Social Influence

conformity

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

types of conformity

kelman (1958)
internalisation
indentification
compliance

internalisation

when your internal opinions change to match the groups. Permanent change

identification

membership is valued so a temporary change is made

compliance

a superficial change, agree externally but not internally. temporary change

Informative social influence (ISI)

uncertain so look to the majority for guidance. results in internalisation

Normative social influence (NSI)

wants to be part of the majority. results in compliance

Evidence of NSI

Asch 1951 vision line test

Asch - aim

investigate the extent of social pressure to conform from a majority

Asch - procedure

50 naive students from Swathmore college took part in a vision test
In each repeat 1 naive participant and 7 confederates
each person states allowed their answer (wrong) and then the naive.
18 trials, C wrong 12 times

Asch - results

75% conformed atleast once, 32% conformed in all clinical trials
25% never conformed

Asch variations

Group size, unanimity, task difficulty

Asch AO3

Child of its time - 1950s America
Artifical task - in a lab, trivial task
sample - US, male, college students
Gives evidence of NSI

conformity to social roles research

Zimbardo 1971, Stanford prison experiment

Stanford prison experiment sample

College Students, $15 each day
volunteered in a local paper, prisoners arrested in their homes

Stanford prison experiment - procedure

a mock prison set up, participants were randomly allocated either prison guard or prisoner
prisoner \= blindfolded, striped, deloused, deindividuated, led to submissiveness, psychological trauma, crying and began rebelling after 2 days
soldiers \= wore uniform, sunglasses, called a correctional officer, had handcuffs, led to control and dominance via sadistic mannerisms

Stanford Prison Experiment findings

stopped after 6 days instead of 14. 5 ppts left early. Showed good people will conform to evil social roles

Sanford Prison Experiment AO3

ethical issues - lack of protection from harm, deceived but debriefed
dual role
individual differences
sample - all white American male uni students
highly controlled - due to situational not dispositional factors
high external validity

obedience meaning

type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person

examples of obedience

Abuu grahib, Vietnam war, Holocaust, Slavery

research into obedience

Milgram (1963) shock experiment

Milgram method

40 ppts, 2 confederates.
when they got a question wrong the person was shocked up to 450v. Verbal prompts "please continue, the experiment requires you to continue, you have no other choice you must go on"

Milgram findings

100% went to 300v
65% went to 450v
Signs of tension, sweating, trembling, 3 had seizure. After being debriefed 84% were glad they participated

Milgram conclusion

people show high levels of obedience to an authority figure when in certain situations

Situational factors

proximity - in the same room 40%, force hand over plate 30%, over the telephone 21%
location - yale vs run down building \= no significant difference
uniform - police officer 72%, beggar 48% (Bushman 1988)

Milgram AO3

Biased sample - all USA westernised, volunteer personality
Variety of cultures showed the same results
Ethical issues - lack of informed consent, deceived, no right to withdraw
cultural differences - in australia only 16% went to 140v

Agentic State definition

when someone sees them self as an agent for carrying out another person's wishes
not responsible for their own actions.

Agentic state example

holocaust, vietnam war, Milgram's study, Brendan Dassey

agentic shift

autonomous state --\> agentic state

Why is an agentic state maintained

social etiquette (NSI), commitment, emotions

legitimacy of authority definition

someone who has control over the situation, provides meaning and commitment but must occur within an institutional structure or uniform
When a person recognises their own role in the social hierachy

legitimacy of authority/ agentic state AO3

Cannot explain Milgram's research findings,
research evidence (Blass and Schmitt)
Real life evidence - My Lai massacre

authoritarian personality definition

dispositional explanation to obedience, formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting.
excessive respect for authority, identify with strong people with highly conventional, inflexible attitudes towards, race sex gender

Adorno et al (1950)

California F-scale, facism test
2000 middle class americans

Authoritarian personality AO3

methodological issues - Greenstein 1969, F-scale lacks validity with biased results
Supporting research evidence - Elms and milgram
Correlational evidence

Social pressure definition

the influence that is exerted on a person or group by another person or group

social support

leads people to resist conformity - Allen and Levine 1971, conformity decreased with a dissenter

Locus of control (1966)

the extent that people have over their own lives.
Internal/ external

internal locus of control

believe they have control over their own life

external locus of control

guided by fate, blames force on everything, have no control over their own life

locus of control AO3

Over time people have become more external and disobedient - Twenge et al 40 year period.
research support - Milgram - Oliner and Oliner 1998, non jewish survivors 406 rescuers \= internal 126 \= external
research evidence

minority influence definition

the opposite of conformity, they reject the norm and persuade the majority to move to the minority, leads to internalisation

key factors in minority influence

consistency, commitment, flexibility, snowball effect, social crypto amnesia

consistency

representing the same viewpoint over time, makes others rethink their views

commitment

shows the majority how strongly they believe in their cause, may result in danger - hunger strikes

flexibility

appear flexible or compromising so are seen to be reasonable

snowball effect

people become converted so the rate of conversion happens quickly

social crypto amnesia

the majority will eventually forget the view was ever a minority

moscovoci 1969 method

blue/green screen, 172 female study group, 4 participants 2 confederates, 36 slides of different shades of blue. 3 conditions

moscovici findings

1. confederates consistent (green ) - 8.42% said green
2. confederates inconsistent - 1.25% answered green
3. no confederates - 8% or 1%
Shows consistency is a factor in the minority changing the opinion of the minority

Moscovoci AO3

lab study - lacks ecological validity, artificial task
sample criticism - 172 all American women
real life example - rosa parks, suffragettes

social change

occurs when a whole society adopts a new belief or behaviour which becomes widely accepted as the norm. Includes, minority influence, internal locus of control and disobedience to authority

example of social change

asch line study \= importance of dissenter
milgrams shock plate study \= importance of disobedient role model

Social change AO3

happens slowly so role is limited
research to refute that minority influence causes deeper processing in the majority
research evidence to support the role of NSi in social change - Nolan, reducing energy intake by giving out door signs