Psychology social influence 1

• Types of conformity


  • Internalisation
  • Identification
• Explanations for conformity


  • Normative
  • Informational
• Conforming to be correct (informational)


  Also internalises the view
• Conforming to be liked (normative)


  Agree publicly whilst privately disagreeing
• Jeness jelly bean conformity study

  • Example of INFORMATIONAL social influence
• Jeness jelly bean conformity study


  Task was ambiguous, so it is reasonable to look to others for support
• Asch's original conformity study


  • Example of NORMATIVE social influence
• Asch's original conformity study

  Task was unambiguous, people conformed to be LIKED by the confederates
• Situational variations of Asch's study

  • Difficulty of task
  • Unanimity
  • Proximity
  • Uniform
  • Group size
  • Location
• Situational variations of Milgram's study

  • Difficulty of task
  • Unanimity
  • Proximity
  • Uniform
  • Group size
  • Location
• Zimbardo's research provides evidence for IDENTIFICATION conforming to social roles
• BBC replication study found very little evidence for identification, guards in particular didn't really conform to their social roles
• Locus of control


  Internals are more likely to resist social influence
• Social support


  When Asch introduced an ally who went against the majority, it gave participants the confidence to do the same thing and resist conforming to the majority
• Those who score high on the F scale have Authoritarian personalities, which is often linked to a strict parental upbringing
• Elms and Milgram support the idea that high F scale scores/Authoritarian personalities are linked to obedience
• Factors affecting obedience


  • Situational factors (proximity, uniform, location)
  • Dispositional factors (Authoritarian personality)
• Legitimacy of authority

  Achieved through an institutional structure or uniform, allows the perception of not being responsible for one's actions
• Minorities


  Must be Consistent, Committed and Flexible to be effective
• Moscovici: 'Moscovici is in the CCF'
• Moscovici's key study


  • Looked at the importance of a minority being consistent specifically
• When writing about Moscovici, it must be explicitly clear he was exploring MINORITY influence and what it was that made them most effective
• Commitment


  • Success of suffragettes
• Flexibility


  • Nemeth's ski lift accident study
• When asked about social change, the examiners will usually be asking you to discuss how minorities bring about changes in societies


  Minorities work best when they are Consistent, Committed and Flexible
• Processes involved in minorities bringing about social change

  1. The minority draw attention to the issue

  2. Creates a cognitive conflict in the minds of the majority

  3. The minority have to be consistent, committed and flexible to be effective and they can show this commitment via the augmentation principle

  4. The snowball effect describes how once enough people join the minority, it is eventually very easy to tip' the rest of the majority until the minority become the majority
• Xie said this tipping point was a minority of around 10% in his computer model study