social influence

• Obedience


  complying with the orders of an authority figure
• Authority figure


  someone with more power and control than another.
• Conformity


  matching the behaviour and beliefs of others in order to fit in
• Compliance


  going along with the majority even though we privately do not agree.
• Normative social influence


  compliance because of the need to fit into a group
• Internalisation


  going along with the majority because we do not know how to behave in a situation - we adopt the beliefs of the group
• Informational social influence


  conformity because we do not know how to behave; others provide this information so we adopt their beliefs and behaviours
• Identification


  temporarily adopting the behaviours of a role model or group
• Deindividuation


  loss of personal self-awareness and responsibility as a result of being in a group
• Bystander effect


  sometimes called bystander apathy, when we fail to help another in need
• Situational factors


  features of a situation that influence whether or not we intervene in an emergency
• Personality factors


  features of an individual (e.g. traits) that influence how likely they are to intervene in an emergency
• Diffusion of responsibility


  when we believe others will help so we do not have to.
• Pluralistic ignorance


  when we interpret the situation according to others' reactions
• Noticing the event


  In larger crowds, we tend to keep to ourselves and pay less attention to what is happening around us
• Cost of helping


  when we evaluate the situation as having too high a cost to help as it could risk harm to ourselves, so we choose not to help
• Competence


  if we feel competent enough to help, this can influence whether we help or not/ the type of help we give
• Mood


  our mood can affect whether we help people or not; if we are in a good mood, we feel more inclined to help however if we are in a bad mood, we tend to focus on ourselves and not help
• Similarity


  The more we see ourselves as the victim/person in need, the more likely we are to help
• Confederate


  a researcher or other person who is acting in a study but does not know what the study is about.
• Locus of control


  the extent to which we believe we have control over our behaviour/life
• Internal locus of control


  when we feel we have personal control over our own behaviour
• External locus of control


  when we feel that factors external to us control our behaviour
• Blind obedience


  when we comply with the orders of an authority figure without question
• Momentum of compliance


  when we start something we feel compelled to finish it
• Authoritarian personality


  a type of personality that is respectful of authority, right-wing in attitude and rigid in beliefs
• Prosocial behaviour


  behaviour that is seen as helpful, kind, co- operative and peaceful
• Antisocial behaviour


  behaviour that is unhelpful, destructive and aggressive
• Field experiment


  a procedure staged in a naturalistic environment.
• Covert observation


  participants are unaware that they are being observed.
• Ecological validity


  the extent to which the findings still explain the behaviour in different situations and can be generalised
• Demand characteristics


  when the behaviour of participants changes because they derive cues from the experimenter about the nature of the study and conform to those expectations
• Piliavin et. al 1969 AIM

  To investigate helping behaviour in a natural environment and understand the conditions in which people are more likely to help
• Piliavin et. al 1969 PROCEDURE

  4500 men and women travelling on a new York subway between 11:00am and 3:00pm.• 2 male actors and 2 female observers.• One actor pretended to have a fall in the carriage.• The other actor provided support or just left the pretend casualty.• The observed looked a people's age race and gender and noted down how they reacted to the actors fall.• The actors changed between white and black individuals and 'drunk' and sober individuals so that these factors could be examined to see if they cause any change to people's reaction.
• Piliavin et. al 1969 RESULTS

  • 62 out of 65 times the victim had a cane - passengers helped before the model
  • 19 out of 38 times the victim appeared drunk - passengers helped before the model
  • 81 out of 103 trials, the victim was helped before the model planned to help (71%)
  • In 60% of the trials, more than one person helped
  • 90% of first helpers were male;64% of first helpers were white
  • 68% of helpers who aided the white victim were also white
  • 50% of white passengers came to the aid of a black victim
  • There was a tendency for same race helping if the victim appeared drunk
• Piliavin et. al CONCLUSION

  • People are more likely to help someone perceived as being ill rather than drunk.
  • Men were more likely to help than women.
  • There was a small tendency for people to help the actor if they were the same race.
  • Larger groups were more likely to offer assistance.• The models offer of assistance did not increase the likelihood of someone else helping.
• Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's study AIM

  To investigate prisoner-guard conflict in a simulated prison environment
• Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's study PROCEDURE

  10 prisoners and 11 guards - all men. The guards were briefed but not exactly given instructions on how to act. All participants were assessed as psychologically healthy.• All participants were paid 15 dollars a day. Participants were put into a prison like environment.
• Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's study RESULTS + CONCLUSION

  Prisoners and guards conformed to the role they were assigned. Prisoners became submissive and passive and the guards became aggressive.• The uniforms deindividuated the participants to change their behaviours and personal identity. Guards began to abuse power and conflict between them and the inmates grew quickly.• The experiment was stopped after 6 days as the conflict was getting out of hand and many participants started showing signs of anxiety and depression.
• Generalisability


  the extent to which the results of a study represent the whole population, not just the sample used.