Social Influence

What was Asch looking into?

If participants would conform to the majority

What did people measure? -A

Lines

How many trials were there (asch)

18

How many participants were there (asch)

123

Who were the participants (asch)

USA male undergraduates

How many confederates in one group (asch)

6-8

How many out of the 18 trials did the confederates have to give the wrong answer (asch)

12

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How often did the participant give the wrong answer (asch)

36\.8%

How many people conformed at least once (asch)

75%

What explanation of conformity applied to the participants (asch)

Normative social influence

Weaknesses (asch)

* Child of its time
* artificial situation and task
* limited application of findings
* lack of ecological validity
* andocentric bias
* deception
* demand characteristics

Variations (asch)

* Group size
* Unanimity
* Task difficulty

Unanimity (asch)

Whether all the confederates agreed with each other

Task difficulty (asch)

The lines became similar

What happened to the level of conformity when there were 3 confederates (asch)

Rose to 31.8%

What happened to the level of conformity when there were more than three confederates (asch)

Little difference

Effect of the presence of a dissenter (asch)

Level of conformity decreased to 25%

What explanation of conformity plays a bigger part when the tasks become more difficult? (Asch)

Informative social influence

What happened when the task became more difficult? (Asch)

Conformity increased

Unethical variables (asch)

* Protection from harm (embarrassment)
* Deception

What year? (Asch)

1956

What happened to conformity when the task difficulty increased (asch)

Conformity increased

What was the rate of conformity when one confederate agreed with the participant (asch)

5\.5%

Deindividuation (Zimbardo)

Loss of identity and inhibition

Aim (zimbardo)

Investigate how people conform to their given social roles

Ps (zimbardo)

24 US male uni students who were mentally stable

Setting (zimbardo)

Basement of psych building in Stanford

Method (zimbardo)

* zimbardo advertised for participants and selected 24.


* randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards.


* guards given uniform.


* prisoners picked up in police car and taken to mock prison.
* prisoners went through simulation of real prison.
* guards took on the roles and enforced prison rules.
* prisoners became depressed and rebelled against guards on 2nd day.
* experiment stopped after 6 days because of the psychological harm it was having on some participants,

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Ethical concerns (zimbardo)

* withdrawal rights

\- prisoners forgot that they could leave

* informed consent

\-didn't know the experiment would escalate to the point of abuse that it did

* do no harm

\- were psychologically harmed

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Outcome (zimbardo)

Experiment stopped after 6 days

How guards behaved (zimb)

Abusive, demanding, authoritative

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Prisoners’ behaviour (zimb)

Submissive, cowardly, mentally unstable

Planned duration of experiment (zimb)

2 weeks

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Recruitment of Ps (zimb)

Newspaper advertisement

When did the experiment occur (zimb)

1973

How much were Ps paid per day? (Zimb)

15 dollars

Prisoner uniform (zimb)

Smocks with numbers

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How many prisoners released (zimbardo)

3

Negative evaluation (zimbardo)

* Unethical
* Broke several ethical guidelines
* Lacks ecological validity
* Basing act on films
* Role of dispositional factors
* Undervalues effect of personalities

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Positive evaluation (zimb)

* methodological
* Highly controlled

Who was in Milgram’s study

40 males, 20-50

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Milgram recruitment

Newspaper ads and flyers

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What were voltages labelled? (Milgram)

* 15v = slight shock
* 450v = danger severe shock
* 300 v = intense shock

What did the learner do at 300 v?

Banged on wall and gave no further responses

What were the four prompts (milgram)

1. Please continue
2. The experiment requires that you continue
3. It is absolutely essential that you continue


1. You have no other choice, you must go on

How many Ps stopped below 300v?

0

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How many Ps stopped at 300v?

12\.5%h

How many continued to 450v?

65%

Examples of qualitative data collected? (Milgram)

Sweating, trembling, biting their lips, 3 had seizures

Good ethical points (milgram)

* right to withdraw
* Debriefed

Strengths Milgram

* good external validity
* Supporting replication
* Game of death participants went to 450v 80%

Weaknesses Milgram

* low internal validity
* Ps are said to have guessed it was false
* Ethically poor
* Deception and harm

Variables Milgram

1. Location
2. Uniform
3. Proximity

Location Milgram

Run down office block

Uniform milgram

Experimenter wear normal clothes

Proximity Milgram

1. Learner/teacher in same
2. Teacher putting learner’s hand on electric plate
3. Experimenter gave instructions over the phone

% up to 450v with location change

47\.5%

% up to 450v with uniform change

20%

% up to 450v with learner and teacher in same room

40%

% up to 45v with teacher putting hand on plate

30%

% up to 450v with instructions via phone (milgram)

20\.5%

Strengths milgram variables

* research support - bickman’s uniform experiment
* Cross-cultural support - spanish students had similar responses

Weaknesses Milgram Variables

* low internal validity - extra changes make it less believable
* Socially sensitive - obedience alibi

Authoritarian personality

Personality type found by Aldorno related to a person with it being more likely to obey

How did Aldorno measure the authoritarian personality?

the F-scale questionnaire

Characteristics of authoritarian personality

* traditional morals
* Looking up to those with power
* Looking down upon those below them
* Black and white thinking

Strengths of authoritarian personality

Research support - milgram found people who obeyed most had these characteristics

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Weaknesses of authoritarian personality

* Politically inaccurate - shown to be extremes on both sides not just fascist
* Social identity better explanation
* Based on leading questions

What is the agentic state?

The agentic state is a psychological phenomenon where an individual perceives themselves as an agent acting on behalf of an authority figure, and therefore relinquishes their personal responsibility for their actions.

What is the autonomous state?

Where you are acting on your own opinion and are aware that you are responsible for your actions

What causes the agentic shift?

When the person perceives another to be in charge or more powerful than them

What is the agentic shift?

The movement from an autonomous state to being in an agentic one

What are binding factors?

Aspects of situations that allow the person too ignore the moral strain being caused by their actions

Examples of binding factors?

* shifting responsibility to the victim
* Denying the harm they have done

Strengths of agentic state

Research support - Milgram’s study was shown to people who blamed the experimenter

Weaknesses of the agentic state

* limited explanation
* Alibi - makes prosecution hard as people can just claim they were obeying