AQA Psychology: Social Influence Exam Questions and Answers

AQA Psychology: Social Influence Exam Questions and Answers Name and define the 3 types of Confomity - Answer-COMPLIANCE - change behaviour to fit in, don't agree in private but go along in public - last as long as group is present - linked to Normative social influence IDENTIFICATION - adjust because membership is desirable, conforming to behaviour of role model - private and public acceptance - temporary INTERNALISATION - change in public and private views - most permanent form as it can continue without presence of group - linked to Informational social influencde Outline how Asch studied conformity - Answer-123 male students told they were taking part in visual perception task. Lab setting. 6 confederate and 1 real participant sitting second to last. Confederate gave wrong answer on critical trials What did Asch find in his study of conformity? - Answer-On 37% of critical trials the participant also gave the wrong answer - compared to error rare in 0.7% in control Majority who gave wrong answer indicated they didn't want to stand out Majority can influence minority even in unambiguous situations Strength of Asch's study of conformity - Answer-Lab study means high control of variables - number of participants and where they sat... show cause and effect and be confident that IV influenced the DV 4 weaknesses of Asch's study of conformity - Answer-1) Lab study means low ecological validity - task was artificial and not like every day conformity... not generalised to conformity in real like. Only assessed conformity in strangers, been found even greater among friends 2) Biased sample - male... lacks population validity and may not represent conformity in females 3) Lacks historical validity - 1950's America was more conformist - Perrin and Spencer = replication using engineering students in UK and found 1/396 trials did a student conform - cultural change and people are possibly less conformist today... not reflective of conformity in today's society and Asch's study is a child of its time 4) Ethical issues - didn't provide fully informed consent and misled about key aspects of procedures and place in difficult and embarrassing position... psychological harm 3 variables affecting conformity and research support - Answer-UNANIMITY - conformity rates increase when majority influence is unanimous - ASCH - one confederate who went against others - dropped from 37% to 5.5%. If rebel went against others and real answer still dropped to 9% TASK DIFFICULTY - greater conformity rates when task difficulty increases as right answer is less obvious so look for guidance - ASCH - increased task difficulty but making comparison lines close in length and found more likely to conform to wrong answer GROUP SIZE - conformity rates increase as size of group increases up to a point - ASCH - altered group size by having different numbers of confederates - 3 conformity increased but addition of further confederates made little difference Normative social influence as an EXPLANATION for conformity + evaluation - Answer- based on desire to be liked, acceptance and belonging to a group - rewarding and have the power to punish others - Explain compliance as may conform on surface but privately maintain own views ASCH - interviewed after experiment, participants who conformed said they knew the answer they gave was wrong but thought they would have looked stupid... shows conforming to be accepted GARANDEAU & CILLESSEN - people who do not have many close friendships tended to be manipulated more easily by bullies to be accepted Informational social influence as an EXPLANATION for conformity + evaluation - Answer-based on desire to be right, conform because do not know what to so but want to be correct. Believe majority is likely to know more and give info about how to behave - involves internalisation