psychology- social influence

What study can be used to evaluate compliance

Asch

What study can be used to evaluate internalisation

Jennes

What study can be used to evaluate identification

Zimbardo

What is meant by legitimacy of authority

Society is structured in a hierarchical manner - with some people holding higher status and more power over others. We are socialised to believe/follow this hierarchy at a young age. Some people have legitimate authority over others and the power to punish e.g. police, teachers, parents. This is usually signified by uniform.

What two studies can be used to evaluate legitimacy of authority

Bickman and Hofling

What is meant by agentic state

People are more likely to obey when in an agentic state - you become an agent for a higher authority figure so obey often without question. This is the opposite to the autonomous state where you have responsibility over your actions. You remain in the agentic state through binding factors such as victim blaming.

What is the process of social change

1. Drawing attention to the issue

2. Consistency

3. Deeper processing- people will only conform to social change by informational social influence

4. The augmentation principle- personal risk/sacrifice to show your commitment

5. Snowball effect

6. Social cryptoamnesia

What was the level of conformity in ASCH’S original study

32%

During ASCH’S study how many participants conformed at least once

75%

During ASCH’S study how many participants conformed every time

5%

When 1 confederate was added into ASCH’S study what was conformity rate

3%

When 2 confederates was added into ASCH’S study what was conformity rate

12%

When 3 confederates was added into ASCH’S study what was conformity rate

32%

When a dissenter who stated the correct answer was added into ASCH’S study what was conformity rate

5.5%

When a dissenter who stated a different incorrect answer was added into ASCH’S study what was conformity rate

9%

What is the procedure of zimbardos study

Volunteer sample of males from Stanford university who were psychologically tested for mental stability and then randomly allocated their role. Prisoners were arrested in their own homes and guards were given a uniform with glasses. Zimbardo played the roles of superintendent

What are the findings of zimbardos study

Study ended on day 6 instead of 14. Within 2 days prisoners started to rebel. Prisoners became isolated and depressed

In Milgram’s original study how many participants conformed to 300v

100%

In Milgram’s original study how many participants conformed to 450v

65%

In Milgram’s uniform variation of the study how many participants conformed

20%

In the uniform variation of milgrams study what was changed

Milgram in a lab coat was replaced by a member of the public in regular clothing

In Milgram’s location variation of the study how many participants conformed

47.5% as legitmacy of authority was reduced

In Milgram’s location variation of the study what was changed

The location changed from Yale university to a run down office block

In Milgram’s proximity variation (over the phone) of the study how many participants conformed

20.5% as legitimacy of authority was reduced

In Milgram’s proximity variation (teacher and learner in same room) of the study how many participants conformed

40%

In Milgram’s proximity variation (hand on shock plate) of the study how many participants conformed

30%

In Milgram’s uniform variation of the study how many participants conformed

20%

In Milgram’s location variation of the study how many participants conformed

47.5%

In Milgram’s proximity variation (hand on shock plate) of the study how many participants conformed

30%

In Milgram’s proximity variation (teacher and learner in same room) of the study how many participants conformed

40%

In Milgram’s proximity variation (over the phone) of the study how many participants conformed

20.5%

What evidence can be used to contradict the over the phone proximity variation of milgrams study

Hofling

What study can be used to support the uniform variation of milgrams study

Bickman

Outline flexibility as a factor in minority influence

Minorities must be willing to adapt their point of view and accept reasonable counter arguments, they must be non-dogmatic

What does it mean if someone has high internal locus of control

They believe they are responsible for their own actions and are less likely to obey. These people are more likely to be leaders than followers as they are more confident in their decisions

Outline what is meant by agentic state as an explanation for obedience

Agentic state is a personality type where a person acts on behalf of someone they see as authority and feels no responsibility for their actions

What does it mean if someone has high external locus of control

They believe their actions are a result of factors outside of their control such as fate so they are more likely to obey.

Outline informational social influence as an explanation for conformity

Informational social influence is conformity due to the belief that others have more or superior knowledge to you. This type of explanation for conformity was shown through Jennes’s study when participants change their individual answers after group discussion. They did this as they believed others had more knowledge than them. Informational social influence leads to internalisation as you internalise a group or individuals beliefs.

identify and briefly discuss two reasons why people have criticised Zimbardo’s prison study

Lack of internal validity due to belief that participants knew they were being asked on conformity to social roles. For example a God claimed he based his behaviour on a film.

Another criticism is ethical issues as some participants believed they did not have the right to withdraw and were being forced to continue. In addition, although participants who were unable to hit the prisoners, the participants were not protected from psychological harm as they believed they were real prisoners and deserved the treatment they had received.

What is meant by compliance

Agreeing with or behaving like the group publicly but disagreeing with or having different opinions to the group privately

What is the weakest type of conformity

Compliance because it only involves superficial change

What is meant by internalisation

accepting and agreeing with the group publicly and privately. Strongest leading to long term change

What is meant by identification

people believe the behaviour they are adopting from the group is right (internalisation) but they do it to be accepted by the group (compliance) only lasts while the person wants to maintain a relationship with the group

How does normative social influence explain conformity

conformity due to wanting to be liked and appear normal by other group members. NSI may involve an individual going against their inner beliefs, ideals or opinions in order not to be rejected by the group

How does informational social influence explain conformity

When someone conforms due to the belief of others having more or superior knowledge to them

What is social impact theory by latane

explains why people conform in some situations but not others. He argues that strength/ status of the group, immediacy and number of people affect the amount of influence a person experiences

What is a limitation for the social support theory of resistance to social influence

It doesn’t account for individual differences

What is research evidence for the social support theory of resistance to social influence

ASCH’S line experiment - conformity dropped from 35% to 5.5% when a dissenter gave a correct answer

Are people with a high external locus of control more or less likely to obey

more likely to obey

What is research evidence for locus of control and what did they do

Williams and warchal who studied 30 uni students who were assessed on rotters locus of control scale and then given conformity tasks. They found that most participants who conformed were less assertive but didn’t score differently. Implies that assertion may be more important than locus of control to conformity.

In what three ways can a minority be turned into a majority

Consistency, commitment and flexibility

What can happen is a minority stays consistent, committed and flexible

Snowball effect and social cryptoamnesia

What is social cryptoamnesia

When people are aware a social change has happened but unaware how and when

What is the snowball effect

When overtime increasing numbers of people firm the majority join the minority.

What is the augmentation principle

If a member of a minority group is committed and willing to make sacrifices they are taken seriously

What is supporting evidence for minority influence

MOSCOVICI’s blue green study

What were the findings of Moscovici’s study

When confederates were consistent (saying green everytime) there was an 8% effect on majority. When confederates were inconsistent (saying green 66% of the time) there was a 1.25% effect on majority

What is social change

When a whole society adopts a new belief or way of thinking which then widely becomes accepted as the norm

What is diachronic consistency

Consistency over time

What in synchronic consistency

Consistency across the group

What is a real life example of social change

it took the suffragette 15 years of campaigning for women to get the vote and the further 10 years to get equal voting rights to men.

What are limitations of social change

Can be slow (not a direct change) and may look deviant to the majority