Social influence
,PLEASE READ BEFORE USE! Thank you for purchasing my AQA A
LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 Revision notes/Study Guide! - This was created by
sx.raa on Stuvia, and I hope this guide can be useful for you for your upcoming
exams :).
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity: when individuals change their behaviour due to real/perceived
pressure from a majority group.
Explanations: informational + normative social influence
Types: internalisation, compliance, identification
★ Informational social influence: when someone conforms as they don’t know
what to do but want to be correct - follows the majority as they assume they
know the right thing to do.
○ Leads to internalisation: individuals accept the behaviour/belief to the
extent it becomes part of their own belief system.
Permanent form of conformity, last even if the majority isn’t present, private + public
agreement
e.g. changing religion as they learn and believe it’s the right belief.
★ Normative social influence: when someone conforms to be accepted by the
group - follows the majority as they don’t want to stand out
○ Leads to compliance: individuals change their behaviour to fit in w/
the group, don’t always agree with the behaviour but go along w/ it
publicly
Temporary form of conformity, lasts only if the majority is present
e.g. changing to chopsticks in a restaurant as everyone else did
● Identification: when the individual believes in the same way as the
majority because they value the group + identify the members in it -
don’t necessarily agree with what they believe
Moderate level of conformity, some behaviours last when the majority isn’t present.
e.g. hating the colour yellow and wearing a yellow top as your friend wore it and you
value their preference
ASCH (NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE)
, ➢ Pps shown cards with a line and 3 comparison lines and asked to match +
one real pp with confederates that gave wrong answers on different trials
➢ Even when in an obvious situation, individuals can be still influenced as they
want to be accepted by others - leads to the individual complying by
publicly changing behaviour
JENNESS (INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE)
➢ Glass bottle full of beans shown to pps where they had to make a group
estimate of the amount of beans that it contained via discussions + later
interviewed individually to change their answer or keep it
➢ Many changed their answer, showing in an ambiguous situation we look to
others for guidance, leading to the individual internalising behaviours;
privately changing thoughts + publicly changing behaviour
ASCH - Normative social influence
Asch: lab experiment, investigating majority influence, 123 male American pps
➢ Pps sat in a row full of confederates thinking they were other pps, shown a
card with a line on it and another card with 3 comparison lines A, B, C
➢ Had to match A, B, or C line to the original line with the real pp being one of
the last to respond
➢ Confederates gave incorrect answers after the third trial
Found 37% pps conformed and gave incorrect answers - compared to control
condition w/o incorrect answers, 1% incorrect answers
Variables that influence conformity:
➔ Group size: changing no. of confederates - 1 - 15 confederates
◆ % of conformity rose to 37.8% and after it stayed the same -
conformity is highest w/ 3 confederates
➔ Unanimity: how the presence of a non-conforming person influenced
conformity of other pps, w/ correct answers given on some trials
◆ Conformity reduced by ¼ from 37.8% - shows if people have support
for their belief, they’re less likely to conform
➔ Task difficulty: making the task more difficult
◆ Conformity increased - when the task becomes ambiguous, we look to
others for guidance (informational social influence - internalisation)
EVALUATION
, RELIABLE: Procedure was standardised, highly controlled, same
instructions + setting for each pp
RESEARCH (Perrin + Spencer): repeated the study in Britain + found pps
only conformed less than 1% in trials [However, pps were educated students
that can have confidence, explaining why they didn’t conform], Asch’s study
occurred during McCarthyism (anti-communism, ppl afraid to be different),
lacks temporal validity
MUNDANE REALISM: Task was unrealistic, lacks ecological validity,
cannot be applied to situations of compliance + conformity with real
consequences
DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS: Lack of realism can lead pps to respond to
the aim (demand characteristics), lacking internal validity as conformity may
not have been measured
Obedience
MILGRAM
Milgram: aimed to see how far Americans would go when an authority figure told
them to administer electric shocks to another person.
Sample: 40 American men, volunteer sample, from Connecticut of varying
occupations aged 20-50
➢ Teacher reads out a list of word pairs, followed by one word w/ a multiple
choice of 4 words. The learner presses a button to answer, which flashes a
light in the teacher’s room
○ For every correct answer, there would be 3 incorrect answers after.
➢ If an answer is incorrect or no response is given, a shock is given
➢ Learner was always a confederate + the teacher was always the
participant
15V - 450V
The experiment was made realistic through the participant seeing the learner get a
shock of 45V.
The experimenter would give statements like ‘please continue’ when the teacher
(pp) looks for advice.
Found that 100% of pps went up to 300V, 65% went up to 450V (highest voltage
amount) + 35% were defiant.
Participants were sweating, stuttering, groaning, digging their fingernails in their
flesh .etc - experienced lots of tension
Some had uncontrollable seizures.
,PLEASE READ BEFORE USE! Thank you for purchasing my AQA A
LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 Revision notes/Study Guide! - This was created by
sx.raa on Stuvia, and I hope this guide can be useful for you for your upcoming
exams :).
Conformity
Conformity
Conformity: when individuals change their behaviour due to real/perceived
pressure from a majority group.
Explanations: informational + normative social influence
Types: internalisation, compliance, identification
★ Informational social influence: when someone conforms as they don’t know
what to do but want to be correct - follows the majority as they assume they
know the right thing to do.
○ Leads to internalisation: individuals accept the behaviour/belief to the
extent it becomes part of their own belief system.
Permanent form of conformity, last even if the majority isn’t present, private + public
agreement
e.g. changing religion as they learn and believe it’s the right belief.
★ Normative social influence: when someone conforms to be accepted by the
group - follows the majority as they don’t want to stand out
○ Leads to compliance: individuals change their behaviour to fit in w/
the group, don’t always agree with the behaviour but go along w/ it
publicly
Temporary form of conformity, lasts only if the majority is present
e.g. changing to chopsticks in a restaurant as everyone else did
● Identification: when the individual believes in the same way as the
majority because they value the group + identify the members in it -
don’t necessarily agree with what they believe
Moderate level of conformity, some behaviours last when the majority isn’t present.
e.g. hating the colour yellow and wearing a yellow top as your friend wore it and you
value their preference
ASCH (NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE)
, ➢ Pps shown cards with a line and 3 comparison lines and asked to match +
one real pp with confederates that gave wrong answers on different trials
➢ Even when in an obvious situation, individuals can be still influenced as they
want to be accepted by others - leads to the individual complying by
publicly changing behaviour
JENNESS (INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE)
➢ Glass bottle full of beans shown to pps where they had to make a group
estimate of the amount of beans that it contained via discussions + later
interviewed individually to change their answer or keep it
➢ Many changed their answer, showing in an ambiguous situation we look to
others for guidance, leading to the individual internalising behaviours;
privately changing thoughts + publicly changing behaviour
ASCH - Normative social influence
Asch: lab experiment, investigating majority influence, 123 male American pps
➢ Pps sat in a row full of confederates thinking they were other pps, shown a
card with a line on it and another card with 3 comparison lines A, B, C
➢ Had to match A, B, or C line to the original line with the real pp being one of
the last to respond
➢ Confederates gave incorrect answers after the third trial
Found 37% pps conformed and gave incorrect answers - compared to control
condition w/o incorrect answers, 1% incorrect answers
Variables that influence conformity:
➔ Group size: changing no. of confederates - 1 - 15 confederates
◆ % of conformity rose to 37.8% and after it stayed the same -
conformity is highest w/ 3 confederates
➔ Unanimity: how the presence of a non-conforming person influenced
conformity of other pps, w/ correct answers given on some trials
◆ Conformity reduced by ¼ from 37.8% - shows if people have support
for their belief, they’re less likely to conform
➔ Task difficulty: making the task more difficult
◆ Conformity increased - when the task becomes ambiguous, we look to
others for guidance (informational social influence - internalisation)
EVALUATION
, RELIABLE: Procedure was standardised, highly controlled, same
instructions + setting for each pp
RESEARCH (Perrin + Spencer): repeated the study in Britain + found pps
only conformed less than 1% in trials [However, pps were educated students
that can have confidence, explaining why they didn’t conform], Asch’s study
occurred during McCarthyism (anti-communism, ppl afraid to be different),
lacks temporal validity
MUNDANE REALISM: Task was unrealistic, lacks ecological validity,
cannot be applied to situations of compliance + conformity with real
consequences
DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS: Lack of realism can lead pps to respond to
the aim (demand characteristics), lacking internal validity as conformity may
not have been measured
Obedience
MILGRAM
Milgram: aimed to see how far Americans would go when an authority figure told
them to administer electric shocks to another person.
Sample: 40 American men, volunteer sample, from Connecticut of varying
occupations aged 20-50
➢ Teacher reads out a list of word pairs, followed by one word w/ a multiple
choice of 4 words. The learner presses a button to answer, which flashes a
light in the teacher’s room
○ For every correct answer, there would be 3 incorrect answers after.
➢ If an answer is incorrect or no response is given, a shock is given
➢ Learner was always a confederate + the teacher was always the
participant
15V - 450V
The experiment was made realistic through the participant seeing the learner get a
shock of 45V.
The experimenter would give statements like ‘please continue’ when the teacher
(pp) looks for advice.
Found that 100% of pps went up to 300V, 65% went up to 450V (highest voltage
amount) + 35% were defiant.
Participants were sweating, stuttering, groaning, digging their fingernails in their
flesh .etc - experienced lots of tension
Some had uncontrollable seizures.
