Effect of situational factors

• effect of majority influence on conformity?

  * more likely to conform when in a minority

  * tendency to conform increases with size of majority, however stops after a certain point
• effect of collective and crowd behaviour?

  * individuals experience deindividuation

  * can be liberating for some but also dangerous, bc can lead tot tings like mob violence
• effect of culture on pro/anti social behaviour?

  * some cultures eg China/Japan are more collectivist

  * this leads to them acting more pro socially as a whole and less anti socially

  * cultures eg USA and UK are more individualistic

  * this leads to them being associated with more anti social behaviour
• effect of authority figures on obedience?

  * more authority someone has, more obedience they can enforce

  * under an authority, we enter an agentic state (feel they're an 'agent' of other person and that other person is responsible for their actions)

  * as opposed to normally in autonomous state (we feel responsible for our own actions)
• criticisms?


  * only looking at situational factors is too deterministic and ignores free will

  * ignores individual differences and tends to over generalise

  * difficult to set up situations to test for situational factors as would be seen as artificial and unethical