The Effect of Dispositional factors on behaviour Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is conformity?
Conformity occurs when a person changes their attitudes and behaviour to align with the beliefs or behaviour of a larger group.
What is majority influence?
Majority influence refers to the effect that the beliefs or behaviors of a larger group have on an individual’s actions.
What is the difference between compliance and internalisation?
Compliance is conforming to gain approval while privately disagreeing, whereas internalisation involves genuinely accepting the majority’s opinion as one’s own.
What was the aim of Asch’s (1951) experiment?
Asch aimed to demonstrate how individuals conform to group pressure, even when the group is clearly wrong.
.
What were the findings of Asch’s conformity experiment?
Participants often complied with the majority view, giving incorrect answers to avoid disapproval, despite the correct answer being obvious.
What is deindividuation?
Deindividuation is a psychological state where individuals in a crowd lose self-awareness and take on the collective mindset, leading to lowered inhibitions.
How does crowd behaviour affect individual thinking?:
Individuals become anonymous in crowds, leading to a collective mindset rather than individual thought processes
How do individualistic cultures differ from collectivist cultures in terms of behaviour?
Individualistic cultures tend to focus on personal goals and are often more anti-social, while collectivist cultures prioritise group needs and are generally more pro-social.
What did Whiting and Whiting (1975) find about altruism in children from different cultures?
They found that children from less industrialized (collectivist) cultures were more altruistic than those from industrialized (individualistic) cultures.
What example illustrates the variation in pro-social behaviour within collectivist cultures?
American-Indian cultures show hospitality to strangers, while the Ik tribe in Africa exhibits extreme anti-social behaviour due to survival pressures.
What factors influence obedience to authority figures?
Factors include the authority figure’s appearance (e.g., wearing a uniform) and the setting in which the orders are given.
What was the key finding of Milgram’s (1963) obedience study?
Milgram found that 65% of participants obeyed orders to administer what they believed were fatal electric shocks to another person.
What situational factors contributed to obedience in Milgram’s study?
The study’s setting at a prestigious university and the experimenter’s white coat, which conveyed legitimacy, contributed to obedience.
What is the agentic state as described by Milgram?
The agentic state is when individuals see themselves as agents executing orders from an authority figure, relieving them of personal responsibility.
What support did Bickman (1974) provide for situational explanations of obedience?
Bickman found that individuals were more likely to obey orders when given by someone in a uniform, indicating the importance of perceived legitimacy.
What is a criticism of the situational factors explanation of behaviour?
It is criticised for downplaying the role of free will, as individuals can exhibit independent behaviour regardless of situational factors.
How does the social context influence conformity?
The social context, including group size and perceived authority, can significantly impact an individual’s likelihood to conform.
What role does peer pressure play in conformity?
Peer pressure can strongly influence individuals to conform, often leading them to change their behaviors to fit in with the group.
How can understanding situational factors help in addressing anti-social behavior?
By recognizing the influence of social contexts, interventions can be designed to reduce negative behaviors by altering the environment.
What implications does the study of situational factors have for understanding human behavior?
It suggests that behavior can be heavily influenced by external circumstances, highlighting the importance of social environments in shaping actions.
