Paper 2 - AQA Psychology

• Conformity


  An individual thinks or acts similar to those around them
• Conformity


  • The individual may be aware that they are conforming or this may be an unconscious process
  • Conformity does not necessarily mean the individual has changed their private attitudes or beliefs (attitude conversion)
  • Conformity may be characterised by public compliance rather than private acceptance and internalisation of the views or behaviours expressed
• Informational social influence


  An individual accepts the information they receive from others to be true and changes their beliefs and views in line with those doing the influencing
• Situations where informational social influence is most likely to occur


  • When the situation is ambiguous
  • The situation is a crisis or urgent requiring immediate action
  • When an individual believes others to be the experts in the situation who are more likely to know what to do
• Normative social influence


  The desire or need to be liked by others
• Social factors affecting conformity

  • Group size
  • Anonymity
  • Task difficulty
• Group size


  People are more likely to adopt the behaviour of others when they are in a group with three or more other people who are behaving in a similar way
• Task difficulty


  People are more likely to show a higher level of conformity when they are attempting to complete a more difficult task, compared to one that may be easy
• Anonymity


  Being anonymous can reduce conformity as it reduces normative social influence (the desire to be accepted) and the fear of consequences for actions
• Dispositional factors affecting conformity


  • Personality factors (low self-esteem, low status in a group, low IQ levels)
  • Expertise
• Personality factors


  May lead to insecurity in social situations and such individuals may assume others have a better understanding of how to behave, so they look to others for guidance and follow what they do (informational social influence) so that they are accepted and liked (normative social influence)
• Expertise


  A person is less likely to conform in situations where they have a high level of expertise because they are likely to be more confident in their own opinions and experience of what to do
• Asch's study of conformity (1956) demonstrated how people conform to fit in with the group despite knowing they are giving an incorrect judgement
• Strengths of Asch's conformity study

  • Demonstrated the extent to which people conform within social situations
  • Conducted in a laboratory setting with high levels of control over variables
  • Standardised procedures made replication possible to check for reliability
• Weaknesses of Asch's conformity study

  • Lacks ecological validity as the environment was artificial and unnatural
  • The task itself (judging and comparing the lengths of lines) is a contrived task that lacks personal significance to most people involved
  • Culturally biased as participants were all American
• Obedience


  When people follow the orders of an authority figure
• Research into obedience to authority came from the need to understand the situational conditions under which people would suspend their own moral judgements in order to carry out an order from a malevolent authority figure
• Milgram's Obedience Study (1963) explored whether ordinary people would obey a person in authority even when required to injure an innocent person
• Eichmann


  Claimed at his trial that he was merely "following orders" much like many other war criminals when brought to justice
• Psychologists have since then tried to understand why people will follow orders even when they know it will cause us to do things that are wrong
• Milgram's Obedience Study (1963)


  Stanley Milgram set out to explore whether ordinary people would obey a person in authority even when required to injure an innocent person
• Before conducting the experiment he asked 14 Yale University senior psychology students to predict the outcome of the experiment. All the students asked believed that only a tiny fraction of the participants (teachers) would be willing to inflict the maximum voltage of 450volts
• Milgram also asked colleagues, Harvard University graduate Chaim Homnick and 40 psychiatrists from a medical school with the majority predicting the experiment would end before reaching the final 450volts. Many believed that obedience rates would be tiny and most would refuse to continue beyond the 300-volt mark when the learner refused to answer. They believed only 3.73% would be willing to continue all the way
• Milgram's study procedure


  1. Recruited 40 participants for each variation of the study

  2. Told participants the study measured how punishment affected learning (deception)

  3. Had two experimental confederates: an experimenter, and a 47-year-old man introduced as another volunteer participant

  4. Rigged the drawing of lots so the real participant would always be the "teacher" and the confederate the "learner"

  5. The "teacher" was required to test the learner on their ability to remember word pairs and administer electrical shocks for incorrect responses, starting at 15 volts and increasing in 15-volt increments up to 450 volts
• Contrary to the expectations of most academics, psychiatrists and colleagues, 65% of the participants continued all the way to 450-volts
• All participants in the study reached at least 300-volts with only 12.5% (5 people) stopping there once the learner first objected
• Milgram's conclusion


  This study demonstrated how ordinary people are obedient to authority, even when requested to behave in an inhumane way. This showed us that it was not evil people that committed atrocities but just ordinary people who obey orders
• Milgram's Agency Theory Of Obedience (1963)


  Suggests we are more likely to obey orders when we enter an "agentic state" where we believe we are acting on the behalf of an authority figure so we are therefore no longer accountable for our own actions
• Autonomous state


  When we feel as if we are responsible for our own actions with the freedom to choose how we may behave
• Agentic state


  When we believe we are acting on the behalf of an authority figure so we are therefore no longer accountable for our own actions
• Agentic shift


  The move from an autonomous state to an agentic state
• Milgram argued that we are taught to enter the agentic state as children because we are taught to respect and follow the orders from authority figures within society
• Milgram's Agency Theory is supported by his study into obedience (1963) where 65% of his participants were prepared to give what they believed to be potentially fatal electric shocks to another person when an authority figure told them to do so
• Authority affects obedience


  People are almost conditioned into obeying authority figures with little thought and this makes it more likely that we will follow orders given by them too as they have legitimate authority over us
• Culture affects obedience


  Individualistic cultures like western societies have lower levels of obedience compared to collectivist cultures which place greater importance on group values and respecting authority
• Proximity affects obedience


  The closer we are to an authority figure, the more likely we are to obey them. Being distanced from the consequences of our actions also increases obedience levels
• Dispositional factors affecting obedience


  Internal factors about a person that affect obedience levels, such as high or low self-esteem, confidence levels or intelligence levels
• Adorno's theory of the Authoritarian personality


  Some people develop personalities that make them more obedient than others due to their early childhood experiences of hierarchical and authoritarian parenting styles
• Adorno's theory was formed after interviewing two thousand American students (cultural bias) about their early upbringing
• Prosocial behaviour


  Acting in a way that would benefit other people, most commonly seen in bystander behaviour where people offer to help others in distress