Social influence

• Compliance is a type of social influence where individuals change their behavior in response to a direct request or command from another person.
• Conformity is a type of social influence where individuals adjust their attitudes or behaviors to match those of the group they are part of.
• The Asch conformity experiments involved participants being asked to identify which line matched a standard line among three options, with confederates giving incorrect answers to create pressure to conform.
• Obedience is a type of social influence where individuals follow orders given by an authority figure, even if it goes against their own beliefs or values.
• what are the three types of conformity? compliance, identification, and internalisation
• what is compliance? the act of conforming to the wishes of others, especially in order to avoid criticism or punishment
• what is identification?

  Whee a person conforms publicly and privately because they have identified with and wants to feel part of the group
• what is internalisation?

  Internalization is when someone conforms publicly and privately because they have genuinely accepted the view of the group, usually caused by informational social influence.
• What is normative social influence?

  Changing behavior and or opinions to "fit in" with a group or to be liked.
• What is informational social influence?

  Look to others for information or what is the correct course of action/answer, as we believe they know more than us so therefore be correct.
• Who created the beans in a jar experiment?

  Jenness
• Who created the spot of light experiment?

  Sherif
• What is a strength of sheriff's experiment?

  It is done in a highly controlled laboratory so we can establish cause and effect, we can also establish reliability and validity
• What is a limitation of sherifs spot of light experiment?

  It has low ecological validity due to it being an unusual non every day task
• What is Asch's study on?

  Conformity
• Who took part in Asch's study into conformity?

  123 male undergraduate students
• How many people including the p were taking part at a time?

  7 people all together, 6 confederates
• Where was the naive particiapant always seated in aschs study?

  second to last/ 6th
• 75% of participants conformed atleast once

  25% of participants did not conform
• What were the three variations of Asch's study he conducted?

  Task difficulty, Group size and Unanimity
• what are the strengths and limitations for the variations on Asch’s conforming line study?

  Strength 1: used controlled laboratory experiments (scientific)

  Strength 2: Results have been replicated many times

  limitation 1:study is a “child of its time”

  limitation 2: Problem generalising results
• Social influence studies :

  Jenness: beans in a jar

  sherif: spot of light

  asch: line study

  zimbardo: prison study

  milgram: shock study

  bickman: uniform study
• Who were the participants in zimbardos study?

  24 white male undergrad students
• What sample method did zimbardo use?

  volunteer sampling
• The Experiment was meant to last for 2 weeks but lasted for 6 days
• Where did the prison experiment take place?

  The basement of Stamford university
• What where the prisoners given in the experiment ?

  A prison uniform/smock and a number
• What were the guards given in the prison experiment?

  Guard uniforms, a baton and reflective sunglasses
• What two roles did zimbardo play?

  Principal investigator and prison superintendent
• what is social change?

  Transformation in societal norms, values, and structures.
• Zimbardo's prison study - Evaluation

  • Strength 1 - Highly controlled scientific study
  • Limitation 1 - issues with demand characteristics - Dave Eshelman not acting naturally
  • Limitation 2 - Ethical issues
  • Limitation 3 - Issues generalising results
• What is obedience?

  Changing our behaviours in response to a direct order from an authority figure who often has power to punish if you do not obey
• Milgram's study into obedience:

  • 40 male US participants->volunteer
  • Told it was a study into memory->deception
  • 20-50 age range from all different jobs
  • Cash incentive
  • Took place in yale university
  • Two confederates were used to play the learner and the experimenter in a lab coat
  • The learner was called 'Mr Wallace' who had a 'heart condition'
  • Both participants drew slips to see who would be the teacher and learner
  • The real participant was always the teacher
  • Teacher experienced a small 45 volt shock so they think its real and saw Mr Wallace being strapped into the chair with electrodes
• Milgram's shock machine:

  • Contained 30 switched from 15 - 450 volts
  • Went up in intervals of 15 volts
  • At 300 volts the confederate would start kicking the wall and shouting to stop the experiment
  • At 315 volts there was no further noise made by the confederate
• Roles of the teacher and learner in Milgram's study:

  • The teacher would have to read word parings and the learner would have to indicate the matching word
  • At each wrong answer, they were required to shock the learner. No response would also result in a shock
  • Learner never actually received any shocks, they were recorded on a tape and played at the relevant parts
  • When the teacher hesitated or tried to stop the experiment the experimenter gave them standardised verbal 'prods' (increased in severity)
  • "Please continue", "The experiment requires you to continue", "You have no choice you must go on"
• Results of Milgram's study:

  • All participants went to at least 100 volts
  • 12.5% (5 participants) dropped out at 300 volts - when he banged on the wall
  • 65% of participants went all the way to the end of the shock generator - giving the learner the maximum volts (450)
  • Most participants opposed verbally, but obeyed behaviourally
  • Many showed signs of extreme anxiety and tension - sweating, shaking etc
  • Conc - under certain circumstances most people will obey authority, even if it goes against their conscious
  • Atrocities (My lai) could be explained with blindly following orders
• What are the ethical issues with milgrams study?

  • Deception - told it was a study into memory
  • Informed consent - p couldn't give full informed consent
  • Protection from harm - May have experienced psychological harm
  • Right to withdraw - when asked to withdraw they were told to continue using verbal prods
• Situational variables into obedience:

  • Location
  • Uniform
  • Proximity
• Situational variables into obedience: Location

  • Moved from yale university to run down office block in local town and posed as a research company
  • Obedience rates going to 450v fell from 65% to 45%
  • Rates fell due to it being less professional, less formal environment and them questioning legitimacy of authority
• Situational variables into obedience: Proximity to authority figure

  • Experimenter left the room and gave teacher instructions by phone
  • Obedience rate of participants going to 450v reduced from 65% to 20%
  • When authority figure is further away obedience decreases due to less pressure and lack repercussions.
  • Less power to punish so LOA decreases