Social influence

What was the aim of Asch’s study?

To investigate the extent to which social pressure would lead to conformity in a simple, unambiguous question.

what was Asch’s procedure?

• 123 American male undergraduates   

• Participants asked to look at three lines with differing lengths and compare it to a standard line.  

• The participants had to say out loud which line they thought was the same as the 'standard' line.  

• There was only one real participant, the others were confederates.  

• Asch wanted to see if the participant would conform and give the same incorrect answer.  

• Asch carried out a number of variations in the trial to see which variable had the most significant impact on conformity.  

What were Asch’s findings in the critical trial?

overall= 36.8%

• 25% of participants never conformed in any of the trials  

• 50% conformed 6 or more times out of the 12 critical trials  

• 5% conformed on all 12 critical trials 

what was the conformity in the control condition of Asch’s study?

1% conformity

How did Group size change conformity in Asch’s study?

• Varied the size of the majority from 1 to 13 people.

• When the participant was only faced with one other person (a confederate) they continued to answer independently and correctly in nearly all trials. (only one person answered wrong)  

• When the dissenting majority increased to 2 people, the wrong answers given increased to 13.6% of the time  

• With 3 confederates, the conformity increased to 31.8% 

• Further increases in confederates did not appear increase the pressure to conform, as conformity rates did not increase substantially  

• It was shown that the size of opposition was an important factor in conformity but only up to a certain point

How did unanimity change conformity in Asch’s study? 

• one confederate began to answer correctly 

• Conformity levels dropped significantly  

• Number of wrong answers reduced from 33% to 5.5% 

• Conformity rates also dropped to 9% when one confederate would give a false answer that was different to what the majority confederates were saying.  

How did task difficulty change conformity in Asch’s study?

• The differences in the length of the lines reduced- so the answer is less obvious 

• The level of conformity increased.  

• Likely due to informational social influence, as the task was difficult they looked to others for guidance and assumed they were more knowledgeable. 

Describe how the time period this study was done in could have had an impact

• 1956 when the study was done, the USA was in a strong anti-communist period, this led people to be scared to go against the majority- so were more likely to conform 

• Perrin and Spencer repeated Asch's study in England. - they obtained on one conforming response out of 396 trials 

• This shows that if there is a high risk of not conforming, the conformity rates increase. - shown by the risks of not conforming in America in the anti-communist period 

How could unconvincing confederate impact conformity in Asch’s study? 

• it was difficult for the confederates to convincingly give their wrong answer.  

• This was overcame by having each participant wear glasses with polarising filters.  

• Three participants wore identical glasses and a forth wore a different pair with a different filter.  

• Each participant saw the same stimuli (the lines), but the participant with different glasses saw the stimuli slightly differently, causing them to see a different line as matching the standard line.  

• For female participants, the results closely matched the original results of Asch's study.  

• This suggests that Asch's results were valid as the confederates acted convincingly.  

 

What is compliance?

• Individuals going along with the group to gain social approval and avoid disapproval  

• Adjusting actions to fit in with the majority- temporary  

• Superficial  

• Only changes public behaviour and views, does not change their real attitude  

what is internalisation?

• Acceptance of the views of the group  

• Examines their own beliefs in comparison with the majority to see if they are right  

• Likely if the group is trustworthy  

• Truly believes their opinion  

• Can lead to adoption of the groups view publicly and privately  

what is the relationship between compliance and internalisation? 

• Assumed that someone agreeing with behaviour in public but then disagreeing in private is demonstrating compliance- but it is possible that behaviour could dissipate when in private 

• May have forgotten info, or found new info that changes their opinion  

• This demonstrates the difficulty of determining if something is compliance or internalisation 

what is normative social influence?

• Aim is to gain approval  

• Individual must believe they are under surveillance from the group  

• Conform in public but do not internalise the viewpoint in a private setting

what is the research support for normative social influence?

• Linkenbach and Perkins -> adolescents exposed to the message that most people didn’t smoke were less likely to take up smoking  

 

• Schultz-> found that when hotel guests were told that 75% of other guests reused their towel every day, they reused their own towels by 25%  

 

Support the claim that people shape their behaviour with a desire to fit in.  

May not be detected  

what is informational social influence?

• Individual accepts info from majority as evidence about reality  

• Likely if the situation is ambiguous- difficult and believing the majority is more knowledgeable  

• Changes public and private behaviour (example of internalisation)  

what is the research support for informational social influence?

• Sherman- investigated the 'power of like' - developed a simulation of Instagram 

• Participants were more likely to like images that already had likes 

• Even photos displaying risky behaviour- e.g. smoking and drinks- was associated with greater reward processing in the brain  

• Sherman suggested that peer endorsement of behaviour allows individuals to choose if they deem behaviour appropriate or not  

 

Doesn’t fully account for individual differences in conformity- the extent to which people rely on others for information is not set.  

what is social influence?

the process by which peoples attitudes, beliefs or behaviours are modified by the presence or action of others

what was Milgram’s aim? 

• to assess what extent people will obey authority 

What was milgram’s procedure?

• Baseline study 

• 1963 

• 40 participants  

• Participants were told the study was on how punishment affects learning  

• In each experiment there would be one confederate who would act like they were being shocked, and one participant who believed they were administering the shocks  

• The 'teacher' (participant) believed they were testing the 'learner' on their ability to remember word pairs  

• Every time the learner got the answer wrong the participant was required to give a strong electric shock  

• 15-450 volts  

• The learner would then proceed to not give any answers after 315 volts  

• After this point the teacher would be told that it is essential for them to continue with the experiment  

What was Milgram’s findings?

65% of participants continued to the maximum shock level- despite there being a label on the maximum voltage button saying "danger- severe shock"  

What were the problems with Milgram’s study? 

• The participants were largely deceived by the activity  

• The participants had psychological harm after the experiment due to believing they were causing the learner harm  

• They were not told about their right to withdraw from the experiment and instead they were coerced into staying  

How did Milgram study proximities effect on obedience? 

• teacher and learner in the same room→ obedience levels fell to 40%, stronger emotional connection to pain

• teacher placing hand on shock plate→ 30% obedience, feels responsible for pain 

• experimenter in the same room as the teacher→ when they left= 21% obedience, disconnect led them to be more willing to disobey 

How did Milgram investigate locations effect on obedience?

• from a prestigious location→ run down office

• obedience rates dropped to 48% in the run down office

• less respect of authority and less confidence in the researchers integrity

How did Milgram investigate the power of uniforms effect on obedience?

• wearing a white coat and then ordinary clothes

• 65% with a lab coat

• 20% in ordinary clothes

• symbol of authority increases the legitimacy of the research

What is an agentic state

• a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.

• this frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure

what is an autonomous state

• independant

• the opposite of being in an agentic state

• control over behaviour→ acting for yourself

what is legitimacy of authority

• an explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us

• authority figures likely have the power to punish

• authority is justified by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy

give an evaluative point that goes against the agentic state

• The German Reserve Battalion 101

• soldiers obeyed orders to shoot civilians in a small town

• soldiers did not have direct orders to do so- were told they could be assigned to other duties if they wanted to

• represented an autonomous state

give an evaluative point that supports the agentic state

• Milgram’s study

• participants were told that the responsibility was on the experimenter and not them

• obeyed orders as they didn’t feel the moral strain 

give an evaluative point that supports the agentic state

• My Lai massacre

• soldiers believed they were following orders from their high commanders

• killed many civilians 

• soldiers felt the responsibility was on the commanding officers

give a supportive evaluative point for legitimacy of authority

• Milgram’s study showed that when the experimenter wore a lab coat, obedience increased

• prestigious location- obedience increased

• shows that when the authority is deemed as more legitimate, there is higher obedience

give an evaluative point that goes against legitimacy of authority

• the theory doesn’t explain why some people obey authority and others resist even if the legitimacy is the same

• obedience can occur without a clear authority figure

• not a complete explanation- must be combined with other factors such as personality and situational forces

give another evaluative point that supports legitimacy of authority

• real world applications→ e.g. the holocaust

• legitimacy of Hitler as the authority figure