Conformity to social roles - zimbardo

• what was the aim of asch's research? to assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others when the answer is clear
• procedure of asch's: - 123 american men

  - each pps saw 2 lines, line x = standard and line a b c = comparison line and one is the same length as x

  - participant had to say which was the same length

  - tested in groups of 6 - 8, one was genuine pps and the rest were confederates

  - pps was always last but one to answer
• what were Asch's findings? genuine pps agreed with confederates 36.8% of the time

  
  

  25% never conformed

  
  

  75% conformed atleast once
• what was Asch's conclusion? - people have a strong tendency to conform in a group situation even when the answer is clear

  - however 2/3s remained independent suggesting some can resist the pressure to conform
• what variables did asch investigate? Group size, unanimity, task difficulty
• how did asch test group size? varied number of confederates from 1 - 15
• what were asch's findings about group size? curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity

  conformity increased with group size up to a point

  with 3 confederates, conformity increased to 31.6%
• how did asch test unanimity? He introduced a Confederate who disagreed with the others
• what did asch find about unanimity? pps conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter

  
  

  rate decreased to less than 1/4 of the level it was when majority = unanimous

  
  

  helped naieve pps be independent
• how did asch test task difficulty: increased difficulty of line judging task
• what did asch find about task difficulty? more difficult = increase in conformity

  
  

  unclear what correct answer is (informational social influence)
• what are the three types of conformity? Internalisation, identification, compliance
• what is internalisation? - deep type of conformity

  - we take on the majority views as we accept it as correct

  - agree privately and publicly
• example of internalisation: becoming a vegetarian because you agree with your friends viewpoint
• what is identification? conforming to the group because we value it

  prepared to change views in order to be part of it
• example of identification: adopting the same music taste as your friends but when you move away, you revert back to your old music taste
• what is compliance? - superficial agreement with group

  - going along with it publicly but holding a different view privately
• example of compliance: pretending you like a film you hate as to not stand out
• what are the explanations for conformity? Informational Social Influence (ISI) and Normative Social Influence (NSI)
• what is informative social influence? - who has the better info, you or the rest of the group

  - believing with the majority because we believe its correct

  - likely to happen in situations that are new to the person and where decisions are made quickly
• example of informational social influence: if you're about to answer in class, but most of the class gives on answer so you accept it as correct
• what evidence is there to support ISI? - Lucas et al found that participants conformed more when maths problem = difficult

  - so, if we dont understand something ourselves we are more likely to conform
• what is normative social influence? when we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked
• example of NSI: dressing the same as a group of people as you want to fit in
• what evidence supports NSI? - Asch 1951 interviewed pps and some said they conformed as they felt uncomfortable about giving an answer and were afraid of disapproval

  - this shows that conformity is due to desire not to be rejected by the group disagreeing with them
• when did Zimbardo conduct his research?


  1970s
• how did zimbardo get his participants? in the middle of the night, they arrested pps from their own homes
• who were the participants of zimbardos research? 21 emotionally stable men randomly allocated to roles of prisoners and guards
• where was zimbardos

  Stanford University
• in the stanford prison experiment, how were social roles enforced? uniforms (e.g loose smock and cap for prisoners) - de-individuation

  and instructions about behaviour - rather than leaving the study, prisoners applied for parole
• in the stanford prison experiment, what were the findings relating to social roles? - guards treated prisoners harshly - harassed them e.g night time head counts

  - divide and rule tactics e.g harassed prisoners to remind them of their powerlessness

  -prisoners rebellion failed, prisoners became depressed

  - one went on hunger strike
• when did the stanford pr: After 6 days of the intended 14
• conclusions of the stanford prison experiment: - social roles have a strong influence on behaviours e.g brutal guards and submissive prisoners

  - social roles can be very easily adopted (including volunteers such as prison chaplain)
• give an example of a real life study: Abu Ghraib 2003 - 2004
• what happened in Abu Ghraib? - US army military personnel committed human rights violations against tragic prisoners

  - they were tortured physically and sexually abused

  - were humiliated

  - some murdered