Social Influence

types of conformity

compliance, identification, internalisation

compliance

going along with the group for approval but it doesn’t result in a change of private beliefs

identification

acting in the same way as the group because we value it but they don’t believe in everything the group does

internalisation

adopts the groups beliefs as true both publicly and privately permanently

explanations of conformity

the dual process model- ISI and NSI

ISI

informational social influence - conforming to be right

NSI

normative social influence - conforming to be liked

research support for NSI

Asch

research support for ISI

Lucas

Limitations for NSI

doesn’t predict conformity in every case

nAffiliators

people more concerned with being liked than others

conformity rate found in Asch

33%

conformity

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

variables affecting conformity (Asch)

task difficulty, group size, unanimity

task difficulty findings

more conformity the harder the task

group size findings

little conformity when majority was ½ but increases with 3 people then stays the same

unanimity findings

when one confederate gave right answer conformity dropped to 5.5% when a confederate gave different but wrong answer conformity was 9%

conforming to social roles research

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

pp’s in Stanford prison experiment

21 male student volunteers

obedience to authority research

Milgram

Milgram’s baseline findings

65% were fully obedient and every pp went to 300v at least

research support for Milgram

Fake French game show found 80% were fully obedient

situational variables

features of the immediate physical and social environment that may influence a persons behaviour (proximity, uniform, location)

proximity findings

T+L in same room (40%) touch proximity (30%) remote instructions (20.5%)

explanation for proximity affecting obedience

decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves

location findings

experiment conducted in run down office blocks instead of Yale (47.5%)

explanation for location affecting obedience

pp’s assumed experimenter shared legitimacy and authority with building

uniform findings

experimenter in lab coat was called away and replaced with someone in every day clothes (20%)

explanation for uniform affecting obedience

uniforms are widely accepted as symbols of legitimate authority that expect obedience

agentic state

a mental state where we feel no responsibility as we’re acting for an authority figure as their “agent”

autonomous state

feels responsible for behaviour and feels free to behave according to own principles

agentic shift

shift from autonomy to agency

binding factors

aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore/minimise effect of behaviour and remain in agentic state

legitimacy of authority

we’re more likely to obey to someone with authority over us which is legitimised by the social heirarchy

Rank and Jacobson research

16/18 nurses disobeyed doctor when ordered to give excessive drug dose to patient

Authoritarian personality

type of personality Adorno believes is overly obedient to authority

origins if authoritarian personality

harsh parenting creates resentment that’s displaced onto those perceived as weaker