Psychology - social influence

Why are people less likely to conform if they give their answers in private?

Anonymity reduces the desire to conform because others are not aware of this non-conformity.

Your maths teacher asks the class a difficult maths question. Susan (who is good at maths) gives an answer you know is wrong but when the teacher asks another student they give the same wrong answer. When it comes to your turn, you give the same wrong answer as Susan. Using your knowledge of conformity, explain why you gave the wrong answer. [4]

Susan is known for her skill and so you are surprised that she gave a wrong answer [1]. When the 2nd student is asked and also gives the wrong answer you assume that you are wrong [1]. rather than look stupid or incompetent you conform to the group norm [1] even though you know the answer to be incorrect [1].

Describe the procedure of Asch’s line study. [6]

Participants were first asked to look at a ‘target line’ drawn on a card [1]. They then had to compare it to three lines drawn on another card and say which one was the same length as the target line [1]. Two of the lines were obviously wrong and one was obviously right [1]. Only one of the participants was genuine - the others were confederates who gave the wrong answer [1]. The genuine participant was usually one of the last to give their answer [1] so that they could hear the answers given by the confederates [1].

The participants in the Asch study often displayed stress reactions as they struggled to decide what answer they were going to give. Why is this a weakness of the study?

Researchers have to abide by ethical guidelines, that includes a duty of care to their participants shouldn’t be put under undue stress.

What was the advantage of carrying out Asch’s line study in a laboratory setting?

In a laboratory setting, variables can be controlled.

What was the conclusion of Asch’s line study?

Participants often conformed to the group’s answers even though they were obviously wrong.

A researcher ran an experiment about obedience. An actor asked people to pick up litter in a park; in Condition A the actor wore a uniform and in Condition B the actor wore casual clothes. Levels of obedience were higher in Condition A than Condition B. Why? [2]

In Condition A the level of obedience because the actor wore a uniform [1]. Wearing a uniform suggests legitimate authority [1].

In Milgram’s experiment, levels of obedience were higher when the study was conducted at a university rather than a venue in town. Why might this be?

The university is seen as having a higher status than the venue in town, and therefore is seen as more legitimate and important.

What did Milgram discover about proximity?

Proximity influences levels of obedience - when participants could see their victims, obedience levels fell.

Describe what Milgram discover about proximity?

When people are in an agentic state they allow other people to direct their actions. Their actions are attributed to the person giving the instruction and not the responsibility of the person carrying out the instruction.

What does the F-scale measure?

Authoritarian personality.

What did Elms and Milgram discover about the link between authoritarian personality and obedience?

They discovered a correlation between obedience and personality type.

Outline what is meant by the term bystander behaviour.

How a person acts when they witness an emergency.

Identify one factor that can influence bystander behaviour.

Any one from:

Similarity to victim (e.g. race, gender)

Number of people present

Low cost of helping

Describe the procedure of Piliavin’s subway study into bystander behaviour. [4]

Piliavin (1969) investigated bystander behaviour on the New York subway. Students acted out a scene where one of them, the ‘victim’ collapsed on a subway train [1]. The ‘victim’ was sometimes black and sometimes white, acted drunk, used a cane or appeared ill [1]. In some versions, one of the team would go and help the victim [1]. Two other members of the team observed the reactions of the other passengers on the train [1].

Describe one study that investigated deindividuation. [4]

Zimbardo (1963) replicated Milgram’s electric shock study [1], but participants either a name badge or a hood that concealed their faces [1]. Those wearing the hoods gave more shocks than those with name badges [1], supporting the idea of deindividuation [1].

Deindividuation is universal. What is meant by this?

Deindividuation is universal. What is meant by this?

Describe what Asch discovered in his study on conformity.

People are more likely to give the obviously wrong answer to a question if the majority also give the same wrong answer, but levels of conformity.

Explain why the presence of an ally might reduce levels of conformity.

Lack of unanimity reduces chances of the participant succumbing to normative conformity (seeking the approval of the group).

What did Asch discover about the size of the majority in his study?

The more confederates who made incorrect judgements, the more likely the participant was to conform.

Name one other factor that might affect the levels of conformity.

Any one from:

Anonymity

Task difficulty

How did Asch use deception in his study?

He made the participants believe that all the people in the experiment were volunteers when, in fact they were confederates of the experimenter and were told to give an incorrect answer.

Name one from strength of Asch’s study into conformity.

The study was highly controlled and therefore able to establish a very clear pattern of conformity by most of the participants on one or more of the trials.

Or results have been replicated several times so the study is reliable.

Name one weakness of Asch’s study into conformity.

The study can be criticised on ethical grounds because the participants often displayed stress reactions as they struggled to decide what answer they were going to give.

Or the study was carried out in a lab in order to control variables, so we cannot be sure that the behaviour displayed is typical of that seen in real life.

How does obedience differ from conformity?

Conformity involves changing you behaviour in order to be accepted by the majority, whereas obedience refers to responding as directed to an order being given by an authority figure.

What was the aim of Milgram’s study? [2]

To see how far people would go in obeying an instruction from an authority figure [1], even if it involved harming another person [1].

Name two factors affecting obedience.

Any two from:

Proximity

Symbols of authority (e.g. white lab coat)

Agency

Culture

Status of situation

Describe one factor that might lead to someone developing an authoritarian personality.

Influence from authoritarian parents.

Name one weakness of the F-scale.

Easily manipulated.

Or can be explained in terms of educational level.

Why can’t we be sure that an authoritarian personality is the cause of high levels of obedience in some people?

Because the study is correlational - it could be that a tendency towards obedience caused people to be more authoritarian. We cannot establish cause-and-effect.

Thomas is doing his Christmas shopping. The town is really busy and he sees a man fall over in the street. Nobody tries to help him or ask him if he’s okay. Thomas wonders why this might be, especially because there are so many people about. Thomas doesn’t stop to help.

a) Explain to Thomas, using your knowledge of psychology, why nobody is stopping to help the man.

b) Under what circumstances might this have been different?

a) This behaviour can be explained using the theory of diffusion of responsibility. The more people witness an emergency, the less responsible for helping they feel.

b) If Thomas had been on his own when the man fell, he would have felt more responsible and would have been more likely to help.

In the subway Samaritan study, who were people more likely to help?

People who appeared ill or less able to help themselves, such as a person using a walking stick.

Why might trick or treaters get more sweets on Halloween if their faces are covered?

Anonymity increases feelings of deindividuation and leads people to acting more confidently.

a) Using your knowledge of crowd psychology, explain why violence often occurs at football matches.

b) How could we reduce violence at football matches?

c) Referring to your answer in b) why might this strategy work?

a) When people find themselves in crowds they begin to lose their sense of individuality (deindividuation). When we are a member of a crowd we also feel more anonymous and are more likely to do things against our personal beliefs, such as becoming involved in acts of aggression.

b) Install CCTV cameras, remove or restrict access to alcohol

c) Using CCTV decreases the feeling of anonymity, individuals know they might get caught and punished for their actions.