Social Influence

Types of Conformity
Kelman suggested there were different types of conformity
1) conforms both publicly and privately
2)conforms publicly but not privately (change behaviours not attitudes)

Types of Conformity
Compliance- Go along with others publicly, but privately have not changed personal opinions. Occurs when an individual conforms to the behaviours of the majority but not the attitudes.
It involves public conformity which usually stops when group pressure is gone.

Asch (1951)- Conformity in an unambiguous situation
Aim: Whether people could be influenced by other people's opinions to give an answer they knew to be wrong. In this way it would be possible to see if people were conforming.

Asch (1951)- Conformity in an unambiguous situation
Method- Participants ended up in 37%/32% of trials conforming and also giving the wrong answer. Main reason for doing this was to avoid was to avoid disapproval of group, even if they knew the answer was wrong.

Asch (1951)- Conformity in an unambiguous situation
Conclusions- The only reason for this level of conformity was hearing the incorrect was hearing the incorrect answers previously given. Reason for giving wrong answer- not going against group, wanted to fit in. Evidence of normative social influence

Factors Affecting Conformity
-Size of the group
-Task difficulty
-Unanimity

Factors Affecting Conformity
Task Difficulty
Greater conformity rates are seen when the task difficulty increases as the answer becomes less obvious. Asch increased the task difficulty by making the comparison lines more similar to each other and found this lead to an increase in conformity levels.

Explanations of Social Influence
Informational Social Influence (ISI)
We conform because we genuinely want others to be right and we want to be right in our attitudes and behaviours. Conformity the individual is showing: Internalisation. this is where you change your attitudes and behaviours in both public and private. ISI is more likely to when the situation is ambiguous, the situation is a crisis or we believe others to be experts.

Explanations of Social Influence
Evaluation- ISI
+ In Asch's variation, where he made the task more difficult, by making the difference between the lines smaller, conformity levels rose. This therefore supports ISI as an explanation of conformity because it shows when people feel unsure about an answer they look to the majority because they believe others to be experts and more likely to know what to do.

Research on institutional aggression: Zimbardo (1973)
Aim- To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in role play of prison life.
To test whether the prison violence they saw was due to the individual personalities of the guards and prisoners, or to do with the conditions of the prison environment

Research on institutional aggression: Zimbardo (1973)
Description- In 2 days prisoners rebelled, the rebellion was beaten down with fire extinguishers, guards then became harsh, put prisoners in a small room (solitary), harassed prisoners constantly. Some prisoners suffered psychological breakdowns. Experiment ended 8 days early, after only 6 days.

Zimbardo (1973)
Evaluation
- Can be criticised for lacking population validity. This is because the study only used American men, who were also volunteers and students. This is bad because the findings cannot be generalised to other people e.g. women and non-Americans

What is Obedience?
When somebody follows an order from a figure perceived to be in authority.