Paper 1 Psych

• Conformity


  When perceived group pressure leads to people changing their opinions or behaviours in order to fit in with socially accepted conventions and norms.
• Group size


  Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates, thus increasing the size of the majority. Conformity increased with group size, but only up to a point, levelling off when the majority was greater than three.
• Unanimity


  The extent to which all the members of a group agree. In Asch's studies, the majority was unanimous when all the confederates selected the same comparison line. This produced the greatest degree of conformity in the naive participants.
• Task difficulty


  Asch's line-judging task is more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer. Conformity increases because naive participants assume that the majority is more likely to be right.
• Confederates


  in psychological and social research, a confederate is a person who is working with the experimenter and posing as a part of the experiment, but the subjects are not aware of this affiliation
• Informational Social Influence


  the influence other people have on us because we want to be right. May lead to internalisation.
• Normative Social Influence


  the influence others have on us because we want them to like us. May lead to compliance.
• Types of Conformity


  Internalisation, identification, compliance
• Explanations for Conformity


  ISI and NSI.
• Internalisation


  A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
• Identification


  A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with the group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don't necessarily agree with everything the majority believes.
• Compliance


  A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view, but privately disagree with it. The change in our behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.
• nAffiliators


  Strong need to relate to other people.
• Social roles


  The 'parts' people play as members of various social groups.
• Deindividuation


  the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
• Social Identity Theory


  theory in which the formation of a person's identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison
• Obedience


  changing one's behavior at the command of an authority figure
• Situational Variables


  Features of an environment that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures
• Proximity


  The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to.
• Location


  The place where an order is issued - linked to status/prestige associated with location.
• Uniform


  People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority. This indicates they are entitled to expect our obedience.
• Agentic State


  A term used in the context of obedience to an authority figure. It refers to the way in which an individual may obey an order, perhaps to do something that they see as 'wrong', because the individual hands over the responsibility for the outcome of the action to the authority figure.
• Autonomous State


  When we are free to behave according to our principles and feel a sense of PERSONAL responsibility for their own actions.
• Agentic Shift


  Changing mind state from autonomous to agentic state.
• Social Hierachy


  broadly defined as systems of social organization in which some individuals enjoy a higher social status than others
• Binding Factors


  Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reduce the 'moral strain' they are feeling
• Legitimacy of Authority


  An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. This authority is justified by the individual's position of power within a social hierarchy.
• Destructive Authority


  When people use their legitimate powers for cruel or dangerous purposes (e.g. Hitler)
• Dispositional Explanation


  a tendency to act or think in a particular way e.g. personality
• Authoritarian Personality


  This title describes a person who holds rigid beliefs, is intolerant of ambiguity, submissive to authority and hostile to those of lower status or members of an out-group. This may be the outcome of a person experiencing harsh authoritarian parenting as a child. It is used as an explanation for high levels of obedience to authority figures and prejudice against out groups.
• Psychodynamic Explanation


  the view that abnormal behavior is caused by stress and should be treated with psychotherapy
• Cognitive Style


  the way individuals think, perceive and remember information
• F-Scale


  Used to measure authoritarian personality
• Social Support


  The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible.
• Locus of control


  a person's tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to the self or external in the environment
• External Locus of Control

  the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate.
• Internal Locus of Control

  the perception that you control your own fate
• Resistance to social influence

  Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.
• Minority influence


  A form of social influence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Leads to internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours.
• Consistency


  Minority influence is most effective if the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over time and between all the individuals that form the minority. It's effective because it draws attention to the minority view.