Social Influence
Subject Knowledge
Social Influence
Conformity and explanations why people conform, including informational social influence and normative social influence.
Types of conformity including internalisation and compliance.
Obedience to authority, including Milgram's work and reasons why people obey.
Social Influence in Everyday Life
Explanations of independent behaviour, including locus of control, how people resist pressures to conform and resist pressures to obey authority.
How social research helps us to understand social change; the role of minority influence in social change.
Social Influence
Conformity and explanations why people conform, including informational social influence and normative social influence.
Types of conformity including internalisation and compliance.
Obedience to authority, including Milgram's work and reasons why people obey.
Social Influence in Everyday Life
Explanations of independent behaviour, including locus of control, how people resist pressures to conform and resist pressures to obey authority.
How social research helps us to understand social change; the role of minority influence in social change.
Key Terms
Conformity- the tendency to change what we do( behaviour) or think and say (attitudes) in response to the influence of others or social pressure. This pressure can be real or imagined. Norm- an unwritten rule about how to behave in a social group or situation that members accept as correct. Majority influence- takes place when a person changes their attitudes, beliefs or actions in order to fit in with a larger group. Confederates- 'non participants' working for the experimenter who have been briefed to answer in a particular way. The real participant believes the confederate is simply another naïve participant. Minority influence- takes place when an individual or small group of people influence the majority or larger group to change their attitudes or behaviour towards an issue. Individualistic cultures- those where personal independence and achievement are valued. Collectivist cultures- those where there is a high degree of interdependence between people. Referent informational influence- the pressure to conform with the norms set by a group because we have defined ourselves as a member of that group. Meta-contrast principle- the tendency for group members to see strong similarities between themselves and other members of their group and to see large difference with other social groups. Obedience- complying with an order from another person to carry out an action. The person who gives the instruction usually has the power or authority. Demand characteristics-cues in the environment that help the participant work out what the research hypothesis is. This can lead to social desirability effects where the participant behaves in a way that the hypothesis will be supported or the 'screw you' effect where the participant purposefully disrupts the research. Experimental realism- where the participants are fooled into believing that the set-up in the experiment is real and they take the situation seriously. This is also known as internal validity. Mundane realism- refers to the similarity of the set-up in the experiment to situations that take place outside the laboratory in real life. This is known as external or ecological validity. Agentic state- a state which an individual carries out orders of another person acting as their agent with little personal responsibility. Authoritarian personality- a type of person who has extreme respect for authority and who is very obedient to those who have power over them. They may also be hostile to those of lower rank. Projective tests- involves presenting people with neutral stimuli such as a picture and asking them to describe what is going on. Independent behaviour-takes place when the individual does not respond to group norms. Although they can see how others are behaving, they do not pay attention to this and are not influenced by it. Locus of control- refers to the sense of control people have over the successes, failures and events in their lives. Locus of control is measured on a scale. Those with a high internal locus of control largely feel that their actions are their own choice and responsibility. Those with a high external locus of control see their actions as resulting largely from factors outside their control such as luck or fate. Social Change- the term given to the range of strategies used by groups to improve their social status. Social action- takes place when a minority group campaigns for equal rights and challenges the existing power base in society. Ideas for lesson
From your knowledge of research methods and the BPS ethical guidelines list some of the issues surrounding Milgrams work. What are the consequences of getting participants to engage in experiments such as the Zimbardo prison one? Identify some examples of social influence occurring now. Can we individually seek for social change or does it have to be done collectively? Examine why deception is an ethical issue. Outline a strategy for dealing with an ethical issue. What is conformity? What is obedience? Explain locus of control. Explain what social influence research can tell us about social change. Discussions in the classroom based on the research, Milgram- have one group arguing for the benefits of this type of research and one opposed, regroup for a discussion. Prepare mind maps for homework on some of the key terms, be ready to share with the rest of the class. Get students to then join together their work in groups and present back to the class. |
Research
Haney, Banks and Zimbardo (1973) a simulated study of prisoners and guards in prison. Reicher and Haslam (2006) rethinking the psychology of tyranny, BBC prison study. Conformity Jenness(1932) asking participants to estimate amount of beans in a bottle. Sherif (1935) asked subjects to estimate how far a spot of light moved in a dark room. Asch (1951,1952,1956) asked participants to match the length of a line to one of three comparison lines. Crutchfield (1954) tested conformity without physical presence by placing individuals in cubicles with display boards they thought were displaying other participants answers. Crutchfield(1955) Conforming Personality Theory: Informal social influence, Normative social influence and Referent social influence. Obedience Milgram (1963) study of obedience, getting participants to administer electric shocks to individuals, unknowing that they weren't actually shocking them. Hoffing et al (1966) replicated Milgrams work, investigated obedience in American hospitals. Bickman (1974) replicated Milgram, investigated obedience on the streets of New York. Experimenter dressed in guards uniform told people to pick up litter 80% obedience rate. Meeus and Raaijmakers (1986) replicated Milgram, investigated obedience in a business setting in Holland. Explanations of obedience studies Social power explanation, the impact of the experimenters power on the subject and the impact of the learners distress on the subject. Milgram(1974) Agency theory, he suggests that when faced with commands from legitimate authority figures we lose our sense of responsibility for our own actions. Adorno et al (1950) suggests the authoritarian personality disorder. Independent behaviour Types of resistance: Independent behaviour and Anti-conformity. Independence in conformity studies Crutchfield (1954) found non conformity ranging from 54% to 70% depending on the type of task used to test conformity. Asch (1951) conformity experiment showed high rates of resistance. Independence in obedience studies Milgrams (1953) experiment found low levels of disobedience. Hoffing et al. (1966) found less than 5% disobedience to authority in a hospital setting. Situational influence Social impact theory- this suggests that independence only occurs when social conditions allow it to be expressed. Social support- also suggests that diffusion of impact over many targets reduces the effect of social influence on each individual. Individual differences Locus of control (LOC) Rotter(1954,1966) suggests that: People with an internal locus of control believe their own personality and behaviour determine the outcome of events. People with external locus of control believe the results of their actions are more affected by chance or other people. Psychological reactance Brehm (1966) argued that people have a physiological need for individual freedom and that perceived constraints on independence activate a physiological arousal state of reactance which leads to resistance to assert their freedom. Social influence and social change The Social identity approach Tajfel (1978) Turner (1985) suggest that people allocate themselves to groups and gain their identities and self-esteem through these groups. When group boundaries appear to be permeable then people think they can enter the group and act individually to change the group. When group boundaries are perceived as impermeable people think they cannot change so are more likely to identify with their present group. Social change will then depend on collective action. Minority Influence At times minority groups may not only resist but actually influence majority groups in society to cause social change. Moscovici(1980) Dual process theory, he argued that since minorities do not have the informational and normative influence of the majority they must exert their influence through their behaviour style, how they express their views. Consistency of viewpoint over time and between members of minority group is the most important aspect of this style, since it not draws attention to the minority view and gives the impression of certainty and coherence, but also causes doubt about majority norms. Other important features are: Investment, Autonomy and Flexibility. Mass and Clark(1983) found publicly expressed views on gay rights followed the majority but privately expressed views shifted towards the minority viewpoint, indicating minorities cause a change in private opinions/attitudes before a change in public behaviour. |