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Psychology A Level > Social Influence > Flashcards

Social Influence Flashcards

1
Q

State the three types of conformity

A
  • compliance
  • identification
  • internalisation
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2
Q

What is compliance?

A

A shallow type of conformity that is temporary and motivated by the need to fit in or gain approval. Often these views are only demonstrated in public.

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3
Q

What is identification?

A

When someone changes their behaviour in order to be associated with a larger group

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4
Q

What is internalisation?

A

A deep type of conformity where someone’s beliefs are altered both publically and privately because they believe the majority group is correct

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5
Q

State the two explanations for conformity

A
  • Normative social influence

- Informational social influence

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6
Q

What is normative social influence?

A

When people conform in order to fit in. Usually involves public agreement and private disagreement- resulting in compliance. Often occurs in an unambiguous (obvious) situation and it only a temprorary change.

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7
Q

What is informational social influence?

A

When people conform in order to be correct. Involves public and private agreement. Most like an ambiguous situation (unclear). Results in internalisation and is a permanent change. Occurred in the study by Sherif and Jenness (jar of beans where participants were asked to estimate a number for the beans and then changed their answer to make it closer to the group estimate)

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8
Q

Evaluate types of conformity

A

Might be difficult to distinguish the types- Sometimes it’s hard to measure public and private agreement. For example, if someone agrees in public but disagrees in private it would be seen as compliance however the person may have gained/lost information that led them to change their judgment.
Also, someone who agrees in both public and private would have internalised the views, however they may have been complying in public and then accepted in private due to self- perception

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9
Q

Give three evaluation points for explanations for conformity

A
  • Research support for normative influence- Linkenbach and Perkins found adolescents who were exposed to the message teenagers didn’t smoke were much more likely to not smoke
  • Research support for informational influence- Wittenbrink and Henley found participants who were exposed to negative information about African Americans and told this was the majority view then reported negative feelings about a black individual
  • Normative influence may not be detected- Nolan et al found that people believed their neighbours to be the weakest impact yet results showed they had the strongest impact. This suggests people rely on beliefs about what should motivate their behaviour and under-detects normative influence
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10
Q

What did Asch investigate?

A

Which variables had the most significant effects on the level of conformity shown by participants

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11
Q

Outline Asch’s procedure

A
  • 123 male undergraduates tested
  • Participants asked to look at three lines of different lengths and call out which line was the same as the standard
  • The naive participant always answered second to last
  • On 12/18 trials the confederates were asked to give the same incorrect answer
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12
Q

What did Asch find?

A
  • Average conformity was 35%
  • 5% never conformed
  • 75% conformed at least once
  • 25% never conformed
  • Most participants changed their public behaviour
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13
Q

What did Asch conclude?

A
  • People seem to be affected by conformity

- This may be affected by personality

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14
Q

State the three variables affecting conformity

A
  • Group size
  • Unanimity of the majority
  • Difficulty of the task
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15
Q

How does group size affect conformity?

A
  • There was little conformity when the majority was one or two confederates
  • When there was a majority of three confederates conformity rose to 30%
  • After that conformity did not increase with group size
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16
Q

How does unanimity of the majority affect conformity?

A

-When the naive participant was given the support of someone else who gave the right answers conformity decreased significantly

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17
Q

How did difficulty of the task affect conformity?

A

When the task was made more difficult conformity increased because people have more self-doubt

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18
Q

Give three evaluation points for Asch

A
  • The study can be seen as a child of its time- carried out at a time in US history when conformity was high due to McCarthyism which made people scared to go against the majority. Perrin and Spencer replicated the study in the 1980s and failed to get the same results
  • There are problems with determining the effect of group size- studies have only used a limited range of majority sizes. No other studies have used a majority greater than nine so we know very little about the effect of group size on conformity
  • Independent behaviour rather than conformity- in 2/3 of the trials the participants stuck to their own answer so Asch’s study actually showed a commendable tendency for participants to show independent behaviour
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19
Q

What did Zimbardo investigate?

A

-How readily people conform to new social roles

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20
Q

Outline Zimbardo’s procedure

A
  • Mock prison at Stanford University
  • 24 psychologically stable male student volunteers were selected
  • Randomly assigned ‘prisoner’ and ‘guard’
  • The prisoners were ‘arrested’ and guards were given symbols of power
  • The study was planned to run for 2 weeks
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21
Q

What did Zimbardo find?

A
  • The guards grew increasingly cruel and the prisoners became submissive
  • Even when they were not being watched they conformed to their roles
  • 5 prisoners had had emotional breakdowns by day 5
  • The study was terminated after 6 days because it got so bad
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22
Q

What did Zimbardo conclude?

A
  • Both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles

- It may be affected by personality

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23
Q

Give three evaluation points for Zimbardo

A
  • Ethics- Zimbardo’s study can be seen as unethical because the participants suffered psychological harm and the study had to be terminated early. Zimbardo also didn’t gain informed consent. However, he did meet the Stanford University ethical standards
  • Lacks historical validity- A study carried out by Reicher and Haslam in 2006 found the guards unable to identify with their roles and the prisoners worked collectively to challenge the authority
  • Real life applications- In Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner camp the same kind of aggression was shown to the prisoners by the guards. However, in this case, dispositional factors (to do with the individual) were blamed rather than situational
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24
Q

What did Milgram investigate?

A

Obedience to authority

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25
Q

Outline Milgram’s procedure

A
  • 40 male voluntary participants
  • Held at Yale University
  • Experimenter, confederate (learner) and naive participant (teacher)
  • Participant had to administer electric shocks to the learner every time they got a word pair wrong
  • The shocks went up from 15-450V
  • Experimenter prompted them to continue
  • No sound after 300V
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26
Q

What did Milgram find?

A
  • Signs of extreme tension in most participants
  • All participants went up to 300V
  • 14 defied the experimenter at this point
  • 25 (65%) obeyed to the end and gave 450V
27
Q

What did Milgram conclude?

A

-People will obey an authority figure to an extreme extent (even when people told to inflict unnecessary pain)

28
Q

State the situational factors affecting obedience

A
  • Proximity
  • Location
  • Uniform
29
Q

How does proximity affect obedience?

A
  • When the teacher and learner were in the same room obedience dropped to 40%
  • When the experimenter have instructions over the phone obedience dropped to 21%
30
Q

How does location affect obedience?

A

When the experiment was moved to a run-down office obedience fell slightly to 48%

31
Q

How does uniform affect obedience?

A

Bushman carried out a study where the researcher wore a police-style uniform, dressed as a business-executive or beggar and had them give people an order. People obeyed most (72%) when the researcher was in uniform

32
Q

Give three evaluation points for Milgram’s study

A
  • Ethical issues - Milgram received criticism because he deceived his participants and was unable to get informed consent. The prods from the experimenter made it more difficult for some participants to withdraw
  • Low internal validity- The experimenter remained cool and distant while the learners were crying out. This may have led some participants to doubt the experiment. Perry (2012) discovered many of Milgram’s participants were doubtful at the time and were more likely to disobey the experimenter
  • High in historical validity- Blass carried out a meta-analysis of Milgram’s obedience studies 1961-85 and found they all found the same levels of obedience. Burger (2009) found levels of obedience almost identical to Milgram’s original ones
33
Q

What is the agentic state?

A

The agentic state is when someone shifts (agentic shift) from an autonomous state where they see themselves as responsible for their actions to an agentic state where they see themselves as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes

34
Q

Why may someone shift into an agentic state?

A

-To maintain a positive self-image (if it is no longer their responsibility, it no longer reflects their self-image)

35
Q

Give two evaluation points for agentic state

A

-Not consistent with real life obedience- Milgram claimed people shift back and forth from an autonomous to agentic state but Lifton (1986) found German doctors in Auschwitz changed permanently from normal medical professionals to individuals capable of torture

36
Q

What is the legitimacy of authority?

A
  • In order for someone to shift into the agentic state, they have to perceive the person as a legitimate authority (someone who is in a position of social control)
  • In Milgram’s study the reassurance from the experimenter pushed them to continue out of trust and commitment
  • Legitimacy may also be linked to location as obedience dropped when the study was moved to a run-down office
37
Q

Evaluate legitimacy of authority theory

A

Research support- Tarnow (2000) tested power of authority by studying aviation accidents. He found excessive dependence on the captain’s authority and expertise even when the captain took a risky approach

38
Q

What is the authoritarian personality?

A

The authoritarian personality is a distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority

39
Q

Who devised the F scale?

A

Adorno et al

40
Q

What is the F Scale?

A
  • Measures components that makeup the Authoritarian personality
  • It contained a set of statements such as ‘rules are there for people to follow’
  • Agreeing would indicate an Authoritarian personality
41
Q

What are Authoritarian people like?

A
  • Rigid thinkers who followed rules

- People who scored high tended to be raised with an authoritarian parenting style

42
Q

Who investigated right-wing authoritarianism?

A

Robert Altemeyer

43
Q

What are the three personality variables for right-wing authoritarianism?

A

-Conventionalism (adherence to conventional norms)
-Authoritarian aggression (anger at people who violate these norms)
-Authoritarian submission (uncritical submission)
There was a significant correlation found between RWA scores and the level of shocks participants administered

44
Q

What did Elms and Milgram investigate?

A

If obedience was dispositional

45
Q

Outline Elms and Milgram’s procedure

A
  • Follow up study using participants from Milgram’s original study (20 obedient and 20 defiant participants)
  • They were asked questions to measure the California F Scale which determined levels of authoritarianism
46
Q

What did Elms and Milgram find?

A
  • Little difference was found between participants in terms of personality
  • Correlation between obedience and F-scale
  • The obedient participants tested higher on the F-scale (were more authoritarian) and reported being less close to their fathers
47
Q

Give three evaluation points for the authoritarian personality

A
  • Research support- Dambrun and Vatine created a virtual environment that resembled Milgram’s experiment. The learner was filmed and displayed. The participants were told the shocks weren’t real but most responded as if they were. P’s with high RWA scores obeyed the most
  • Family relationships- growing up in a strict family is associated with an authoritarian personality therefore most of the participants in Milgram’s study should have had strict upbringings but they reported having a good relationship

Role of education- Middendorp and Meloen found less educated people were more authoritarian and Milgram found people with lower education were more obedient so lack of education = obedience (not an authoritarian personality)

48
Q

What is locus of control?

A

People differ in their beliefs about whether the outcomes of their actions are dependent on what they do (internal locus of control) or on events outside their personal control (external)

49
Q

What is an internal locus of control?

A

A person with an internal locus of control believes they are always responsible for their behaviour. Therefore they are more likely to seek more information before following orders
People with internal locus of control have greater self-confidence and self-belief so are more likely to be leaders/ feel more confident to challenge authority

50
Q

What is an external locus of control?

A

A person with an external locus of control sees their life as being controlled by luck, chance or by others- especially those with more power. Therefore, they are more likely to obey an authority figure.
This may relate to learned helplessness, a behaviour in which a person puts up with endless discomfort or distress because they feel unable to stop it

51
Q

Name three evaluation points for locus of control

A
  • Atgis used a meta-analysis to investigate locus of control and conformity and found that those with an internal locus of control were less likely to conform
  • Holland showed that internal locus people showed greater resistance to authority in a replication of Milgram’s 1963 study
  • However Twenge et al found that external locus people have increased in number over time but resistance to authority has also increased which sheds some doubt on the concept
52
Q

What is minority influence?

A

When a strong minority or an individual can sway public opinion and change previously held attitudes

53
Q

How does consistency help minority influence?

A

For a minority to effect change, it has to be consistent in its message between the people in the group and over time

54
Q

How does commitment help minority influence?

A

People who show commitment to a cause through strong actions and personal suffering are more likely to be believed

55
Q

How does flexibility help minority influence?

A

Minorities who are consistent but inflexible are less persuasive. Rigidly sticking to the same arguments (being dogmatic) is unappealing, and a degree of flexibility is a more successful style

56
Q

What was the aim of Moscovici’s study?

A

To examine the effect of a consistent minority on the majority using an unambiguous task

57
Q

Outline Moscovici’s procedure

A
  • Groups of 4 naive participants and two confederates
  • Asked to estimate the colour of 36 slides
  • All slides were blue in varying brightnesses
  • In the consistent condition, the two confederates called the slides green on all the trials
  • In the inconsistent condition, the minority varied the consistency of their response
58
Q

What did Moscovici find?

A
  • The naive participants agreed that blue was green on around 8% of the trials
  • 32% said the slides were green at least once in the consistent condition
  • In the inconsistent condition, only 1.25% gave green responses compared to the control group
59
Q

What did Moscovici conclude?

A
  • These results are small changes but are significant

- Show that a minority can sway the majority even when absent as long as consistency is maintained

60
Q

Give three evaluation points for minority influence

A
  • Strength of dissent in the form of minority opinion is that it opens our minds. Van Dyne and Saavedra found that groups made better decisions when a dissenting minority was present
  • A problem with minority influence is that convincing people dissenting minorities are valuable remains difficult. Nemeth argues majority viewpoints persist because a minority viewpoint is often belittled and dissenters are marginalised
  • Research shows there is a ‘tipping point’ where the number of people holding a minority position is sufficient to change opinion. Xie et al found 10% of committed opinion holders was necessary to ‘tip’ a majority into accepting the minority position
61
Q

How does social change occur through minority influence (5 steps)?

A
  1. Drawing attention to an issue
  2. Cognitive conflict
  3. Consistency of position
  4. The augmentation principle- a minority that appears to suffer for their views are taken more seriously
  5. The snowball effect- minority influence spreads to more people until it reaches a tipping point where it leads to wide-scale social change
62
Q

What are social norms interventions?

A
  • Correcting misperceptions between the perceived and actual norm
  • The aim of these strategies is to communicate to the target population the actual norm concerning that behaviour
63
Q

Give three evaluation points for social influence processes in social change

A
  1. Social change through minority influence may be very gradual- there is a strong tendency for human beings to conform to the majority so groups are more likely to maintain the status quo
  2. Being perceived as ‘deviant’- The potential for minorities to influence social change is often limited because they are seen as deviant in the eyes of the majority. This makes members of the majority less likely to align themselves with the minority because they do not want to be seen as deviant themselves
  3. Overcoming the deviant majority problem- To avoid the deviant problem Marx and Engels who wrote the Communist Manifesto made it clear that they had no separate interests from the majority and emphasised that the struggle was elsewhere i.e. the bourgeoisie

Psychology A Level (11 decks)

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