psychology social influence

• what is authoritarian personality
• Conformity is the tendency to adjust one's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in response to real or imagined social pressure.
• Informational conformity occurs when individuals conform because they believe the group has accurate information and they want to be correct.
• The Milgram experiment was conducted to investigate the extent to which people would obey authority figures.
• authoritarian personalities are people who have high levels of prejudice, obedience to authority figures, and aggression towards those they perceive as inferior.
• Participants were told they were taking part in an experiment on memory, where they had to administer electric shocks to another participant (who was actually an actor) if they made mistakes.
• the authoritarian personality was studied by adorno et al (1950)
• Social norms are rules that govern behavior within a group.
• Normative social influence refers to conforming because we want to be accepted by others.
• adorno et al found that the authoritarian personality had three main characteristics; ethnocentrism, superstition/dogmatism, and destructiveness
• Informational social influence occurs when people conform because they believe others have more information than themselves.
• As the voltage increased, participants became increasingly uncomfortable but continued to follow orders from the 'authority figure' who instructed them to continue with the shock.
• Conformity


  A type of social influence where a person yields to group pressures and changes their behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
• Types of conformity (Kelman)


  • Internalisation
  • Identification
  • Compliance
• Internalisation


  Making the beliefs, values, attitude and behaviour of the group your own (the strongest type of conformity, often occurs as a result of informational social influence)
• Identification


  Temporary/short term change of behaviour and beliefs only in the presence of a group (middle level)
• Compliance


  Following other people's ideas/going along with the group to gain their approval or avoid disapproval (lowest/weakest level of conformity)
• Informational Social Influence


  Conforming because you want to be right, so you look to others by copying or obeying them, to have the right answer in a situation; when a person is uncertain or unsure, they would look to others for information
• Normative Social Influence


  Conforming because you want to be liked and be part of a group; when a person's need to be accepted or have approval from a group drives compliance
• NSI and ISI may not be completely exclusive, as suggested by Deutsch and Gerrard's 'Two Process Model'
• It may be more beneficial to look at NSI and ISI as complementary, as opposed to mutually exclusive mechanisms
• Asch's study investigated conformity and majority influence
• Asch's study


  • 123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6; 1 true participant and 5 confederates
  • Participants and confederates were presented with 4 lines; 3 comparison lines and 1 standard line
  • Confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 out of 18 trials
  • Asch observed how often the participant would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer
• Factors affecting level of conformity in Asch's study


  • Size of majority/Group size
  • Unanimity of majority
  • Task difficulty
• Size of majority/Group size

  An individual is more likely to conform when in a larger group
• Unanimity of majority


  An individual is more likely to conform when the group is unanimous i.e. all give the same answer, as opposed to them all giving different answers
• Task difficulty


  An individual is more likely to conform when the task is difficult
• Zimbardo's study investigated how readily people would conform to the social roles in a simulated environment, and specifically, to investigate why 'good people do bad things'
• Zimbardo's study


  • 24 American male undergraduate students
  • The basement of the Stanford University psychology building was converted into a simulated prison
  • Participants were randomly issued one of two roles; guard or prisoner
  • No one was allowed to leave the simulated prison
  • Guards worked eight hour shifts, while the others remained on call
  • Prisoners were only allowed in the hallway which acted as their yard, and to the toilet
  • No physical violence was permitted
• Agentic state


  When a person believes that someone else will take responsibility for their own actions
• Agentic shift


  When a person shifts from an autonomous state (the state in which a person believes they will take responsibility for their own actions) to the agentic state
• Legitimacy of authority


  How credible the figure of authority is. People are more likely to obey them if they are seen as credible in terms of being morally good/right, and legitimate (i.e. legally based or law abiding)
• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Rational


  (in classical economic theory) economic agents are able to consider the outcome of their choices and recognise the net benefits of each one
• Rational agents will select the choice which presents the highest benefits
• Producers act rationally by


  Selling goods/services in a way that maximises their profits
• Workers act rationally by


  Balancing welfare at work with consideration of both pay and benefits
• Governments act rationally by


  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• Groups assumed to act rationally


  • Consumers
  • Producers
  • Workers
  • Governments