SI p1

What is conformity?

Yielding to group pressure (majority influence)
An individual changing their behaviour to go along with a larger group

What are the 3 types of conformity?

1. Compliance
2. Identification
3. Internalisation

What is compliance?

Temporary form of change in behaviour
Individual changes behaviour publicly to go along with a group but privately they disagree with their actions

What's an example of compliance?

Wearing lanyards

What's identification?

Changing behaviour to the behaviour of a group because group membership is desirable. It involves both private and public acceptance of the behaviour, BUT only in the presence of the group. Wants to be liked/accepted

What's an example of identification?

Killing people in the army is acceptable; outside it's not

What's internalisation?

True conformity
Leads to both a private and public change in behaviour even when the group is no longer present.
Permanent

What's an example of internalisation?

Religion

What are the 2 explanations of conformity?

1) Normative social influence (NSI)
2) Informational Social Influence (ISI)

What's NSI?

Where we follow a groups behaviour to avoid standing out and looking foolish
Generally occurs more often in unfamiliar situations but with people who we know

What does NSI lead to?

Compliance and sometimes identification

What is ISI?

Humans have a desire to be right. If we are in a situation where the correct behaviour is unclear we will look to others who we believe have more knowledge/info for guidance

What does ISI lead to?

Internalisation and sometimes identification

What is the AO1 for ASCH's research supporting explanations of conformity? NSI

ASCH 1951
Supports NSI
Found that participants conformed to an obvious wrong answer in order to avoid judgement

What is the AO3 for ASCH's research supporting explanations of conformity? NSI

+this shows that when people are in a group situation they will go along with the group even if they know the group is wrong in order to fit in, therefore demonstrating normative social influence (NSI)
-BUT there are individual differences. Some people are less concerned about fitting in and have more confidence to be individual. Therefore NSI cannot explain all conformity

What is the AO1 for LUCAS' research supporting explanations of conformity? ISI

LUCAS 2006
+supports ISI
Found higher levels of conformity when students were completing complex maths problems compared to simple maths problems

What is the AO3 for LUCAS' research supporting explanations of conformity? ISI

This shows that when people are unsure of something they will look to guidance from others who they believe will have the correct answer
-BUT there are individual differences. Some people are less concerned about being right and have more confidence. Therefore, ISI cannot explain all conformity

What was ASCH's aim?

To investigate whether individuals will conform to an obvious wrong answer due to group pressure

What was ASCH's procedure in 1951?

There were 123 male American students
Method: 6-8 confederates, 1 naive participants (sat in last seat/near end)
Eg card experiment w Charlie
18 participants trials, only 12 were 'critical trials'

What were ASCH's quantitative findings in 1951?

75% of ppants conformed at least once
25% didn't

What was the total level of conformity in ASCH's 1951 experiment?

36.8%

What was ASCH's conclusion in 1951?

Individuals will conform to an obvious wrong answer due to group pressure. This supports NSI.

What did ASCH do in 1955?

Replicated his og study in 1955 to investigate which variables led to an increase/decrease in conformity

What were ASCH's 3 variables/factors affecting conformity? 1955

Group size, unanimity, task difficulty

How did group size affect ASCH's 1955 study?

2 confederates—> 13.6%
3 confederates—> 31%
After 3 confederates the percentage conformity stabilised

How did unanimity affect ASCH's 1955 study?

ASCH added one descentre who either gave the correct answer or a different wrong answer
25% conformity

How did task difficulty affect ASCH's 1955 study? ISI

As the lines became more similar in length/task difficulty increased, conformity levels increased
SUPPORTING ISI

What are the strengths of ASCH's study?

+because it is so controlled it has INTERNAL VALIDITY and by only changing one variable it shows cause and effect clearly

What are the limitations of ASCH'S study?

-research is outdated... lacks TEMPORAL VALIDITY. When replicated in the 80s conformity was lower (Perrin + Spencer)
-artificial environment + task—> task doesn't reflect group decision making scenarios in real life, eg juries where the consequences of conforming can be serious. Therefore, ASCH's results may overestimate levels of conformity.
-lacks ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY^
-Lacks POPULATION VALIDITY, the ppants were male Americans. Females tend to conform more because there's more social pressure to fit in. Collectivist cultures, eg China, are more likely to conform

What is conformity to social roles?

When your behaviour changes to fulfil a certain role

What are social roles?

Roles we play in society, we have multiple roles: e.g student/friend/employee

What was Zimbardo's 1973 aim?

To investigate whether evil behaviour is innate or caused by external factors (situations/roles)

What was Zimbardo's 1973 procedure?

24 emotionally stable volunteers randomly allocated to role: prisoner/guard
Prisoners were arrested, blindfolded, stripped, deloused, given uniform/number
Guard: power, uniform, handcuffs, glasses, truncheons, 16 rules that prisoners had to follow
Zimbardo was the researcher and prison superintendent

What was Zimbardo's 1973 findings?

Roles were adopted quickly—> prisoners rebelled and guards retaliated
Number of people tried to leave —> 1 on hunger strike
Guards made prisoners clean toilets with bare hands, wake in the night, turn against each other
Meant to last 14 days, only lasted 6

What was Zimbardo's 1973 conclusion?

People adopt rules + can be influenced by the situation

What are the strengths of Zimbardo's 1973 research?

+good internal validity- screened for mental health, allows cause + effect to be established, all behaviour caused by conformity not personality
+90% of the conversations ppants had related to the study, suggesting they believed it was realistic (shows eco validity)

What are the limitations of Zimbardo's 1973 study?

-Zimbardo's research had many ethical issues: -lack of informed consent/deception (weren't told what they were going to undergo, nor the arresting)
-lack of protection from physical/mental harm (hunger strike, sleep disturbance, confinement- see notes for more)
—lack of privacy (stripped/arrested in homes)
-lack of RTW (attempted to make them stay)
-lack of ecological validity- may have had order effects

What is obedience?

Following the demands of an authority figure

What was Milgram's 1963 aim?

To investigate the 'Germans are different' hypothesis

What was Milgram's 1963 procedure?

Advert—> 40 male Americans, aged 20-50, all paid $4.
Thought it was for a memory recall experiment/
Ppants drew rigged lots for their role- confederate (Mr Wallace) was ways the learner and ppant was alaways the teacher
Teacher had to administer shocks every time learner got it wrong.
Shocks began at 15V (labelled slight shock), ended at 450V (danger, severe shock)
At 300V ppant banged on wall, past that no response

What happened if the ppant wanted to quit in Milgrams 1963 experiment?

4 prods were given

What were the 4 prods in Milgrams 1963 experiment?

1) please continue/go on
2) the experiment requires that you continue
3) it is absolutely essential that you continue
4) you have no other choice, you must go on

What were the quantitative findings of Milgrams 1963 research?

-NO ppants stopped below 300V
-65% went to 450V (CHECK)
-3 had seizures, a lot cried
-in a follow up questionnaire, 84% reported they felt glad to have participated; 74% said they'd learnt smth of personal importance

What was the percent that 14 psych students thought would go to 450V? (Milgram 1963)

3%

What are the strengths of Milgrams 1963 research?

+high levels of distress + 3 seizures suggest ppants felt experiment was real
+Sheridan + King(1972)
+Hofling (1966)

What did Sheridan + King find in 1972?

54% of males and 1005 of females were willing to give a fatal shock to a puppy when ordered

What did Hofling find in 1966?

Found that 21 out of 22 nurses were prepared to follow orders given over the phone by an unknown doctor.
Suggests Milgram's findings do reflect levels of obedience in the real world

What are the limitations of Milgram's 1963 research?

-ethical issues-> deception (aim/shock/learner)
-lack of informed consent (didn't consent to what happened/advertised incorrectly)
-lack of protection from psych/physical harm (3 seizures, most upset)
-lack of right to withdraw
-lacks internal validity- artificial - demand characteristics

What is the counter argument to Milgram's lack of RTW?

35% withdrew- he argues therefore everyone could've withdrawn

What are the three factors/variables that affect Milgram's obedience?

Proximity, location, uniform

What did Milgram find when he changed the proximity? (3 variations)

T+L in same room= 40%
T having to move learner's hand to receive shock= 30%
Experimenter gave prods over phone= 20.5%

What did Milgram find when he changed the location?

Rundown office block= 47.5%

What did Milgram find when he changed the uniform?

Experimenter wearing ordinary clothes= 20%

Why did Milgram changing the uniform result in such low obedience?

Because uniform gives a visual cue of authority

What are the strengths of Milgram's research into variables?

+Bickman (1974)
+good control of variables—> increases internal validity by only changing one variable at a time—> cause + effect

How does Bickman's 1974 support the impact of uniform on obedience?

SAME person asks public to give money for a parking ticket, wearing 3 diff outfits
1) suit/jacket 2) Milkman 3) security guard
Security guard was twice as likely to be obeyed

What are the explanations of obedience?

Social/psychological explanations (external factors)
Dispositional explanations (authoritarian personality)

What did Adorno believe?

That obedience is part of personality that develops in childhood
It stems from very strict parenting that involves harsh punishment for disobedience. This leads to repressed unconscious hatred and hostility towards the parents which may later be displaced onto others when given an opportunity.

How did Adorno measure the authoritarian personality?

The F-scale (potential for facism scale). Measured via a questionnaire

What supports Adorno's authoritarian personality theory?

+Milgram + Elms (1966)
Found that there was a positive correlation between F score and the voltage level ppants went to when Milgrams o.g ppants completed the f=scale

What doesn't support Adorno's authoritarian personality theory?

-BUT social desirability bias may affect the f-scale scores. This can limit the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience. It is a politically biased Q
-not all obedience can be explained by AP. It's unlikely l German soldiers had an authoritarian personality. There must be other reasons

What is the agentic state?

Most of the time we are in an autonomous state—-> we feel responsible for our behaviour and actions
If we receive an order from authority figure—> agentic shift into agentic state
In this state we are now working for the experimenter who's responsible for our actions

What are the social/psychological explanations of obedience?

Agentic state and legitimacy of authority

What may we feel in agentic state?

Moral strain- where we feel uncomfy about the order received

What are binding factors?

Experienced in agentic state- allows us to justify our behaviour —> aspects of the situation that help us to feel better about our behaviour

What is legitimacy of authority?

In society we accept there's a hierarchy where some individuals have more authority/power. We accept this as it helps society to function. How legit authority can be identified by LOCATION + UNIFORM
Problems arise when people of power use their authority in a destructive way, eg Hitler

What is a piece of research that supports agentic state?

+Blass and Schmidt (2001)
Students (NOT PPANTS) blamed experimenter for harm caused in Milhram's research, showing that the students and therefore arguably the og ppants placed responsibility onto the researcher/agent.
Teacher (og ppant) was working as an agent for experimenter

What's a limitation of agentic state?

-doesn't explain why some individuals disobey. Doesn't explain why some ppl don't experience agentic state (eg 1 nurse in Hofling's 1966)

What's a strength of legitimacy of authority?

high ecological validity- can be used to explain real life social obedience situations eg war, armies

What are the two official explanations for resisting social influence?

Social support (external factor)
Locus of control (internal factor)

What is social influence?

Conformity and obedience

What was Asch's percentage of ppants who resisted conformity?

25%

What was Zimbardo's fraction of guards who resisted conformity?

2/3

What was Milgram's percentage of ppants who resisted obedience?

35%

What was hofling's number of ppants who resisted obedience?

1 nurse resisted obedience

What are some reasons for people not obeying?

Lack of uniform, location, proximity, gender, age, culture

What are some reasons for people not conforming?

Difficulty (kinda), group size, unanimity, gender, age, culture

What is social support?

An external factor, if someone else isn't conforming or obeying we feel less pressure + more able to resist

What is a piece of research by Asch that supports Social Support?

+conformity —> Asch's unanimity variation
Shows that conformity decreases if 1 member of group descents

What is a piece of research by Milgram that supports Social Support?

+obedience
Milgram introduced a disobedient confederate teacher who refused to obey (real teacher and confederate had to decide to give shocks together, but halfway through, confederate refused).
Obedience levels fell to 10%

What's a limitation of Social Support?

-incomplete explanation as it can't explain all resistance to SI. For example it can't explain why the first person dissents without social support

What is locus of control? LoC

ROTTER 1966
Argued that we can measure a person's sense of control over life events, decisions, behaviours on a scale

What was Rotters 1966 scale?

You either had internal LoC, where you take responsibility for your actions, or external LoC who believe outside factors (luck/fate/others) influence their behaviour/actions/life events
Most people in middle according to situation

According to Rotter's theory, who's more likely to resist SI?

People with internal LoC are more likely to resist SI—> they're most self-confident, responsible, and consider consequences before obeying/conforming

What research supports LoC?

Holland 1967
Found a negative correlation between internal locus of control score and voltage in a Milgram replication
(Those with higher internal LoC score, lower voltage)

What research limits LoC?

Twenge 2007
LoC lacks temporal validity. Over time population has become more external yet more resistant to SI. If this theory were correct we'd expect more obedience

What do you need to remember with resistance to SI?

IF QUESTION ASKS ABOUT RESISTANCE REFER TO NUMBER PPANTS WHO DID NOT OBEY OR CONFORM E.G 2/3 OF Z'S GUARDS DIDN'T CONFORM

What is minority influence?

When a small group or individual changes the behaviour/opinion/beliefs of a majority
It's a harder and longer process of change

What are the three processes involved in minority influence?

Consistency
Commitment
Flexibility

What is consistency in minority influence?

All members of minority must have same messages at all times
(Most important)

What's commitment in minority influence?

A minority will need to prove how committed they are to their view. This will often involve putting themselves at risk.. protests, etc

What's flexibility in minority influence?

A minority must be willing to listen to the majority and compromise if needed whilst still maintaining consistency

What does minority influence lead to (Moscovici)? 1969

Leads to internalisation-permanent change in beliefs. He found higher levels of influence when ppants gave their answers with the minority privately but were scared to go against the majority publicly

What was Moscovici's aim? 1969

To see whether a consistent minority of ppants could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a couloir perception task

What was Moscovici's procedure? 1969

172 ppants with good eyesight
6 ppants at a time asked to estimate colour of 36 blue slides
2/6 were accomplices of the experimenter
2 conditions:
Consistent: 2 accomplices called slides green
Inconsistent: 2 accomplices called slides green 24 times, then blue 12 times

What were Moscovici's findings 1969?

Ppants in the consistent condition yielded and called the slides green in 8.4% f trails
32% of ppants in consistent condition reported a green slide at least once
Ppants in the inconsistent condition yielded and called slides green in only 1.3% of trials

What was Moscovici's conclusion? 1969

Important minority are consistent

What are the limitations of Moscovici's 1969?

-really low eco valid -v artificial- doesn't reflect actual social issues

What is social change?

Usually starts with minority influence- small group/individual find a cause that they want to change

How do minorities create change? 6 steps

1) draw attention... protest/marching
2) be consistent at each protest/march
3) deeper processing-> ppl/majority will notice + think about the minority view
4) augmentation principle —> involves risk taking to display commitment
5) snowball effect
6) social cryptalamnesia