social influence

• Normative social influence is a form of social influence where individuals conform because they want to gain approval or avoid disapproval from a group.
• 6 steps of social change

  1. Drawing attention to the issue at hand

  2. Consistency

  3. Deeper processing

  4. Augmentation principle

  5. Snowball effect

  6. Social cryptomnesia
• Drawing attention to the issue at hand


  Makes people consider its implications and the possibility of it being wrong and in need of change
• Consistency


  Makes people take what you are saying seriously and increases respect for the message
• Deeper processing


  As time passes people evaluate and consider the new opinion
• Augmentation principle


  As strong messaged actions are made more and more people see the seriousness of the current situation
• Snowball effect


  As more people believe the new way, more people will too
• Social cryptomnesia


  People forget that there was ever a change in the first place
• Zimbardo's study


  Study into conformity
• Stanford prison experiment


  • 24 American male participants that were uni students
  • Took a test to identify personality traits of authority, false deception
  • Assigned roles of guards and prisoners
  • Arrested in their own homes and strip searched
  • Given rules to follow
• What happened in the experiment

  1. Participants became more aggressive and commanding and adopted to their assigned roles

  2. The experiment only lasted 6 when it was meant to last 14 days because prisoners were distressed
• Ethical issues


  • Lacked consent
  • Lacked protection from harm
  • Lacked right to withdraw
  • Multiple people having to be released due to extreme distress
• The research violated ethical guidelines so should be discredited
• Strong internal validity


  • Test identified similar personality types so results are based on the situational pressures
  • The results are more accurate due to more control over variables
  • Findings are reliable
• Lacks realism


  • The students knew it wasn't real, in the basement and no real crimes committed
  • The behaviour isn't as accurate
  • The results are as reliable so can be applied to real world
• People were strip searched and told they were assigned roles due to personality
• Agentic state


  Milgram's explanation for obedience, where you divert the blame for the action to another person so every order is obeyed without question or reason
• Agentic state


  Milgram's explanation for obedience where you divert the blame for the action to another person so every order is obeyed without question or reason
• Legitimacy of authority


  Based on whether the person is trusted or not, because they have more power or are in a more responsible position such as police officer
• Legitimacy of authority


  Based on whether the person is trusted or not, because they have more power or are in a more responsible position such as police officer
• Milgram's explanation for obedience

  • Being in an agentic state
  • Diverting the blame for the action to another person
  • Obeying every order without question or reason
• Milgram's explanation for obedience

  • Being in an agentic state
  • Diverting blame for the action to another person
  • Obeying every order without question or reason
• Legitimacy of authority


  • Based on whether the person is trusted or not
  • Based on the person having more power or being in a more responsible position
• Legitimacy of authority


  • Based on trust in the person
  • Based on the person having more power or being in a more responsible position
• Positions of authority


  • Police officer
• Positions of authority


  • Police officer
• Blass and Schmitt showed Milgram's study to their students


  Students identified that the person in authority was to blame, supporting the theory of legitimacy of authority
• Legitimacy of authority


  Increased by varied respect in societies for people in authority
• Cross cultural application of Milgram's explanation

  • Explains the differences in cross cultural variations by the varied respect in societies for people in authority
  • Research done in more depth across the world increased its validity and generalisability
• Increased depth of research across the world

  Increased validity and generalisability of the explanation
• The agentic state did not explain why some people didn't obey the orders 100%- 300V but only 65%- 450V, so the results of the experiment aren't fully accounted for
• The agentic state did not explain why some people didn't obey the orders 100%- 300V but only 65%- 450V
• The results of the experiment aren't fully accounted for by the agentic state explanation