Unit 2 - Social Influence

Question 1

What is Conformity?

Answer 1

Effect of real or unseen group pressure.

Question 2

Group Size affecting Conformity

Answer 2

When there was 2 confederates 13.6% of participants conformed, when there was 3 confederates 31.8% of participants conformed.

Weakness= if the answer is obvious then people will conform less and will not depend on the group size.

Question 3

Anonymity affecting Conformity

Answer 3

When you write your answer anonymously then Conformity decreases.

Weakness= another research showed that being a friend or a stranger from the other people determined on wether you conformed or not without anonymity affecting.

Question 4

Task Difficulty affecting Conformity

Answer 4

Making the task higher increases Conformity.

Weakness= expert people will still not conform when the answer is harder

Question 5

Personality affecting Conformity

Answer 5

Internal locus of control= less Conformity
External locus of control= more Conformity

Weakness= locus of control is not that important in familiar situations, when your Behavior is determined on how you acted in the past.

Question 6

Expertise affecting Conformity

Answer 6

When you have more knowledge about the task you will conform less.

Weakness= people might conform to be liked.

Question 7

Conformity- Asch’s Study

Answer 7

Aim: investigate pressure in a situation in which the answer is clear.

Method: 123 American men, 2 cards: 1 with 1 standard line and 1 with 3 comparison lines, 12 times confederates gave the wrong answer.

Result: participants conformed 1/3 times and never conformed in 25% of times.

Conclusion: people are influenced by group pressure.

Question 8

What is Obedience?

Answer 8

It is the response to a direct order from an authority figure.

Question 9

Agency affecting Obedience

Answer 9

Being in an agentic state means you follow orders without responsibility.

Weakness= people may have not thought that shocks were real.

Question 10

Authority affecting Obedience

Answer 10

When the authority is a high authority figure, Obedience increases.

Question 11

Culture affecting obedience

Answer 11

Depending on were you are from you will conform less or more.

Weakness= people from countries which are supposed to be really obedient can not be obedient.

Question 12

Proximity affecting Obedience

Answer 12

When the authority figure is nearer to the participant Conformity increases and when the participant is nearer to the victim then Conformity decreases

Weakness= if a child tells you to give him 5$ near to you and his mum tells you not to do it form a long distance you will obey the mother.

Question 13

Authoritarian personality affecting Obedience.

Answer 13

People with authoritarian personality conform more.

Weakness= the test was based on a flawed questionnaire.

Question 14

Cognitive Style affecting Obedience.

Answer 14

When people have a black or white way of thinking, things are bad or wrong and follow all stereotypes they are more likely to obey.

Question 15

Childhood affecting Obedience.

Answer 15

When you have had a strict childhood with high standards of success you have more chances of having authoritarian personality.

Question 16

Scapegoating affecting Obedience

Answer 16

When you feel angry to your parents for being too strict and put it into people who are socially inferior.

Question 17

Obedience- Milgram’s Study

Answer 17

Aim: investigate if Germans are different in obedience.

Method: 40 male participants, that are ‘teachers’ who will give a shock to the learner each time he gives a wrong answer.

Result:
people who stoped=
Below 300 volts= 0
Up to 450 volts(end)= 65%

Conclusion: obedience is more related to social than Dispositional factors.

Weakness= Milgram made an experiment with people who followed orders till the end on his experiment and noticed that they gave positive on F-scale.

Question 18

What is Prosocial Behaviour?

Answer 18

behavior which benefits others and may not benefit you.

Question 19

Presence of others affecting Prosocial behavior.

Answer 19

The more people present the less prosocial behavior, Latané found that 85% people helped when alone but only 31% people with 4 others helped.

Weakness= it also depends on the situation

Question 20

Cost of helping affecting prosocial behavior

Answer 20

When you are in danger of loosing something you help less

Weakness= the interpretation of the situation is really important.

Question 21

Similarity to victim affecting Prosocial behavior

Answer 21

When the victim has something in common to you, you will help more.

Weakness= when helping costs you more you will not help

Question 22

Expertise affecting Prosocial behavior

Answer 22

When you are an expert you will help more because you know more things so you can help more

Weakness= people from different cultures act different.

Question 23

Prosocial behavior- Piliavin’s Subway study

Answer 23

Aim: investigate if the characteristic of the victim affects Prosocial behavior

Method: male confederate fell on the subway, 103 times being ‘drunk’ or ‘disabled’

Result= when disabled 95% helped, when drunk only 50% helped. Help was equally likely in empty or full carriages.

Conclusion= characteristics of the victim affect help, situation does not.

Strength=
real situation so real behavior
Qualitative data gives lots of detail about results

Weakness=
natural environment so lots of EVs
Only people from the city

Question 24

What is Crowd and Collective behavior?

Answer 24

Behaving differently when you are with a group of people than when you are alone.

Question 25

Deindividuation affecting Crowd and Collective Behavior

Answer 25

When you loose your identity and sense of responsibility in the group.

Weakness= being forced to be with others can be unpleasant so it can explain antisocial behavior.

Question 26

Social Loafing affecting Crowd and Collective Behavior

Answer 26

You put in less effort because your personal work cannot be identified.

Weakness= it also depends on the task, in creative tasks people produce more.

Question 27

Culture affecting Crowd and Collective Behavior

Answer 27

If you are from a collectivist country you will work well in a team, if you are from a individualist country you will work worst in a team

Weakness= harder to make predictions if people belong to 2 different cultures.

Question 28

Personality affecting Crowd and Collective Behavior

Answer 28

People with external locus of control are more influenced by Crowd behavior

Weakness= in another experiment personality made no difference

Question 29

Morality affecting Crowd and Collective Behavior

Answer 29

Strong sense of right or wrong makes you resist pressure from group norms

Question 30

Deindividuation- Zimbardo’s Study

Answer 30

Aim: study effects of loss of individual identity

Method: female participants told to give electric shocks either wearing normal clothes and name tags or a large coat and a hood.

Result: people with the coat pressed the button twice as long.

Conclusion: anonymity increases aggression