social influence

• Internalisation


  Changes in individuals' behaviours and/or beliefs because of real or imagined group pressure
• Informational social influence


  The desire to be right
• Normative social influence


  The desire to be liked/accepted
• Compliance


  The most superficial and least permanent change in attitude. Individuals publicly change their beliefs and behaviours to be in line with a group and to fit in, but in private, revert back to original belief systems and behaviours, when the group pressure stops.
• Identification


  A stronger type of conformity, involving possible private as well as public acceptance. This occurs when individuals look to a group for guidance and adjust their behaviour and belief systems to those of a group because membership of the group is desirable and they take on a role within the group.
• Internalisation


  The deepest and most permanent change in attitude. Individuals publicly and privately change their behaviours and belief systems to go along with a group norm, because we accept their attitudes in to our own cognitions (internalise them), the behaviour lasts when the majority are no longer present.
• Informational Social Influence (ISI)


  Driven by the desire to be right. When an individual is unsure (lacks knowledge) about how to behave, they conform by seeking information from the group about how to behave and assume that it is right.
• Normative Social Influence (NSI)


  Driven by our desire to be liked. An individual will 'go along with' a group's behaviour in order to avoid ridicule and gain acceptance from them and fit in.
• Research to support ISI as an explanation of conformity was conducted by Jenness
• Research to support NSI as an explanation of conformity was conducted by Asch
• Asch's conformity research
• Variables affecting conformity
• Group Size
• Task Difficulty
• Normative social influence


  The influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them
• Asch's study of conformity


  1. Investigated how two variables affected conformity

  2. Outlined how three variables affecting conformity were investigated
• Zimbardo's study of conformity to social roles


  • Aim: To investigate how freely people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that re-created prison life
  • Sample: A volunteer sample of 24 'emotionally stable' US male university students
  • Procedure: Participants randomly allocated to role of prisoner or guard, prisoners arrested and processed, guards given uniforms and instructions, basement of psychology department converted into mock prison
  • Findings: Within a day the prisoners rebelled and the guards responded with escalating punishments, prisoners rapidly became subdued and depressed, experiment called off after 6 days
  • Conclusions: Guards, prisoners and researchers conformed to their role within the prison, social roles have an extraordinary power over individuals
• Conformity to social roles definition: Social roles are the parts that people play as members of various social groups e.g. teachers and students. These are accompanied by expectations that we, and others, have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role. We internalise these expectations, so they shape our behaviour.
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's research into conformity to social roles


  • Strength: High control over extraneous variables, participants randomly assigned to roles
  • Weakness: May have exaggerated the power of social roles, gender bias using only male participants
  • Weakness: Major ethical issues, lack of informed consent and protection from harm
  • Limitation: Prone to demand characteristics, Zimbardo's role as superintendent may have influenced participants
• Obedience


  A type of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority
• Milgram's study of obedience


  1. Aim: To investigate if individuals would obey the orders of an authority figure even if this led to negative consequences

  2. Method: Laboratory experiment at Yale University, 40 American males aged 20-50

  3. Procedure: Participants assigned role of 'teacher', instructed to administer electric shocks to 'learner' (confederate) for wrong answers, experimenter used prompts to encourage obedience

  4. Findings: All participants went to at least 300 volts, 65% continued to maximum 450 volts

  5. Conclusion: Ordinary people are obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane way
• Situational variables affecting obedience

  • Proximity: How near or far the participant is to the victim or authority figure, obedience decreased when participant could directly see the consequences
  • Location: Where the experiment takes place, obedience decreased in more informal settings
  • Uniform: Wearing an authoritative uniform increased obedience
• Situational variables


  External explanation of obedience, where features of an environment affect levels of obedience including proximity, location and uniform
• Proximity

  • How near or far (close) the ppt (teacher) is to the victim (learner) or experimenter (authority figure)
  • In Milgram's original experiment the teacher could not see the learner, only hear them and obedience was 65%. When both the teacher and learner were in the same room obedience fell to 40%
  • When the teacher was required to force the learners hand onto the electric shock plate (touch proximity) obedience dropped even further to 30%
  • In remote instruction variation, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher by telephone. Obedience fell to 20.5%, suggesting the closer an authority figure is, the more obedient the individual will be
• Location

  • When the location was changed to a run-down office in a run-down part of town obedience fell from 65% at Yale University to 48% in the run down office
  • Milgram argued this was because the amount of perceived legitimate authority of the experimenter was reduced
• Power of Uniform

  • Wearing of uniforms can give a perception of added legitimate authority to the individual delivering the orders
  • In one variation, when the experimenter in the lab coat was called away and replaced by an 'ordinary member of the public' who wore everyday clothes, obedience dropped to 20%
  • Uniform acts as a strong visual authority symbol and a cue to act in an obedient manner
• Bickman's research in New York found participants were twice as likely to follow instructions from a confederate wearing a security guard uniform than a business man, supporting the power of uniform as a variable affecting obedience
• Milgram's research into situational variables affecting obedience has gender bias as a male only sample was used, making it difficult to generalise to females
• Orne and Holland believed Milgram's variation studies had reduced internal validity as participants may have worked out the truth and 'play acted'
• An alternative explanation for obedience is dispositional factors (internal factors) e.g. The Authoritarian Personality, suggesting obedience may not just be due to situational factors
• Mandel criticised Milgram's research, arguing that the Nazi's were not simply obeying orders due to situational variables, but were responsible for their evil behaviour
• Agentic State

  People may move from an autonomous state where they take personal responsibility, to a state where they believe they are acting on behalf of an authority figure. This occurs when someone perceives somebody as an authority figure. In the agentic state, they lose sense of personal responsibility and are more likely to obey
• Legitimacy of Authority Figure

  Obedient individuals accept the power and status of authority figures and see them as being in charge. Factors affecting this include uniform and location. The more legitimate a person perceives the authority figure to be, the more likely they are to shift from autonomous to the agentic state
• Milgram's research supported the agentic state explanation as participants often continued to obey when told the experimenter was responsible
• Hofling's study on nurses supports both the legitimacy of authority and agentic state explanations as they obeyed an unknown doctor's orders over the phone
• Mandel's research contradicts the agentic state explanation as German soldiers chose to shoot civilians despite being given other duties
• An alternative explanation is dispositional factors like the authoritarian personality, suggesting obedience may not just be due to situational factors
• Authoritarian Personality


  A collection of personality traits said to develop from strict parenting, including extreme respect for perceived authority, submission to people in perceived authority, disapproval of low status individuals, and strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies
• Research by Milgram & Elms found higher levels of authoritarianism among obedient participants in Milgram's experiment
• Adorno's research on the F-scale questionnaire to measure authoritarianism can be criticised for social desirability bias