Social Influence

• What is compliance?

  This is when you go along with the view of the group in public but not in private. This is to feel liked or socially accepted.
• What is identification?

  This is when you go along with the behaviours and adapt the opinions of the group in public and in private for a temporary period.
• What is internalisation?

  This is when we take on the opinions and behaviours of the group as we believe they are correct. This is in public and in private.
• What is informational social influence?

  Informational social influence is the phenomenon where individuals conform to the opinions or behaviors of others because they believe that those others have more accurate knowledge or information.
• What is a strength of informational social influence?

  Research Support - Lucas et al. Participants to answer mathematical problems which varied in difficulty. He found that people went along with the answers of the group when the questions were harder as they looked to people whom may have the correct answers. This is because they were afraid of disapproval.
• What is the weakness of informative social influence?

  Individual differences - not everyone is affected in the same way.
• What is normative social influence?

  Normative social influence is the tendency to conform to the group's norms in order to fit in and gain social approval.
• What is the strength of normative social influence?

  Research Support - Asch found that people went along with answers because others chose them. They were afraid of disapproval and to be disliked by the group. Asch repeated the study were the participants wrote their answers down, he found that conformity fell to 12.5%.
• What is a weakness of normative social influence?

  Individual differences - not everyone is affected in the same way. Mcghee and Teevan found that students with affiliations are more likely to conform. This suggests the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. Therefore, individual differences have an impact.
• Outline Asch's procedure.

  • Visual test which compared lines.
  • 123 American male, undergraduate students.
  • 6-8 Confederates. PP sat either 2nd to last or last.
• Outline the findings of Asch's conformity study.

  • Participants gave incorrect answers 36.8% of the time.
  • Overall, 25% did not conform on any trials.
  • 75% conformed at least once.
  • Conformed to avoid rejection.
• Describe ethical issues as a weakness of Asch's conformity study.

  Participants were deceived as they believed the confederates where participants like themselves. However, it should be weighed up if the ethical issues out weigh the deception.
• Describe 'child of its time' as a weakness of Asch's conformity study.

  • 1950's conformist America (made sense to conform).
  • These findings may not be found now due to a deeper understanding into conformity.
  • Perrin and Spencer completed a similar study with British Engineering students where only in 1 out of 369 trials conformed. However, this could be due to the sample as Engineering students regularly deal with lines.
• Describe scientific methods as a strength of Asch's conformity study.

  Asch's study is completed in a lab with scientific methods. As a result of this, the study can be repeated. High internal validity.
• What were the three variations of Asch's study? What were their findings?

  1. Group Size - 3 confederates = 31.8%.
  2. Unanimity - Dissenting confederate = reduced by a 1/4.
  3. Task Difficulty - Harder task = increased conformity.
• Outline the procedure of the study into conformity to social roles.

  • Prisoner and guard roles were randomly assigned.
  • Prisoners arrested at home and delivered to the prison by Police. They were blindfolded, strip-searched and issued a uniform.
  • Guards had their own uniform and were told they had complete control. (batons, badge, radio, etc).
• Outline the findings of the study into conformity to social roles.

  • The study was stopped after 6 days when it was planned to go on for 14. This was due to the high amount of distress the prisoners were under.
  • After one rebellion, prisoners became depressed and isolated. This led to people leaving due to the emotions they were feeling.
  • Guards became close to the roles in which they were given. Sometimes becoming aggressive and abusive.
• What is one weakness of Zimbardo's social role study?

  Lack of Realism - Participants were merely play acting and conforming to their stereotype. Participants claimed that 'their' guard was based off one in a movie (Cool Hand Luke).
• What is one strength of Zimbardo's social role study?

  Control - Selected participants based on their psychic state. This rules out individual differences as all participants are mentally stable. Increased internal validity.
• Outline Milgram's procedure for his baseline obedience study.

  • 40 male (20-50 years old) participants through volunteer sampling.
  • Confederate was always the learner and the PP the teacher.
  • PPs told that they could leave.
  • Learner was strapped to a chair and asked questions - if they got it wrong they would be administered a fake electric shock. Upon reaching deadly shocks, the learner would stop replying.
  • Experimenter prodded the PP if they hesitated.
• Outline the findings of Milgram's procedure for his baseline obedience study,

  • No Participants stopped under 300 volts.
  • 12.5% stopped at 300 volts.
  • 45% went to the maximum amount of volts (450v).
• What is a weakness into Milgram's base obedience study?

  Low internal validity - Orne and Holland argued that participants did not believe that they were giving true electric shocks. Therefore, if this was true, Milgram would not be testing what he was aiming to test. Perry confirmed this theory as she listened to Milgram's tapes and participants stated their doubts of the shocks being true.
• What is a strength into Milgram's base obedience study?

  Supporting Replication - 'The Game of Death' includes a replication of the study. Participants were paid to distribute fake shocks to other participants (confederates of the study). 80% of participants delivered the maximum number of shocks. Behaviour is almost identical. Replication supports Milgram's base study.
• What are Milgram's 3 situational variables? Explain them and their results.

  • Proximity - Teacher and learner were in the same room = obedience dropped to 40%. Second proximity variable is when pp was holding the confederates hands to the plate = conformity dropped to 30%. Third proximity variable was delivering instructions via telephone = 20.5%.
  • Location - Run down office building instead of Yale (prestigious). Obedience fell to 47.5%.
  • Uniform - Experimenter was taken over by an ordinary member of the public, who was dressed in ordinary clothes. Obedience dropped to 20%.
• Explain a strength of Milgram's uniform situational variable.

  Research Support -Bickman. Three uniforms; jacket and tie, milkman's security and police officer. They stood on the street and asked strangers to do varying tasks. Bickman found that strangers were twice as likely to obey security than the other two uniforms.
• What is agentic state?


  A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.
• What is a strength of agentic state?

  Research Support - Blass and Schmitt showed a film of Milgram's study to students and asked them 'who was responsible'. The students blamed the experimenter. Therefore, legitimacy of authority is the cause of obedience.
• What is legitimacy to authority?

  An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we believe to have authority over us. However, some authority figures are destructive.
• What is a weakness of legitimacy to authority?

  Cultural Differences - It is a useful account of cultural differences in obedience. Kilham and Mann (1974) replicated Milgram's procedure in Australia and found only 16% of their participants went all the way. Whereas, this study was repeated in Germany and they found 85% of participants went all the way. This shows that in come cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate.
• What is the authoritarian personality?

  A personality characterized by a strong preference for obedience to authority, conformity to societal norms, and hostility towards those who deviate from them.
• What is the procedure into authoritarian personalities?

  • 2000 middle class.
  • White Americans.
  • Test on their unconscious attitudes.
  • Used the F-Scale to measure personality and attitudes.
• What is the findings into the authoritarian personalities?

  Those who scored high on the F-Scale identified with 'strong' people and were generally contemptuous of the 'weak'. These individuals have fixed stereotypes about people. There is a strong correlation between the authoritarian personality and prejudice.
• What is a weakness of the authoritarian personality?

  Political Bias - F-Scale is typically used to measure right-wing extremism. Psychologists argued that it is a politically bias interpretation. This means it is not a fully comprehensive dispositional explanation.
• What is a strength of the authoritarian personality?

  Research Support - Milgram conducted interviews of fully obedient participants who scored high on the F-Scale - Milgram believed that there was a link between obedience and authoritarian personalities. However, it could be argued that this was merely a connection between variables - making it impossible to draw conclusions.
• What is social support?

  The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others do the same. Those people act as models to show that resistance to social influence is possible.
• What is the strength of social support?

  • Research Support for conformity - Allen and Levine found that conformity decreased when there was a dissenter. This supports the idea that resistance is not just motivated by following someone.
  • Research Support for obedience - Gamson et al found higher levels of resistance than Milgram. 29 out of 33 groups of participants rebelled. Meaning peer support is linked to greater resistance.
• What is locus of control?

  The belief about the extent to which individuals have control over their own lives. Internals believe that they are responsible, whilst externals believe outside forces are responsible.
• What is one strength of locus of control?

  Research Support - Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's baseline study and measured whether participants were internals or externals. He found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock levels. Whereas, 23% of externals did not continue - increases validity.
• What is one weakness of locus of control?

  Contradictory research - Twenge et al analysed studies. He found that people became more resistant for obedience but also more external. However, if people became more resistant then it is expected that they would become internal.
• What is minority influence?

  Minority influence refers to the ability of a small group to influence the beliefs and behaviors of a larger group.