social influence

dispositional explanation

explanation of behaviour highlighting the individuals personality

situational variables

features of a persons physical and social environment that may influence ones behaviour

conformity

tendency to change what we think/say/do in response to the influence of a real or imagined pressure of a majority group, types: compliance, identification, internalisation

compliancy

shallowest form of conformity, conforms publicly but disagreed privately, e.g. laughing at a joke you found unfunny because everyone else is laughing

identification

a moderate level of conformity, acting in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be part of it, but don’t fully agree with everything the majority believes in

internalisation

deepest type of conformity, taking on the majority view because we accept it as correct, leads to permanent change in behaviour even without groups presence

informational social influence (ISA)

an explanation of conformity that suggest we agree to the majority of the group because we believe it to be correct

normative social influence (NSI)

an explanation of conformity suggesting we agree with the majority to gain social approval and to be liked

Asch's social experiment

A series of studies led by Solomon Asch to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. He used a simple line matching task and got confederates to give the wrong answer to see if the participant would go along with it, results showed that 75% of participants conformed at least once, and that group size has little effect once over 3 people

obedience

change of behaviour in response to the instruction of a perceived authority figure

milgram’s experiment

experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience - participants were told to electric shock the confederate if they got an answer wrong in a ‘memory test’, 100% went up to 300V, 65% to 450V (the highest level) however some participates would have guessed the shocks wern’’t real

zimbardos experiment

fake prison in Stanford university, participants randomly assigned guard/prisoner, was called off after 6 days because of physical and mental pain inflicted on the prisoners

collectivist culture

values community more than individuals

individualist culture

emphasis on individualism

Milgrams theory of agentic shift

there can be a shift from an autonomous state (feeling responsible for ones actions, fully conscious of you decisions) to an agentic state (feeling as if someone else is responsible for our actions even if it goes against our conscience of right/wrong)

2 reasons people obey

• legitimate authority

• agentic state

authoritarian personality concept by Adorno

begins from a harsh upbringing, has a clear boundaries in good/bad people, excessive respect for authority so more likely to obey

left wing

emphasis on ideas such as freedom, equality, rights, progress, communism and reform

right wing

emphasis on notions such as capitalism, authority, hierarchy, order, duty, tradition and nationalism

locus of control

The degree to which people believe that they have control over the outcome of events in their lives, the concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954

internal locus

in control of their life, ‘you make things happen’

external locus

events in life happen because of fate, luck and religion, ‘things happen to you’

social desirability bias

changing answers or behaviour in a psychological experiment in a way to be seen as socially desirable

3 most important factors for minority groups to be successful

Commitment, flexibility, consistency

order of social change

1. drawing attention to the cause

2. consistency

3. deeper processing (making majority really think)

4. augmentation principle (creating conflict in the minds of the majority)

5. snowball effect

6. social cryptomnesia (forgetting the change existed)

synchronic consistency

consistency within the group

diachronic consistency

consistency over a period of time