minority influence because when the majority disagree, you have to think more about your decisions and opinions

Question 20

Bashir et al (2013) (evaluation)

Answer 20

Strength/weakness of social change
Investigated why people resist social change. They found that their participants would be far less likely to behave in an environmentally friendly way because they didn’t want to be associated with negative connotations e.g. ‘tree hugger’ or, for feminists, ‘man-haters’

Question 21

Lucas et al (2006) (evaluation)

Answer 21

Support for ISI
Asked students to give answers to maths problems that were either easy or hard.
More conformity to incorrect answers when they were hard than when they were easy.

Question 22

Asch (1955) (evaluation)

Answer 22

Weakness of ISI

Found that students were less conformist (28%) than other participants (37%)

Question 23

Asch (1951) (evaluation)

Answer 23

Support for NSI
When Asch repeated the study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them aloud, conformity fell to 12.5%

Question 24

McGhee and Teevan (1967) (evaluation)

Answer 24

Weakness of NSI

Students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform.

Question 25

Child of its time (evaluation)

Answer 25

Criticism of Asch McCarthyism - a time in which Americans were afraid of the red scare and being accused of being communists Less likely to go against majority for fear of accusation.

Question 26

Extraneous variables (evaluation)

Answer 26

Criticism of Asch | If the confederates don't act convincingly, the participant may develop demand characteristics.

Question 27

Ethics and deception (evaluation)

Answer 27

Criticism of Asch | Participant is being deceived which goes against ethical guidelines and therefore means it cannot be replicated.

Question 28

Neto (1995) (evaluation)

Answer 28

Criticism of Asch Only tested men. Neto (1995) found women conformed more.

Question 29

Covert behaviour (evaluation)

Answer 29

Strength of Zimbardo Even when they were unaware they were being watched, they conformed to their roles. One prisoner even asked for 'parole' rather than asking to withdraw from the study.

Question 30

Abu Ghraib (evaluation)

Answer 30

Strength of Zimbardo The Iraqi prisoners were abused and tortured by American soldiers. Situational factors such as lack of training, boredom, and a lack accountability were present in both Abu Ghraib and the SPE.

Question 31

Experimenter involvement (evaluation)

Answer 31

Weakness of Zimbardo He was involved and shouldn't have been. Experimenter bias

Question 32

Ethics (evaluation)

Answer 32

Weakness of Zimbardo | Unethical

Question 33

La Jeu de la Mort (evaluation)

Answer 33

Strength of Milgram | They found 80% of participants delivered the max shock of 460V

Question 34

Hofling et al (1966) (evaluation)

Answer 34

Strength of Milgram | Studied nurses and found obedience was 21/22 of nurses

Question 35

Orne and Holland (1966)

Answer 35

Weakness of Milgram | Argued that they may have been acting in such a way because they worked out it was fake

Question 36

Deception (evaluation)

Answer 36

Weakness of Milgram | The participant was deceived, they were led to believe the person could be done.

Question 37

Kilham and Mann (evaluation)

Answer 37

Strength of legitimacy of authority Found that only 10% of Australians went to the highest voltage. Some cultures are more likely to accept authority than others.

Question 38

Kelman and Hamilton (evaluation)

Answer 38

Strength of legitimacy of authority | Kelman and Hamilton argue that My Lai can be understood by hierarchy in US army

Question 39

Blass and Schmitt (2001) (evaluation)

Answer 39

Strength of agentic state | Blass and Schmitt (2001) found that people who saw Milgram's study blamed the experimenter

Question 40

Individual differences (evaluation)

Answer 40

Weakness of agentic state Alternative reasons why people obey an authority figure. It could be due to authoritarian personality rather than the situation.

Question 41

Greenstein (evaluation)

Answer 41

Weakness of authoritarianism Greenstein describes the f-scale as a comedy of methodology errors, the scale is written in the same direction so you can get a higher score from ticking the same line of boxes

Question 42

Cause and effect (evaluation)

Answer 42

Strength of authoritarianism | The f-scale questionnaire found a significant correlation between obedience and authoritarianism.

Question 43

Nazi Germany (evaluation)

Answer 43

Weakness of authoritarianism It cannot explain obedience in the majority of a country's population e.g. the Nazis, not all of them would have had the same personality type

Question 44

Elms (evaluation)

Answer 44

Strength of authoritarianism Elms conducted a study on participants who had been obedient in Milgram's study. Found high levels of authoritarianism in those who obeyed rather than didn't obey.

Question 45

Holland et al (1967) (evaluation)

Answer 45

Strength of LOC Holland et al (1967) repeated Milgram's study and measured if they were internal or external. 37% of internals didn't continue to 450V, while 23% of externals didn't.

Question 46

Twenge et al (2004) (evaluation)

Answer 46

Weakness of LOC | Twenge et al (2004) analysed the US LOC over 40 years and found there was more resistance but more external LOC

Question 47

Rotter (evaluation)

Answer 47

Weakness of LOC | Rotter said LOC only comes into play in novel situations

Question 48

Methodology of locus of control (evaluation)

Answer 48

Strength of LOC | Can be repeated over cultures and time

Question 49

Allen and Levine (1971) (evaluation)

Answer 49

Strength of social support Found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an Asch-type study. This occurred even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision.

Question 50

Gamson et al (1982) (evaluation)

Answer 50

Strength of social support Found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram. This was most probably because the participants in Gamson's study were in groups. 29 out of 33 groups (88%) rebelled.

Question 51

The Rossenstrasse Protest (evaluation)

Answer 51

Strength of social support In 1943, a group of German women protested against the captivity of 2000 Jewish men, most of which were married to non-Jewish partners. They stood toe-to-toe with Gestapo agents and demanded the release of their husbands and son. Eventually, the Gestapo relented, which shows that social support gave them courage.

Question 52

Allen and Levine (1969) (evaluation)

Answer 52

Strength of social support Studied whether the response position of the person providing the support made a difference. In condition 1, the correct confederate answered first, giving the right answer, ahead of the three other confederates before the participant answered last. In condition 2, the confederate answered 4th. Support was more effective in condition 1, suggesting that a correct first answer produces a commitment to the correct response.

Question 53

What research can you use to support Asch's study?

Answer 53

Lucas et al