Social influence

• Definition of conformity 


  A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
• definition of compliance 


  simply going along with others to gain approval or avoid disapproval In public, but privately not changing personal opinions and/or behaviour. It leads to superficial ans temporary change.
• definition of identification 


  a moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don’t necessarily agree with everything the group/majority believes.
• Definition of internalisation 


  A deep type of conformity where we takes on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to afar-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
• Aim of Asch experiment

  To investigate conformity and majority influence.
• definition of normative social influence

  a person conforms because of their need to be accepted by and belong to the group. They want to fit in. People are most likely to conform when they are in a group which is important to us and which we spend a lot of time e.g peer pressure. Most likely to lead to compliance.
• definition of informational social influence

  A person is unsure how to behave, or unclear as to what they feel about an issue.They want to be right. People are most likely to conform in a new or ambiguous situations as they use the group as a source of information. This type of social influence often leads to internalisation.
• Aim of Zimbardo research

  How readily people conform to social roles in a simulated environment, and specifically to investigate why good people do bad things.
• findings in Asch’s study- size of group

  One confederate- 3%

  Two confederate- 13%

  three to fifteen confederates- 32%

  The size of the majority increase conformity up to a point but then remains the same regardless of the size of the group
• Findings in Asch’s study- unanimity

  The group of confederates contain one dissenter who agreed with the participant and disagreed with the majority- 5.5%

  The participant no longer felt alone, they had someone to back them up. They were no longer a minority of one. The group of confederates contained one dissenter who disagreed with the participant and disagreed with the majority- 9% the dissenter does not need to be on the participants side. Just having someone who goes against the majority is enough to allow the participants to do so also.
• Findings Of Asch’s variations- task difficulty

  The task was made much more difficult by using lines that were much closer in length to each other and the comparison line- increased conformity the task was more ambiguous, so the right answer was less obvious. The participant would be less sure about their own answer therefore conform, as they believe the group to be right and use them as a source of information ( this is also known as informational social influence)
• Milgram’s aim of the study

  To investigate how far people will go on obeying an authority figure
• Milgram’s study result

  Baseline study at Yale university- 65%

  Change of location to run- down office- 47.5%

  Teacher and learner in the same room- 40%

  Teacher forces learner’s hand onto plate- 30%

  Experimenter gave orders by phone- 20.5%

  Experimenter played by ‘ member of public’- 20%
• What are the situational variables to why people obey?

  Proximity

  Location

  Uniform
• what is legitimacy of authority

  We are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. The authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy and most of us accept that authority figures have be allowed to exercise social power over us, for society to run smoothly. One of the consequences of legitimate authority is that some people are granted power, and that individuals will obey
• Legitimacy of authority evaluation

  Bickman- one strength is that there is research evidence to support the explanation. Bickman found that individuals were twice as likely to follow orders from a security guard, as opposed to a milkman or a civilian. This is a strength as individuals were more likely to obey the security guard as it represents a legitimate authority of figure
• What is agency theory

  Proposed by Milgram in 1973, it explains why people are prepared to go against their will and do as they are told even if it causes them considerable stress. He suggested that there are two types of state: autonomous state is when individuals direct their own behaviour, they pass responsibility for the consequences. Whereas agentic state is when individuals allow someone else to direct their behaviour, they pass responsibility to them.
• What is the term for the shift from the autonomous state to the agentic state?

  Agentic shift
• What happens when people obey an order against their conscience?

  They likely experience moral strain
• What is moral strain in the context of obedience to authority?

  It results from acting against one's morals
• What are binding factors in the context of obedience?

  Factors that minimize the damaging effects
• What do binding factors allow a person to do?

  Minimize the damaging effect of behavior
• How does the presence of an authority figure affect an individual's state?

  It causes a shift to the agentic state
• What is the agentic state?

  A state where individuals act as agents of authority
• What might individuals want to do when experiencing moral strain?

  They may want to stop obeying
• What is the relationship between authority figures and moral strain?

  Authority figures can induce moral strain
• What does Milgram's theory primarily focus on?

  The dynamics of obedience to authority
• What is the autonomous state?

  A state of independent decision-making
• How does the agentic state affect personal responsibility?

  It reduces personal responsibility
• evaluation of agency theory

  Milgram research

  Blass and Schmitt

  however it can be argued that there are alternative reasons why people obey an authority figure. it could be due to personality rather than the situation. Also agency theory does not explain why people disobey. It has limited explanation of obedience
• What is the authoritarian personality

  Adorno believed that there was a personality basis to obedience and disobedience. This is a dispositional explantation to why people obey. They have certain characteristics which associates with higher levels of obedience.
• Definition of authoritarian personality

  Provided a possible explantation for why some people require very little pressure in order to obey. It is a distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority
• What are the characteristics of the authoritarian personality

  • show contempt towards those that they consider to be their social inferiors but are very respectful to those people that they consider to be above them in social hierarchy
  • have a strong sense of right and wrong. They are uncomfortable with the ‘grey areas’
  • Have a ‘traditional’ attitudes towards minors groups: they are likely to be racist, sexist and homophobic
• Who proposed the authoritarian personality

  Adorno et al (1950) claims that the personality is formed in early childhood and leads to extreme obedience and racial prejudice. People with this personality have parents who are extremely strict and cold and set impossibly high standards. Hostility felt towards parents is displaced on to people believed to be below them and making them excessively obedient to authority figure.
• What has Adorno devised

  He devised the F scale ( fascist scale). This was to measure the different components that made up the authoritarian personality. The scale has 30 questions assessing 9 personality dimensions. Those who scored high on the F scale was conscious of their own status, showing excessive respect to those of higher status and he believed that those with an authoritarian personality have a tendency to be especially obedient to those in authority
• What are the explanations of resistance to social influence

  Ability to people withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey authority. Two key explantations are social support and locus of control
• What is social support

  Refers to the presence of people who resist pressure to conform or obey and can help others to do the same. These individuals acts as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible. It supports obedience and conformity
• What is locus of control

  Rotter (1966) states how much a person believes that they have control over events that happen in their lives. This is usually measured along a scale with internal control at one end and external control at the other.
• Internal locus of control

  Believe what happens to them is a consequence of their own behaviour
• External locus of control

  Controlled by external factors and other people. Luck and fate are seen to be important