Social influence

conformity

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

Herbert Kelman

compliance, identification and internalisation.

compliance

conform publically but privately disagree- shallowest form of conformity.

identification

behave the same way when we are in a group because we want to be a part of this, but privately may behave differently.

internalisation

genuinely accepts and believes a groups norms, publicly and privately- deepest form of conformity.

Deustch and Gerald

normative social influence and informative social influence

normative social influence

fit in with the ‘norm’ and be liked by the group

informative social influence

we look towards the majority of people if we are unsure

Asche particapants

123 American, male undergrauduate students, between 6 and 8 confeds during each study

Asche method

particapants were shown a card with a ‘standard line’ and other with a comparison line. Participants were asked to state whether line A, B or C matched the standard line.

18 rounds, 12 experimental

Asche results

Niave participants who gave the wrong answer- 36.8%

Particapants who confromed at least once- 75%

Participants who did not conform - 25%

Asche variation studies

group size, unanimity and task difficulty

Societal roles

the parts people play in a social group with each social role you adopt, your behaviour changes to fit the expectation both you and others have in a role

Zimbardo aims

Do the prison guards behave brutality because they have sadistic personalities or is it just the situation that creates such behaviour

Zimbardo procedures

Zimbardo advertised to student to volunteer in a study

26 emotionally stable students were randomly assigned to the role of prisoners or guards.

There were 16 rules that prisoners had to follow, and guards had to reinforce

Guards held all the power over prisoners

Zimbardos findings

within 2 days prisoners started to revel against harsh treatment.

one left on day one, two on day four.

One went on hunger strike and was punished

prisoners became subdued, anxious and depressed

Terminated after 6 days

guards enjoyed power over prionsers and would taunt them

Zimbardo evaluation

strength/ Real world application (Abu Ghraib)-prisoner of war camp, volunteer sampling

limitation/ lack of internal validity, sample bias, and unethical

obedience

a form of social influence in which an individual follows direct orders

Milgrams study obedience

collected 40 male particapants recruted through newspaper ads , between ages of 20 and 50, USA- yale, told they were taking part in a memory test

the experiment- milgram

the teacher told to give an electric shock- which got higher in volts- everytime a wrong answer was given , during the experiment the learner would shout in pain.

milgrams results

100% went to 100 volts

65% continued to 450v- deadly

milgrams evaluation

strength/high external validity

limitation/ lacks internal validity,

internal validity

whether the effects observed in an experiment is due to manipulation of the IV rather than another factor

ethical issues in milgrams study

deception, informed consent, right to withdraw and psychological harm

situational variables

proximity, location, uniform

situational variables evaluation

strength/ supporting evidence, Bickman- 3 confederates dressed in costumes, lab experiment, not culture bound

limitation/ lack of internal validity, lab sample

Agentis state

autonomous state or agentic state

autonomous state

when an individual takes responsibility for actions

agentic state

when an individual does not feel responsible for their actions but take it out on authority figures

Authoritarian characteristic

Obidence, respectfully to those in higher authority, hostile to those in inferior statuses. Conventional attitudes.

evaluating social and psychological factors of obedience

strength/ lass and Schmitt- asked who was responsible for milgrams study, cultural explanation

limitation/ limited explanations as only accounts for some situations

resistance to social influence evaluation

strength/ supporting evidence, support for the role of dissent of obedience

minority influence

managing to persuade others to adopt beliefs, attitudes or behaviours.

consistency, commitment, flexibility

Consistency

Sychronic, people in minority influences are synchronised. Diachronic, view doesn’t modify

Commitment

Help gain attention, involves risks of demonstration

Flexibility

Nemeth- argued that being consistent and repeating the same argument and behaviours seen as rigid or off-putting to majority. Minorities should adapt their POV and. Accept reasonable counter argument

Moscovici et al

172 particapants, groups of 6.

Viewed a set of 36 blue- green coloured slides varying in intensity

Moscovinci evaluation

strength/ minority influence, ethics

limitations/ gender bias

Social change

When society as a whole adapts to new attitudes beliefs and ways of doing things

social change steps

Drawing attention, giving evidence

consistency, stick to message

deeper processing, majority thinks more about message

augmentation principle, minority suffer for cause

smowball effect, minority view becomes majority

social cryptomnesia, people forget where it came from