topic 1 - social influence Flashcards
(72 cards)
1
Q
what is social influence?
A
process by which our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours are modified by other people as we interact in our social world.
2
Q
describe Jenness (1932) experiment?
A
- psychology students asked to guess number of beans in a jar privately
- then discussed their guesses in groups of 3, before giving a second individual guess
- study showed how group discussions can influence individual opinions
3
Q
what were the results of Jenness’ experiment?
A
- individual guesses shifted towards a group norm conforming to others’ opinions
- as individuals felt others were right and had more knowledge
- demonstrates power of majority influence in shaping individual perceptions
4
Q
describe Asch (1956) study?
A
- 123 male participants told taking part in visual perception task
- each group had 1 real participant and between 7 - 9 confederates
- each participant did 18 trials where were shown 3 lines and an original line, had to state which of 3 lines was closest to original
- in 12 critical trials, confederates all gave same wrong answer
5
Q
results of Asch (1956) study?
A
- 75% of real participants conformed at least once
- in control condition, error rate of only 0.7%
- 26% of real participants never conformed
- average conformity rate for all 12 critical trials was 33.3%
6
Q
what is conformity?
A
when a person changes their thoughts, attitudes, or behaviours in response to the influence of, or imagined peer pressure - also known as majority influence.
7
Q
give some examples of conformity?
A
- clapping
- drinking alcohol
- fashion trends
- cueing
8
Q
what are the 3 types of conformity?
A
compliance, identification, internalisation
9
Q
what is compliance?
A
- the person conforms publicly but continues privately to disagree
- temporary as it lasts as long as group pressure lasts
10
Q
what is identification?
A
- person conforms publicly and privately because they value membership of the group
- temporary as not maintained on leaving the group, conforming to the expectations of what is appropriate behaviour in a particular social role
11
Q
what is internalisation?
A
- person conforms publicly and privately because they have genuinely accepted the views of the majority group
- permanent as continues even when there is no pressure from the group
12
Q
what are the 2 explanations for conformity?
A
normative and informational social influence
13
Q
what is normative social influence?
A
- person conforms as they want to be liked, accepted and respected by majority group, whilst avoiding rejection
- publicly conform, privately disagree, superficial change in behaviour
- quote from Asch’s study “didn’t want to be rejected or ridiculed”
14
Q
what is informational social influence?
A
- unsure of how to behave so look to group for right information and knowledge that they don’t possess
- publicly and privately conform as trust the other people
15
Q
what was Asch’s baseline of conformity to compare variations to?
A
36.8%
16
Q
what happened when Asch varied size of group so there was only 1 confederate?
A
- conformity levels decreased to 4%
- only one person guessing wrong answer so less influenced
17
Q
what happened when Asch varied size of group so they were 15 confederates?
A
- increased as more pressure in group
18
Q
what happened when Asch removed unanimity by introducing confederate who gave correct answer on each trial?
A
- decreased as social support gives more confidence
19
Q
what happened when Asch made task more difficult by making all the comparison lines similar to standard line?
A
- increase due to informational social influence
20
Q
what happened when Perrin and Spencer (1980) replicated Asch’s study using sample of 33 British students from engineering, maths and chemistry courses?
A
- conformity decreased to 0.25%
- simplicity of task meant their high intellectual ability didn’t sway their confidence
21
Q
is conformity a stable phenomenon?
A
- no, so many variables
- age, culture, personality traits, mood, ethnicity, experiences, gender
22
Q
strengths of Asch’s research study?
A
- practical applications - useful in schools (teachers can split students into smaller groups so they feel less pressure to conform)
- reliable - controlled procedure, standardised instructions, unambiguous task, replicable
23
Q
weaknesses of Asch’s research study?
A
- not generalisable - 123 male American students, so very low population validity
- low temporal validity - 1950’s USA was very conservative and anti-communist
- low ecological validity - highly artificial setting (laboratory), insignificant task so participants may have been willing to conform just to save embarrassment
24
Q
what is a social role?
A
the role a person plays in society, which is accompanied by certain expectations of what is deemed appropriate behaviour in that situation
25
what is deindividuation?
when an individual loses their sense of identity and self, they become less self aware
26
participants of Zimbardo (1973) study?
- 24 physically and emotionally stable male undergraduate students
- 12 guards and 12 prisoners - randomly assigned
- Zimbardo played role of superintendent
27
key facts of Zimbardo (1973) study?
- advertised in newspaper and participants payed $15 a day
- prisoners unexpectedly arrested from their homes
- prisoners wore smocks, chain around one ankle, and only referred to by assigned number
- guards wore khaki uniforms and reflective sunglasses, and were given handcuffs
28
procedure of Zimbardo (1973) study?
- mock prison in basement of Stanford University
- guards instructed to run prison without using physical violence
- experiment set to run for 2 weeks
-
29
findings of Zimbardo (1973) study?
- within days prisoners rebelled + guards grew increasingly abusive and aggressive to prisoners
- prisoners would snitch on each other to impress guards
- 1 prisoner had enough and asked to go on parole, instead of to withdraw from study
- 5 prisoners had to be released early because of extreme reactions (crying, rage, anxiety)
- study terminated after 6 days
30
conclusion to Zimbardo's (1973) study?
social roles become increasingly internalised even when role goes against their moral principles
31
strengths of Zimbardo's study?
- participants fully debriefed about aims and results of study - improves ethical acceptability
- real life applications as has changed way US prisons are run - number of ethical issues led to formal recognition of ethical guidelines in prisons
- controlled for extraneous variables, such as criminal records, personality differences, mental health by doing psychological screening of volunteers
- had internal validity - evidence that around 90% of conversations were about prison life
32
weaknesses of Zimbardo's (1973) study?
- participants were aware of experiment, confounding variable as may have changed behaviour due to being observed
- lacks population validity - 24 male American students (US individualist culture)
- unethical - participants not protected from psychological harm and stress, as well as physical harm
33
what is obedience?
when a person acts in a response to a direct explicit order given by another person, who has power or authority
34
aim of Milgram's (1963) study?
to observe whether people would obey a figure of authority when told to harm another person
35
participants for Milgram's (1963) study?
40 randomly selected male volunteers
36
procedure for Milgram's (1963) study?
- a participant given the role of “teacher” and a confederate given role of “learner"
- participant had to ask the confederate a series of questions
- whenever confederate gave wrong answer, the participants had to give them an electric shock, even when no answer was given
- participants thought shocks were real when really there were no real shocks administered and the confederate was acting, the shocks were demonstrated to be real before the start of the study, despite it being confederates acting
- participants assessed on how many volts they were willing to shock the confederate with
37
findings of Milgram's (1963) study?
- all participants went up to 300V and 65% continued to 450V
- no participants stopped below 300V, showing that the vast majority of participants were prepared to give lethal electric shocks to a confederate
38
how did Orne invalidate Milgram's results?
- said that everyone knows that people don't come to harm in psychology experiments
- so participants will have known that the shocks were fake
- this shows low internal validity
39
what are demand characteristics?
features of a study that a participant responds to when searching for clues about how to behave in the study
40
what is the "please-you" and "screw-you" effect?
if participants realise the true aim of the study, or figure out any deception, they may be inclines to act differently to 'please' or 'screw with' the researcher
41
describe the Sheridan and King (1972) study?
- participants asked to give a puppy a real electric shock, increasing in strength, when the puppy made a mistake in a training trick
- participants could see and hear the puppy howling in distress
- 54% of males and 100% of females obeyed and delivered the maximum shock
42
strengths of Milgram's (1963) study?
- volunteers signed up, got paid, and had no physical harm inflicted, plus they were revealed the truth at end, and reassured that their behaviour was normal - improves ethical applicability
- practical applications as hospital staff, police officers and soldiers train to resist obedience + helps resist obedience (Hofling et al (1966))
43
weaknesses of Milgram's (1963) study?
- low ecological validity as task of electrocution is too unrealistic, and was in a laboratory at Yale University
- unethical as caused psychological harm plus they were lied to
- low population validity as 40 American males aged 20-50, unrepresentative sample
44
describe Hofling et al (1966) study?
- 22 female nurses working alone on night shift in hospital
- received phone call from unknown doctor, who was really an experimenter, asking them to administer 20mg of Astroten, a fictional drug which was a placebo
- maximum daily dose was clearly marked on box and was 10mg
- 21/22 nurses obeyed so 95%
- high ecological validity as real employees in real life environment
45
what additional situational variables affecting obedience did Milgram investigate?
proximity, location, uniform, social support, touch proximity
46
Milgram's proximity variable investigation?
- teacher and learner in same room rather than in separate rooms
- obedience rate of 40%
- due to guilt and seeing the consequences of their actions
47
Milgram's location variable investigation?
- study in run down office instead of at Yale university
- obedience rate of 47.5%
- due to less professional setting so less legitimacy
48
Milgram's uniform variable investigation?
- experimenter in uniform was called away on phone call and replaced by confederate in 'ordinary' clothes
- obedience rate of 20%
49
what is an authoritarian personality?
- dispositional explanation of obedience
- person has rigid responses, clear distinction between right and wrong, inflexible opinions
- very conscious of social hierarchy and status, preoccupied with power, very obedient
50
what is authoritarian personality measured by + what is the problem with this?
- the F scale
- may lack validity as no neutral opinion option
- options were set not personal
- people might lie due to embarrassment
51
results of Elms and Milgram (1966)?
- higher levels of authoritarianism among participants classified as obedient than defiant
- consistent differences between obedient and defiant, eg: obedient being less close to fathers in childhood
- correlation not causation so can't establish cause and effect
52
what is the agentic state?
- situational explanation of obedience
- individual no longer feels personal responsibility or guilt for their behaviour
- carry out actions as 'agent' for authority figure whom they have shifted responsibility onto
53
what is the opposite to the agentic state?
- autonomous state of mind
- individual acting on own principles and takes full responsibility for their actions
54
which two studies support explanation of agentic state?
- Blass and Schmitt (2001)
- Hofling et al (1966)
55
describe study of Blass and Schmitt (2001)?
- video of Milgram's study shown to students
- they were asked to identify who they felt was responsible for the harm to their learner
- students blamed the 'experimenter' rather than participant
56
issue with explanation of agentic state?
difficult to establish whether or not somebody has entered the state as people may lie about what they're feeling
57
what is legitimacy of authority?
- amount of social power held by the person giving the order
- as a society we give people the right/power to exercise control over others through a social hierachy
58
a research study that shows legitimacy of authority?
- Milgram's series of obedience experiments
- in particular Milgram's uniform variable experiment
59
what is locus of control?
- dispositional explanation for resistance to social influence
- persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
- measured from high internal to high external
60
difference between internal and external locus of control?
internal = accepting responsibility, more likely to resist social influence
external = blaming on somebody/someone else, more likely to conform
61
what did Holland (1967) study show?
they repeated Milgram's study and found that 37% of internal LOCs disobeyed, compared to 23% of external LOCs
62
how is LOC measured and what's the issue with this?
- LOC questionnaire
- forced choice questionnaire and difficult to understand
63
social support as an explanation for resistance to social influence?
- breaks the unanimity of the majority group
- allows individual to feel more confident in their decisions and more likely to stand up/resist
64
describe Rees and Wallace (2015) study and its findings?
- found that non-drinking adolescents with a majority of drinking friends are less likely to initiate alcohol abuse if they have a minority of non-drinking friends
- the minority of friends that don't drink act as a social support to make them feel less pressure
65
what is an example of social support explaining resistance to social influence?
- Asch's study:
% of conformity when confederates were unanimous = 33%
% when one confederate gave right answer = 5.5%
66
what is minority influence?
- a form of social influence where a minority, sometimes one individual, persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours
- it's due to internalisation as there's no need to fit in with a minority so if we do become influenced, we do because we think they're right, a permanent change in belief
67
what are the three behaviours needed for a minority to be influential?
flexibility, consistency, commitment
68
what is social change?
- occurs when a society as a whole adopts a new belief, attitude or behaviour which then becomes widely accepted as the 'norm'
- occurs at societal level rather than individual
- snowball effect
69
what did Fathers4Justice do?
- raises awareness for rate of single fathers suicide and custody rights for fathers
- sat on top of Tyne bridge - extreme act shows commitment
70
who is a historical example of minority influence?
Rosa Parks
71
describe Moscovici et al (1969) study?
- participants were told it was a colour perception task so were deceived
- there were two conditions - a consistent and an inconsistent minority
- results show people are more likely to succumb to minority influence when they are consistent
- 172 females so low population validity
72
describe Nemeth and Brilmayar (1987) study?
- mock injury on ski lift
- results showed people are more likely to succumb to minority influence if the minority are flexible
