social psychology

C O N F O R M I T Y T O M A J O R I T Y I N F L U E N C E

Conformity

Conformity to a majority influence

Kelman

Compliance – When a person will publically agree but privately disagree, e.g. A person might laugh at a joke that others are laughing at but privately does not find it funny

Internalisation – A person conforms publically and privately because they have internalised the views of the group, e.g. A person may turn vegetarian after living with a group of them at uni

Identification – Person conforms publically and privately because they have identified with the group and feel a sense of membership

Asch

123 male students agreed to do a visual perception task

One main line was drawn which they had to match with an option of 3 other lines

In this experiment, only 1 participant in each group of 6 was real, they others were all confederates

Overall there was a 37% conformity

25% of participants did not conform

5% conformed on every line

Conformity to a majority influence

Evaluating Asch Lack of ecological validity – artificial situation

Highly controlled – cause and effect

Lack of informed consent

Only used males - androcentric

Participants were given the right to withdraw

Deception – They didn’t know that the others were confederates

Smith and bond – culture and conformity

Meta-analysis of 133 studies in 17 countries

Collectivist countries (UK, USA) tended to show higher levels of conformity than individualist countries (Japan)

The impact of culture variables was higher than any other variable (e.g. Gender)

Variations of Asch Difficulty of task – The lengths of the lines was made much

smaller so that it was harder to spot the correct answer

Under this condition, conformity increased.

Size of the majority – When the confederates decreased to just 1 or 2 participants were less likely to conform.

When confederates were increased to 3 conformity rose to 30%

Any more confederates above 3 did not impact levels of majority at all

C O N F O R M I T Y I N T O S O C I A L R O L E S

Conformity

Conformity into social roles

Zimbardo

Used male volunteers who were paid $15 a day to take part in a 2 week stimulation of prison life

Participants were randomly allocated into roles of prisoners or guards

9 ‘prisoners’ were arrested in the night, put in prison and given smocks to wear

There were 3 guards of each shift who wore khaki uniforms and dark glasses

Guards harassed and humiliated prisoners but physical aggression was not permitted

The study had to be discontinued after 6 days as prisoners became too depressed and anxious

This shows that people will readily conform into social roles if expected to do so

Evaluation

Zimbardo acted as a guard as well as the researcher so could have influenced the behaviour of the guards

Demand characterstics

C O N F O R M I T Y T O M I N O R I T Y I N F L U E N C E

Conformity

Conformity to a minority influence

Conditions necessary for social change by minority:

Drawing attention to the issue – If we are exposed to the views of minority then it draws attention to it. If their view is different to the norm it causes conflict which we want to reduce so go along with.

The role of conflict – As a result of conflict we actually look into the minorities idea and think deeply about it. If we are deeply looking into an issue then we consider changing our opinions.

Consistency – Minorities are more effective if they are more consistent as they are taken more seriously

The augmentation principle – If there is a risk of violence or death involved in putting forward an argument then people will listen and take the situation more seriously.


Moscovici

32 groups of women participants were put into groups of 6

In these groups of 6, 2 were confederates

They were shown slides of a PowerPoint of which were all varied shades of blue

There were two conditions;

Consistent – Confederates said that all the slides were green

Inconstant – Confederates said that the slides were green 24 times and blue 12 times

Participants in the inconsistent condition called the slides green in 8.4% of trails

32% of participants in the inconsistent condition said at least one slide was green

Minorities can still influence the majority in certain circumstances

Lack of ecological validity

Deception

Highly controlled – clear established cause and effect

Lack of informed constent


Moscovici – conversion theory

If an individual is exposed to an argument that is contradictory to the majority it causes conflict

People do not like to experience conflict therefore look into this minority idea and are motivated to reduce this conflict and to do this they have to go along with the minority influence

With majority influence, individuals are less likely to closely analyse the argument and just simply adjust their attitudes

Evaluation

Mackie completely disagrees with Moscovici by saying that its the majority which promotes greater message processing. People genuinely believe that their views are the same as the majority.Ifthe majority share a different opinion to us we think deeply about changing our opinion and don't worry about what the minority are doing


Fathers 4 justice

O'Conner lead the fathers 4 justice protest

They were campaigning for equal parenting rights

They bought about attention by a super hero climbing on Buckingham palace

Sent 200 Santa clauses into a building to protest

Suffragettes

Tried to gain equal rights for women

Attempted using peaceful methods but this didn't work so turned to violence

One women threw themselves in front of the kings horse and got killed

They went on a hunger strike in prison and refused to eat because they were in prison so they got let out

This continued for 15 years

O B E D I E N C E T O A U T H O R I T Y

Obedience

Obedience to authority

Milgram

40 male volunteers were each paid $4.50

The real participant acted as the ‘teacher’ and the confederate played the role of the ‘learner’

The ‘teacher’ had to give an electric shock every time the ‘learner’ got an answer wrong

The confederate voice was played on a tape recorder and no-one was really given any electric shocks

The electric shock scale varied from 15 volts to 450 volts

All participants went to at least 300 volts

65% went to the full 450 volts

Most participants found the participants found the experiment stressful and wanted to stop

The study showed that most people will obey orders under an authoritive figure even if it goes against the conscience


Evaluation

Androcentric

Got paid - volunteers

Individual differences – personality

Demand characteristics

Lack of realism – lab

Deception

Lack of informed constant before the experiment

Variations

1 ) The learner was placed in the same room as the teacher (real participant) – 40% gave the full 450 volts

2) The participant was given the choice of which shock to administer – 2.5% gave the full 450 volts

3) Participants were all female – 65% gave the full 450 volts


Explanation of obedience

Gradual commitment – As the participants had already given lower-shocks it becomes harder to resist the experiment requirements. Each shock is only 15 volts more than the previous one so it doesn't appear to be as bad.

Agentic shift - an individual may shift from ‘automous’ state (responsible for themselves) to ‘Agentic’ state (agent for someone else) blaming the authoritive figure for their actions

Roles of buffers – Protection from guilt. The learners were in a different room from the teachers so did not have to witness the learner in pain

Justifying obedience – the participants are lead to believe that they are doing something for the greater good and for the need of science so what harm can a little bit of pain really cause

Criticising the explanations

Milgram ignored other plausible explanations

Not a justified explanation for ‘just obeying orders’ this is not an excuse for killing someone

In Milgrams study, participants were told that they were not causing harm on the learner whereas in the Holocaust they knew they were shooting to kill

R E S I S T I N G T H E P R E S S U R E T O C O N F O R M

Independent behaviour

Resisting the pressure to conform

Desire for individuation:

Wanting to stand out from the crowd and not be like everyone else; having a sense of uniqueness

Snyder and Frankin - Led group 1 to believe that their attitudes were different from the norm. Led group 2 to believe that their attitudes were identical to the norm. Those who had their identity stolen resisted conformity pressures due to wanting to be different

Desire to maintain control:

Group pressure may be a threat to their freedom as they do not want to be one of the crowd

Burger – People with a desire for personal control resist conformity pressures easier

Prior commitment:

When someone announces publically to an opinion then you are less likely to change your view as you do not want to appear indecisive or to ignorance even if a better answer is found

Asch – Participants under took an allusions test, after the test was done and each participant had already given their individual answer, they were asked to come up with a group estimate, after this group estimate participants were offered to change their answer which the majority did.

Time to think and social support:

Some feel that they must be mindful and engage in critical thinking when faced with a situational demands in order to approach situations probably

Asch – Conformity dropped to 8.7% when participants received social support from an ally in the original Asch study with the lines

Resisting the pressure to obey

Disobedient role models

Exposing people to the actions of a disobedient role model encourages disobedience in those who agree with the motives of the deviant person

In a Milgram variation, when the confederate participants refused to give the electric shock, 90% of the real participants didn't either

Questioning authorities motives and status

Some people chose to question what reasons an authoritive figure has would make them have an increased motivation to defy

In a variation of Milgrams research, when the study a run down block of flats, the surroundings made it easier to question the authority

Feeling and Empathy

Honest feelings of care are superior to the feeling of obeying

A variation of Milgrams study showed that some participants did not want to continue to obey when they knew that the ‘Learner’ was in distress and knowing that they were causing harm went against their beliefs

Locus of control

Internal External

Characteristics High level of personal control over their lives and behaviour

Life is determined by external/environmental factors such as luck

Relation to social influence

Less likely to rely on others, more achievement orientated, resist pressure to change

More likely to be influenced by others, do not believe they are in control of their lives

social psychology

Education