Social Influence

What is Conformity

A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people

Aschs Baseline study procedure

23 American Male participants tested sitting last or next to last in a group of 6-8

Participants had to match lines with 3 comparison lines

Asch’s baseline study Findings

Naive participants conformed 33%

25% participants never conformed

75% conformed at least once

3 Variables affecting conformity

-Group Size

-Unanimity

-Task Difficulty

Group Size

above 3 confederates conformity rose to 32%. More than 3 made very little difference. Very little conformity with 1 or 2

Unanimity

In presence of a dissenter, conformity reduced to less than 25% despite of the dissenter got it right or wrong

Task Difficulty

Making line judging harder increased conformity. If the situation is more ambiguous then we look to others for guidance

Aschs Strengths

Supporting Evidence-Lucas et al asked participants easy and hard questions. Participants agreed more when harder

Asch Limitations

Tasks were artificial- lacked mundane realism

Little application-only american men tested

Types of Conformity

-Compliance

-Identification

-Internalisation

Explain Compliance

low level of conformity- going along with others in public, stops when group ceases

Explain Identification

medium conformity- we identify with a group we want to become a part of so publicly change opinions but privately don’t agree with everything the group stands for

Explain Internalisation

Deepest level of conformity- when a person genuinely accepts group norms in private and public and the change is permanent

What are the 2 explanations for conformity

Informational social influence

Normative social influence

What is Informational Social Influence

When we go along with something because we want to be right.

It is a cognitive process that leads to internalisation. More likely in ambiguous situations

What is Normative Social Influence

Compliance in a group when concerned about normal behaviour.

Occurs in unfamiliar situations with people you don’t know

Types and Explanations of Conformity Strengths

-Supporting evidence for NSI: Asch found many participants would rather give the correct answer as they were afraid of disapproval 33%

-Supporting evidence ISI: lucas et al found participants conformed more to incorrect answers when maths problems were more difficult

-Real life applications of NSI:Linkenbach and Perkins found adolescents exposed to message saying ‘majority of your peers don’t smoke’

What is a social role

The behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social status or position.

Zimbardo prison experiment procedures

-Set up mock prison to investigate effect of social roles on conformity

-24 students volunteers (male). Half randomly allocated role of guard and half prisoners. All tested to be socially stable. Guards and prisoners have different uniforms. Prisoners told they couldn’t leave. Guards had power over prisoners

Zimbardo SPE findings

Guards were enthusiastic and treated prisoners badly. Prisoners rebelled within 2 days. Guards retaliated and harassed prisoners. 3 prisoners released early for signs of psychological disturbance. Study was stopped after 6/14 days

Zimbardo SPE Strengths

-Practical Applications: explain Abu Ghraib prison behaviour

-Strengths of overt, participant, controlled observations

Zimbardo SPE limitations

-Unethical: Participants suffered distress and experimenter said study should have been stopped earlier. Participants not protected form harm

-Exaggerated power of social roles:Fromm 1/3 of guards behaved brutal- others tried to be fair and were sympathetic offering cigarettes and reinstated privileges (Zimbardo). Most Guards were able to resist situational pressures

What is Obedience

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming

Milgrams study procedures

40 american male participants aged 20-50 years old. 1 experimenter in a lab coat was the instructor. The participants were always assigned the teacher and a confederate was always the student. Participants were told the study was on memory and would give an electric shock everytime a participant got a question wrong the shocks getting worse the more questions wrong.

Milgrams study findings

100% participants went to at least 300 volts

65% went to 450 volts (highest level)

Milgrams study conclusions

We obey legitimate authority even if our behaviour causes harm for someone. Situational factors encouraged obedience

Milgrams Study strengths

-Replications: French Tv show ordered participants to give electric shocks showers similar results

-Well controlled: standardised procedures-4 planned prods

Milgrams Study Limitations

-Ethical Issues: Deception-though shocks were real-Baumrind thought could’ve had damaging consequences

-Lacks Internal Validity:Participants said they guessed the shocks were fake-demand characteristics

-Lacks generalisability:All american male not representative

What is a situational variable

Features of the immediate physical and social environment which may influence a person’s behaviour.

What are the 3 situational variables in Milgrams study

-Proximity

-Location

-Uniform

Proximity in Milgrams study

-Teacher and learner bring in the same room obedience dropped to 40%

-Touch proximity: Teacher forced learner to get shocked obedience 30%

-Remote instruction: experimenter different room obedience 20.5%

Location in Milgrams study

Rundown building obedience 47.5%

Concluded obedience was higher at prestigious location where obedience is expected

Uniform in Milgrams study

Member of public in their own clothes obedience dropped to 20%

Strengths of situational variables

-Supporting evidence- Bickman (1974) People obey more to someone dressed as a security guard compared to milkman and security guard

Situational variables limitations

-Low internal validity: Orne and Holland unclear of results are due to demand characteristics and saw play acting

-Danger of Situational perspective:Mandel (1998) argues that this offers and excuse for genocide over simplifying cause of holocaust

What is The Agentic State

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our actions because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure

What is The Autonomous State

Feels responsible for their actions

What is an Agentic Shift

Going from autonomous state to agentic state

What is Legitimacy of Authority

An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive have authority over us.This authority is justified by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy

The agentic state and legitimacy if Authority Strengths

-Supporting Evidence For Agentic State: In Milgrams study the participants asked who’s responsible for harming the learner. The experimenter said it was themself

-Real world crimes for obedience: Soldiers at MyLai obeyed their commanding officer- respect for legitimate authority can lead to destructive violence

The Agentic State and Legitimacy of Authority Limitations

-Conflicting evidence: Rank + Jacobson (1977) found most nurses disobeyed a doctors order to gives an excessive drug dose. Showing not all situations

What is an Authoritarian Personality

A type of Personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of those of a lower status

Adorno et als (1950) procedure

Investigated unconscious attitudes toward ethnic groups of more than 2000 middle class white americans. F scale they rated 1-6 on agreement

Adorno et al (1950) findings

Authoritarians (scored high on the f scale) , identified with strong people and contemptuous of the weak

The Authoritarian Personality Strengths

-Elms and Milgram (1966) interviewed 20 fully obedient participants from Milgrams original study. They scored higher on the f scale than disobedient participants suggesting dispositional factors explain obedience

The Authoritarian Personality Limitations

-Authoritarianism can’t explain a whole countries behaviour.Millions of Germans were obedient but can’t all have the same personalities.More likely they identified with Nazi state beliefs

-Education affects obedience and Authoritarianism: Middendrop + Meloen (1990) found less educated people were less authoritarian

What is Social Support

The presecence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible

What is Locus of Control

Rotter:Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.

What is an Internal Locus of Control

Believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them

MORE LIKELY TO RESIST SI

MORE CONFIDENT

What is an External Locus of Control

believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces

Resistance to Social Influence Strengths

-Support in resisting conformity: Albrecht et al (2006) adolescents found it easier to resist smoking with a buddy

-Social Support in Real Life: ROSENSTRASSE PROTEST:German women who were protesting against arrest for their Jewish husbands refused orders to disperse and their husbands were set free

-Supporting Evidence: Holland repeated the Milgram study and measured whether participants were internals or externals. 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level (they showed greater resistance). Only 23% of externals did not continue.

What is Minority Influence

A form of social influence in which a minority of people persuaded others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours

What is Consistency in Minority Influence

Always doing the same thing

-Synchronic consistency: People in minority saying the same thing

-Diachronic consistency: They’ve been saying the same thing for some time

What is Commitment in Minority Influence

Showing deep involvement

What is Augmentation Principle

When majority pay even more attention because of risks minority are taking

What is Flexibility in Minority Influence

Showing willingness to listen to others, minority should adapt POV and accept reasonable counter arguments

What is The Snowball Effect In Minority Influence

Overtime more people become converted

What is Mosocovici (1969) procedure

6 people were shown a set of 36 blue slides that varied in intensity and were asked whether they were blue or green. Two where dissenting confederates saying all were green

Moscovici et al (1969) findings

The true participants gave the incorrect answer 8.42% of trials

What happened in Moscovicis other groups

-A second group were exposed to inconsistent confederates. 1.25% were converted

-With no confederates 0.25% got the answer wrong

This demon the importance of consistency in minor influence

Minority Influence Strengths

-Research for Consistency: Wood et al meta analysis of almost 100 similar studies found minorities seen as consistent were most influential

-Research for flexibility: Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987)- A group discussed compensation to be paid to someone involved in an accident. A confederate who adapted an inflexible position had no effect on other group members. A confederate compromised. This suggests flexibility is effective at changing majority opinion

What is Social Change

Social change occurs when a society or section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm

Social Change through Minority Influence Steps

1) Drawing attention to an issue

2) Cognitive conflict

3) consistency

4) augmentation

5) snowball effect

Social Change through Majority Influence (conformity)

Social norms interventions communicate to a target population the actual norm concerning such behaviour. In Montana the correction of misinterpretations about drunk driving led to reduction in the frequency of this behaviour

Social Influence and Social Change Strengths

-Minority Influence explains social change-Nemeth 2009 minority arguments cause people to engage in divergent thinking

-Suppory for Normative Social Influence in Social Change: Nolan (2008) hung messages trying to reduce energy usage. Led to significant decrease

Social Influence and Social Change Limitations

-Social Change happens gradually: Because there is tendency to conform, people are less likely to engage social change at first