PSYCHOLOGY

• Conformity


  A type of social influence where a person yields to group pressures
• Conformity


  A change in a person's behaviour or opinion as a result of a 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
• Normative social influence


  Conforming because you want to be liked and be part of a group; your 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


  • 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
• 36.8% conformed, 25% never conformed, 75% conformed at least once
• In a control trial, only 1% of responses given by participants were incorrect
• 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
• This suggests that informational social influence is a major mechanism for conformity when the situation is ambiguous and the individual does not have enough of their own knowledge or information to make an informed decision independently
• Zimbardo's study


  • 24 American male undergraduate students
  • Participants were randomly issued one of two roles; guard or prisoner
  • Prisoners were only referred to by their assigned number
  • Guards were given props like handcuffs and sunglasses
  • 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
• 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 (where they believe 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
• In Milgram's study, the people saw the experimenter as legitimate as they knew he was a scientist and therefore is likely to be knowledgeable and responsible - this is called expert authority
• Agentic state


  When people believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure, rather than taking personal responsibility for their actions
• Legitimacy of authority


  How credible the figure of authority is. People are more likely to obey them if they are seen as morally good/right, and legitimate (i.e. legally based or law abiding)
• Students are more likely to listen to their parents or teachers than other unknown adults
• Expert authority


  When the authority figure is seen as knowledgeable and responsible, like a scientist
• The study suffered from demand characteristics and lacked ecological validity
• The sample only consisted of American male students, so the findings cannot be generalised to other genders and cultures
• There was a lack of fully informed consent due to the deception required
• Participants were not protected from stress, anxiety, emotional distress and embarrassment
• This study would be deemed unacceptable according to modern ethical standards
• Situational factors


  Factors like the appearance of the authority figure, the location/surroundings and proximity (and the role of buffers)
• Uniform


  A person is more likely to obey someone wearing a uniform as it gives them a higher status and a greater sense of legitimacy
• Location


  A person is more likely to obey someone in a location linked to higher status and legitimacy
• Proximity


  A person is more likely to obey when they are less able to see the negative consequences of their actions and are in closer proximity to the authority figure
• 70% of participants believed that the shocks were real
• Milgram's variations may have lacked validity as they did not measure what they intended to measure
• The aim was to observe whether people would obey a figure of authority when told to harm another person
• Procedure


  1. Participant given role of 'teacher', confederate given role of 'learner'

  2. Participant had to ask confederate a series of questions

  3. Whenever confederate got answer wrong, participant had to give electric shock

  4. Shocks incremented by 15 volts, up to 450V where 330V was marked as 'lethal'

  5. Participants thought shocks were real, but there were no real shocks administered

  6. Experimenter gave a series of orders/prods when participant refused to administer a shock
• All participants went up to 300V and 65% went up to 450V