Conformity & Obedience

Conformity

adjusting our behavior to coincide with a group standard

Social Norms

rules for accepted and expected behaviors

• presented undergraduate subjects with a standard line and then asked to select line identical to it

• other participants were actors who had been told to identify the wrong line to the identical standard

What was Solomon Asch’s Line Study?

pressure to agree with others was enough to convince 75% of subjects to pick the wrong line at least once in 12 trials

What were the results to Solomon Asch’s Line Study?

• conform when incompetent/insecure

• at least 3 other people

• everyone else agrees

• admire group’s attractiveness/status

• haven’t yet committed to response

• others in group observing us

What did the Solomon Asch’s Line Study show?

Conditions that influence conformity

• Size of group: at least 3 other people

• Status of Group: everyone agrees

• Observation of Group: admire group’s attractiveness or status

• Unanimity of Group: haven’t yet committed to a response, know others are observing us

Normative Social Influence

conform to social norms because we know the social price for not conforming to them

• conforms to fit in/be liked

Informational Social Influence

conform because sometimes people know things we don’t

• operate in unfamiliar situations

Obedience

change in behavior in response to a command from someone in a position of authority

• wanted to find out whether ordinary people would commit atrocities under authority’s orders

• subjects punished learner/actor for wrong answers using escalating series of fake shocks to 450 volts

• learner/actor would scream & beg experiment to end and become non-responsive

• if teacher/subject hesitated, experimenter would encourage them to continue

What was Stanley Milgram’s Shock Experiment?

60% went all the way up to 450 volts

What were the results of Stanley Milgram’s Shock Experiment?

obey authority figure and override own moral objections

What did Stanley Milgram’s Shock Experiment show?

• if realized shock were fake → went up to 450

• all protested, convince 30% to continue

• measuring obedience or trust in authority

• many were not fully debriefed

• subjects that were debriefed felt extreme stress

What are some criticisms of Stanley Milgram’s Shock Experiment?

Factors that influence obediance

• if person giving orders is close at hand & perceived as legitimate authority

• if authority figure is supported by prestigious institute

• if victim is depersonalized or at a distance

• if there are no role models for defiance

Deindividuation

loss of self-awareness and restraint that can occur in group situations

• created makeshift prison in a basement at Stanford

• randomly assigned student volunteers as guards or prisoners

• given no directions on behavior

• any behavior emerged would be spontaneous

What was Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

• quick rebellion → guards responded be being more abusive

• prisoners broke down and released

• experimenter ended early

What were the results of Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

• humans are extremely susceptible to the power of a situation

• power of social roles

• play part they are assigned

What did Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment show?

Social Roles

the socially defined patterns of behavior that are expected

• Guards were coached to behave cruelly

• participants predicted the experiment and acted differently to give researchers what they want

• knew it wasn’t a real prison → difficult to tell difference between real and role play

• participants answered an ad, so it attracted personalities predisposed to tole of abusive prison guard

What are some criticisms of Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?