Social Influence

AO1

Types

Compliance: Change public, not private, shallowest level, temporary, caused by NSI

Internalisation: Change public & private, deepest, permanent, caused by ISI

Explanations

NSI: Change behavour based on need to be liked, short term, emotional process, unambiguous situations

ISI: Change behavour based on need to be right, long term, cognitive process, ambiguous situations

AO3

+ Evidence NSI: Asch

+ Evidence ISI Lucas (maths)

- Individual diff - McGhee & Teevan naffiliators

- Incomplete explanation - Turner Referent Informational Influence

 

 

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AO1

40 USA males, false aim on learning, rigged random allocation to teacher, Mr Wallace = learner in different room, shock machine (15-450v) when learner gave wring answer, 4 'prods' given if refused to obey.

Findings: 65% obedience rate, 100% went to 300v.

Qualitative: Biting nails, sweating, 3 had "full blown seizures"

AO3

+ Hofling (nurses) 21/22 nurses obeyed in real life

- Low internal validity (Orne & Holland)

- Individual diff: 100% females & 50% males shocked a puppy

- Ethics: right to withdraw, harm​​

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AO1

Dispositional explanation

Adorno (1950) 2000 white middle class USA, aim to measure unconscious attitudes,

F-Scale used to measure AP traits.

Those with AP are more obedient,

conscious of hierarchy, fixed cognitive styles, traditional views

Stems from strict and harsh parenting and anger is displaced

AO3

+ Milgram & Elms (1966) - obedient ppts had high F-scale score

- Cannot explain whole populations

- Greenstein (1969) "comedy of methodological errors" due to acquiescence bias: Jackson's reverse F-scale -ve correlation

- Right wing political bias

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AO1

Ppts were told they were taking part in a vision test (to reduce demand characteristics)

50 male ppts from USA took part in a lab experiment; in groups of 6-8 confederates

Asked to match a standard line to a comparison line - all confederates gave the same wrong answer 

As a control the ppts was always sat one from the end 

Conformity rate was 36.8% (across all critical trials) and 75% of people conformed at least once. Shows NSI and compliance.

AO3

- Demand characteristics

- Perrin & Spencer "child of its time" - results lack temporal validity

- Individual differences: women & collectivist conform more

- Ignores that the most common behaviour was not to conform

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AO1

Baseline obedience rate 65%

Proximity: T-L in same room 40% - increased moral strain, T-L hand on plate 30%, E-T over phone 20% - did not fear the punishment

Location: 48% obedience in rundown office, not legitimate authority like Yale University

Uniform: Bickman - field experiment in NYC, asks passersby to cary out instructions, 76% obeys guard, 47% obeyed milkman, 30% obeyed civilian

AO3

- Bickman: confounding variables

- Is culture more important? 16% Australia, 85% Germany

- Milgram: lack of internal validity

- Real life application: uniforms​​​​

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AO1

Social support (situational)

An ally can help people resist as it gives them confidence and can be a role model

Conformity: Asch dissenter 5%, breaks pressure of NSI

Obedience: Milgram 2 disobedient peers 10% - acted as role model

Locus of control (dispositional)

The degree to which someone believes they have control over their lives. Internal / external 

Measured on a continuum

Internals more likely to resist as they

take personal responsibility, less need for social approval

AO3

+ Gamson (1982) - social support

+ Allen & Levine (1971) - still increases even when poor eyesight

+ Holland (1967) 37% internal, 23% external in Milgram replication

- Twenge (2004) 1960-2002 people more resistant, more external

AO1

Original study: 36.8% conformity rate of all critical trials

75% conformed at least once

Group size: 3% (1 confederate), 13% (2 confederates) 32% (3 confederates), As group size inc as does conformity up to 3. after then it plateaus. Due to increased pressure of NSI.

Unanimity: Dissenter variation (confederate gave the correct answer) 5%. Breaks NSI & gives social support.

Task difficulty: Increased similarity of the lines. Conformity increases with task difficulty due to increased pressure of ISI.

AO3

- Demand characteristics

- Perrin & Spencer "child of its time" - results lack temporal validity

- Individual differences: women & collectivist conform more

- Ignores that the most common behaviour was not to conform​​​​​​​

AO1

Milgram's theories based on his classic shock study

Agentic State

Obey due to being an agent and not feeling responsible for actions, Autonomous state

Agentic shift (initial moral strain but then goes)

Binding Factors keep the person in the agentic state

Legitimacy of authority

Will obey when authority figure hold genuine authority - increased by symbols e.g. uniform, punish

Hierarchical structure - we hand over control to authority

Children socialised to accept this Can lead to destructive authority

AO3

+ Blass & Schmitt - ppts said it was the experimenters fault

- 35% did not obey - dispositional?

- Demand characteristics of study

+ Real life application: Mai Lai massacre​​​​​​

AO1

Consistency: maintaining the same message over time (diachronic) and in the group  (synchronic)

Commitment: dedication by making a sacrifice. Augmentation principle.

Flexibility: willingness to compromise

Snowball effect: converting

Moscovici: groups of 6, 36 blue slides, consistent condition 8.42% and inconsistent 1.25%

AO3

+ Moscovici: low mundane realism

+ Martin (2003) less willing to change views in minority group

+ Flexibility - Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987): ski accident

+ Xie et al (2011) discovered a tipping point of 10% for snowball effect