Social Influence

• Social influence is the process by which individuals and groups change each other's attitudes and behaviours.
• Legitimacy of authority is an explanation for obedience which suggests we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us due to the position of power that they hold within the social hierarchy.
• An authoritarian personality is characterised by submissiveness to superiors, dismissiveness of inferiors, and high prejudice.
• An authoritarian personality develops from having a harsh parenting style in childhood, which consists of strict discipline, criticism of failings, and impossibly high standards.
• The F-scale measures the authoritarian personality.
• The F-scale has limitations such as acquiescence bias, which means all questions are worded in the same direction, and political bias, which means it is very right wing and does not account for left-wing authoritarianism.
• Milgram’s original study on obedience showed that people obey those they consider to be authority figures.
• The results of Milgram’s study suggest that obeying authority is normal behaviour in a hierarchically organised society.
• We are willing to obey orders that distress us and even go against our moral code.
• Uniform in obedience refers to the outfit the person giving the order is wearing, with Milgram’s original study showing that the experimenter wearing a lab coat made the subject feel more respected and compliant.
• Social support in resisting social influence is when the presence of people helps others resist the pressures of conforming or obeying.
• Binding factors which allow a person to minimise the damaging aspects of their actions reduce the moral strain they feel.
• Proximity in obedience refers to the physical closeness between the person giving the order and the person receiving it, which decreases obedience rates.
• Internals believe they are responsible for what happens to them and that they direct their own lives, whereas externals believe outside forces direct their lives and they do not have control.
• Locus of control in resisting social influence describes a person’s perception of their control over behaviours, successes, failures and events, with a person with a high internal locus of control being more likely to resist.
• The agentic state is when individuals obey an order even if they are aware that it is wrong, because they feel that they are acting for an authority figure so feel no responsibility for their actions.
• Identification is when you go along with others because you have accepted their point of view and you identify with them.
• Compliance is a temporary type of conformity whereby a person goes along with the majority in public but does not agree with the view in private.
• Normative social influence is when you conform to fit in and to be liked.
• Asch’s (1951) conformity study has been criticised for being ‘a child of its time’ due to the conformist time in America during the 1950s.
• Three characteristics of minorities which make them influential are consistency, commitment, and flexibility.
• Informative social influence is when you conform due to the need to be right or correct.
• Internalisation is a permanent type of conformity where the person accepts the majority view in public and in private, a deeper form of conformity than compliance.
• The stages of minority influence include drawing attention to their beliefs, consistency, commitment and flexibility shown, deeper processing of the issue in the majority group, augmentation principle, the snowball effect, and social cryptomnesia.
• The Aim Of Milgrim’s Study

  To investigate destructive obedience in the wake of WWII
• Evaluation Of Milgrim


  Support: Hoffling’s nurse study (21/22)

  Limitation: Ethical issues

  Limitation: Gender and culture bias (German men Vs Australian women)
• Zimardo’s Prison Experiment


  Aim: To research how people adapted to social roles

  Method: 24 US male participants placed into a prison simulation in Stanford university where they were either given the role of prisoner or guard with ‘uniforms’ correlating to their role. Behaviour was observed and recorded.
• Evaluation of Zimbardo


  Support: Ecologically valid

  Limitation: Ethical issues (e.g. conflict of interest)

  Limitation: Gender and cultural bias (e.g. BBC version)
• Ash’s Line Study:

  Aim: to see why people conform

  Method: each of the 123 participants were placed in a room with several confederites. They were tasked to choose the line that match the one shown (multiple choice) however, they had to give their answer after the confederites gave an obviously wrong answer. Each participant was later interviewed.

  Results: 33% of participants conformed to the wrong answer due to NSI
• Ash Evaluation

  Support: Explained WHY people conformed

  Limitation: Trivial tasks lack mundane realism

  Limitation: Gender bias
• Factors affecting conformity

  • Group size
  • Unanimity
  • Task difficulty
• Factors affecting obedience

  • Proximity
  • Touch proximity
  • Remote authority
  • Location
  • Uniform
• Minority influence


  A form of social influence that occurs when an individual or small group of people influence a larger group to change their attitude or behaviour towards an issue.
• Factors affecting minority influence:

  -Consistency

  -Commitment

  -Flexibility

  -Relevance to society
• Consistency

  Over time, consistency in minority views increases the amount of interest from other people. It makes other people rethink their own views.
• Commitment


  (Willingness to self sacrifice). Important in the influence process as it suggests certainty, confidence and courage in the face of a hostile majority. To join a minority the degree of commitment is usually higher which makes the minority more likely to persuade the majority group to take them more seriously.
• Flexibility

  If the consistent minority appear inflexible, they will be unlikely to change the majority view and vice versa. The key is to not alienate the majority, and drive them from the minority viewpoint.
• Relevance to society


  It has been suggested that society has to be ready to accept the change the minority group are championing.
• Steps of social change:

  1.Drawing attention to an issue

  2.Cognitive conflict

  3.Consistency of position

  4.The augmentation principle

  5.The snowball effect
• Drawing attention to an issue

  If the minority’s view is different to the majority’s, it creates a conflict that the majority will want to reduce.