Social Influence: Conformity, Obedience, and Minority Influence (Video Notes)

A comprehensive set of QUESTION_AND_ANSWER flashcards covering conformity (types and explanations), Asch’s and Jenness’ studies, Milgram’s obedience experiments and variations, Zimbardo’s prison study, Hofling, dispositional explanations (F-scale/RWA), resistance (social support and locus of control), minority influence (consistency, commitment, flexibility), and social change concepts.

What are the three levels of conformity according to Kelman (1958) from shallow to deep?

Compliance, Identification, Internalisation.

How did Aronson define conformity in his definition?

A change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined social pressure.

What are the two explanations for conformity?

Informational social influence (ISI) and normative social influence (NSI).

What is informational social influence (ISI)?

Occurs when the correct behavior is unclear and people look to the majority for guidance, often leading to internalisation.

What is normative social influence (NSI)?

Occurs when people want to be accepted by the group, leading to compliance or superficial change without changing personal values.

Which variables affecting conformity did Asch study, and what is their general impact?

Group size, unanimity, and task difficulty; larger groups and higher difficulty increase conformity, with unanimity reducing conformity when dissent occurs.

In Asch’s 1951 line-judgment study, what percentage of critical trials did real participants conform to the incorrect answers on average?

About 32%.

What proportion of participants conformed at least once in Asch’s critical trials?

74% of participants.

What was the control group's rate of incorrect answers in Asch’s study?

Less than 1%.

What explanations did Asch interview participants about for conforming?

Many knew their answers were incorrect butconformed to fit in or avoid ridicule.

What does Jenness’ 1932 bean jar study illustrate?

Informational social influence in an ambiguous task: group discussion led to a group estimate that often differed from individual estimates.

What is the key takeaway from Jenness’ bean jar study regarding conformity?

People change their private beliefs to align with the group estimate due to informational influence.

What is the ‘snowball effect’ in social change?

Minorities gradually convert the majority; as the minority grows, its legitimacy increases until it becomes the majority.

What is social cryptoamnesia?

After social change, individuals forget or deny their old views and resist admitting they once held them.

What is the role of group membership in minority influence?

Ingroup members are more effective at convincing others; ingroups can shift the majority more readily than outgroups.

What three behaviors do minorities typically adopt to increase influence (consistency, commitment, flexibility)?

Consistency (diachronic), Commitment (augmentation), Flexibility.

What did Moscovici (1969) find about consistency in minority influence?

Consistent minority: 32% conformed on at least one trial; inconsistent minority: 1.25%.

What does Nemeth (1986) say about flexibility in minority influence?

Flexibility allows the minority to be more persuasive; rigid inflexibility reduces influence.

What is the ‘augmentation principle’ in minority influence?

The minority’s willingness to suffer for their views increases the majority’s attention to and consideration of their position.

What is the ‘consistency’ effect in minority influence?

Repeating the message strengthens perceived confidence and plausibility, boosting influence.

What is the ‘flexibility’ requirement in minority influence?

Minorities must show some willingness to compromise and consider counter-arguments to be persuasive.

What is the ‘group membership’ effect in minority influence?

Messages are more persuasive when coming from someone within the listener’s ingroup.

What is the ‘snowball effect’ as a mechanism of social change?

As minorities gain converts, the movement grows and gains legitimacy, eventually becoming the majority.

What is the general idea behind social change in relation to minorities and the majority?

Minorities influence the majority through consistent, committed, and flexible messaging, aided by group membership.

What is the main finding of Asch related to normative social influence?

Participants conformed to be liked and accepted rather than because they believed the group was correct.

How did Perrin & Spencer (1980) challenge Asch’s findings?

British engineering students showed essentially no conformity, suggesting cross-cultural/temporal limitations to Asch’s results.

What did Rosander (2011) show about online conformity?

Task difficulty increases conformity even in online settings, supporting the continued relevance of normative and informational influence.

What is the purpose of Milgram’s obedience study?

To determine whether ordinary people would obey unjust orders from an authority figure to harm another person.

Describe the Milgram (1963) procedure in brief.

40 male participants; teacher vs learner; shocks administered for incorrect answers; multiple prods to continue; debriefed afterward.

What percentage of Milgram’s participants went to the full 450 volts?

65%.

What was the effect of proximity in Milgram’s variations?

Decreased proximity (same room or forced contact) reduced obedience; obedience dropped to 40% or 30% respectively.

What was the effect of location in Milgram’s variations?

Moving the location from Yale to a run-down office reduced obedience (to about 47.6%).

What was the effect of uniform in Milgram’s variations?

When the experimenter was replaced by a confederate in plain clothing, obedience dropped to around 20%.

What did Bickman (1974) find about uniforms and obedience?

Different uniforms affected obedience: suit 19%, milkman 14%, guard 38%; field study supporting legitimacy of clothing cues.

What is Hofling’s (1966) study and its key finding?

Nurses obeyed a doctor's order to administer an excessive drug dose (21/22), illustrating authority’s power in real-world settings.

What is the ‘agentic state’?

A mindset where individuals see themselves as acting on behalf of an authority and relinquish responsibility for their actions.

What is the ‘autonomous state’?

Individuals act according to their own moral values and feel responsible for their actions.

What is ‘legitimacy of authority’?

Belief that higher-status individuals deserve obedience; learned through socialization and accepted institutions (e.g., police, judiciary).

What is the authoritarian personality (Adorno F-scale)?

A dispositional theory linking obedience to a personality pattern characterized by rigidity and prejudice; later challenged by methodological issues.

What is the Right-Wing Authoritarian (RWA) scale?

Altemeyer’s scale that measures authoritarian tendencies with improved reliability over Adorno’s F-scale.

What is the role of social support in resisting conformity and obedience?

Seeing others resist or dissent provides a model and reduces pressure to conform or obey.

What is the explanation of resistance to social influence related to locus of control?

Internal locus of control (believing you control your actions) is associated with greater resistance to conformity and obedience; external locus correlates with greater compliance.

How did Allen & Levine (1971) contribute to the locus of control evidence?

They showed that social support reduces conformity even when the dissenter has impaired vision, supporting the role of social support rather than LOC alone.

What is the difference between internal and external locus of control in resistance to conformity?

Internal: more responsible for actions; less concerned with social approval. External: feel actions are controlled by others and more concerned with approval.

What is the main ethical critique of Milgram’s study and how is it often balanced?

Deception and potential psychological harm; debriefing and the societal value of understanding obedience are weighed against participant welfare.