social influence.txt

• Shows importance of consistency
• It was a lab experiment
• Group of 6 people asked to name the colour if slides that were various shades of blue
• 2 of the 6 were conferates
• When the cs answered green every time the ps also names it as green in 8% of trials

• Nemeth argued that flexibility is more important than consistency
• Found that when te consistent minority give some way towards the.majority position he has more influence than when he remained consistent and refused to change his position

• ps in lab exps are usually students - they are very different from minority groups in te.wider society who seek to change majority opinion and have something at stake
• So limits the extent to which the findings can be generalized to real life settings
• Also its to simplistic to assume that minority influence is demonstrated openly and immediately
• The influence exerted by a minority may be hidden invisible to simplistic behavioural measures but still present

• History has shown that a minority can be very persuasive
• The suffragettes changed public and political opinion and eventually gained the women the vote

• If minority can get a few people on their sie more and more people change there opinion to that of the minority
• The minority then begins to gather momentum (and then eventually become the majority viewpoint)

Choosing to behave in a way that the majority of the group does and in a way that is considered socially acceptable

Going along with others to gain approval and avoid their disapproval - no change in thoughts just their behaviour such as laughing at an unfunny joke

Going along with others as you accept their point of view - accept their view both in public and in private - eg changing religion

The desire to be liked to be accepted and to avoid rejection - Complicance

The desire to be right to have an accurate perception of reality - internalisation

• Male students in 'visual test'
• Sat around a table 1 ps and 7 cf each had to say out.loud which of the three lines were the same as the standard line
• Real ps answered last or second last
• Of the 12 critical trials the participant conformed 37% of the time

• Lab experiment
• Only used male participants women are known to act differently and to generally be more compliant than men
• On 2/3 of the trials where the majority gave the wrong answer the participants didn't conform - shows most inds are nother conformist

• Lab experiment  - used autokinetic effect
• Asked participants how far the light moved - individually 
• Asked participants how far the light had moved  in group of three (each person in the group had to say aloud how far they thought the light had moved)
• Asked participants how far the light moved - individually
• Findings: - when the participants were asked individually how far the light moved the measurements were varied considerably (20cm to 80cm) 
• when individuals were asked again their answers reflected the groups norm.
• Conclusion: -a person will look to others for guidance

• Lab experiment so lacks ecological validity - may not have acted as they would have in the real world
• All male participants - unable to generalise to the whole of the population as women may have acted differently
• Era bias - findings may no longer be relevant

following orders from a figure in authority

• 40 males volunteers recruited via  newspaper ad
• Participants always assigned role of 'Teacher' and tape recording was the learner
• Participants instructed to administrate an electric shock every time they got an answer wrong increasing by 15v each time
• Participants didnt realise the shocks were real until the end of the experiment
• Findings: - all participants went to at least 300v
• 65% went to the max of 450v
• most complained they didnt want to continue but the 4 prods were used
• Many became very anxious and distressed (one had an seizure)

• Did participants believe it was real:
• Yes - the different ethical issues that were broken shows that the study could prove reliable results (protection from harm - participants showed distressing signs, one had a seizure)
• No - demand characteristics - may have guess what was being studied so acted how they thought they should - may not have believed they were delivering shocks (BUT participants were interviewed afterward and gave every indication their distress was real)
• Lacks ecological validity as the research setting was not like real life
• All participants male - unable to generalise to the wider population

• Deception - Milgram didnt tell the participants the true aim of the study
• Milgrams defense: - After the study M sent a questionnaire to over 1000 people who had taken part in the study  92% responded and 84% said they were glad to have taken part and only 1.3% said they were sorry to have taken part

• Right to withdraw -prods implied that they must continue 'you have no other choice you must continue'
• Milgrams defense: - Milgram stated the participants they were free to leave as shown by the 35% who did
• Protection of participants - Many participants experienced considerable distress (one even had a seizure)
• Milgrams defense: - He provided a debriefing at the end of the experiment also the participants were visited and interviewed by a psychiatrist one year after the experiments and there was no evidence of psychological harm

• Perception of how much control and individual has over an event in their life
• Measured on a scale from right internal to high external

• People with high internal LOC feel they are in control of the events in there lives and responsible for their actions
• People with high external LOC feel the events in their lives are controled by external factors
• Evidence shows that these high internal LOC show more independent behaviour - this may be because they have more self confidence to resist social influence
• Those with high external LOC have lower self esteem and need Korea social approval

• Migrams research shows that disobedient participants had Hugh internal LOC
• BUT research has shown that the relationship between LOC and conformity is not as consistent - as it is not always linked
• Measuring LOC is difficult - questionaires
• Self esteem has been associated with individuals behaviour - high internal have high self esteem so hard to know if LOC or self esteem is a crucial factor

• Research shows conformity will be significantly reduced if the majority is not unanimous in its opinion
• As soon as the unanimity of the majority group is weakened non conformity is likely to be seen
• The dissenter represents a form of social support
• It liberates the participants from the need to conform to the majority

• Support for the role comes from a variation of the Asch study
• The presence of a dissenter was a crucial variable for increasing independent behaviour - when a confederate agreed with a participant conformity dropped by 5.5%
• Even if the dissenter gave a different answer but still incorrect conformity decreases by 12%
• Concluded that it is the unanimity of that group is crucial

• most societies are ordered in a hierarchical way with some members having social powers
• This power is held by authority figures whose role is defined by society
• It is extremely difficult to deviate from social roles which are learnt through childhood

• Supporting a variation - setting was changed from Yale university to a run down office block
• Obedience rates dropped to 47% from 65% - because legitimate authority was diminished
• Bickman 1974 - field experiment in new York 92% of pedestrians obeyed an order to give a stranger money for a parking meter when the researcher was dressed as a guard compared to 49% when dressed in civilian clothing

• Migram had found that once participants had committed to lower levels of shocks they felt they had entered an agreement so were unable resist further demands (to give shocks at increasingly higher and higher levels)
• Stopping was madras more difficult as there was a gradual transition from one shock to another
• Known as the foot in the door approach once someone has signalled their willingness to agree to a small request their ability to refuse larger requests from the same source diminished

• Lifton 1986 found evidence of gradual commitment among the Nazi doctors first required to carry out sterilisation of individuals considered to be mentally defective and then to carry out increasingly extreme experiments in death camps
• Also supported by the abusive behaviour of the guards in Abu Graib prison in iraq (it was gradual)