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Social Influence - AQA A Level
Psychology (Paper 1) WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
What is conformity, and what is it also known as? - ✔✔Conformity - when people
adopt the behaviour, attitudes or values of the majority after being exposed to their
values or behaviour.
Also known as majority influence.
What are the 3 types of conformity? - ✔✔Compliance, internalisation and identification.
Define compliance (types of conformity) - ✔✔Accepting the views of the majority, but
not really agreeing with them. As the majority influence is superficial, compliance stops
when there are no group pressures to conform to.
Define internalisation (types of conformity) - ✔✔aka. acceptance. Shows majority
influence because they believe the values of the majority. No external pressures to
conform. Personal opinion changes because the new norms are internalised.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
,2|Page
Define identification (types of conformity) - ✔✔When someone conforms to the
demands of a given social role in society, even if privately they don't agree with
everything the group stands for and there is no change to personal opinion.
e.g, teacher, policeman, politician.
What are the two main reasons why people conform? - ✔✔Normative social influence
Informational social influence
What is normative social influence? - ✔✔Majority exerts (peer) pressure on other group
members, making it difficult to deviate from the majority pov. Individual publicly
conforms to avoid rejection or to gain reward, but privately disagrees - conformity
compliance (superficial).
What is informational social influence? - ✔✔Individual conforms to group norms
because they don't know how to act and so looks to the group for guidance, as they
believe them to be experts. Usually occurs in ambiguous situations.
What are the 2 real-life examples of normative social influence? - ✔✔Smoking -
*Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)*
Conservation behaviour - *Schultz et al. (2008)*
Explain Linkenbach and Perkins' (2003) research into normative social influence. -
✔✔Used campaign aimed at 12-17 yr olds in Montana, USA. Only 10% of non-smokers
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
,3|Page
took up smoking following exposure to message saying people their age don't smoke,
compared to 17% in places where the campaign didn't run.
Explain Schultz et al's (2008) research into normative social influence. - ✔✔Gathered
data from 132 hotels and 794 hotel rooms. Guests who received a message containing
normative information about other guests ("75% of guests choose to reuse their towels
each day") reduced their need for fresh towels by 25%.
What are the 2 real-life examples of informational social influence? - ✔✔Development
of social stereotypes - *Wittenbrink and Henly (1966)*
Mass psychogenic illness - *Jones et al. (2000)*
Explain Wittenbrink and Henly's (1966) research into informational social influence. -
✔✔Found that participants exposed to negative comparison info about African-
Americans, that was said to be the beliefs of the majority, later reported more negative
beliefs about a black target individual.
Explain Jones et al's (2000) research into informational social influence. -
✔✔Documented case of mass psychogenic illness in a Tennessee school in 1998. Teacher
noticed smell in her classroom and complained of a headache, nausea, shortness of
breath, and dizziness. 80 students and 19 staff members went to A&E, complaining of
the same symptoms. No physical cause for their illness was found - can be explained in
terms of informational influence.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
, 4|Page
What is the core study on conformity, and what was its aim? - ✔✔*Asch's (1951) Three
Line Study.*
Aimed to see if people would conform to the majority in unambiguous situations.
What was the procedure of Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Used sample of 123
male American undergraduates. Showed ppts. (in groups of 7-9) the three lines. Asked
to say of the three was the same length as the standard line shown on the left.
All of the ppts. in a group bar one were confederates. Asch had briefed them
beforehand about what answer to give.
Confederates were asked to give the incorrect answer 12/18 times.
Naive ppt was always last/2nd last to answer.
What controls did Asch use in his 1951 Three Line Study? - ✔✔On the first two trials,
the accomplices gave the correct answer. On the third trial, all the accomplices gave the
same wrong answer. Control trial confirmed that the stimulus lines were unambiguous.
Found that people only made genuine mistakes 1% of the time - couldn't be reason for
any conformity.
What were the findings of Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Naive ppt gave the
wrong answer 36.8% of the time. 75% conformed at least once over all trials.
What can be concluded from Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Shows the impact
that a majority can have on the individual. Conformity can be influenced by a need to
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
Social Influence - AQA A Level
Psychology (Paper 1) WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
What is conformity, and what is it also known as? - ✔✔Conformity - when people
adopt the behaviour, attitudes or values of the majority after being exposed to their
values or behaviour.
Also known as majority influence.
What are the 3 types of conformity? - ✔✔Compliance, internalisation and identification.
Define compliance (types of conformity) - ✔✔Accepting the views of the majority, but
not really agreeing with them. As the majority influence is superficial, compliance stops
when there are no group pressures to conform to.
Define internalisation (types of conformity) - ✔✔aka. acceptance. Shows majority
influence because they believe the values of the majority. No external pressures to
conform. Personal opinion changes because the new norms are internalised.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
,2|Page
Define identification (types of conformity) - ✔✔When someone conforms to the
demands of a given social role in society, even if privately they don't agree with
everything the group stands for and there is no change to personal opinion.
e.g, teacher, policeman, politician.
What are the two main reasons why people conform? - ✔✔Normative social influence
Informational social influence
What is normative social influence? - ✔✔Majority exerts (peer) pressure on other group
members, making it difficult to deviate from the majority pov. Individual publicly
conforms to avoid rejection or to gain reward, but privately disagrees - conformity
compliance (superficial).
What is informational social influence? - ✔✔Individual conforms to group norms
because they don't know how to act and so looks to the group for guidance, as they
believe them to be experts. Usually occurs in ambiguous situations.
What are the 2 real-life examples of normative social influence? - ✔✔Smoking -
*Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)*
Conservation behaviour - *Schultz et al. (2008)*
Explain Linkenbach and Perkins' (2003) research into normative social influence. -
✔✔Used campaign aimed at 12-17 yr olds in Montana, USA. Only 10% of non-smokers
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
,3|Page
took up smoking following exposure to message saying people their age don't smoke,
compared to 17% in places where the campaign didn't run.
Explain Schultz et al's (2008) research into normative social influence. - ✔✔Gathered
data from 132 hotels and 794 hotel rooms. Guests who received a message containing
normative information about other guests ("75% of guests choose to reuse their towels
each day") reduced their need for fresh towels by 25%.
What are the 2 real-life examples of informational social influence? - ✔✔Development
of social stereotypes - *Wittenbrink and Henly (1966)*
Mass psychogenic illness - *Jones et al. (2000)*
Explain Wittenbrink and Henly's (1966) research into informational social influence. -
✔✔Found that participants exposed to negative comparison info about African-
Americans, that was said to be the beliefs of the majority, later reported more negative
beliefs about a black target individual.
Explain Jones et al's (2000) research into informational social influence. -
✔✔Documented case of mass psychogenic illness in a Tennessee school in 1998. Teacher
noticed smell in her classroom and complained of a headache, nausea, shortness of
breath, and dizziness. 80 students and 19 staff members went to A&E, complaining of
the same symptoms. No physical cause for their illness was found - can be explained in
terms of informational influence.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
, 4|Page
What is the core study on conformity, and what was its aim? - ✔✔*Asch's (1951) Three
Line Study.*
Aimed to see if people would conform to the majority in unambiguous situations.
What was the procedure of Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Used sample of 123
male American undergraduates. Showed ppts. (in groups of 7-9) the three lines. Asked
to say of the three was the same length as the standard line shown on the left.
All of the ppts. in a group bar one were confederates. Asch had briefed them
beforehand about what answer to give.
Confederates were asked to give the incorrect answer 12/18 times.
Naive ppt was always last/2nd last to answer.
What controls did Asch use in his 1951 Three Line Study? - ✔✔On the first two trials,
the accomplices gave the correct answer. On the third trial, all the accomplices gave the
same wrong answer. Control trial confirmed that the stimulus lines were unambiguous.
Found that people only made genuine mistakes 1% of the time - couldn't be reason for
any conformity.
What were the findings of Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Naive ppt gave the
wrong answer 36.8% of the time. 75% conformed at least once over all trials.
What can be concluded from Asch's (1951) Three Line Study? - ✔✔Shows the impact
that a majority can have on the individual. Conformity can be influenced by a need to
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
