Psychology- Social Influence

Define Conformity and Obedience

Conformity- Person’s behaviour or thinking changing as a result of social influence (Not always explicit)

Obedience- Person acting in response to direct orders from an “authority figure”

Describe Asch’s line study

123 Male college students. Ppts placed in groups with confed. Each group shown 2 card (one with 1 line and one with 3) Ppts identify which of 3 lines matches length of single line. Ppts took part in 18 trials, 12 of which confeds. gave wrong answers

Ppts conformed to incorrect majority 37% of time
75% conformed at least once, 5% conformed on all trials

Strong tendency for ppl to conform to majority even when incorrect. Powerful influence of social pressure on individual judgement

Evaluate Asch’s line study

+ Good reliability due to repeated measures with many ppts
+ Good internal validity as high control
- Low population validity- 123 Male college US students
- Low ecological validity- Artificial setting

Describe Milgram’s electric shock study

40 paid males, ppt is teacher and confed. student. Ppt felt electric shock of 30V then student attached to electrode in separate room. Ppt gave increasing electric shock each time for each mistake. Learner gave wrong answer each time to see how far ppt would go. Ppt told could leave whenever but researcher used verbal prompts to make ppt to continue. Use of verbal prompts stopped after 300V to see how far ppt would go without prompts

100% Continued to 300V
65% continued up to 450V (last shock)

Obedience related to social factors more than dispositional- Location, situation etc.

Evaluate Milgram’s electric shock study

- Low population validity (40 middle aged men)- Not sure if conclusions apply to everyone
- Low mundane realism- weird situation, conclusions may not apply to real-life situations and activities
- Ppts may not believe they were actually giving electric shocks, ruining validity

Describe Zimbardo’s study

Female ppts from NY uni split into 2 groups. Deind. group- ppts anonymous as dressed in lab coats and hoods covering faces, referred to as a group. Indi. group- ppts wore own clothes and addesssed by names. Both groups asked to deliver shocks to confed.

Deindi. group delivered shocks for longer duration.

Deindi. (anonymity and less personal responsibility) leads to aggressive or antisocial behaviour.

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study

- Ethical problems (stress, harm and deception)
+ Real-life application: Law enforcement can control crows better by understanding deindividuation or school

Describe Pillavin’s subway study

Victim would collapse whilst either appearing drunk or disabled. 4 conditions: Helper/model helped victim quickly or late whilst either standing nearby or far away. Two confeds. would take notes if someone helped or not. 38 trials alcohol, 65 trials disabled

Disabled victim given help 95% of the time. Drunk victim only helped 50% of the time

Characteristics of victim affects help given. Presence of others doesn’t affect help in natural setting

Evaluate Pillavin’s subway study

+ High ecological validity- subway train (natural setting) Sure of natural behaviours occurring and conclusions apply to real-life
- Less control- field experiment so low internal validity. Can’t be sure if conclusions drawn strong due to other factors
- Ethical considerations- lack of consent, no right to withdraw, deception, distress and no debrief

Define informational conformity and normative conformity

Informational conformity- Conform to be right, may be uncertain so go with majority which is assumed correct.

Normative conformity- Conform to be liked, when people want to fit in with majority, may not agree

Define social factors on conformity and list them

Social factors- world around a person contains features which makes them feel a social pressure

Task difficulty, Unanimity, Anonymity, group size

Define dispositional factors on conformity and list them

Dispositional factors- Individual personality or character causing conformity

Personality- Internal locus of control (claiming decisions as your own, you make things happen) and External locus of control (being passive and letting things happen to you)
Expertise on subject

Outline Milgram’s Agency theory

Autonomous state- Independent and free, behave to our own principles, self-responsibility
Agentic shift- Move from autonomous to agentic state once authority figure gives command
Agentic state- Others responsible for what we do, no personal responsibility, act on behalf of someone

More likely to obey orders in agentic state. Individuals may act as agents as authority figure may take responsibility

Social factors affecting obedience

Authority- hierarchies of power, we learn to obey someone above us as we may face punishment

Culture- Obedience to authority a norm in most cultures and taught to respect social hierarchy

Proximity- Closer authority figures means more likely to obey, closer to consequences obedience to go down if it is something that goes against morals

Evaluate agency theory

+ Evidence supports theory, Milgram study showed 65% of ppts obeyed orders when authority figure took responsibility. If ppt responsible, fewer ppt would obey
- Places blame and provides excuses. Nazi guards said they were obeying orders which can be offensive. Social factors alone can’t explain obedience and dispositional factors important
- Some less likely to enter agentic state, not 100% obedience as other factors. Theory potentially dangerous as ppl think they aren’t responsible for their actions

Outline Adorno’s theory of dispostional obedience

Authoritarian personalities characterised by certain attitudes and beliefs. Shaped by past experiences such as harsh parenting. Response to unesolved conflicts, ppl seek security and structure in rigid belief systems. People with authoritarian personality more likely to be obedient

Characteristics of an authoritarian personality

Rigid adherence to conventional values
Submission and exaggerated respect for authority
Desire for social order and uniformity
Scapegoat people below them
Rigid cognitive style, stubborn and no grey areas

Evaluate Adorno’s theory of dispostional obedience

- F-scale questionaire flawed as respond bias- anyone who answered yes have higher authoritarian score. Challenges validity of theory
- Data correlational as other factors involved. Study shows lower level of education causes more obedience. Other factors explains links between obedience and authoritarian personality
- Can’t explain all cases of obedience. Nazis would have to all be raised same way and have same personality which isn’t the case. Dispositional alone can’t explain high levels of obedience

Explain the factors affecting prosocial behaviour

Presence of others (S)- Diffusion of responsibility: more people = feel less responsible to help
Cost of helping (S)- Possible danger, embarrassment, effort all may stop help. Cost of not helping is guilty and blame. Cost-reward system

Expertise (D)- More knowledgable of the situation, more likely to help. Cranor et al- registered nurses more likely to help injured than non-nurses
Similarity to victim (D)- More likely to help if identify similarities between you and victim. Cavine et al- Man utd supporters helped someone in a Utd shirt more than other people

Define collective behaviour and crowd behaviour

Collective behaviour- Actions that happen when people part of a group. Perhaps different from normal
Crowd behaviour— Specific type of collective behaviour (large, temporary gathering of people with common goal)

Social factors affecting collective behaviour

Deindividuation- More anonymous in a group, other’s actions guide our own. Less responsibility as no individuality

Social loafing- Making reduced effort when in a group compared to alone. Social facilitation is opposite

Culture- Individualist vs collectivist- More effort in a group in collectivist culture because focus on group achievement

Dispositional factors affecting collective behaviour

Personality- people with ILOC less likely to be influenced by crowd behaviour. Would follow personal norm and feel responsibility

Morality- Higher moral strength less likely to e affected by crowd norm and resist social pressure. Belief in certain principles of right and wrong and sticking to them