1. AQA A-Level Psychology Key Content

what is social influence

the process by which a persons attitudes, beliefs or behaviours are modified by the Prescence or actions of others

what is conformity

the process of yielding / giving in to majority influence

what is Myers definition of conformity

a change in behaviour / belief as a result of real of imagined group pressure

what did Zimbardo suggest

when we evaluate out position we go along with those whom we compare ourselves to

what happened in Jenesse’s (1932) experiment

asked pts to estimate the number of beans in a jar, individually then in groups

group estimates converged showing that people adjust judgements to align with others

demonstrates majority influence and is likely driven by informational social influence

what is informational social influence

conforming to the group because we have the desire to be right - looking towards others who we assume to be right to give information on how to behave especially in novel situations

what is internalisation / private compliance

a genuine or long lasting change of belief or attitude

what is normative social influence

conforming to the group because of the desire to be right in order to be approved of by others (public compliance) privately maintains their own views

what did Deutsch and Gerard call normative and informational social influence

the dual dependence model where there are 2 separate reasons for conforming and they work independently

what is a weakness of the dual dependency model

others state it is incorrect as they believe they may work in contribution to each other

what is Latane’s social impact theory

A theory stating that social influence depends on strength, immediacy, and number of sources.

in social impact theory, what is the depending factor

how big a group is, a small group which increases in size may have a greater effect on conformity, than a large group which changes in size

what is an advantage of social impact theory (NSI)

has research support, pts interviewed claimed they conformed because they didn’t want to be judged/ridiculed

also in this situation it could be because of informational reasons as the answer was made evident in many questions

what do the 2 strengths of social impact theory suggest

NSI as an explanation is valid

pts conform in order to not be ridiculed

why would the group impact conformity in social impact theory (limitation)

more likely to conform when the group is important to us e.g. with friends, meaning social impact theory is superior to ISI and NSI and it can explain why

why would ISI and NSI not influence conformity individually (limitation)

both processes are involved together e.g. when one person goes against the group it is logical that conformity may decrease due to social support

alternative source of information - ISI and NSI working independent of each other lacks face validity

what are the 2 types of conformity

compliance and internalisation

is compliance normative or informational and explain what it is

normative - publicly conforming to the behaviour or views of others but privately maintaining own views

is internalisation normative or informational and explain what it is

informational - a conversion or true change of private views to match those of the group