social influence
Cards (70)
- conformitya change in a person's behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
- asch baseline procedure- aimed to test the extent people would conform in different situations- 123 american men- had to match up a line with one of three options- the answer was very clear- real ppt answered 6th out of 7- 36.8% conformity rate
- artificial (AO3)- limitation- relatively trivial- meaning there's no reason to conform- susan fiske said the group wasn't very groupy- meaning they didn't resemble every day social groups- lack of real-world generalisability
- limited application (AO3)- limitation- all pts were american men- some research suggest that women conform more- US is an individualist culture- similar studies in collectivist cultures like China found higher conformity rates- not a full explanation
- group size- asch added more confederates, increasing the majority- conformity increased with size but eventually levelled off
- unanimity- the extent to which all members agree- conformity increased when group was unanimous- presence of a dissenter decreases conformity to less than 1/4
- task difficulty- the harder it is the more conform
- research support (AO3)- strength- Lucas et al. asked ppts easy and hard maths questions- confederates gave wrong answers- ppts conformed more with harder questions- counter- Lucas et al. found that conformity is more complex as ppts with higher confidence in their abilities conformed less- shows that an individual-level factor can influence conformity
- internalisation- deep form of conformity- believe it is correct- more permanent change- even when group is absent
- identification- moderate from of conformity- value the group opinion and what to be a part of it- don't agree with everything
- compliance- superficial- temporary- outwardly conform- privately disagree
- informational social influence (ISI)- explanation for conformity- agree with majority as we believe it is correct- want to be correct- may lead to internalisation
- research support (AO3)- strength- Lucas et al.- ppts conformed to more difficult questions as it became unclear and didn't want to be wrong- counter- it is unclear whether it is SI or ISI at work- the dissenter could reduce power of NSI by being social support or could reduce ISI as an alternative source of information- hard to separate as they operate together in real life
- normative social influence (NSI)- explanation for conformity- agree with majority as we want to gain social approval and be liked- may lead to compliance
- research support (AO3)- strength-when ash interviwed his ppts asking why they conformed they said it was because they felt self-conscious and were afraid of disapproval- when ppts wrote answers down, conformity fell to 12.5%
- individual differences (AO3)- limitation- doesn't predict conformity in every case- nAffiliators are concerned with being liked by others so are more likely to conform
- social rolesthe parts people play as members of various social groups
- zimbardo's stanford prison experiment- mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at stanford university- 21 male volunteers tested as emotionally stable-randomly assigned prison guard or prisoner- prisoners were given a loose smock to wear and a cap to cover their head, identified as a number- guards had a wooden club, handcuffs, mirror shades- they were encouraged to identify with their social role
- zimbardo's findings- guards conformed to role- prisoners were punished, rebelled, went on strikes, guards retaliated with fire extinguishers
- control (AO3)- strength- random allocation- ruled out individual differences- increased internal validity
- lack of realism (AO3)- limitation- ppts were play-acting rather than conforming- ppts based off of stereotypes- counter- ppts behaved as if it was real- 90% of conversations were about prison life
- exaggerates the power of roles (AO3)- limitation- only 1/3 of the guards acted in a brutal manner- 1/3 tried to apply the rules fairly- the other 1/3 tried to help the prisoners- minimised effect of personality
- obediencea form of social influence, where an individual follows a direct order usually from an authoritative figure
- milgram's baseline procedure- 40 american male volunteers- drew lots- confederate = learner, real ppt = teacher- experiementer ordered ppt to give an increasingly strong shock if they got it wrong
- milgram's baseline findings- every ppt delivered all shocks up to 300 volts- 12.5% stopped at 300- 65% continued to the hoghest- 450- qualititive data collected and observations
- research support (AO3)- strength- replicated in a french documentary- ppts in the game believed they were contestants for a pilot episode on a new show- they were paid to gave shocks to the confederate in front of a studio audience- 80% delivered max shock of 450- identical observations as milgram's study
- low internal validity (AO3)- limitation- 75% said they believed the shocks were genuine- others argue that the ppts were play acting- in the tapes 2/3 were disobedient- ppts may have been responding to demand characteristics- counter- sheridan and king replicated milgram's study with puppies- despite the real distress from the animal 54% men and 100% of women gave what they believed was a fatal shock
- alterantive interpretation of the findings (AO3)- limitation- according to the social identity theory, the ppts only obeyed when they identified with the specific aims of the research, when they were told to blindly obey they refused
- situational variablesfeatures of the immediate physical and social environment which may influence a person's behaviour
- proximity- obedience dropped from original 65% to 40% when he teacher and learner were in the same room- when the teacher had to force the learner's hand onto the plate, obedience dropped to 30%- when the experimenter left the room, obedience reduced to 20.5%
- locationwhen conducted in a run-down office block rather than in yale uni, obedience fell to 47.5%
- uniformwhen experimenter wore everyday clothes instead of a lab coat, obedience dropped to 20%
- research support (AO3)- strength- in a field study, bickman had 3 confederates dress in a jacket and tie, a milkman's outfit, and a security guard's uniform- they asked people to pick up litter- twice as likely to obey security guard than the jacket and tie
- cross-cultural replications (AO3)- strength- meeus and raaijmakers- had a more realistic procedure- ppts forced to say stressful things in an interview to a confederate desperate for a job- 90% obeyed- also replicated proximity- counter- smith and bond identified study replications from india and jordon with different results
- low internal validity (AO3)- limitation- orne and holland- ppts may be aware that it was fake- demand characteristics
- agentic statea mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour as we are acting for an authority figure
- autonomous stateacting independently, , own principles, responsibility for their own actions
- binding factorsaspects of the situation which allow the person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour.e.g. shifting blame
- research support (AO3)- strength- milgram's research supports this- when someone asked who is responsible if the ppt gets hurt the experimenter replied 'im responsble' and the ppt would carry on- once establishing they are no longer responsible, they acted as an agent
- a limited explanation (AO3)- limitation- rank and jacobson study- 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders from doctors to administer an excessive drug dose to a patient- doesn't apply to all situations