Social influence

• Types of conformity

  1. Compliance - a temporary type of conformity where we go along with the majority view but privately disagree with it
  2. Internalisation - a deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct leading to a permanent change in behaviour
  3. Identification - a moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it but don’t necessarily agree with everything the group believes
• Explanations of conformity

  • Informational social influence (ISI) - in order to be right, a permanent change that occurs when we are in new situations where there is ambiguity and crisis
  • Normative social influence (NSI) - for social approval, a temporary change that occurs when we are with people who we feel may reject us or in stressful situations when we need social support
• One strength of explanations of conformity

  • research support for ISI - Lucas et al asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier ones. This was most true for students who rated this mathematical ability as poor. This improves reliability of the study
• One weakness of explanations of conformity

  • Individual differences in NSI and ISI - some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. People who are less conformed about being liked are less affected by NSI. They are described as nAffiliators and have a greater need for being in a relationship with others. ISI also doesn’t affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. Researchers found that a particular type of student science and engineering were not conformist. This shows there are individual differences in the way people respond
• One weakness of explanations of conformity

  • ISI and NSI work together - in the study by Shultz, he used 132 hotels and 794 hotel rooms to randomly assign either the controlled condition or the experimental condition. In the controlled condition, a door hanger informed guests of the environmental benefits of reusing their towels. In the experimental condition, the same door hanger as above but it also told them that 75% of guests choose to reuse their towels everyday. They found that the experimental condition reduced the need for fresh towels by 25% so shows that NSI and ISI works best
• Asch’s study on conformity - procedure

  • he used 123 American male ppts
  • he tested individually with a group of between 6-8 confederates where they had to say which of the comparison lines matched the test line
  • the 6th person was always seated last or next to last
  • the ppts were unaware the others were confederates and the confederates always gave the same incorrect answer
• Asch’s study on conformity - findings

  • ppts gave the wrong answer 37% of the time
  • this means they conformed 1/3 of the time however some never confirmed due to individual differences
  • 25% didn’t conform on any trials 
• Asch’s variations

  1. Group size - Asch varied the number of confederates from 1-15. Conformity increased only up to 3 confederates, with any more making little difference.
  2. Unanimity - Asch introduced a dissenter who disagreed with the other confederates. He either gave the wrong answer or a different wrong answer. The ppt conformed less when there was a dissenter
  3. Task difficulty - Asch increased difficulty of the task making the test line and comparison line similar to each other. Increased conformity, suggesting when the answer is more ambiguous people look to others for guidance
• One strength of Asch’s research

  • research support - Lucas et al asked ppts to solve easy and hard maths questions. Ppts were given answers from 3 students. Conformity was higher when the tasks were harder. This research supports the task difficulty variation
• One weakness of Asch’s research

  • artificial situation - demand characteristics may have been shown as ppts knew they were in a study. There were no consequences for conforming. The group wasn’t a true reflection of groups in real life situations as they didn’t know each other making it difficult to generalise the findings 
• One weakness of Asch’s research

  • limited application - ppts were American men so it is androcentric. Researchers suggest that women may conform more due to social relationships and acceptance. America is an individualist culture so are more concerned about themselves than a social group. Studies on conformity in collectivist cultures eg China have found higher conformity rates 
• Milgram’s research into obedience - procedure

  • 40 male ppts 20-50 years old, jobs ranging from unskilled to professional, paid $4.50 to take part
  • told it was a study on memory, actually a study on obedience
  • rigged draw for their role as either teacher or learner, ppts always ended up as the teachers 
  • the teacher gave the learner a shock at each wrong answer, shocks increasing in severity - 15V-450V
  • the shocks weren’t real
  • when the teacher got to 300V, learner pounded on the wall, gave no response to the next question 
  • after 315V, pounded on the wall again and no response from the learner 
• Milgram’s research on obedience - findings

  • no ppts stopped below 300V
  • 12.5% stopped at 300V
  • 65% continued to 450V
  • qualitative data showed that ppts were showing extreme signs of distress
  • 3 ppts had uncontrollable seizures
• One strength of Milgram’s research

  • supporting research - a reality show in France involved a replication of Milgram’s study. Ppts believed they were contestants in a game show where they were laid to give fake electric shocks. 80% delivered the maximum shock of 460V. This supports Milgram’s study as it shows that people are obedient to figures of authority and increases the reliability of the study 
• One weakness of Milgram’s research

  • low internal validity - researchers said that ppts didn’t believe the shocks were real and it was all set up so they weren’t testing obedience. Research confirms this as they had a tape recording of ppt saying they didn’t know if the shocks were real. Researchers did a study where shocks were given to a puppy and 54% of males and 100% of females gave potentially fatal shocks. This suggests that ppts weren’t scared about obeying the researchers because they knew the study wasn’t real so showed demand characteristics, decreasing the validity of the study
• One strength of Milgram’s research

  • good external validity - the study was performed in a lab environment so reflected authority relationships in real life. This suggests results can be applied to other situations. In the study by Hofling, a doctor told nurses to give a patient a drug called Astroten over the phone. 21/22 nurses were prepared to follow the orders even though the doctor wasn’t in the room. This suggests that obedience is still applied to situations where the authority figure isn’t in the room
• Situational explanations for obedience

  • agentic state - a mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting on behalf of an authority figure, freeing us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure
  • legitimacy of authority - more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us, this authority is justified by the individuals position of power in a social hierarchy
• Autonomous state

  • a person behaves according to their own principles and feel a sense of responsibility for their actions
• Agentic shift

  • the shift from autonomous state to agentic state
• One strength of situational explanations for obedience

  • research support - there is evidence supporting the role of agentic state. The ppts in Milgram’s study asked questions like who is responsible if the learner is harmed? The experimenter said they were responsible and ppts carried on with no further questions. This shows that the ppts were more obedient when they perceived they weren’t responsible for their own behaviour 
• One weakness of situational explanations for obedience

  • limited explanation - agentic state doesn’t explain many research findings about obedience. Researchers found 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug dose to a patient. The nurses remained autonomous suggesting that agentic state only accounts for some situations of obedience
• One weakness of situational explanations for obedience

  • cultural differences - this is a useful account for legitimacy of authority of cultural differences in obedience. Researchers found that only 16% of Australian women went all the way to 450V. However researchers found that in Germany, 85% went all the way to 450V. This shows how authority is perceived in different cultures and is more likely accepted as legitimate in other cultures.
• Situational variables for obedience

  • proximity - in the same room (40%) electroshock plate (30%), orders over the phone (20.5%)
  • location - rundown building (47.5%)
  • uniform - ordinary member of the public (20%)
• One strength of situational variables

  • research support - other studies have demonstrated the influence of uniform on obedience. Researchers had 3 confederates dress is 3 different outfits - jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit, security guard uniform. The confederates asked passers by to perform tasks such as picking up litter. People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than the one dressed on a jacket and tie. This supports Milgram’s conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of its wearer and is a situational factor likely to produce obedience 
• One weakness of situational variables

  • lack of internal validity - researchers criticised many of the ppts worked out the procedure wasn’t real. It is even more likely that the ppts in the variations realised this because of the extra manipulation. For example, when the experimenter was replaced by a member of the public, Milgram agreed that the situation was contrived and that some may have worked out the truth. This is a weakness of Milgram’s studies because it is unclear whether the results are genuinely due to obedience of because the ppts were demonstrating demand characteristics 
• One weakness of situational variables

  • cross cultural replications - researchers found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students. This suggests that the results of Milgram’s study are not limited to American males as the findings have been replicated in other cultures and women. However other researchers make the point that most replications have taken place in western developed societies that are very similar to America. Therefore we cannot conclude Milgram’s findings about obedience in relation to the variables apply to people everywhere 
• Authoritarian Personality

  • a type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority 
• Authoritarian Personality - procedure

  • more than 2000 middle class white Americans
  • measured unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups 
  • used the F scale which measures tendency towards fascism 
• Authoritarian Personality - findings

  • people who scored highly on the F scale identified with string people and generally contemptuous of the weak
  • very conscious of their own and others status
  • cognitive style that is fixed and distinctive stereotypes
• Characteristics of Authoritarian Personality

  • a tendency to be especially obedient to authority 
  • have extreme respect for authority 
  • show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status 
  • have highly conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender 
  • they view society as going to the dogs and therefore believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values such as love of country, religion and family 
  • they are inflexible in their outlook - everything is right or wrong and they are uncomfortable with uncertainty
• One strength of the authoritarian personality

  • research support - Milgram did interviews with a small sample of fully obedient ppts who scored highly on the F scale. Led them to believe there might be a link between obedience and the authoritarian personality. However this is correlational - can’t say that the authoritarian personality causes obedience. Researchers suggest there might be a third factor that could be level of education. They say that obedience and authoritarian personality are both associated with a lower level of education and not directly linked 
• One weakness of authoritarian personality

  • political bias - the F scale measures an extreme form of right wing ideology. This is a politically biased interpretation of authoritarian personality. Both right and left wing ideologies emphasise the importance of obedience to political authority not just right wing. They point out that left wing authoritarianism also exists and both wings have much in common. This is a weakness of Adornos theory because it is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that can account for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum
• One weakness of authoritarian personality

  • methodological problems - some people say the G scale doesn’t measure authoritarian personality, it just measures their tendency to agree with everything. This is known as acquiescence bias. Also they interviewed ppts about their childhood experiences but the researchers knew the ppts test scores so knew who has an authoritarian personality so is investigator bias.
• Explanations of resistance

  • social support - the perception that an individual has assistance available from other people and they are part of a supportive network 
  • locus of control - people differ in their beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions are dependent on what they do - internal locus of control or on events outside of their personal control - external locus of control
• One strength of resistance to social influence

  • research support for social support - researchers found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in Asch type study. This happened even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision. This tells us resistance isn’t just about following what someone else does but it’s about being free of pressure from a group. 
• One strength of resistance to social influence

  • research support for social support - researchers carried out a study on resisting obedience. The ppts were asked to consider the case of a petrol station employee who behaved immorally. They discussed at a motel, the discussion was videotaped and it became clear what the researcher wanted (evidence to support the view of immoral behaviour). They were then asked to sign a form to say the company could use the videotape. 33 groups took part, 29 refused to sign the form. Suggested peer support is linked to disobedience because they were in groups 
• One weakness of resistance to social influence

  • contradictory evidence of LOC - researchers found not all research supports the link between LOC and resistance. Analysed data from American obedience studies over a 40 year period. Data showed that people have become more resistant to obedience but also more external. If resistance were linked to an internal locus of control we would have expected people to become more internal. However results may be due to a changing society with many things are now out of our control.
• Minority influence

  • a from of social influence, hence in which a minority of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours leading to internalisation 
• Minority influence - procedure

  • a group of 6 people were asked to view 36 blue slides that varied in the shade and intensity if blue
  • they had to say if the slide were blue or green
  • each group consisted of 4 ppts and 2 confederates
  • in the consistent condition, the confederates said that the blue slides were green
  • in the inconsistent condition, the confederates called the slides green on 2/3 of the trials and blue on the other third
  • in a control condition - there were 6 ppts with no confederates and the ppts called the slide blue throughout 
• Minority influence - findings

  • in the consistent condition, the ppts were influenced by the minority on 8.42% of the trials 
  • in the inconsistent condition, the ppts were influenced by the minority on 1.25% of the trials
  • in the control condition, the ppts got the colour wrong on just 0.25% of the trials