Social influence

3 types of conformity

Compliance - going along in public but not in private

Identification - conforming to opinions of group to fit in but not privately

Internalisation - when you genuinely accepts groups norms publicly and privately

what is normative social influence explanation

Individuals follow group behaviour because of social norms to ‘fit in’

what is informational social influence explanation

follow group behaviour of the group (majority) because they want to be right/correct

two positives of explanations for conformity

P - support from Asch

E - Asch study where participants asked to get longest line wrong to trick participants

E - 75% conformed at least once

L - provides support for normative influence

P - support from Lucas et al

E - asked students to give answers to maths problems. the harder the problem the more participants comforted

E- this is because when participants weren’t sure of an answer and so relied on others

L - evidence for informational social influence

negatives of explanations of conformity

P - Individual differences make it difficult to make a nomothetic law

E - people who have ‘nAffiliators’ are more likely to conform

E - the dual approach suggests behaviour is from one of the two types when it is usually together

L - hard to create law due to individual differences

what was the procedure of Asch’s research

participants and 6-8 pseudo were asked which line is longer and deliberately gave wrong answer 12 out of 18 times.

what were the findings of Asch’s study

Participant gave wrong answer 37% of the time

75% conformed at least once

control less than 1% wrong

what are the 3 variables affecting conformity

• group size

• unanimity - a confederate who would dissent from group

• Task difficulty - increase in conformity

three disadvantages of Asch’s research

P - tasks and situation were artificial

E - was a lab study so participants could have shown demand characteristics - lacks eco validity

E - task lacks mundane realism

L - not generalisable to everyday activity lacks external validity

P - findings lack generalisability

E - Only men were studied other research suggests females more conformist

E - only studied American participants

L - doesn’t take gender and cultural differences into account

P - Not ethically sound

E - participants deceived as other participants were not involved

E - could not giver fully informed consent

L - however study could not have been carried out if no issues breached

what was Milgram’s experiment procedure

teacher was required to give learner increasingly harsh memory tasks and zap up to 450v him when he got it wrong. if he wanted to stop he was prompted by the experimenter in a lab coat.

who were the participants for the Milgram experiment

• 40 male participants through volunteer sampling

• pseudo were - learner and experimenter

• participant was teacher

what were the findings of the Milgram experiment

65% reached 450 (highest)

100% reached 300

many participants showed signs of tension

2 negatives of mailgrams research into obedience

P - disregard for ethics and morals

E - participants were deceived and did not give fully informed consent

E - did not uphold participants right to withdraw instead gave prompts

L - because of his research ethical issues became a priority for research

P - Milgram lacks internal validity

E - Perry analysed recordings and found experimenters went of script and participants were doubtful shocks were real

E - some participants worked out set up and changed behaviour

L - however Sheridan and king - real shocks to puppies - 100% females conformed

- half of males conformed

one advantage of mailgrams findings

P - consistently replicated

E - factors such as proximity, location and authority figure changed

E - when in change location obedience dropped 47%

L - shows how it can be easily replicated

what was the procedure for zimbardo’s research

• 24 participants - whittled down by interviews

• took place in basement of Stanford uni

• prisoners were arrested in there homes

what were the findings for Zimbardo’s research

Day one - prisoners took rules seriously

Day two - rebellion took place

Day six - terminated due to emotional breakdowns and excessive aggression

Evaluative ideas from Zimbardo’s research

• + had control over key variables - participant selection

• - ethical issues - lack of protection, informed consent

• methodology issues - lacks generalisability due to sample

negative evaluations of ZImbardo’s research

P - disregard for morals and ethics

E - participants were deceived and did not give fully informed consent

E - also right to withdraw was not upheld causing significant psych harm

L - ethical issues

P - lack or realism

E - could argue that study had high ecological validity

E - however participants were still aware they were taking part in the study

L - potentially leading to demand characteristics

P - findings have not been replicated - lacks reliability

E - BBC prison study - prisoners took control

E - furthermore findings may have been exaggerated with 1/3 of guards behaving aggressively

L - not just environmental factors at play

What are the 3 situational variables for obedience

• proximity - when in same room 40% go up to 450 when on telephone 20.5%

• Uniform - when in experimenter in normal clothes - 20%

• Location - run down office block 47.5%

one negative evaluation of situational variables affecting obedience

P - Milgram’s experiment lacks internal validity

E - Orne and Hollard suggested that variations of the study were even more likely to trigger suspicion

E - e.g. when the experimenter was switched for a civilian even Milgram admits it looked fake

L - unclear whether results are through obedience or demand characteristics

two positive evaluations of situational variables affecting obedience

P - has been replicated cross culturally

E - French documentary replicated and found similar findings and signs of anxiety

E - however most replications in west so cannot be applied everywhere

L - important not to impose etic

P - Bickman provides evidence for

E - Confederates dresses in different outfits gave orders to the public

E - more likely to obey public figure

L - supports uniforms role in obedience in a natural environment

what is the agentic state

when a person does not take responsibly for there own actions instead saying they did it for someone else

what is the agentic shift

shift from autonomous state to agentic due to a figure of authority

positive evaluations of the agentic state

Milgram variation provided evidence as participants instructed assistant to press buttons - 92% full volts

Negative evaluations of the agentic state

German 101st - had the opportunity to not shoot jews but on 2% took offer

what is a legitimate authority and destructive authority

power they hold is agreed upon by society

• destructive is when this power is used for personal gain and destructive behaviour

positive evaluations for legitimacy of authority

Milgram’s study - when experimenter taken over by member of public - obedience drop 20%

Cultural variations - some culture more obedient

negative evaluations for legitimacy of authority

My Lai massacre - us troops committed atrocities

what is an authoritarian personality

someone who strictly follow hierarchy and authority figures

developed through strict parenting and conditional love meaning child expresses feelings onto the weak

what are the characteristics of an authoritarian personality

• obedient to authority

• inflexible on views

• show submissiveness to authority

what was the procedure of the authoritarian personality study

2000 white Americans were given interviews and questionaries and rated on the F-scale

what were the findings of the authoritarian personality study

those who scored high on F-scale had authoritarian personality and had stereotypes

positive evaluations into dispositional exps of obedience

P - Milgram’s electric shock studies support theory

E - interviewed with small sample of obedient participants who scored high on F-scale

E - found that those that scored high on F-scale - most obedient although does not show direct link

L - impossible to determine whether authoritarian personality causes obedience

Negative evaluations into dispositional exps of obedience

P - research has methodological issues

E - Greenstein - described F-scale as seriously flawed

E - for example it is possible to get high score by just ‘agreeing’

L - could mean that anyone with this response has an authoritarian personality

P - Limited explanation of obedience

E - Christe and Jahoda point out that F-scale is politically based interpretation

E - only measures tendency towards extreme right

L - does not account for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum

what is an internal locus of control

events that happen to you are controlled by you and the outcomes are controlled by you.

often more socially confident and less need for social approval

what is an External locus of control

• where a person believes that fate and other things that happen to you are out of your control

• more likely to give in to social influence

negative evaluations of resistance to social influence in terms of locus of control

research evidence - Holland and Milgram gave participants a LOC questionnaire and found ELOC more likely to go to 450V

Limited explanations - Rotter - only comes into play in new situations we encounter

what two factors help resist social influence

• social support

• internal Locus of control

positive evaluations of resistance to social influence in terms of social support

studies to support

• Allen and Levine - Asch style study conformity dropped when there was a confederate even when they claimed to have poor vision

• Gamson et al - participants were put in groups to help a oil company run a campaign 88% rebelled

what are the 3 variables affecting Minority influence

• Consistency - agreement between people on views

• Commitment - show you believe in the cause

• Flexibility - adapt views

what was the minority influence study Procedure

Moscovici - 138 participants 2 confederates 4 naïve participants shown coloured slides and asked if they were green or blue (they were obviously blue) 3 conditions for study

what was the minority influence study findings

Moscovici -

• consistent minority - 8.4% said green

• inconsistent minority - 1.3% said green

• in control - 0.3% said green

  + shows importance of consistency

  - involved artificial tasks

positive evaluations for minority influence

P - Moscovici research supports consistency

E - showed that consistent minorities had more of an effect than inconsistent

E - Wood et al meta analysis of 100 studies had similar findings

L - consistency is a major factor

Negative evaluations for minority influence

P - lacks ecological validity

E - research often had artificial tasks

E - social influence in real life is much more complex

L - methodology raises doubts of validity

P - Minority influence is a limited explanation because it is rare

E - power imbalance means minority influence is rarely successful

E - Moscovici study only 8.4% convinced by consistent minority

L - although rare could have change over a long period of time

what is the process of social change

1 - draw attention - e.g. protests

2 - consistency - putting message across

3 - deeper processing and augmentation principle

4 - snowball effect - majority turns into minority

5 - social cryptoamnesia - becomes new norm

what was zimbardo’s idea of conformity

gradual commitment - one small instruction obeyed harder to resist bigger one

posotive evaluations for social change

P - supporting research - Nolan et al

E - put messages about most residents trying to reduce energy usage

E - significant decrease in usage compared to control where other residents not mentioned

L - shows conformity can be achieved through snowball effect

Negative evaluations for social change

P - Minority influence doesn’t have a significant effect

E - Social change happens slowly if at all

E - Nameth - minority influence most likely to be indirect and delayed only focusing on small part of an issue

L - very limited role in social change

P - Often multiple barriers to social change

E - not as simple as a few stages - often resist even tho they agree with the message

E - research found that people unlikely to act environmentally friendly as they did not want to be a minority

L - Important to avoid extremes when creating social change