social influence

• what are the two explanations for conformity?

  NSI and ISI
• What was the process of Asch's study?

  • 123 American men
  • Groups of 6-8
  • 1 naive participant
  • Told to say which line matched the length of the comparison line out loud
• what was the aim of Asch's study?

  To test the strength of conformity in an unambiguous task
• What variables did Asch measure?

  1. Group size
  2. Task difficulty
  3. Unanimity
• How did the group size affect conformity in Asch's study?

  As number of confederates increased, so did rate of conformity. 3 confederates had the biggest impact
• how did task difficulty affect conformity in Asch's study?

  As task became more ambiguous, conformity increased which shows ISI is working
• How did unanimity affect conformity in Asch's study?

  If unanimous, naive would conform. If cracks in unanimity were present, conformity decreased to 25% of original rate. nAfilliators and dissenters decreased conformity, even if they disagreed with naive.
• What were the statistics of Asch's study?

  • 37% conformed
  • 25% never conformed
  • 75% conformed at least once
• What are weaknesses for Asch's study?

  • lacks ecological validity- perception based and not mundane realism so cannot be applied to real-life situations
  • lacks population validity - sampling issue as only American male students, subject to gender bias so cannot be generalised
  • Ethical issues- pp's were misled into true aim of task, could have caused psychological harm
• What was Zimbardo's study called?

  Stanford Prison Experiment
• Process of Zimbardo's study?

  • 24 American student volunteers
  • Randomly assigned role of guard or prisoner
  • prisoners were given smocks and addressed by numbers to de-individualise
  • guards had uniforms, mirrored shades, bats and handcuffs and were given orders to not physically assault prisoners
  • was supposed to last 2 weeks but cut short to 6 days
• which situational factors affect obedience?

  1. location
  2. proximity
  3. uniform
• milgram's experiment showed that people will obey orders even if it goes against their moral beliefs.
• critical mass = when minority becomes majority, so NSI happens
• what are the 3 types of conformity?

  1. internalisation - strongest type, adopting group/s beliefs as own. Permanent
  2. identification- temporary, beliefs only change in group's presence
  3. compliance- weakest type, publicly agree, privately disagree to avoid disapproval
• Strengths of NSI?

  • Asch interviewed his participants afterwards, they all said that they conformed due to self-consciousness and fear of disapproval. When Asch asked pp's to write their answers down, conformity dropped from 37 to 12.5, showing their desire for approval is strong
• weakness of NSI?

  -Individual differences- people who are less concerned with opinions of others aren't as affected by NSI as others who are concerned, showing another explanation must be occurring.

  • MGhee and Teevan found nAfilliators are much more likely to conform than the average person.
• strength of ISI?

  Research support - Lucas et al (2006) found conformity was much greater when maths questions became more ambiguous as they began to question their own knowledge.
• Limitation of ISI?

  Individual differences- Perrin and Spencer studied 390 engineering students in a version of Asch's study and found that conformity was significantly reduced. This shows that more educated and self-assured people are less likely to be affected by ISI
• strengths of Asch's study?

  • high internal validity - strict control over extraneous variables such as timing of assessment and task used. PP's completed experiment firstly without confederates to ensure they could answer correctly
  • Lab experiment- variables strictly controlled meaning experiment can be easily replicated, increasing reliability as it shows it isn't a one-off
• what was the aim of Zimbardo's study?

  to investigate how readily people would conform to social roles in a simulated environment, and why 'good people do bad things'
• strengths of Zimbardo's study?

  • real-life applications - changed how US prisons are run, young prisoners are separated from adults, under constant surveillance
  • debriefing - pp's fully debriefed about aims, procedure and results.
• weaknesses of Zimbardo's study? (1)

  • lacks internal validity- pp's knew the aim of study so suffered from demand characteristics to either please experimenter, or in response to being observed (participant reactivity). They knew study wasn't real, so may have been acting in accordance to social roles, not adopting them
• weaknesses of Zimbardo's study (2/3)?

  • lacks population validity- sample was only American male volunteers, so cannot be generalised to other genders or cultures. Also, volunteers tend to have similar traits of intrigue.
  • ethical issues- pp's weren't protected from physical stress. Some released early due to psychological disturbance and uncontrollable distress
• 4 explanations for obedience?

  1. agentic state
  2. legitimacy of authority
  3. situational factors eg uniform, proximity, location
  4. authoritarian personality
• agentic state?

  • when a person doesn't feel responsible for their own actions and do not believe they will suffer the consequences.
  • they complete the agentic shift, which is from the autonomous to the agentic state.
  • they believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure
  • situational explanation
• legitimacy of authority?

  • how credible the authority figure is. People are more likely to conform when authority is legitimate
  • dispositional explanation
• strength / weakness of agentic state?

  • strength = backed up by Milgram. pp's ensured that responsibility wasn't on them, so felt no consequence for their actions and completely obeyed their authority figure.
  • weakness= cannot account for dispositional explanations. All pp's should've conformed, whereas only 65% completely conformed and 12.5% refused to go higher than 300v
• aim of Milgram (1963)?


  investigating the influence of a destructive authority figure on obedience
• procedure of Milgram?

  • 40 male volunteers
  • pp = teacher, confederate = learner
  • pp to ask confederate series of questions, when incorrect, pp would administer electric shock from 300v-450v
  • experimenter's role was to give prods when pp refused
• what were Milgram's findings?

  • all pp went to 300v
  • 65% fully obeyed to 450v (lethal)
  • 12.5% stopped at 300v
• how did proximity affect obedience?

  • reduced to 40% when experimenter in separate room
  • 30% in touch proximity condition
• how did location affect obedience??

  • decreased when conducted in run-down office, instead of in prestigious university to 47.5%
• how did uniform affect obedience??

  • when experimenter was seen as ordinary member of public, obedience = 20%
  • uniform = symbol of legitimate authority
• strengths of milgram? validity


  • high internal validity- 70% of pp's thought shocks were real. 100% of female pp in Sheridan and King's study administered real shocks to puppies which backs it up
  • high external validity- Hofling et al observed doctors and nurses in natural environment and found that 95% nurses obeyed the confederate doctor, showing ordinary individuals still obey
• strength of milgram?

  real life applications- Nazis obeyed Hitler (destructive authority figure) so explains why people killed innocent Jews. Also, shows how easily we can be influenced, so established social order snd moral behaviours
• weaknesses of milgram??

  • lacks ecological validity- lacks mundane realism,
  • lacks internal validity- when held at university, pp's trusted nothing bad would happen, whereas obedience decreased dramatically in offices as realism of task increased
• authoritarian personality?

  belief that people should conform to authority figures and suppress own beliefs. They don't challenge stereotypes and have absolutist thinking.
• origins of AP?

  strict parenting in childhood and taught about unconditional respect for authority figures
• research support for AP?

  used F-scale to study unconscious attitudes to authority figures and other ethnic groups, obedient pp's had high F scores