AQA Psychology: Social Influence Exam Question and Answers Already Passed

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