Social influence ao3

• Jenness AO3:

  1. low ecological validity - used a controlled laboratory setting not similar to an everyday situation
  2. lack of informed consent
  3. low population validity - only used 101 psychology students
• Asch AO3:

  1. demand characteristics - the task was trivial and artificial so there was no reason not to conform
  2. low population validity - Neto has suggested women might be more conformist as the are more concerned about social relationships
  3. deception - participants believed others in the study were genuine participants
• Explanations for conformity AO3:

  1. supporting research (Lucas) - participants with poor maths ability more likely to conform
  2. Individual differences may affect conformity - nAffiliators (McGhee and Teevan) greater need for social relationships
  3. overly simplistic - both processes could be involved
• Zimbardo AO3:

  1. control over extraneous variables - chose emotionally stable participants
  2. demand characteristics - participants were play acting rather than conforming to roles
  3. ethical issues - prison superindendent
• Milgram AO3:

  1. artificial relationship no different to wider settings - Hofling
  2. low internal validity - guessed the shocks were fake
  3. ethical issues - deception
• Hofling AO3

  1. high external validity - ordered in own working environment
  2. high control over variables - standardised script
• Locus of control AO3

  1. evidence - Holland repeated Milgrams experiment and found 37% did not continue to highest shock
  2. not all research supports - Twenge et al - people have become more independent and external
  3. exaggerated - Rotter - only important in new situations
• Moscovici AO3

  1. mundane realism - highly artificial task
  2. low population validity - only female participants
  3. lack of informed consent - did not inform participants of full nature
• Social change AO3

  1. role of NSI - Nolan et al
  2. only indirectly effective - Nemeth - only influenced matters related to the issue
  3. minority group is overlooked as a factor - Bashir et al - less likely to act in an environmental way as they dont want to be labelled as an environmentalist