Social psychology

Comformity

Type of social influence where a person’s private or public attitude is influenced to align with a majority , by a real or imagined pressure from a larger group

Explain Asch’s Procedure

-123 American men were used

-each was put in a group with fake participants

-groups of 6-8

-given an Image of line ‘x’

-told to compare to 3 other lines (a-c) and decide which one matches the length of x

-one was clearly the same length. Other two were substantially different

-everyone’s in the group gave answers out loud. Confederate gave wrong answers only

On average , how often did the the genuine participants conform?

36.8%

Define internalisation

When a person conforms both publicly and privately , as they believe the attitude is correct. The attitude is maintained even if social pressure is removed

Define Compliance

Conforming publicly but not privately be to be accepted by the group and avoid social rejection. Group influence only works when they are present

Define Social group

Two or more people that interact , share things in common and have a common identity

Define social norms

Unwritten rules for how all members of a group are expected to behave

Define normative social influence

Conforming to be liked and accepted by the group , public attitudes may not align with private attitudes. Explains compliance

Define informational social influence

Conforming to be correct , private attitudes matches public attitude

Evaluate NSI

+ can explain conformity in situations with high social pressure + low task difficulty

+ can explain compliance

- cannot explain conformity when social pressure is low

Jeness' jelly bean experiment procedure

Had the students make private guesses before a group discussion

each group gave an answer

After , everyone gave a private answer

motivated ppts through a prize

What were the results of jeness’s experiment?

Final private answer was closer to the group answer after discussion time. This hints internalisation of groups beliefs in order to be correct. This is ISI

Evaluate Jeness’s study (study assumes that only ISI was involved)

-Participants were told to write a report of what happened in the discussion along with their final answer

-This may have lead to them believing that members of the group would see their answers if they read the report

-This may have influenced their answers in order to be accepted and fit in. This is NSI

Evaluate Jeness’s study ( does it apply to all situations?)

Joness gave the participants a highly ambiguous task , this increased the likelihood of them conforming because of a higher task difficulty. The study may not be genereliasable to situations with lower task difficulty and ambiguity , this lowers ecological validity

What was the aim of Jeness’s study?

To research how group discussion effects accuracy of people’s jusdgements

What was Asch’s aim?

To investigate if people could me made to conform to something that is obviously wrong

In Asch’s experiment , what was the error rate of the control group that only contained actual participants?

3 mistakes in 720 trials

0.4%

What is the stats for the conformity of Asch’s participants?

75% of participants comformed at least once

conformity rate was 36.8%

5% conformed on all trials

What was Asch’s conclusion?

Asch’s concluded that participants conformed due to NSI , as they were trying to fit in with the majority.

Evaluate Asch’s experiment ( Validity )

Asch’s experiment was a lab study.

This means that results may not generalise to real life behaviour.

For example , participants had no real life consequences for conforming to the majority , and therefore may have been more likely to conform.

This decreases ecological validity

What is a strength of Asch conducting a lab study?

Lab studies allow high control over extraneous variables , this makes it easier to establish cause and effect relationships. This also makes it easier to replicate

Evaluate Asch’s experiment ( demand characteristics)

May have realised aim of study , which influenced their behaviour to do what the researcher wanted , this reduces the validity of the study

What is a counter argument for the effect of demand characteristics in Asch’s study?

Asch conducted a post study interview with some participants. The majority wanted to avoid ridicule (NSI) , or thought they didn’t see properly (ISI).This suggests the participants genuinely conformed

Evaluate Asch’s study (flaws with Asch’s conclusion)

Asch Concluded that people conform to fit in , even when the answer is obvious and the majority is wrong.

In Asch’ study , 25% never conformed , and total conformity rate was only 36.8%.

This suggests that not everyone will conform to, and some people may be more likely to conform then others due to dispositional variables.

This makes Asch’s conclusion less valid as he didn’t count for this

What is a response too the criticisms with Asch’s conclusion?

75% of participants conformed at least once. And this has been replicated in other studies. This makes Asch’s conclusion more reliable

Define authority

The right to exercise power over others , usually because of a persons position or status

What is obedience?

Obedience is when a person follows the direction orders of an authority figure

What are the situational variables that effect obedience?

Proximity to authority figures , proximity of victim , location , uniforms

What is a social hierarchy?

A social group where the power structure is unequal

How does legitimacy of Authority explain obedience?

People grow in social hierarchies , and learn from a young age to obey to superiors.

If someone is seen as higher in the social hierarchy , people respect their authority and see it as legitimate

Hoe does the agency theory explain obedience?

Agency theory explains that when people are given destructive orders From an authority figure , they experience a moral strain between their fear of disobeying and the negative consequences of obeying. A person Feels less moral strain when they know they won’t be responsible for the actions. According to the Agency theory , a person will obey a figure of authority If they believe that the figure will responsible for the consequences. When people obey destructive figures , they have an agentic shift.This allows them to feel less responsible.

Define the agentic state

Where a person shifts responsibility to an authority Figure they followed and see themselves as an agent following orders

Define moral strain

Someone feels the need to obey the authority figure, but they Don’t want to be responsible for the negative consequences

Define Autonomous state

Where a person feels responsible for their own actions and acts from their own free will

Define agentic shift

When someone goes from the autonomous State to the agentic state

Evaluation of ISI

+ explains conformity w high task difficulty + low social pressure

+ explains conformity w uncertainty

+ explains internalisation

Define social rules.

The behaviours and beliefs that are are expected of a person either a particular position in a social group

How does Group size effect conformity?

group influence increases with group size , leading to higher conformity

How does the size of the existing majority impact the effect of increasing group size?

size of the existing majority is indirectly proportional to the effect of increasing group size

How does group unanimity effect comformity?

Lower group unanimity = less social pressure

This lowers conformity

How does task difficulty effect conformity?

Task difficulty is directly proportional to conformity

What are the situational variables effecting conformity?

Group size , Group unanimity , task difficulty

What are some dispositional/individual variables on conformity?

Mood , gender , personality , culture