social influence

Compliance definition

Public agreement but privately disagree (temporary change)

Identification definition

Temporary agreement with a group while in their presence

Internalisation definition

Deep, permanent acceptance of group norms

Informational Social Influence (ISI)

The desire to be right; looking to experts for guidance

Normative Social Influence (NSI)

The desire to be liked and fit in

Jenness (1932) study

Linked to Informational Social Influence (ISI)

Lucas et al. (2006)

Found greater conformity to difficult math questions (ISI)

Individual differences in NSI

People who care more about being liked (nAffiliators) conform more

Low confidence in maths

Leads to higher Informational Social Influence

Asch's sample size

123 American male participants

Asch's baseline findings

Participants conformed on 32% of critical trials

Asch's "at least once" stat

75% of participants conformed at least once

Group Size variable

Conformity rose to 31.8% with 3 confederates

Unanimity variable

Conformity reduced to 5% when one person agreed with the participant

Task Difficulty variable

Conformity levels increase as the task becomes harder

Asch evaluation: Ethics

Deception was used regarding the true nature of the task

Asch evaluation: Validity

Low ecological validity; the task doesn't reflect real-life conformity

Milgram's baseline result

65% of participants went up to 450V

Milgram's "all participants" stat

100% of participants went to 300V

Proximity variation (same room)

Obedience fell to 40% when teacher and learner were in the same room

Proximity variation (telephone)

Obedience fell to 21% when instructions were given via phone

Location variation

Obedience dropped to 48% when moved to a run-down office

Uniform variation

Obedience fell significantly when the experimenter wore everyday clothes

Agentic State

Feeling no personal responsibility; acting as an "agent" for an authority figure

Legitimacy of Authority

Societies are structured in a hierarchy; we obey those we perceive as having power

Adorno (1950)

Developed the F-scale to measure the Authoritarian Personality

Authoritarian Personality trait

Highly obedient and submissive to those in higher status

Elms and Milgram (1966)

Found a link between high F-scale scores and high obedience

Locus of Control (LOC)

High internal LOC leads to more resistance to social influence

Social Support

Having an ally helps individuals resist conformity and obedience

Minority Influence factors

Consistency, Commitment, and Flexibility

Fromm (1977) on Zimbardo

Accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation

Reicher and Haslam (2006)

Prisoners took control in their BBC prison study replication

Zimbardo's study duration

Intended for 14 days but stopped after 6 days