Psyc4005 week 4 why we follow imitate obey and sometimes rebel.

What is social influence?

process by which a persons beliefs attitudes or behaviour is changed by presence or action of others

(CIALDINI & Goldstein 2004)

What are the different types of social influence

Conformity-adjusting behaviour to match group (asch 1951)

Obedience-following direct commands from an authority figure (milgram 1963)

Minority influence-smaller group influencing the majority over time (Moscovici 1980)

What's conformity

Type of social influence where individual or small group is influenced by a larger more dominate group. (Majority influence)

What are the 3 types of conformity

-compliance/ normative social influence (most shallow)-changing visible behaviour in response to specific request from person/source aka going along even if you disagree. Temporary.

-identification (medium)-conforming to what is expected to fulfil a social role. Involves adhering to set of behaviours and expectations from relationships/role in society-DEEPER but doesn't change internal opinion

-internalisation/informational social influence (deepest)-genuinely accepts groups beliefs and internalises them as own/often happens in new and unfamiliar situations -BOTH internal and external, long lasting and persistent even when group is absent

What's asch line study results

Control (on their own) got it wrong 0.7% of times

In group-37% of times

repeated line study:

with 2 confederates conformity was 14%

3 confederates =32%

but after that little change no matter how big group was

+agreed with ps aka dissenter/supporter = group made conformity fall to 5.5%

ALSO task difficulty increases conformity

what are pros and cons of asch study

Pro:

-high internal validity (lab, tightly controlled)

-easily replicable (due to strict control of variables)

CONS:

-Lack of ecological validity

-used deception (unethical)

What's sheriffs autokinetic effect study

Ps put in dark room with a stationary point of light: perceptual illusion where a small stationary light appears to move ps told to estimate how far light move - crucially different people perceived different amount of movement-unlike asch no objectively correct answer

Tested alone vs group-with group estimates similar to group -using information from others to help them. Informational social influence (internalisation)

what were the methods of Sherifs study (phases)

1st-tested individually

2nd-tested in groups of 3

3-retested individually

compared estimates in individual vs group setting

What's are pros and cons of sherif 1935

PROS:

-high validity (lab)

-repeated measures design ps variables kept constant

CONS:

-no ecological valid

-demand characteristics- ps may have picked up cues that they were expected to congregate partially in group conditions

describe zimbardos study

-male students randomly assigned to be guard or prisoner in fake prison for 2 weeks (stopped after 6 days)

-prisoners referred to as numbers only

-guards given whistles handcuffs and dark glasses

-zimbardo acted as prison wadern observing the behaviour

Pros and cons of zimbardo prison

pros:

-high mundane realism-immersed in role

-random assignment to conditions

cons

-artificial environment, all men= not generalisable

-zimbardo personally involved=observer bias

-highly unethical

Asch found that people who were confident in their judgments were less likely to confirm. WHO else backed this up?

Perrin and Spencer 1981 found that engineering students were less likely to confirm possibly due to expertise in making accurate spatial observations

What was found about gender differences in conformity

Eagly and Cari 198 mega- analysis of conformity research, found inconsistent sex differences-clearest in asch or studies that involved group pressure

eagly 1987 argued different social roles explained differences in conformity

-women more concerned with group harmony

-men valued for being assertive and independent

What's the difference between conformity and obedience

Conformity-changing behaviour/belief as result of group influence

obedience- individual carrying out a direct order (often from authority figure)

Evaluate milgrams experiment

Internal validity:

-could have just been demand characteristics

+stressed reactions suggested manipulation worked

ecological validity

-not natural

+ lab

ethical issues

-deception, protection from harm right to withdraw.

+debriefed 84% were happy

echological validity

- not natural situation

+lab= good control of variables

what are some situational factors milgram added to his study

-when ps joined by confederates who refused to obey they were also less likely to obey

-obedience dropped from 65% to 40% when the learner was in the same room

-then dropped to 30% when ps touched the learner

-instructions through phone 25% obedience

-location from yale to run down office 48%

What's milgrams agency theory 1973

Agentic state- when people behave on behalf of an authority they are that authorities agent= feel less responsible for own actions.

Agentic shift= people start thinking for themselves then switch to agentic state

What's an authoritarian personality

Adorno et al 1950s- personality that explained obedience resulting from strict parenting d

Developed authoritarian scale = F scale (fascism)

aggression to those of lower status; blind obedience, conformity rigid moral standards

whats internal and external locus of control

internal-believing that misfortune happenes from own actions, stronger sense of control.-less liley to confrom/obey

external-believing in bad luck, blaming external factors, less independent -more likley to conform/obey

minority influence: whats moscovici's blue- green study 1969

lab experiment where 172 female participants in groups of six were shown 36 blue slides, but two confederates (the minority) claimed they were green

●In one condition confederates called all slides green (consistent)

●In another condition called ⅔ of slides green (inconsistent)

In consistent condition, participants agreed with minority on 8.42% of trials, compared to 1.25% in inconsistent condition

Conclusion: Minorities can change the majority's mind if they are consistent

why is flexibility important for minority influence?

●Nemeth (1986) divided participants into groups of 4 (with 1 confederate)

●Groups negotiated how much insurance money to pay someone

○Flexible confederates were more effective at persuading majority to accept low amount than those who inflexibly stuck to low amount

whats the difference between majority and minority influence

Majority Influence:

People compare own behaviour to majority (social comparison)

Change behaviour to fit in, may not consider views in detail

Often involves compliance - people may not change private views

Minority Influence:

People examine beliefs in detail to understand why minority thinks differently

People may privately change views

Public behaviour may not change at first due to social pressure to conform

whats social impact theory (Latané & Wolf, 1981)

minority influence happens through same process as majority influence with 3 factors

1-strength how powerful, knowledgeable, consistent a group is

2-numbers: how many people in the group

3-immediacy-how close the source is to you

whats the snowball effect (van avermaet 1996)

If people start to agree with the minority, it becomes more influential

A consistent, committed minority gradually persuades members of the majority to adopt their viewpoint

As more majority members convert, the momentum increases, causing the minority to grow until it eventually becomes the new majority

whats social cryptoamnesia

collective, societal-level phenomenon where original source of new idea or social change (usually a marginalised minority group) is forgotten

how does social influence work online

Informational influence (internalisation): When we see a story shared thousands of times, we are more likely to accept it as accurate

Normative influence (compliance): Visible metrics of approval such as likes, shares, etc. function as powerful normative cues

we're more likley to engage with something online with high likes what was found about this?

Muchnik et al. (2013) found that comments that received initial upvote were more likely to get further positive votes, even with no change to comment content

Suggests prior social approval shapes judgements, consistent with Asch's findings that people conform to apparent consensus

whats an echo chamber

tendency for people to be exposed to information that confirms existing beliefs... occurs partly through individual choice and partly through algorithmic curation

Online, can feel pressure to align views with dominant group to avoid social rejection: leads to normative conformity

By constantly seeing same viewpoints, individuals falsely believe opinions are more widespread than they actually are = False Consensus Effect

what can the fake consensus effect lead to

people sharing fake news and misinformation

Research shows that false news tends to be more novel and emotionally engaging, making it more likely to be shared

what did penny 2017 find

people are more likely to self-censor online when they perceive their views are in the minority

Creates distorted picture of public opinion, where extreme views (e.g., conspiracies) appear dominant because majority is too intimidated to speak up

whats a parasocial relationship

one sided emotional bonds that followers tend to develop with influencers despite not having a real personal relationship.

- becuase followers feeel like they "know" the influener they are more likley to be persuaded by them

(form of identification)

what did Kyrlitsias et al 2020 find about ai

eplicated Asch's study using

virtual reality (VR), and found that participants still conformed to non-human virtual agents!

Showed conformity rates similar to studies with human confederates (63.16% compared to Asch's result of 75%), underscoring persistent nature of conformity even in virtual online environments

what did bocian et al 2024 find

asked ps to judge whether targets were mainly a good person or bad in group of 3 confederates.

study 1 in person (43% cnformed)

study 2 in vr environment described as controlled by others or ai- moral conformity occured and people conformed to ai avatars just as much as human ones. BUT higher in real humans (28% conformed)

whats threshold model of social influence (blascovich 2002 used by bocian et al 2024)

social pressure is key to social influence-the more u feel ur in a genuine social situation the more influenced you are.

Real humans are higher on perceived agency and behavioural realism, creating stronger social presence and therefore more influence