social influence

• What is the Mere Presence Effect?

  Influence of others on performance
• Who was the first social psychologist to experiment on social facilitation tasks?

  Norman Triplett
• How does having a 'pacer' influence athletes in races?

  It helps maintain speed and motivation
• What did F.H. Allport believe about the presence of others?

  It always improves performance
• What types of tasks did Allport study to observe social facilitation effects?

  Vowel removal, multiplication, word association
• What are the two effects proposed by Allport regarding social facilitation?

  Co-action effect and audience effect
• What is the co-action effect?

  Improved performance when working with others
• What is the audience effect?

  Performance increases with a passive audience
• Who proposed that the presence of others can create inhibition?

  Pessin
• What did Pessin find regarding verbal learning tasks?

  Progress was slower with an observer present
• What is Zajonc's theory of the 'dominant response'?

  Reaction elicited most quickly by stimuli
• How does arousal affect performance according to Zajonc?

  Increases performance if dominant response is correct
• What can inhibit performance when being observed?

  If the dominant response is incorrect
• What does Cottrell's Evaluation Apprehension theory suggest?

  Performance is influenced by audience evaluation
• How can audience type affect performance in a meeting?

  Supportive peers may improve performance
• What are social norms?

  Unwritten rules for group behavior
• What was Sherif's (1936) Autokinetic effect experiment about?

  Participants thought a dot moved in darkness
• What did Sherif conclude about ambiguous situations?

  People seek others' opinions for reference
• Why do people adopt group norms according to Sherif?

  To please others and lack information
• What was the focus of the Asch Line Study (1951)?

  Visual discrimination
• What did most participants in the Asch study believe about their answers?

  They did not believe their answers were correct
• What factors increase conformity according to Asch (1952)?

  Group size, unanimity, task complexity
• What is the role of minority influence according to Moscovici (1976)?

  Consistency leads to change in views
• What is the difference between informational and normative influence?

  Informational involves seeking accurate information
• What did Stanley Milgram (1974) state about obedience?

  Situation determines how a person acts
• What factors influence obedience according to Milgram?

  Proximity, legitimacy, social support
• What are the factors influencing obedience in Milgram's study?

  • Graduated commitment (voltage)
  • Proximity of authority
  • Legitimacy of authority (uniform)
  • Proximity of victim
  • Social support for obedience/disobedience
  • Socialisation
• What are the key findings of the Stanford Prison Study (1973)?

  • Role of situational factors in behavior
  • Impact of authority on individual actions
  • Ethical concerns regarding psychological harm