FULL TOPIC SOCIAL INFLUENCE-
https://www.illuminatepublishing.com/product-category/psychology
Variables affecting conformity- Asch:
123 male Americans sat last in group of 6-8 Lab experiment so high control over
confederates. variables, can be replicated
Study was done to investigate conformity and Supporting from Lucas et al, asked pps
majority influences, as pp’s and confederates to solve easy and hard maths problems,
were presented with 3 comparison lines and 1 given wrong answers from three other
standard line students. Pp’s conformed to the wrong
Asked to state which one of the three lines was answers, when maths problems were
the same length as the stimulus line, harder.
confederates would give deliberate incorrect However lab experiment lacks
answer 12/18 trials. ecological validity, as it does not
Asch observed how the participants would represent real life scenarios-
conform to avoid social rejection from the there is no consequences so
majority they would naturally conform
75% conformed at least once more
PPs gave wrong answers 36.8% of the time. Demand characteristics,
Compared to 1% control group participants realised the aim of
the study so gave false answers
Group size- conformity increased up until and lied, reducing validity of the
certain extent study
Conformity rose by 30% when there were more The study also lacks
than 3 confederates generalisability as it is bias and
Unanimity- more likely to conform when group lacks population validity; all pp’s
is unanimous, when joined by confederate who were American men so it does
gave the correct answer. Conformity fell from not account for what women
m 32% to 5.5% might have answered. US is
Task difficulty- conformity increases, Asch individualistic, don’t worry
altered by making lines more of a similar about the social group so
length, when task is difficult we look to our doesn’t apply to people from
pairs other cultures, such as
ISI collectivists.
Ethics: told it was a visual study
so were deceived, even though
Asch did mention after the
study he interviewed and
informed them he had to do so
to better the validity of his
study
Definitions ‘Types of Conformity’: (Can be used as a multiple choice question)
Compliance: public and private beliefs and attitude do not match; people conform to majority in
public, to avoid social rejection.
Identification- Publically change our opinions to match a role model or person of desire that we
value, but we don’t privately agree with what they stand for
ZARA SOCIAL INFUENCE NOTES A/A* notes.
, FULL TOPIC SOCIAL INFLUENCE-
https://www.illuminatepublishing.com/product-category/psychology
Internalisation- Change views both publically and privately, permanent explanation of conformity as
attitudes become part of the way a person thinks and changes in opinion occur even in absence of
group members
Explanations for conformity- ISI and NSI
Informative Social Influence- when you conform Research support:
to those you believe is correct, as they seem to
have superior knowledge to you.
Social pressure is low, high uncertainty (Lucas- as tasks became ambiguous; they didn’t
Internalisation want to be wrong, so were reliant on peers)
Normative Social Influence- when you conform (Asch: when pp’s wrote down their answer
to fit to feel accepted by the group to avoid instead conformity fell to 12.5%)
social rejection
Social pressure is high However, Lucas study shows that NSI and ISI
Compliance are hard to distinguish between the two, as
Lucas study shows ISI but also NSI
Hard to separate, and both probably operate
together in real life scenarios
Conformity to social roles:
Zimbardo wanted to investigate if prison High ecological validity, participants
guards behaved brutally because of their also had a lack of awareness of the
personality od conformity to their social role. study, and prisoners were arrested in
21 psychologically fit male pp’s, randomly their homes and guards were given
assigned to role of prisoner or guard uniform and batons. No methodological
Given uniforms, clubs, handcuffs shades- errors?
created loss of identity so they were more Unethical- pp’s were
likely to conform (de-individuation) psychologically harmed eg
Prisoners given loose smocks, caps, and ID crying, seizures and had a lack
number of informed consent, his
girlfriend had to stop it on the
Prisoners rebelled, hunger strikes, shouted and 6th day
swore Investigator bias- Zimbardo
Prisoners retaliated with fire extinguishers and took part in the study reducing
harassed prisoners, due to their power validity
Study ended after 6, opposed to 14 Individual differences- only 1/3
of the officers showed brutality,
the rest were nicer towards the
prisoners
ZARA SOCIAL INFUENCE NOTES A/A* notes.
https://www.illuminatepublishing.com/product-category/psychology
Variables affecting conformity- Asch:
123 male Americans sat last in group of 6-8 Lab experiment so high control over
confederates. variables, can be replicated
Study was done to investigate conformity and Supporting from Lucas et al, asked pps
majority influences, as pp’s and confederates to solve easy and hard maths problems,
were presented with 3 comparison lines and 1 given wrong answers from three other
standard line students. Pp’s conformed to the wrong
Asked to state which one of the three lines was answers, when maths problems were
the same length as the stimulus line, harder.
confederates would give deliberate incorrect However lab experiment lacks
answer 12/18 trials. ecological validity, as it does not
Asch observed how the participants would represent real life scenarios-
conform to avoid social rejection from the there is no consequences so
majority they would naturally conform
75% conformed at least once more
PPs gave wrong answers 36.8% of the time. Demand characteristics,
Compared to 1% control group participants realised the aim of
the study so gave false answers
Group size- conformity increased up until and lied, reducing validity of the
certain extent study
Conformity rose by 30% when there were more The study also lacks
than 3 confederates generalisability as it is bias and
Unanimity- more likely to conform when group lacks population validity; all pp’s
is unanimous, when joined by confederate who were American men so it does
gave the correct answer. Conformity fell from not account for what women
m 32% to 5.5% might have answered. US is
Task difficulty- conformity increases, Asch individualistic, don’t worry
altered by making lines more of a similar about the social group so
length, when task is difficult we look to our doesn’t apply to people from
pairs other cultures, such as
ISI collectivists.
Ethics: told it was a visual study
so were deceived, even though
Asch did mention after the
study he interviewed and
informed them he had to do so
to better the validity of his
study
Definitions ‘Types of Conformity’: (Can be used as a multiple choice question)
Compliance: public and private beliefs and attitude do not match; people conform to majority in
public, to avoid social rejection.
Identification- Publically change our opinions to match a role model or person of desire that we
value, but we don’t privately agree with what they stand for
ZARA SOCIAL INFUENCE NOTES A/A* notes.
, FULL TOPIC SOCIAL INFLUENCE-
https://www.illuminatepublishing.com/product-category/psychology
Internalisation- Change views both publically and privately, permanent explanation of conformity as
attitudes become part of the way a person thinks and changes in opinion occur even in absence of
group members
Explanations for conformity- ISI and NSI
Informative Social Influence- when you conform Research support:
to those you believe is correct, as they seem to
have superior knowledge to you.
Social pressure is low, high uncertainty (Lucas- as tasks became ambiguous; they didn’t
Internalisation want to be wrong, so were reliant on peers)
Normative Social Influence- when you conform (Asch: when pp’s wrote down their answer
to fit to feel accepted by the group to avoid instead conformity fell to 12.5%)
social rejection
Social pressure is high However, Lucas study shows that NSI and ISI
Compliance are hard to distinguish between the two, as
Lucas study shows ISI but also NSI
Hard to separate, and both probably operate
together in real life scenarios
Conformity to social roles:
Zimbardo wanted to investigate if prison High ecological validity, participants
guards behaved brutally because of their also had a lack of awareness of the
personality od conformity to their social role. study, and prisoners were arrested in
21 psychologically fit male pp’s, randomly their homes and guards were given
assigned to role of prisoner or guard uniform and batons. No methodological
Given uniforms, clubs, handcuffs shades- errors?
created loss of identity so they were more Unethical- pp’s were
likely to conform (de-individuation) psychologically harmed eg
Prisoners given loose smocks, caps, and ID crying, seizures and had a lack
number of informed consent, his
girlfriend had to stop it on the
Prisoners rebelled, hunger strikes, shouted and 6th day
swore Investigator bias- Zimbardo
Prisoners retaliated with fire extinguishers and took part in the study reducing
harassed prisoners, due to their power validity
Study ended after 6, opposed to 14 Individual differences- only 1/3
of the officers showed brutality,
the rest were nicer towards the
prisoners
ZARA SOCIAL INFUENCE NOTES A/A* notes.
