Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Social Influence
- Conformity
- a change in a person's behaviour as a result of pressure from an individual or group of people
- Compliance
- agreeing with majority to fit in (gain social approval)
- Internalisation
- accepting the group norm (changing public & private opinion)
- Indentification
- adjusting opinion to fit in (agreeing with desirable people)
- Explanations for Conformity
- Normative Social Infuence
- following the 'norm' (to gain social approval)
- Informational Social Influence
- agreeing with majority (desire to be right / liked)
- Asch (1951)
- social pressure affecting conformity
- 123 American male undergraduates
- 1 participants vs. 6-8 confederates
- 1 standard line vs. 3 comparison lines
- 32% conformed to incorrect answer
- 75% conformed at least once
- 25% didn't conform
- Variations
- Group Size
- adding more confederates
- Unaminmity
- adding confederate who gave correct answer ( disagreed with majority, reduced conformity)
- Task Difficulty
- increased conformity (questioned own ability, look to others for guidance when unclear)
- Evaluation (AO3)
- - biased sample (gender, cultural)
- - artificial task / situation (no real life application, demand characteristics)
- - application to modern society (cannot be generalised to now)
- - ethical issues (deception etc.)
- Zimbardo (1960)
- Stanford prison experiment
- conformity to social roles
- male volunteers
- random allocation (guard vs. prisoner)
- strictly divided roles (uniforms etc.)
- prisoners rebelled after 2 days
- prisoners became depressed /anxious (1 released after 1st day, 2 on 4th)
- social roles change behaviour / attitudes
- people readily conform to social roles (especially stereotypes)
- Evaluation (AO3)
- - ethical issues (humiliation / distress, lack of fully informed consent etc.)
- + increased internal validity (controlled variables, prison environment)
- - lack of realism (stereotypes)
- - lack of research support (other findings)
- Milgram (1963)
- obeying commands of authority figure (despite negative consequences)
- 40 male volunteers (university students)
- teacher (participant) learner (actor)
- teacher reads of pairs of words, learner asked to recall correctly (if incorrect, shocks given)
- participants unaware of fake shocks
- "it's essential that you continue" - experimenter (authority figure)
- 65% continued to 450 volts
- people will obey authority even when asked to perform in an inhumane way
- Variations
- Proximity (of participant)
- e.g. teacher & learner in same room (40%)
- Location
- e.g. experimenter leaves room & gives orders over the phone (20%)
- Uniform
- e.g. experimenter played by member of public (20%)
- Evaluation (AO3)
- - ethical issues (deception, incorrect informed consent, no right to withdraw etc.)
- - lacks ecological validity (lab experiment)
- - biased sample (gender, cultural, volunteer, demand characteristics)
- Locus of Control
- Internal LOC
- belief that life is determined by own behaviour, decisions & efforts (takes responsibility, less likely to rely on others)
- External LOC
- belief that life is determined by fate, luck & external factors (more likely to rely on others)
- a person's perception of personal control over their own behaviours (explanation of personality)
- Minority Influence
- minority of people persuade others to adopt their opinions, attitudes / behaviours
- Process of Change
- snowball effect, increasing numbers who convert
- Consistency
- committed to view, allows other people to re think their views
- Synchronic = within the group
- Diachronic = over time
- Commitment
- extreme ways, willing to risk life, draws attention
- Flexability
- consistency may be interpreted negatively (rigid, prepared to remain open, compromising & reasonable)
- Social Change
- society adopts a new way of behaving which becomes widely accepted as the "norm"
- bring significant changes to society (usually results in conflict)
- Draw Attention to Issue
- different view causes conflcit
- The Role of Conflict
- Consistency
- taken more seriously
- The Augmentation Principle
- willing to take consequences, risks attract media attention
- Social-Psychological Factors of Obedience
- Agentic State
- no responsibility for actions (acting on behalf of authoritative figure)
- Autonomous State
- responsibility for actions (opposite to agentic)
- Agentic Shift
- obeying authority (autonomous - agentic)
- Moral Strain
- guilt / anxiety for wrongful behaviour (powerless to disobey authority figure)
- Binding Factors
- ignoring responsibility (reduces moral strain)
- Legitimacy of Authority
- society structured in hierarchy
- allows society to function smoothly
- we are taught to accept the authority from a young age
- The Authoritarian Personality
- conventional / inflexible views e.g. gender, sexuality, race etc.
- submissive to those with higher social status, dismissive of inferiors
- belief that we need stronger leaders to enforce traditional views
- F-Scale
- Adorno (1950)