Psych p1 - Social influence

• Social influence is 


  Tendency to change our behaviour/attitudes in response to the influence of others
• Who proposed the 3 types of conformity?

  Kelman (1958)
• What types of conformity did Kelman propose?


  Compliance, identification, internalization
• What is compliance?

  most superficial type

  adhering to requests even though you disagree privately
• What is internalisation?


  deepest type

  agree publicly and privately as personal beliefs have changed based on social influence

  e.g converting religion
• What is identification?

  agreeing publicly and privately because you can see others POV

  individual may want to be associated with group asking for conformity as sees themselves as one of them

  example: using social media
• Why do we conform?

  fit in with norms + value of society

  no other choice

  expectation

  desire to fit in with others

  don’t want to be seen as abnormal
• What are consequences of not conforming?

  Punished physically, emotionally, socially

  attract unwanted attention
• What is majority influence?

  where a larger group influence a minority to change their behaviour/attitude so it fits with the majority + their ideal
• What psychologist studied majority influence?

  Asch(1950s)
• What was aschs majority influence experiment?

  line experiment

  carried out in a lab

  used 50 male students
• what was aschs procedure?

  • placed pps in room with 7 confederates
  • each person in turn said out loud which line was most like target line in length
  • Correct answer was always obvious
  • each pp completed 18 trials
  • confederates gave same incorrect answer on 12 trials
  • these were called critical trials
• What was aschs aim of the study?

  to see if pps would conform to majority view, even if the answer was clearly incorrect
• Aschs findings

  • pps conformed to incorrect answers on 32% of critical trials
  • 74% of pps conformed on at least 1 critical trial
  • 26% of pps never conformed
  • asch used control group where 1 pp completed experiment with no confederates
  • found that control group gave Incorrect answer less than 1%
• What did pps say to asch after experiment

  They knew the answer was incorrect but went along with the group as feared they’d be seen as peculiar
• strengths of aschs line experiment

  lab experiment - highly controlled + reliable results + easily replicable

  shows that people conform to the majority
• Weaknesses of aschs line experiment

  Low population validity - only males

  low ecological validity - used artificial task which doesn’t represent everyday life

  ethical issues - deception
• Factors affecting conformity are

  Gender

  age

  social class

  situation

  difficulty level

  size of majority

  historical time era
• Explanations of conformity are

  Normative social influence

  informational social influence
• What is normative social influence?


  conforming because of the need to be accepted as part of a group

  conform to norms + values so were seen as normal

  being seen as normal means We’re accepted by others

  belonging to group is rewarding as we‘re included
• What is informational social influence?

  Individuals persuaded by what others say

  wait for others to guide us in what they say before conforming or not

  due to the need to be right so conformity will take place

  then seen to be right by others
• Pros of nsi 


  evidenced in aschs research- adds credibility to theory
• Pros of nsi + isi

  Has RLA - shows we conform to be right and help keep social order

  explains personal Motivation for conformity e.g to be rewarded
• Cons of nsi + isi

  Only provides 2 reasons for conformity - not a one size fits all approach

  disregards those that don’t conform

  wont always explain why an individual will conform
• What is a social role?


  A set of expectations and behaviors associated with a particular position or status in society.
• What are social roles based on?

  Often on pre conceived perceptions of how roles should be played based on stereotypes

  they’re situation Dependant

  they’re ever changing based on situation - individuals conform to preconceived ideals of social roles in situations
• whos studied male students identification of conformity to the social role of prisoners and guards?

  Zimbardo (1973)
• What was zimbardos study?

  Stanford Prison Experiment ( artificial mock prison)
• Zimbardo examined if individuals would…

  Identify with the role they were given

  live up to pre conceived perceptions about these roles

  change their attitudes + behaviours and turn them into people they didn’t recognise
• Procedure of zimbardos experiment

  healthy males paid $15 a day to take part in 2 week study

  given psychometric tests to establish their adjustment

  arrested 9 prisoners at home without warning, blindfolded. prisoners referred to by number only
• When prisoners got to prison they were…

  Stripped + sprayed with disinfectant
• Zimbardos findings were 


  Guards harassed prisoners + conformed to their roles so much the study had to be disconti after 6 days

  some prisoners became depressed and anxious: multiple prisoners had to leave after a few days
• Conclusions of Zimbardos study…

  People will readily conform to social roles they're expected to play

  roles people play shape their attitude + behaviour

  “prison environment“ was an important factor in creating guards brutal behaviour - none of pps who played guards had shown sadistic tendencies before
• Strengths of zimbardos experiment

  Lab experiment- highly controlled

  has RLA- can be used to explain atrocities such as Abu Ghraib
• Weaknesses of zimbardos study

  Pps paid $15 a day - demand characteristics?

  severe ethical issues -harm, consent, deception

  zimbardo too involved - main psychologist + superintendent- conflict of interests
• What is obedience?


  Complying with an order from another person to carry out an action
• Why does obedience take place?

  - respect

  - safety

  - expectations/social norm

  - laws

  - part of hierarchy in society (obey those that have power over us)

  - those we obey may have more knowledge over us so see it as fair
• What are factors that influence levels of obedience?


  - who’s instructing us

  - place

  - gender

  - social class

  - culture
• Aim of Milgrams 1963 study?

  See how far people will go in obeying an instruction if it involves harming another person

  interested in understanding what led ‘ordinary’ family men (German soldiers) to commit mass murder in holocaust
• Milgrams procedure 


  -40 males between 20-50

  - paid 4.50 for showing up

  - milgram was confederate of experiment

  - confederates were always learners

  - 2 rooms in Yale University used - learner strapped to chair with electrodes

  - teacher told to give electric shock everytime learner made mistake

  - level of shock increased everytime

  - learner mainly gave wrong answers purposely

  - if teacher refused to shock, the experimenter gave series of shocks to make sure learner would continue