Paper 1: Introductory Topics to Psychology Social Influence Paper 1: Introductory Topics to Psychology

Objectives: To understand what social influence is and produce a clear definition (Grade E) To be able to explain why it is important to study social influence and put this into a historical/ social context (Grade D) To understand the definitions of conformity and correctly link them to hypothetical scenarios (Grade C upwards)

Social Influence DEFINITION ‘Social Influence is the process by which our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the people around us and the social roles in which people are placed’ But before you all get writing lets stop and think about what social roles actually are. After all there is no point writing something down that doesn’t make sense! Get this down in your notes it’s a very handy definition

Why do people conform?

What factors affect this decision? What would you do? What factors affect this decision?

Conformity (Majority Influence) DEFINITION ‘Conformity is the tendency to change what we do, think or say in response to the influence of real or imagined pressure from a majority group’. What are the key parts of this definition? Give examples. Behaviour includes things we think and say as well as what we do Pressure can be imagined – eg peer pressure (unlike obedience) Majority group – not in hierarchy, these are peers

Kelman (1958) There are different types of conformity: Compliance Identification Internalisation Shallow Level Don’t need to know about identification! Not on 2014 spec Deep Level

Compliance Conforms publicly Disagrees privately Shallow A person might laugh at the joke that others are laughing at while privately not finding it very funny

Identification Conforms publicly Conforms privately a sense of group membership temporary A person might support a new football team every time they move to a new town

Internalisation Conform publicly Conform privately Internalised and accepted the views deepest A person may become a vegetarian after sharing a flat with a group of vegetarians at university

Task Are the following examples describing compliance or internalisation? Doesn’t include identification as not on spec 2014 Alternatively, Q8 June 11

Deciding that smoking is wrong internalisation

Laughing at a joke you don’t find funny compliance

Becoming a vegetarian after sharing a flat with a vegetarian internalisation

Cooking vegetarian food while living with a vegetarian flatmate compliance

Why do people conform? People want to be right Informational social influence People want to be liked Normative social influence They look to other people to find the answer – assume others probably know something they don’t. Informational social influence. EG Looking to see what other people are doing in a lesson when you realise you haven’t heard an instruction. Also looking to see what people do They want to fit in to the group and not be laughed at or a social outcast

This is known as the Deutsch and Gerrad duel process model

Have a go at the past questions on your worksheet Task Have a go at the past questions on your worksheet Question from Jan 11 paper (students have paper copy to write on)

Conformity (Majority Influence) https://www. youtube. com/watch Solomon Asch came up with a method to test conformity in the 1950s, asking people to do a simple test where the answer was obvious. He used confederates to provide the majority. Click centre image for link to youtube footage. – first couple of minutes most relevant.

Use your handout and the video to find the following: Procedure Findings Conclusion Evaluation What did they do? Raw results Percentages What does this mean? Ethics and problems?

Procedure Findings Conclusion Evaluation 123 male students (“visual perception task”) groups of 7-9 judge line length – answer obvious 1 naïve Ps, rest confederates 18 trials per Ps, Ps answered last-but-one. 5% conformed on every trial, 75% conformed at least once 26% never conformed, 37% overall conformity Conformity due to: ‘I must be wrong’ ‘I don’t want to be laughed at’ Didn’t notice the answer was wrong Validity – costs of conformity, type of task Lacks ecological validity – artificial Highly controlled – cause and effect well established Generalisability – specific to time/place/Ps? Ethics: Deception Lack of informed consent Protection from harm Confidentiality We will look at the reasons for conformity later Use notes/table to construct Gimme 5 hands? DFC+-

Go to https://srosocialscience. wordpress Go to https://srosocialscience.wordpress.com type conformity into the search box and make notes on Arch’s findings in your book Making notes rather than just reading will have a significant impact on your ability to remember it. As you’ll see when we look at memory later on in the year

Tweet about what you learnt this lesson: @Asch found most people conformed back in the day #childofitstime Arghh – no idea what’s going on, just gonna copy everyone else #informational Tweet about what you learnt this lesson: 140 characters to make your point #hashtag – key concepts @name – key researchers RT – This is a good point, I want to retweet it Plenary idea – students write on post-it notes and then add pass around to be retweeted (ie students evaluate it and add RT if it is a god one and more words or # if they want) – the best are shared and then go on the wall – good starting point for next lesson. E.g. @Asch found most people conform #achildofitstime? OR Arghh – no idea what’s going on, what’s everyone else doing? #informational

Remember this? Prompt to get students recapping Asch’s study

Lower 9% Higher 33% Lower 5.5% Lower Higher Play your cards right Did these variations give higher or lower levels of conformity than Asch’s original study? Size of majority Unanimity of majority Difficulty of task Another dissenter Lower 9% A majority of only 3 confederates? Social support Higher 33% Lower 5.5% A majority of 15 confederates? Lower A more difficult task? Higher Social support = someone who agrees with them Another dissenter = someone who disagrees with Ps and confederates ie breaks unanimity If no % given – it is not known! Therefore – factors affecting conformity are… Jot down notes on 3 factors using variations as supporting evidence

What factors affect conformity? Name of study Variation in procedure Key finding Explanation Use worksheet with table to force conciseness Feedback – jot key ideas on board? Highlight factors affecting conformity – also linked to factors that help people to resist conformity challenge class to come up with way of remembering it, eg mnemonic

Replicating Asch’s study Asch’s own variations- looking at size of majority and effect of taking away the need to say the answer out loud. Also the effect of breaking unanimity Stang 1976- Conformity seems to be at it maximum with a 3-5 person majority. Latane and Wolf 1981- adding more numbers to the majority can increase conformity but in ever decreasing amounts. Campbell and Fairey 1989- Group size has different effects depending upon the difficulty of the task. What do these replications tell us about factors affecting conformity? Asch is v easy to replicate and many have done it (including him) to investigate factors affecting conformity – first look at Asch’s variations

Independent behaviour DEFINITION ‘Independent behaviour refers to behaviour that is not altered despite pressures to conform or obey’. Link to – ie NOT conforming and NOT obeying – what factors help people to resist conformity?

How can people resist conformity? Circumstances of the situation Characteristics of the individual Situation – includes culture, face-to-face or not, being able to find an ally, collectivist or individualist etc Individual – includes confidence, prior knowledge, desire to be individual, locus of control Also – CHIPFLUTS – Confidence, History, Individualist, Prior Commitment, Face to face, Locus of control, Unanimity, Task, Size of majority

CHIPFLUTS CHIPFLUTS – Confidence, History, Individualist, Prior Commitment, Face to face, Locus of control, Unanimity, Task, Size of majority

Have a go at the past questions on your worksheet Task Have a go at the past questions on your worksheet Question from Jan 12 paper

Discuss research into conformity (12 marks) Task: Plan an answer Discuss research into conformity (12 marks)

Discuss research into conformity (12 marks) AO1 Asch’s study: Procedures, findings, conclusions (you could also mention variations here) AO2 Evaluating Asch’s study: Limited sample ‘A child of its time’ Ethical issues

Homework Design a poster to show at least 3 factors affecting levels of conformity. This counts as a start to revision – just pick three of the ones learnt and use images and words to link factors to research and explanations!