Social Influence

• Conformity


  Changing behaviour to fit in with the majority
• Asch's investigation of conformity

  1. Had 8 participants - one was real the others were dissenters

  2. Gave them a line study

  3. Original conformity rate = 36.5%
• Situational variables affecting conformity

  • Group size
  • Unanimity - how much agreement there is within the group
  • Task difficulty
• Asch's additional experiment


  1. Group size - as the group increased with more dissenters, participants conformity rate was 31.8%. But only conformed up until a certain point (2 pps)

  2. Unanimity - asch added in more dissenters who gave the RIGHT answers. Conformity decreased.

  3. Task difficulty - asch made the lines harder to see and conformity increased. Could be due to informational social influence
• Strength of Asch's research

  • There is research support for the task difficulty. Lucas et al did a study with hard and easy maths questions. Dissenters gave the wrong answers to the participants and they mostly conformed.
• Limitations of Asch's research

  • The task is artificial. This meant that the task could not be used in everyday life so there is a lack of reliability. Participants could have figured out the aim of the study.
  • The sample used by Asch cannot be generalised. Asch used white, american men - gender and culture bias. Women are arguably more submissive
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
• Compliance


  Changing behaviour PUBLICLY not PRIVATELY. True behaviour shown in private settings. Normally to fit in with the group
• Identification


  Changing behaviour in a group because you identify with something about the group. Behaviour COULD have a permanent change.
• Internalisation


  When a person accepts the groups' norms and changes their behaviour PUBLICLY AND PRIVATELY. Internalised groups' beliefs
• Explanations for conformity


  • Informational social influence
  • Normative social influence
• Normative social influence


  Changing behaviour because you want to fit in with the group.
• Informational social influence


  Changing behaviour because you are unsure of what the right/wrong thing is to do
• Research support for NSI

  • Asch's line study is research support for this. Participants conformed with the wrong answers because they did not want to be rejected by the group
  • When participants wrote their answers down conformity dropped to 12.5%
• Research support for ISI

  • Lucas' study - participants changed their maths answers because they were unsure of the answer in the first place.
• Limitations of ISI and NSI

  • Ignores free will and individual differences. Some may resist conforming
• Obedience


  Following the orders of someone we perceive as having more authority over us
• Milgram's experiment


  1. 40 american men who volunteered

  2. Taken to Yale University and assigned the role of Teacher or Learner

  3. PPs were always the teachers and the leaners were actors. If the learner got an answer wrong, PPs had to give them an electric shock
• Strength of Milgram


  • Research has been replicated in a French reality show. PPS were paid by the presenter to give fake electric shocks infront of the audience. 80% gave up to 600 VOLTS.
• Limitations of Milgram


  • Low internal validity - some psychologists argue that the experiment did not measure obedience. This is because some PPS may not have believed the shocks/screams were real, so respond to demand characteristics by fulfilling the aim of the study.
  • Ethical Issues - PPS were deceived as the shocks were fake, this caused psychological harm. PPS did not get a right to withdraw either because of the prods of the researcher
• Milgram's prods


  • Please continue
  • The experiment requires you to continue
  • It is absolutely essential you continue
  • You have no other choice but to continue
• Situational variables affecting obedience


  • Proximity of authority figure
  • Proximity of victim
  • Location
  • Uniform
• Strength of Milgrams' additional

  • Research support - Bickman did a study on the effect of uniform. PPS more likely to conform in guard outfit then milkman or civillian outfit
• Limitations of Milgrams' additional

  • Low internal validity - PPS may have known the true nature of study (demand characteristics)
• Situational explanations of obedience

  • Agentic state
  • Legitimacy of authority
• Agentic state


  • Autonomous state - you feel you have responsibility over your actions.
  • Agentic shift - an authority figure tells us they have responsibility over our actions
  • Agentic state - we feel we do not have responsibility over our actions
• Legitimacy of authority


  An explanation for obedience which suggests we are more likely to obey those who we perceive as authority figures
• Strength of agentic state

  • One strength is that there is research support from Milgram - PPS obeyed the researcher when he said he would take responsibility for the harm
• Limitation of agentic state

  • A study conducted by psychologists about nurses. Nurses were all in autonomous states when given a lethal injection to patients
• Strength of legitimacy of authority

  • Research support from Milgram. Obedience dropped to 20% when researcher was not in uniform
• Limitation of legitimacy of authority

  • Ignores individual differences. May be differentiation in the way some perceive authority figures
• Authoritarian personality


  • See the world in black and white
  • Submissive to those in power
  • Oppress those who are weaker
  • Enforce traditional values
• Origins of authoritarian personality

  • Harsh upbringing
  • Received conditional love from parents so displaced their fear onto those below
  • Received punishment
• Adorno's research


  1. Studied 2000 middle class, white americans

  2. Gave them the f-scale which measured if they had an authoritarian personality

  3. Those who scored high on f-scale, were submissive to those in power and harsh to inferior

  4. Positive correlation between high score on f-scale and prejudice
• Strength of dispositional factors

  • Research support - Milgram gave the f-scale to those who obeyed in his previous study. They scored highly on the f-scale
• Limitation of dispositional factors

  • Limited application - people in germany were still submissive before the war.
  • Political bias - the f-scale mainly focuses on right wing ideologies
• Explanations of resistance to social influence

  • Social Support
  • Locus of control
• Social support


  • The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same.
  • Conformity - This is seen in the unanimity in Asch's research and how conformity rates dropped.
  • Obedience - Milgram added in a dissenter who disobeyed and obedience levels dropped from 65% to 10%
• Locus of control


  The amount of control we have over our lives
• Types of locus of control

  • Internal locus of control - we feel we have control over our lives
  • External locus of control - we feel other people have control our lives and is based on luck/external factors