SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Asch -
- 123 male volunteers
- Lab experiment
- Believed it was on visual deception
- Groups of 7 or 9
- Asked to match a stimulus line to a comparison line
- Real participants always gave their answer last or second to last - so they were
exposed to all the answers from confederates before making their decision.
- Confederates gave same wrong answer in 12/18
- Found -
- Overall conformity rate was 37% compared to 0.04% control group
- 5% conformed to all 12 wrong answers
- 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer
- Concluded that people are affected by majority decisions - normative social
influence, conformed publicly even though they knew the right answer privately.
- A03- lab experiment. Allowed to establish cause and effect relationships - made sure
IV (how many confederates gave wrong answers in the trials) had an effect on the
DV (whether the participants would conform to the majority decision or not). decided
whether conformity was affected or not which meant that he could control all
extraneous variables such as the presence of other dissenters - high internal validity.
- A03- however, lacks external validity - bears little resemblance to everyday life where
we are usually amongst friends and family. People are less likely to conform over
important issues around strangers compared to being required to conform around
people they are familiar with, such as friends and family. This shows that his findings
may have been more valid if he carried out the experiment on a topic the ppts would
have found important and more realistic to a situation that they may have had to deal
with everyday.
- A03 - ethical issues - deceived them by telling them it was on visual perception
meaning they didn't gain their full informed consent. Could deal with this by allowing
them to withdraw any of their information at the end of the study when they find out
what the real aim was after being debriefed. PFH - psychologically embarrassed by
getting the wrong answer in front of a big group of people
Explanations of conformity -
A01 - One explanation for conformity is normative social influence. Need to be accepted and
like they belong because it is rewarding. They will conform publicly but their private opinions
will not be altered, leading to the shallowest type of conformity known as compliance.
A03- A study to support NSI is Asch - 37% of participants went along with a clearly wrong
answer when comparing line lengths in groups of 7 or 9. This fear of disapproval led to them
conforming.
A01 - A second explanation is informational social influence. Individuals in a new social
situation are unsure on what to say or how to act so they turn to others to copy what they are
doing. Go along with others because they believe they know more than us, we are driven by
, the need to be right. Publicly and privately changed - deepest level of conformity,
internalisation.
A03- A study to support ISI is Jenness. Ppts were asked to estimate the number of
jellybeans a jar in a group and then were asked for an individual estimate.Found that their
individual estimate moved towards the group - others know more - need to be right.
A03 - issue of free will - overly deterministic - shown by the explanation of individual
differences and locus of control. Perrin and Spencer used a sample of engineering students
when carrying out an experiment similar to Aschs. They will be less likely to conform and
therefore less uncertain when presented with an unclear task - showing that ppts have
different confidence levels in their ability which can influence whether they conform to the
group or not. Secondly, Rotter argued some individuals have an internal locus of control.
They believe they are in control of the outcomes of the situations compared to external LOC
believe in fate so have less control. Internals will conform less, externals will conform as they
believe the outcome will be the same no matter what they do.
A03 - Gender bias. Santee and Jackson - found that females are more sensitive towards
others and therefore conform to keep a state of peace. Men deviate from the group to
enhance their self image . beta biased.
A03- dual processing dependency model. Believe they happen at the same time, rarely
conform just due to ISI reasons or just due to NSI reasons. E.g new job - want to fit in and
belong because it is rewarding but also unsure on what to do so turn to others as you
believe they know more and adopt their actions as your own.
Variables affecting conformity -
ALWAYS start point off with “in a study asking ppts to match a stimulus line to one of
three comparison lines…”
Group size- Asch gradually increased the number of confederates in the experiment who
deliberately gave the wrong answer
Findings - when just one confed gave the wrong answer - conformity was like more than
5%. 3 confeds - 31.8%. More made little difference after this point.
Concluded- no need for more than three confederates to influence the ppt.
Unanimity - Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates.
Sometimes wrong, sometimes right.
Findings - level of conformity dropped to 25% but as low as 5.5%
Concluded- presence of dissenter encouraged the ppt to be more independent and
confident in their own answer.
Task difficulty- made matching more difficult - made them more similar in length.
Findings - conformity increased - unsure situation.
Concluded- ISI plays a greater role when uncertain - looked to others and assumed they
were correct in fear of being wrong.
Zimardo -
Procedure -
- 21 male uni students. -
- Stanford prison basement converted into a mock prison.
- paid $15 day
Asch -
- 123 male volunteers
- Lab experiment
- Believed it was on visual deception
- Groups of 7 or 9
- Asked to match a stimulus line to a comparison line
- Real participants always gave their answer last or second to last - so they were
exposed to all the answers from confederates before making their decision.
- Confederates gave same wrong answer in 12/18
- Found -
- Overall conformity rate was 37% compared to 0.04% control group
- 5% conformed to all 12 wrong answers
- 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer
- Concluded that people are affected by majority decisions - normative social
influence, conformed publicly even though they knew the right answer privately.
- A03- lab experiment. Allowed to establish cause and effect relationships - made sure
IV (how many confederates gave wrong answers in the trials) had an effect on the
DV (whether the participants would conform to the majority decision or not). decided
whether conformity was affected or not which meant that he could control all
extraneous variables such as the presence of other dissenters - high internal validity.
- A03- however, lacks external validity - bears little resemblance to everyday life where
we are usually amongst friends and family. People are less likely to conform over
important issues around strangers compared to being required to conform around
people they are familiar with, such as friends and family. This shows that his findings
may have been more valid if he carried out the experiment on a topic the ppts would
have found important and more realistic to a situation that they may have had to deal
with everyday.
- A03 - ethical issues - deceived them by telling them it was on visual perception
meaning they didn't gain their full informed consent. Could deal with this by allowing
them to withdraw any of their information at the end of the study when they find out
what the real aim was after being debriefed. PFH - psychologically embarrassed by
getting the wrong answer in front of a big group of people
Explanations of conformity -
A01 - One explanation for conformity is normative social influence. Need to be accepted and
like they belong because it is rewarding. They will conform publicly but their private opinions
will not be altered, leading to the shallowest type of conformity known as compliance.
A03- A study to support NSI is Asch - 37% of participants went along with a clearly wrong
answer when comparing line lengths in groups of 7 or 9. This fear of disapproval led to them
conforming.
A01 - A second explanation is informational social influence. Individuals in a new social
situation are unsure on what to say or how to act so they turn to others to copy what they are
doing. Go along with others because they believe they know more than us, we are driven by
, the need to be right. Publicly and privately changed - deepest level of conformity,
internalisation.
A03- A study to support ISI is Jenness. Ppts were asked to estimate the number of
jellybeans a jar in a group and then were asked for an individual estimate.Found that their
individual estimate moved towards the group - others know more - need to be right.
A03 - issue of free will - overly deterministic - shown by the explanation of individual
differences and locus of control. Perrin and Spencer used a sample of engineering students
when carrying out an experiment similar to Aschs. They will be less likely to conform and
therefore less uncertain when presented with an unclear task - showing that ppts have
different confidence levels in their ability which can influence whether they conform to the
group or not. Secondly, Rotter argued some individuals have an internal locus of control.
They believe they are in control of the outcomes of the situations compared to external LOC
believe in fate so have less control. Internals will conform less, externals will conform as they
believe the outcome will be the same no matter what they do.
A03 - Gender bias. Santee and Jackson - found that females are more sensitive towards
others and therefore conform to keep a state of peace. Men deviate from the group to
enhance their self image . beta biased.
A03- dual processing dependency model. Believe they happen at the same time, rarely
conform just due to ISI reasons or just due to NSI reasons. E.g new job - want to fit in and
belong because it is rewarding but also unsure on what to do so turn to others as you
believe they know more and adopt their actions as your own.
Variables affecting conformity -
ALWAYS start point off with “in a study asking ppts to match a stimulus line to one of
three comparison lines…”
Group size- Asch gradually increased the number of confederates in the experiment who
deliberately gave the wrong answer
Findings - when just one confed gave the wrong answer - conformity was like more than
5%. 3 confeds - 31.8%. More made little difference after this point.
Concluded- no need for more than three confederates to influence the ppt.
Unanimity - Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates.
Sometimes wrong, sometimes right.
Findings - level of conformity dropped to 25% but as low as 5.5%
Concluded- presence of dissenter encouraged the ppt to be more independent and
confident in their own answer.
Task difficulty- made matching more difficult - made them more similar in length.
Findings - conformity increased - unsure situation.
Concluded- ISI plays a greater role when uncertain - looked to others and assumed they
were correct in fear of being wrong.
Zimardo -
Procedure -
- 21 male uni students. -
- Stanford prison basement converted into a mock prison.
- paid $15 day
