Social Influence

• Conformity is defined as 'yielding to group pressures' or 'a change in a person's behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people'
• Kelman proposed 3 types of conformity:

  • Internalisation: Making the beliefs, values, attitude, and behaviour of the group your own, often occurs due to informational social influence
  • Identification: Temporary change of behaviour and beliefs only in the presence of a group
  • Compliance: Following other people's ideas to gain approval or avoid disapproval, publicly agreeing but privately disagreeing
• Informational Social Influence: Conforming because one wants to be right, leads to internalisation, occurs when uncertain or unsure

  • Evidence: Fein et al. study on US presidential candidate voting
• Normative Social Influence: Conforming because one wants to be liked and be part of a group, leads to compliance

  • Evidence: Garandeau and Cillissen study on bullying
  • Evidence: Lucas et al. study on conformity to incorrect maths answers
• NSI and ISI may not be completely exclusive, according to Deutsch and Gerrard's 'Two Process Model', they can be complementary mechanisms
• Variables affecting conformity:

  • Group size: An individual is more likely to conform in a larger group
  • Unanimity of majority: An individual is more likely to conform when the group is unanimous
  • Task Difficulty: An individual is more likely to conform when the task is difficult
• Asch's study:

  • Participants: 123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6
  • Aim: To investigate conformity and majority influence
  • Findings: 36.8% conformed, 25% never conformed, 75% conformed at least once
  • Factors affecting level of conformity: Group size, unanimity, and task difficulty
• Zimbardo's study:

  • Participants: 24 American male undergraduate students
  • Aim: To investigate conformity to social roles in a simulated environment
  • Findings: Identification occurred fast, guards harassed prisoners, prisoners adopted new roles quickly
• Agentic State: When a person believes someone else will take responsibility for their actions

  • Agentic Shift: Shift from autonomous state to agentic state
  • Agency Theory: People are more likely to obey in the agentic state
  • Legitimacy of Authority: Describes how credible the figure of authority is
• Legitimacy of authority:

  • Describes how credible the figure of authority is
  • People are more likely to obey if the authority figure is seen as morally good/right and legitimate
  • Students are more likely to listen to parents or teachers than unknown adults
  • In Milgram's study, the experimenter was seen as legitimate due to being a scientist, known for being knowledgeable and responsible (expert authority)
• Weaknesses of Milgram's study:

  • Lacks ecological validity
  • Participants may have changed behavior due to demand characteristics or participant reactivity
  • Participants knew the study was not real, affecting the validity of findings
  • Lacks population validity as the sample only consisted of American male students
  • Ethical issues include lack of fully informed consent and psychological harm to participants
• Situational factors affecting obedience:

  • Appearance of authority figure, location/surroundings, and proximity play a role
  • Obedience is higher when authority figure wears a uniform
  • Obedience is higher in prestigious locations
  • Obedience is higher when negative consequences are less visible and authority figure is in close proximity
• Factors affecting obedience in Milgram's study:

  • Proximity: obedience higher when experimenter was in the same room
  • Location: obedience higher at prestigious university
  • Uniform: obedience higher when experimenter wore a lab coat
• Evaluation of Milgram's study:

  • Strengths include thorough debriefing and real-life applications
  • High internal validity and replicability
  • External validity supported by other studies
  • Weaknesses include ethical issues, psychological harm, and lack of internal and ecological validity
• Dispositional Explanations for Obedience:

  • Authoritarian personality trait linked to higher obedience
  • Authoritarian personality measured using the F-scale
  • Individuals with authoritarian personality believe in strict obedience to authority figures and suppression of own beliefs
  • Coined by Theodore Adorno, characterized by fixed cognitive style and reluctance to challenge stereotypes
• Adorno believed in the psychodynamic theory, where a person's personality traits and attitudes as an adult stem from childhood influences, such as those of their parents
• Children with overly harsh and disciplinarian parents may displace their anger onto 'inferior' others through scapegoating
• The F-scale has serious methodological issues, including susceptibility to acquiescence bias, which may affect the validity and reliability of its findings
• The Authoritarian Personality may not explain all cases of obedience across the political spectrum, as it focuses on Fascism and ignores left-wing authoritarianism
• The Authoritarian Personality has little ecological validity and may not explain real-life examples of mass obedience, such as during Nazi occupation
• Locus of control is a measurement of an individual's sense of control over their lives, influencing their likelihood to conform and obey
• People with an internal locus of control are more likely to be leaders and less likely to conform, while those with an external locus of control are more susceptible to obedience
• Research supports the link between locus of control and obedience, with those having an external locus of control being more easily persuaded and likely to conform
• Social support can lead to resistance to obedience, as seen in Asch's study where non-conformity decreased when one confederate gave the correct answer
• Consistency, commitment, and flexibility are key factors in minority influence, with consistency being crucial for a minority to exert maximum influence on a majority
• Moscovici's study demonstrated the role of consistency in minority influence, showing that being consistent in views can lead to greater influence on the majority
• Commitment and flexibility also play a role in minority influence, with committed and flexible minorities being more likely to influence the majority
• Social change can be driven by strategies such as minority influence, encouraging an internal locus of control, and disobedience to authority
• Nemeth emphasized the importance of consistency, flexibility, and commitment in social change through minority influence
• Social change is a slow process, and social barriers like stereotypes can hinder the effectiveness of minority influence and social influence
• Mackie suggests that the role of minority influence is limited, as people are more likely to change their views if the majority view differs from their own
• Conformity is defined as 'yielding to group pressures' or 'a change in a person's behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people'
• Kelman proposed 3 types of conformity:

  • Internalisation: Making the beliefs, values, attitude, and behaviour of the group your own (result of informational social influence)
  • Identification: Temporary change of behaviour and beliefs only in the presence of a group
  • Compliance: Following other people's ideas to gain approval or avoid disapproval
• Informational Social Influence: Conforming because one wants to be right, leads to internalisation

  • Fein et al. study demonstrated the impact of informational social influence
• Normative Social Influence: Conforming because one wants to be liked and be part of a group, leads to compliance

  • Garandeau and Cillissen study showed the link between NSI and bullying
• Variables affecting conformity:

  • Group size: Conformity increases with a larger group, optimal group size is considered four
  • Unanimity of majority: Conformity is higher when the group is unanimous
  • Task Difficulty: Conformity increases with task difficulty
• Asch's study:

  • Participants: 123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6
  • Aim: To investigate conformity and majority influence
  • Findings: 36.8% conformed, 25% never conformed, 75% conformed at least once
  • Factors affecting level of conformity: group size, unanimity, and task difficulty
• Zimbardo's study:

  • Participants: 24 American male undergraduate students
  • Aim: To investigate conformity to social roles in a simulated environment
  • Findings: Guards harassed prisoners, prisoners adopted their roles quickly
• Agentic State: When a person believes someone else will take responsibility for their actions

  • Agentic Shift: Shift from autonomous state to agentic state
  • Legitimacy of Authority: Describes how credible the figure of authority is
• Legitimacy of authority:

  • Describes how credible the figure of authority is
  • People are more likely to obey if the authority figure is seen as morally good/right and legitimate
  • Students are more likely to listen to parents or teachers than unknown adults
  • In Milgram's study, the experimenter was seen as legitimate due to being a scientist, known for being knowledgeable and responsible (expert authority)