Studied by 4 people
What is Conformity?
A type of social influence defined as a change in belief or behaviour in response to real or imagined social pressure e.g majority influence
What is Internalisation?
The groups ideologies can convince an individual to change their internal and public beliefs.
What is an example of Internalisation?
Radicalisation
What is Identification?
A person conforms with a group based on the values of the group the individual can identify with. Public behaviours changed not internal beliefs.
What is an example of Identification?
Siblings and their friendship group are extremist - white racist.
What is Compliance?
An individual may change their public behaviours to go along with the majority. This doesn’t change their internal beliefs.
What is an example of Compliance?
Football Hooliganism
When does Normative Social Influence occur?
When we want to be liked.
What is an individual concerned with (NSI)
Norms and typical behaviours of the majority.
When is this conformity likely to occur? (NSI)
Its more likely to happen with familiar people or in a stressful situation.
What type of process is this conformity and why? (NSI)
Emotional Process and its based on wanting to be liked.
When does Informational Social Influence occur?
When we want to be right.
What is an individual concerned with? (ISI)
Going along with the majority views because they want to appear correct.
When is this conformity likely to occur? (ISI)
Its more likely to happen in an ambiguous situation or if there is an expert.
What type of process is this conformity and why? (ISI)
Cognitive Process and its based on what you’re thinking.
What was Asch’s aim in his line study?
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
What was Asch’s procedure?
123 ppts (male americans) were told it was a vision test when actually it was testing conformity
1 ppt and 6-8 confederates. each ppt took part in 18 trials.
standard line + comparison line - the correct answer was always clear
confederates chose the same wrong answer 12/18 trials.
What were Asch’s findings?
The naive ppt gave the wrong answer 36% of the time. 25% of ppts did not conform at all meaning 75% of ppts conformed at least once when correct answer was very clear.
when interviewed after the study, ppts said they conformed to avoid rejection from the rest of the group.
What is the conclusion from Asch’s line study?
Most of the ppts said that they did not really believe their conforming answers, but had gone along with the group from fear of being ridiculed, suggesting people conform to appear liked (Normative Social Influence)
What was the aim of Jenness’ study?
To investigate whether people will change their opinion in ambiguous setting in response to a group decision.
What was the procedure of Jenness’ study?
ambiguous task to test conformity to group discussions
lab experiment - jar of beans
before and after - ppts gave individual estimate then group estimate then individual estimate
What did Jenness find?
males | females | |
average estimate before | 790 | 925 |
average estimate after | 695 | 878 |
average estimate change | 256 | 382 |
What is the conclusion of Jenness’ study?
Individuals will change their estimate due to Informative Social Influence in order to appear correct.
In Asch’s variations, what did the group size variation include?
Procedure - 3 confederates, conformity rose to 31%
Findings - more than 7 made little difference
Conclusion - suggests that small majority is not sufficient enough to influence conformity just like a large majority also has little effect
In Asch’s variations, what did unanimity include?
Procedure - Asch introduced another confederate who was instructed to give a different answer correct or incorrect to the other confederates
Findings - The presence of the dissenting confederate reduced conformity regardless of whether they gave a right or wrong answer. conformity was 25% rather than 36%
Conclusion - This variation suggests that the dissenting confederates allowed the naive ppt to behave more independently. it can also be suggested that the influence of the majority can be dependent on the whole group being unanimous.
In Asch’s variations, what did Task Difficulty include?
Procedure - Asch made the stimulus line and the comparison lines more difficult to judge to test whether task difficulty affects conformity
Findings - Conformity levels increased
Conclusion - ISI plays a greater role in conformity when there is increased task difficulty and ambiguity. This is because people are more likely to look to other people for guidance when they are unsure of the correct answer.
What is a strength of conformity? (research support)
Research support - Asch - NSI
Asch showed that people are willing to conform to the majority in an unambiguous task, even when they know the answer is wrong - ppts said they did this in order to fit in
Research support - Jenness - ISI
Jenness showed that people will conform to the group and change their guess after a group discussion in order to be right.
What is a limitation of conformity? (individual differences)
individual differences in NSI
it does not consider that people differ in how much they want to be liked by others. some people place greater emphasis on being liked by others - nAffiliators . therefore NSI causes greater levels of conformity in some people more than others and level of conformity in some people more than others and cannot be used to describe or explain generic social behaviours.
What is a limitation of conformity? (work together)
NSI and ISI are assumed to work independently. but it has been found that they work together. when there is one other person who disagrees with the group this reduces NSI but because there is also an alternative source of information.
What is a strength of Asch’s studies?
Lab study - high levels of control and repeatability - allowed Asch to systematically alter 1 variable at a time to see how it impacted conformity e.g. group size, unanimity and task difficulty.
What is a limitation of Asch’s studies? (sample bias)
Sample Bias - 123 male students from colleges in America - can’t generalise results to other population and lacks population validity
What is another limitation of Asch’s studies?
Lacks Ecological validity - lacks mundane realism - unable to generalise results of Asch to other real-life situations.
What is a limitation of Asch’s studies? (old)
Child of its time and opposing research - conformity was higher in 1950. Perrin + Spencer used maths and engineering students - found lower levels of conformity. Asch - lacks historical validity - conformity rates of 1950 don’t accurately reflect modern times.
What is another limitation of Asch’s studies? (ethical issues)
Ethical concerns - deceived ppts and told them taking part in vision test if ppts were aware there would be demand characteristics, ppts not protected from psychological harm.
What are Social Roles?
The parts that people play as members of various social groups e.g. mother, teacher, friend, wife
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
To investigate whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (ie dispositional) or had more to do with the prison environment (ie situational)
What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University
advertised for student volunteers - those who seemed emotionally stable were selected. Students randomly selected as prisoner or guard
Prisoners arrested in homes - were bound and blindfolded
Prisoners = 16 strict rules to follow - were enforced by guards, given numbers instead of names. Guards = given uniform - wooden club cuffs, keys and mirrored glasses. were told they had complete power in the prison e.g could decide when prisoners go to toilet.
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Study was stopped after 6 days rather than 14. guards behaviour became threatening to prisoners psychological and physical health
after 2 days, prisoners rebelled against guards treatment - ripping uniforms and shouting and swearing at guards
guards harassed prisoners and pit them against each other, and used punishment
prisoners became subdued after rebellion was overruled - one prisoner had to leave after day 1 due to psychological disturbance, two more released on day 4.
one prisoner went on hunger strike and guards reacted by force feeding prisoner and locking him in a cupboard.
What was the conclusion of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
There are strong situational influences on how people behave. guards and prisoners both conformed to their social roles in prison experiment - happened easily and quickly. everyone behaved as if they were in actual prison rather than psychological experiment.
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s prison experiment? (real life)
real life application
from 2003-2006 US military officers were found to have abused, tortured and severely humiliated innocent prisoners of war, and can use Zimbardo’s findings to explain why this happened.
this is a strength for Zimbardo as we can use his findings to suggest that the officers became so abusive because they were conforming to their role of a guard of prisoners of war and abusive behaviours are expected of them.
therefore, this means that Zimbardo’s study has ecological validity and can be used to explain destructive social roles.
What is a limitation of Zimbardo’s prison experiment? (ethical issues)
Guards and prisoners were not protected from physiological harm, particularly prisoners as they suffered from both psychological and physical harm e.g humiliation, force feeding, being locked away, screaming and crying
Zimbardo also took on dual roles - superintendent and main researcher in charge. A student spoke to Zimbardo as the superintendent asking to be released and Zimbardo responded in role of superintendent rather than researcher - very unclear guidance to guards/prisoners on their right to withdraw
Lack of informed consent - prisoners unaware they would be arrested by real police officers.
What is another limitation of Zimbardo’s prison experiment? (unrepresentative)
unrepresentative sample
the men volunteered for research. people who volunteer and respond to adverts are usually extroverts.This isn’t representative of all people in society.
The volunteers who played role of guards may have been more naturally aggressive. volunteers were all also male, middle class students - not representative of all people.
due to their class and age, may be more inclined to be arrogant and aggressive - more likely to conform to such roles.
What is obedience?
An individual follows orders from another individual. The individual who gives the order will usually be a figure of authority - due to power, knowledge or social role.
What was the aim of Milgram’s electric shock experiment?
He wanted to study how easily someone would obey an authority figure, to the extent that they could potentially physically harm someone.
What was the procedure of Milgram’s electric shock experiment?
40 male ppts- recruited via newspaper ad. ppt was teacher - 2 confederates were learner + experimenter. teacher was instructed to give increasing shocks for every wrong answer. shocks not real - learner acting like they were being shocked - shocks range from 15-450 volts.
What were the findings of Milgram’s electric shock experiment?
No ppts stopped below 300 volts
12.5% stopped at 300 volts
65% continued to highest voltage level
Quantitive data collected.
What is the conclusion of Milgram’s electric shock experiment?
Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent person. people tend to obey orders from other people if they recognise their authority as morally right.
What is a limitation of Migram’s shock experiment? (sample bias)
small sample - not representative of all western individuals
all males - gender bias so cannot be generalised to all people
volunteer sample - ppts were self selected - may have a specific personality
only Americans studies - Germans also western + individualist - collectivist cultures have not been considered, in theory, should obey more due to values placed on social groups - could have been compared to see whether individualist culture + collectivist culture differ in terms of obedience.
therefore, external validity is an issue + lacks population validity
What is a limitation of Milgram’s electric shock experiment? (ethical issues)
Participants were exposed to extremely stressful situations that may have potential to cause psychological harm - many ppts were visibly distressed
signs of tension included trembling, sweating, stuttering, nervous laughing, and biting lips. 3 ppts had uncontrollable seizures and pleaded to be allowed to stop
therefore, research considered unacceptable as it does not adhere to ethical guidelines therefore questions whether it should have ever been carried out.
What is a limitation of Milgram’s electric shock experiment? (low internal validity)
Lab experiment - ppts were aware that situation was artificial - guessed that electric shocks were not real
Milgram was not testing obedience - was instead testing demand characteristics
later examination of recordings of study demonstrates some ppts expressing doubts about shocks
therefore Milgram was not testing obedience - low internal validity
What is the first situational variable affecting obedience? (P)
Proximity
What does proximity include?
Condition 1 - Teacher and learner in the same room - obedience dropped from 65% to 40%
Condition 2 - Teacher had to force learners hand onto electric shock pad - obedience dropped to 30%
Condition 3 - Experimenter left room and gave orders over the phone - remote instruction condition - obedience dropped to 20.5%
Conclusion - 3 conditions demonstrate that the level of proximity between teacher and learner influences level of obedience between teacher + experimenter. When teacher could see direct effects of actions - less likely to obey
What is the second situational variable affecting obedience? (L)
Procedure - Milgram changed setting of experiment from Yale University to run down basement
Findings - obedience level dropped to 47.5% - high but decreased
Conclusion - The environment can determine the level of authority in the order giving figure
What is the third situational factor affecting obedience? (U)
Procedure - Experimenter left and a ‘normal member of society’ dressed in normal clothing took over as experimenter
Findings - obedience levels dropped to 20% - lowest of all variations
Conclusion - A big part of obeying an authority figure is influenced by their physical appearance and symbolic authority presence.
What does the situational explanation suggest?
It suggests our obedience levels are dependent in external factors such as location, uniform of order giving person or proximity to the consequence of our actions
What is a strength of situational variables affecting obedience? (research support)
Research support - Bickman field study - 3 confederates, 1 dressed as security guard 1 as milkman 1 in ordinary clothes. Asked members of public to do things like pick up a bag - security guard obeyed 76%, milkman obeyed 47%, pedestrian obeyed 30%. suggests uniform influences our decision to obey - uniform infers sense of legitimate authority and power.
What is another strength of situational variables affecting obedience? (control of variables)
Control of variables - milgram systematically altered one variable at a time - the original study was used in every variation, so other than the variation variable everything else was consistent - over 1000 ppts took part in variation therefore, this suggests Milgram’s variation research has high internal validity - high levels of control ensure Milgram was studying effects of IV on DV
What is a limitation of situational variables affecting obedience? (obedience alibi)
Obedience alibi - offers an obedience alibi for evil behaviour. if we suggest people obey due to situational variables and apply this to nazi germany, it could be suggested that nazi’s were victims of their situation. this perspective is very offensive to holocaust victims and survivors therefore, this does not consider individual intentions and cognitions.
What are the psychological explanations of obedience?
The Agentic state and Legitimacy to authority.
What is the agentic state?
When an individual carries out the orders of an authority figure, acting as their agent.
What does the agentic state describe obedience as?
When people follow orders
What does the agentic state say about why people obey?
They are acting on behalf of somebody else.
How does this shift occur? (AS)
to go from acting autonomously to acting as an agent, the agentic shift occurs. This is when an individual perceives someone else as having more authority based on their position in the social hierarchy.
How does obedience endure? (AS)
Binding factors like denying the effects on others and blaming the victims allow the individual to minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour.
What is legitimacy to authority?
The perceived right of an authority figure to have power and control over others
What does legitimacy to authority say about why people obey?
Authority figures have authority as it is agreed by society - most people accept their level of authority as legitimate
What does legitimacy to authority say about how obedience develops?
Some authority figures have the power to punish. we are taught from early childhood to accept orders from people of legitimate authority.
What can be an issue with legitimate authority figures?
It can become destructive, charismatic and powerful leaders can use their powers to order people to behave in cruel, destructive and dangerous ways.
What is a limitation of psychological explanations of obedience? (personality)
the explanation is limited because it does not consider the role of personality in the influence of obedience
an individual may have an internal locus of control and therefore be less likely to shift their responsibility onto an authority figure. this is because they deem themselves to be responsible for their actions, not an authority figure
this is a limitation for the agentic shift explanation as it suggests that people are simply passive responders to authority figures and doesn’t take into account the role of personality in obedience
therefore this means that the agentic state explanation for obedience fails to acknowledge the complex and subjective variables that can also influence obedience levels
What is a strength of psychological explanations of obedience? (cultural differences)
Legitimacy to authority can explain cultural differences
Milgram’s research was replicated in many countries
Australia - 16.1% went to 450 volts, Germany - 85% went to 450 volts.
this suggests that different cultures have different structures and vary in the amount of authority given to different figures, this is supported by the findings that show obedience variations between societies.
What is another strength of psychological explanations of obedience? (research support AS)
Blass and Schmitt asked students to review the original footage of the Milgram experiment and suggest who was responsible for the “harm” cause to the learner they named the experimenter
they suggested the experimenter has a legitimate claim to authority and the teacher was acting as an agent on behalf of him.
What is the dispositional explanation for obedience?
An explanation of human behaviour that highlights the importance of personality. this approach contrasts with situational explanations.
What is an authoritarian personality?
People who are susceptible to obeying people of authority.
When does an authoritarian personality begin to develop?
Originates in childhood due to harsh parenting.
What parenting styles cause an authoritarian personality?
Strict discipline, expectation of loyalty, high standards and criticism of failings.
What love do parents give that develops an authoritarian personality?
Conditional love - based on well the child behaves.
How does this influence a child to develop into the authoritarian personality?
It creates resentment and hostility in the child - they displace fears and hostility onto others - why authoritarian individuals appear to hate and resent those inferior.
What was the aim of Adorno’s research into the authoritarian personality?
To investigate the extent to which personality influences obedience.
What was the procedure of Adorno’s research into the authoritarian personality?
2000 white, middle class Americans - particularly their attitudes towards other racial groups.
several scales were developed to investigate these obedience attitudes
one example is the F Scale = potential for fascism scale
What were the findings of Adorno’s research into the authoritarian personality?
Those who scored high on the F Scale (strong emphasis on obedience) identified with people who had a ‘strong’ status
These authoritarian people were also found to have a very clear and distinct cognitive style - fixed stereotypes about other groups
Strong positive correlation between authoritarian personality and prejudice.
What is the conclusion of Adorno’s research into the authoritarian personality?
Authoritarian people have a tendency to be particularly obedient to authority figures. everything is right or wrong - they are uncomfortable with uncertainty. highly conventional attitudes towards sex, gender, and race. believe society needs strong powerful leaders.
What is a limitation of dispositional factors of obedience? (method issues)
the f scale is flawed - all of the items on the scale are directed in a particular direction.
there is either an agree or disagree option for each question. there is a risk of acquiescence bias - people tend to rush questionnaires and find it easier to agree with a scale than disagree
therefore the scale could have measured those who are acquiesces rather than authoritarian - issues with internal validity
there may have been social desirability bias - people may have given responses that they think society expects, rather than their own opinions
this reduces the validity of the research as we can’t be sure we are measuring facism
What is a limitation of dispositional factors of obedience? (correlation not causation)
A range of variables were measured but only correlations were found e.g. authoritarian personality strongly correlated with prejudice towards minority groups.
but correlation = relationship
the relationship between variables could be due to a number of extraneous variables and this limits Adorno’s assumptions because conclusions cannot be made ie harsh parenting causes the development of the authoritarian personality
cannot be concluded it could have been due to the children’s social groups or interests rather than parenting.
What is a strength of dispositional factors of obedience? (research support)
Milgram and Elms conducted post-experiment interviews with ppts who were fully obedient in the original study
they found the most obedient ppts scored higher on the f scale and showed characteristics of an authoritarian personality.
What does social support say about why people will resist conforming?
The presence of people who resist pressure to conform help others to do the same
What are dissenters and how do they influence resisting conformity?
Dissenters are people who go against the majority. They make other people feel more comfortable to not conform to the group - this reduces compliance
What did Asch find about the influence of social support?
A dissenter in one of his variations giving the correct answer made conformity drop from 36% to 5.5%
What does locus of control mean?
The sense that people have about what directs the events that take place in their life.
What is an internal locus of control?
The things that happen to an individual are controlled by themselves.
What is an external locus of control?
The things that happen to an individual are controlled by external forces, not how they act or behave.
Which type of locus of control will be able to resist social influence and why?
internal locus of control -more likely to resist social influence. they take control over their decision and are more aware of their actions. tend to be more self-confident and achievement oriented.
Which type of locus of control will be more likely to conform and why?
External locus of control - they rely on external forces to determine behaviour - more naturally in agentic state.
What is a strength of resisting social influence? (research support)
research support for the role of dissenters
In Asch’s study, of normative conformity, he found that when a confederate ave the right answer compared to other confederates ppts conformed less and resisted the pressure to give the right answer
conformity dropped from 36% to 5.5%.
this is a strength for the role of dissenters in resisting social influence as the ppts demonstrated the majority helps others to dissent
therefore, this means that Asch’s variation supports the role of social support and dissenters in resisting social pressure
however, Asch’s research involved artificial tasks which lacks mundane realism
What is a limitation of resisting social influence? (twenge)
Twenge et al analysed data from American obedience studies over a 40 year period - from 1960 to 2002
people were found to become more resistant to obedience but also more external
this is a limitation because according to the locus of control explanation for resistance to social influence people should be more internal if there is less obedience
therefore this piece of research dos not support the theory and suggests that there are other factors involved in both people and society that influences resistance to social influence
however, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with an internal locus of control
What is a strength of resisting social influence? (Allen + Levine)
Allen + Levine carried out a similar test to Asch’s dissenter variation.
conformity decreased when there was one dissenter present - even when the dissenter wore thick glasses and said they have difficulties seeing the lines.
furthermore early dissent is more effective in promoting resistance than later dissent
Baron + Byrne - earlier support received from dissenters is more effective than later support
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence - minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs this can lead to internalisation or conversion both private and public beliefs are changed
How does the minority group act during consistency?
Consistent minorities are persuasive, create doubt about established viewpoints/beliefs
How does consistency make the majority feel?
“maybe they’ve got a good point if they keep saying it?”
How does the minority group act during commitment?
consistency in the face of abuse shows minorities are committed and helps motivate individuals to consider viewpoint
How does commitment make the majority feel?
“they must really believe in what they are saying, they must be making a good point”
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Flashcard (68)