social psychology

• situational factors

  how external influences affect our behaviour (eg environment / others)
• group norms

  specific idea held by a group about what is concidered acceptable within that group
• conformity

  when an individual changes their behaviour due to pressure of the group
• normative conformity 


  people yield to group pressure because they want to fit in and are concerned about being rejected by the group
• informative conformity 


  people conform as they want to be perceived as correct therefore follow the lead of the group
• obedience 


  following orders from someone we perceived as having more authority than others
• authority figure 


  someone who had decisions or rules followed and accepted by others
• deindividuation


  when people in a crowd lose their sense of individuality (eg masks / costumes)
• individualistic cultures 


  thinks individual is more important than group, view themselves as independents
• collective cultures 


  thinks group is more important, view themselves as interdependent / connected to others
• dispositional factors 


  how our personality can effect whether or not we obey or conform
• in group 


  someone part of your group (eg same interest)
• out group 


  someone not in your group (eg no same interest)
• internal focus of control 


  person that believes they have the ability to control their decisions and life
• external focus of control 


  person that believes they have little or no ability to control their own life
• minority influence


  small group of people can change the opinion and belief of a larger group
• majority influence 


  majority of group tries to influence others in the group to conform to their beliefs
• pro social behaviours 


  actions that benefits the society and its people
• anti social behaviours 


  actions that go against the society and harms
• milgram

  • 40 men participants (aged 20 - 50)
• milgram (1963)

  • 40 men participants (aged 20 - 50)
  • took place in Yales university
• milgram real aim

  investigate whether in certain circumstances, a normal person will give someone an electric shock if an authority figure told them to
• milgram fake aim

  how punishment effects learning
• milgram procedure

  • pps would be asked to pick a piece of paper which they thought it would either be 'teacher' or 'learner', but they will all end up getting 'teacher' bc the draw is fixed
  • confederate's role: 'learner' (getting shocked), 'experimenter' (giving instructions to 'teacher'
  • pps were asked to give (fake) electric shocks from 15 - 450V each time the learner makes a mistake
  • pre recorded cries from the learner would be played out and will have pounding on the wall at 300V
  • from 315V onwards, learner would be silent and give no responses
• milgram results

  • 100% of pps carried on up to 300V
  • 65% administered the full 450V
  • pps showed sign of tension (eg sweating , trembling)
  • psychology students predicted no more than 3% would continue to 450V
  • pps were debriefed after and 84% were glad they have participated
• milgram conclusion

  this hows that people will obey legitimate authority figures as people obeyed instructions to give electric shocks bc a man in white coat told them to
• asch's experiment (1951)

  • 2 participants (who doesn't know anything)
  • 8 actors (knows about the experiment)
  • 2 separate experiment
  • set in room / lab
• asch's aim

  see how social pressure from a group could effect a person to conform
• asch's procedure

  • pps and the actors would be asked a question ( which one of the line on the left of the picture matches to the one on the right)
  • then, the 8 actors would say the wrong answer on purpose
• asch's experiment results (1st pps)

  thought others are right and it's just him who is wrong so therefore followed the group (informative conformity)
• asch's experiment results (2nd pps)

  knew the others were wrong, but didn't want to stand out so therefore followed the group (normative conformity)
• asch's experiment criticism

  1. study criticised as it was artificial (conducted in a lab)
  2. displaced in line task behaviour is not natural (eg confederates gave same incorrect answers)
  3. results and conformity may not be the same in real life
• zimbardo et al (1973)

  • 22 men pps selected from 75
  • pps paid $15 per day for 1-2 weeks
  • assigned role of 'prisoner' or 'guard' randomly
  • basement of Stanford university turned into a 'prison'
• zimbardo et al aim

  how readily people would conform to the role of guard and prisoners
• zimbardo et al procedure

  1. prisoner being 'arrested' at home
  2. bllindfolded and fingerprinted
  3. took photographs
  4. put in one of the 3 cells (*prisoners were to respect the rules and called each other by their numbers)
• zimbardo et al results

  • stress began to show in some prisoners
  • guards began to harass prisoners
  • 5 pps was released in the first 5 days
  • conclusion: both guard and prisoner did conform to their roles
• zimbardo et al criticisms

  1. lack of informed consent
  2. psychological harm to pps
  3. lack of protection for pps