Social Influence

• What is Compliance?(conformity)


  When individuals go along with the group to gain its approval or avoid disapproval
• What is internalisation?(conformity)


  When individuals go along with the group because of acceptance of its views
• What is Identification?(conformity)


  When an individual accepts influence because they want to be associated with the group
• What is Normative Social Influence?(conformity)


  Occurs when individuals go along with the majority because of a desire to be liked rather than acceptance of the majority's view point
• What is Informational Influence?(conformity)


  Occurs when individuals accept the majority viewpoint because it is most likely to be right
• What does compliance affect? (views)(conformity)

  Public but not private attitudes/behaviours
• What can internalisation lead to? (conformity)


  Acceptance of groups view point both publicly and privately
• More info about NSI?

  • Fear of Rejection
  • Conform to majority position in public but not private
• More info about ISI?

  • If objective tests against reality are not possible, individual may rely on the opinions of others
  • More likely to happen in ambiguous situations where others are seen as experts
  • Individuals change behaviour to fit in group position
• Types of conformity and explanation A03

  • Difficult to distinguish between compliance and internalisation
  • NSI may not be detected
• What are the 3 variables affecting conformity?

  1. Group size
  2. Unanimity
  3. Task difficulty
• How does group size affect conformity?

  Smaller group= less conformity

  Larger group= more conformity
• How does unanimity affect conformity?

  When individual has an ally= less conformity
• How does task difficulty affect conformity?

  Harder task= increased conformity

  easy task= lower conformity levels
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDY (CONFORMITY) PROCEDURE

  • 123 male US college students
  • Took turns to say which lines they though were the same
  • 6 confederates, who always answered last or second to last
  • 18 trials, 12 of which confederate gave wrong asnwers
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDY (CONFORMITY) AIM


  To see if ppts would conform to the majority by giving incorrect answers to an unambiguous situations
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDYN (CONFORMITY) CONCLUSIONS

  Most ppts didn't believe conforming answers

  Said they conformed for 2 reasons

  • Because they wanted to fit in the group (NSI)
  • Because they believe the group was better informed than them (ISI)
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDY (CONFORMITY) FINDINGS


  32% of ppts went along and conformed to clearly wrong answers

  75% of ppts conformed at least once

  25% of ppts never conformed
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDY A03- Advantages


  Avantages:

  • Controlled environment- high internal validity
  • Easily Replicable
• KEY STUDY: ASCHS LINE STUDY A03 DISADVANTAGES

  • Can't generalise- low validity
  • Artificial Task- low ecological validity
• Name the 3 situational factors that affect Obedience?

  1. Proximity
  2. Location
  3. Uniform
• How does proximity affect Obedience? (Situational variables affecting obedience)


  With the learner in the same room, levels of obedience dropped
• How does Location affect obedience? (Situational variables affecting obedience)


  More prestigious locations= lower obedience levels
• How does Uniform affect obedience? (Situational variables affecting obedience)


  Uniforms influence obedience because they are easily recognisable and convey power and authority
• What is the Agentic State?

  A person does not see themselves as responsible for their actions, but attributes responsibility to someone else, particularly an authority figure
• What is Legitimacy of authority?


  The power of a legitimate authority figure stems from their perceived position in a social situation rather than any personal characteristics
• More info about Agentic State

  Under certain circumstances, a person may shift from an autonomous state, where they feel responsible for their own actions, to an agentic state
• Reasons for Agentic State?


  One explanation is the need to maintain a positive self-image. By shifting responsibility onto the authority figure, the person does not feel guilty about their actions