Social influence

• What is obedience

  This is when someone acts in response to a direct order from another person who is normally an authority figure
• Milgram's study of obedience

  An experiment that examined the willingness of participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience
• Procedure of the study

  1. Participant was the 'teacher'

  2. Confederate was the 'learner'

  3. Teacher would ask learner questions

  4. Every time learner got answer wrong, teacher had to give learner an electric shock which increased by 15 volts each time

  5. Whenever teacher asked to leave, they were given one of four prompts from the experimenter such as 'the experiment requires that you continue'
• 65% of the participants continued to the end of the study
• Limitations of Milgram's study

  -lack temporal validity-lacks generalisability-lacks ecological validity-lacks internal validity-unethical
• Limitation milgram's study - lacks temporal validity

  One limitation of Milgram's study is that it lacks temporal validity. this is validity in relation to the progression of time. For example this study took place during the cold war which meant that participants were more likely to be obedient.
• 
  

  Limitation milgram's study - lacks generalisability

  One limitation of milgram's study is that it lacks generalisability. This is because it is androcentric which means it was only conducted on men and assumed that it would be the same for women. However, sheridan and king conducted a similar study but with men and women. In this study they had to give actual electric shocks to puppies who were then given sleeping gas to make it look as if they were dead. They found that 100% of women obeyed while only 40% of men obeyed
• One limitation of Milgram's study is that it lacks ecological validity. This is because it was conducted in a lab at Yale. This study doesn't reflect what someone would be asked to do in everyday life. However Hofling et al conducted a field experiment in a hospital to investigate whether nurses would follow orders over the phone even though they are not supposed to. They found that 95% of nurses would obey the potentially lethal dose.
• limitation of milgram's study - lacks internal validity

  One limitation of Milgram's research is that it may lack internal validity because Orne and Holland criticised the study saying participants only continued because they knew they were not real.
• what were milgram's different variations

  • Proximity
  • location
  • uniform
• Milgram's proximity variation

  In the original experiment the study was conducted in adjoining rooms but in the variation it was conducted within the same room. this affected obedience level from 65% in the original experiment to only 40% in the variation. This is therefore a situational variable because being in adjoining rooms meant that they could distance themselves from the consequences of their actions while being in the same room meant that they had to directly experience the pain that they were inflicting upon the learner
• Milgram's location variation

  In the original experiment it took place in a lab at yale university but in the variation it took place in a rundown office building. This affected obedience levels from 65% to 47.5% in the variation. This is therefore a situational variable because participants were more likely to obey within the university lab setting because they perceived the experimenter to have legitimate authority and that obedience was expected.
• Milgram's uniform variation

  In the original experiment the researcher wore a white lab coat but in the variation the experimenter was replaced by a confederate wearing ordinary clothes. this affected obedience from the original 65% to only 20% in the variation. this is therefore a situational variable because the uniform of a lab coat established the researchers legitimate authority and the expectation for obedience
• what is the agentic state

  This is when an individual carries out the orders from an authority figure
• strength of uniform variation - research to support

  One strength to support milgram's uniform variation is that it has research to support for example Bickman et al. In this study someone dressed as a security guard, a milkman and a guy in a suit to see the effects uniform has obedience rates when asking members of the public to perform certain tasks. they found that the security guard had the highest obedience levels at 76% then the milkman at 47% then the guy in the suit at only 30%. This therefore supports the idea that uniform indicates the authority someone has over another person.
• what is a dispositional explanation for obedience

  Authoritarian personality
• what is the authoritarian personality

  This is when people are:

  • very obedient
  • have high levels of respect for authority
  • uncomfortable with change
  • have high conventional attitudes

  An authoritarian personality is shaped through childhood as a result of a strict upbringing
• strength of Authoritarian personality - research to support

  One strength of the authoritarian personality is that it has research to support. For example, Elms and milgram's gave F - scale questionnaires to participants who went all the way to 450 volts in milgram's study. they found a high positive correlation between obedience and high f -scale scores. This suggests that participants who went to 450 volts in milgram's study had an authoritarian personality. This is good because it supports the idea of an authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience.
• Limitation of Elms and Milgram - relies on correlation

  A limitation of the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is that it relies upon correlational research. Elms and milgram suggest a link between the authoritarian personality and obedience so it is very difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the exact cause of obedience. Correlation shows a relationship and therefore we have an issue of cause and effect. We don't know if the authoritarian personality causes obedience or if the authoritarian personality is an effect of obedience.
• limitation of authoritarian personality - ignores other factors

  One limitation of the authoritarian personality is that it ignores additional factors that might contribute to obedience such as low socioeconomic status and poor education. This would cause a higher f- scale score and therefore a higher level of obedience to authority. Therefore a limitation of the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience to authority is that it may ignore additional factors therefore it's a reductionist.
• limitation of authoritarian personality - measurement tool may be flawed

  A limitation of the authoritarian personality is that the measurement tool used to assess it may be flawed. for example all the questions in the f-scale quiz were worded in the same direction. So if someone put strongly agree for every question they would receive a high f scale score, which wouldn't be accurate because they did not complete the questionnaire properly. This is a limitation because if the main tool for measuring the authoritarian personality is flawed then maybe the authoritarian personality is flawed too.
• Limitation of F scale - suffer from social desirability bias

  The f scale could suffer from response bias or social desirability bias. this is because participants may only provide answers that are socially acceptable therefore participants might appear less authoritarian when in fact they aren't because they've given answers they think make them look better.
• Resistance to social influence

  • Social support
  • Locus of control
• What is social support

  This is the idea that someone has assistance available from other people. This breaks the unanimity of the majority and makes the individual feel more comfortable to disobey.
• strength of social support - research to support

  One strength of social support is that it has research to support. For example, Allen and levine recreated Asch's line study. In this study each group had a dissenting confederate who often mentioned poor eyesight. Even with the visual issues the real participant felt comfortable to resist conforming. This shows that having some sort of social support meant that the participant felt more comfortable to resist conforming because someone else had already broken the unanimity of the majority.
• strength of social support - research to support

  One strength of social support is that it has research to support. for example, Milgram did a study where a participant was paired with two confederates who also acted as teachers. In this variation the confederates would refuse to go on and withdraw early from the experiment. This affected the obedience levels from 65% to only 10%. This shows that the real participant was more likely to disobey the researcher and withdraw from the study when they had support from others.
• what is an internal locus of control

  This is when individuals believe that events in your life are largely a consequence of your own behaviour.

  Those with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform.
• External locus of control

  This is when an individual believes that the events in their life are largely down to external factors such as luck or fate.
• strength of locus of control

  One strength of locus of control is that it has research to support. For example, shute went into a university and asked pupils on their attitudes towards drug taking. They then did a presentation to try and change their minds. They found that pupils with an internal locus of control were less likely to conform to pro drug taking. this supports the idea that people with an internal locus of control can act independently and resist conforming.
• What is minority influence

  This is when a small group manages to change the attitudes and beliefs of the majority
• What are the factors to achieve minority influence

  • Flexibility
  • Consistency
  • Commitment
• what is flexibility

  This is when the minority have to be willing to adapt and make counter arguments.
• Strength of flexibility in minority influence - research to support

  One strength of flexibility as a factor in minority influence is that it has research to support. For example, Nemeth used a mock jury of 4 to decide how much compensation to give victims of ski lift accidents. Each group included 1 confederate who was either rigid or flexible in the amounts to be given to the victims. They found that when the confederate was flexible and changed their view, they were more persuasive in changing the views of the other 3 participants.
• what is consistency

  This is when the minority maintain the same message throughout. This gives the impression that the minority believe that they are right.
• What is commitment

  This is when the minority have to be willing to make sacrifices towards the cause
• Strength of minority influence - research to support

  One Strength of minority influence is that there is research to support. For example Moscovici did a study with a group of 6 people including 2 confederates where they had to view 36 blue slides and state whether they were blue or green. The confederates agreed on 2/3 trials that the slides were green. Participants gave the same wrong answer on 8.42% of trials and 32% gave a wrong answer at least once. This shows that the minority can influence the majority and therefore supports minority influence in social change.
• Limitation of moscovici's study -deliberately ambiguous

  One limitation of Moscovici's study is that it was deliberately ambiguous. for instance, participants may have said that the slides were green because they genuinely believed that they were green rather than being persuaded so. This is therefore a limitation because the minority may not have actually influenced the majority.
• limitation of moscovici study - lacks generalizability 


  Another limitation of Moscovici et als research is that it lacks generalisability. this is because the study was only made up of women therefore it is a limitation because it is gynocentric
• What is social change


  This is when a society as a whole adopts new attitudes or ways of behaving.
• What are the stages of social change

  • Drawing attention
  • Consistency
  • Deeper processing
  • The augmentation principle
  • The snowball effect
  • social cryptomnesia