Social influence: SACE stage 2 Psychology

social influence

how the presence or absence of other people impacts behaviour

Obedience

a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure

Milgram Experiment

A series of psychological experiments which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.

two factors that affect obedience

1. Dispositional
2. Situational

dispositional factors

internal and personal qualities of a person. e.g genetics, personality and intelligence

situational factors

external factors in the environment that influence behaviour. E.g work, school and others

Stanford Prison Experiment

Research was conducted to explore the psychological effects of perceived power

Results of Stanford Prison Experiment

situational rather than dispositional factors play a significant role in the behaviours exhibited at any given time

Conformity

a form of social pressure where individuals yeild to group pressure

Asch Experiment

investigated the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform

factors affecting obedience

1. Prestige
2. proximity
3. deindividuation

Deindividuation

losing one's individuality

3 types of conformity

Compliance
Identification
Internalisation

complience

publicly changing one's behaviour to be more like the majority

identification

When someone takes on the views of individuals or groups that they admires

internalisation

Deepest type of conformity. Results in change to both private and public behaviour to match those of the group or an individual

normative conformity

occurs when a person conforms to be accepted or belong to a group

informational conformity

occurs when a person confroms to gain knowledge or because they believe someon is 'right'

attitude

a set of emotions, beliefs and behaviours towards a particular object, person, issue or event

Persuasion

the art of convincing others to change their attitudes or behaviours

Katz's ABC model

a model that suggests an attitude consists of three components

(A)ffective

one's emotional reaction or feeling towards an event, person, object or issue

(B)ehaviour

the actions someone takes in response to the event, person, object or issue. some common actions include protest, participate, ignore

(C)ognitive

the beliefs someone has about a topic

Yale Attitude Change Approach

The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages, focusing on the source of the communication, the nature of the communication, and the nature of the audience

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

a model of persuasion maintaining that there are two different routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route

central route of persuasion

causes the audience think carefully about the message and evaluate the information. Uses data and facts

peripheral route of persuasion

relies on positive characteristics such as good emotions, celebrity endorsement, and catch jingles.

direct experiences

the belief that attitudes are formed and changed through direct experiences.

indirect experiences

when exposed to a topic, event, issue or object a less personal attitude is formed. E.g advertising

norm of reciprocity

individuals will give back when they recieve something. E.g food tasting

door-in-the-face technique

persuasive technique involving making an unreasonably large request before making the small request we're hoping to have granted

foot-in-the-door technique

a technique that involves a small request followed by a larger request

bidirectional relationship

A relationship functioning in two directions.

strength of attitude

strong attitudes are those that are firmly and highly influence one's behaviour

Accessibility of attitudes

the ease with which the attitude comes to mind.

Highly accessible attitudes

tend to be stronger and lead to predictable behaviour

specificity of attitudes

specific attitudes lead to consistent behaviour.

self-perception

when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings

cognitive dissonance

the discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves

situational pressure

when people alter their behaviour to suit the social situation/environment. E.g peer pressure in adolescent drinking

self-monitoring

being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression

high self monitors

individuals that are concerned about being liked and accepted by other and are more likely to be influenced by others.

low self monitors

are not so concerned by what their friends think and won't be influenced by peer pressure

behaviour counts

A record of how often a particular behaviour was observed in a given period of time.

self-reports/surveys

uses questionnaires and rating scales as a method that allows participants to provide personal insight into their thoughts and perceptions.

Implicit Association Test

A test that allows the testing of implicit attitudes which are less accessible than our conscious awareness