Social Influence Topic Tuesday

2017 Type of experiment (2) Outcome of experiment (3) Address issue of participants in each condition (4) Chi squared Significant (7) Authoritarian personality (8)

2017 Agentic state (2) Minority influence (6) Why people conform (16)

Outline research into conformity to social roles (4) Zimbardo carried out the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) where participants were separated into the role of guards and prisoners. Zimbardo chose mentally healthy participants with no extreme views or political affiliations and he wanted to see how assigning them to a role may influence their behaviour. Zimbardo found that the guards quickly assumed their role of authority. They became hostile to the prisoners and got them to engage in degrading tasks. They verbally abused the prisoners and the prisoners mostly became passive and withdrawn, assuming the role of a prisoner. Zimbardo concluded that just assigning a person a role was enough for them to identify with that role. He believed this showed the power of the roles we are given in society.

Evaluate Milgram’s 1963 study on obedience Evaluate Milgram’s 1963 study on obedience. Include reference to ethical issues and validity (6) Milgram has been criticised for having a number of ethical issues. The participants in Milgram’s research were deceived as to the nature of the study. They were told the study was about learning and punishment when it was actually about obedience. Also they were not aware that the ‘learner’ was a confederate and that the electric shocks were not, in fact real. This means the participants could not give their full informed consent to take part in the study. A further ethical issue was the psychological distress shown by many of the participants and the fact that, although they were told they had the right to withdraw at the beginning of the study, the experimenter gave them prods such as ‘the experiment requires that you continue’. Some researchers have criticised Milgram’s research for lacking internal validity. This is the extent to which the research is testing what it is supposed to test, in this case obedience. It was suggested that the participants did not truly believe that they were giving real electric shocks and just went along with it to please the researcher. Therefore, the demand characteristics reduced the internal validity and instead of obedience, what Milgram was studying was how much the participants wanted to go along with the study. However, as the participants became upset by the procedure it suggests they did truly believe the shocks were real. Finally, the research can be criticised for lacking ecological validity as the situation was very unusual and artificial and the results could not be generalised to outside the laboratory setting. However, the study has been done many times in different cultures and with different types of participants and the results are similar to Milgram’s.

Questions 1. Juliana always wears her uniform for school and, if told by a teacher, will always adjust the length of her skirt to fit in with the rules. With reference to the scenario describe two reasons why Juliana follows orders when she is in school. (4) 2. What is meant by the term agentic state (4)

With reference to the scenario describe two reasons why Juliana follows orders when she is in school. (4) Obedience is influenced by both situational and Dispositional factors. Juliana follows orders from teachers in school and this may be due to the location (school environment) and the fact that her teacher might be smartly dressed (uniform)She may score highly on authoritarian Another reason is that she sees the teacher as having a legitimate authority. Teachers, in schools, are justified in their authority and are seen as having power because of their social role. Juliana may not obey the teacher outside of school as they do not have the same power to punish outside the school gates.

2. What is meant by the term agentic state (4) An agentic state is when a person is no longer taking responsibility for their own behaviour and is working as an agent for a perceived authority figure. Individuals shift from an autonomous state, where they feel responsible for their actions to an agentic state where they are just obeying orders. This is known as an agentic shift. This is more likely when binding factors that lead to obedience are present, for example when the authority figure is wearing a uniform or as seen as a legitimate authority figure.

Two psychology students were discussing the topic of social influence. ‘I find it fascinating how some people are able to resist social influence’, said Jack. ‘It must be the result of having a confident personality.’ ‘I disagree’, replied Sarah. ‘I think resisting social influence depends much more on the presence of others.’ Discuss two explanations of resistance to social influence. As part of your discussion, refer to the views expressed by Jack and Sarah in the conversation above. (Total 16 marks)

Locus of control is how much a person believes that they have control over their own behaviour.
This is usually measured along a scale (created by Rotter) with internal control at one end and external control at the other. Internal control refers to those people who see that they have a great deal of control over their own behaviour and will take responsibility for their actions. External control refers to those who believe that their behaviour is controlled by other forces such as luck or fate. locus of control – people with an internal locus of control more likely to resist pressure to conform and less likely to obey than those with an external locus of control; people with an internal locus of control believe they control own circumstances; less concerned with social approval. social support – defiance / non-conformity more likely if others are seen to resist influence; seeing others disobey / not conform gives observer confidence to do so; description of forms of social support – disobedient role models (obedience), having an ally (conformity); explanation of why these produce resistance, eg breaks unanimity of group in conformity situations, challenges legitimacy of authority figure.

Jack suggests that dispositional factors in resisting social influence are more important Sarah indicates that situational factors are more powerful ‘strong personality’ could be read as having an internal locus of control that makes someone better able to resist social influence ‘what other people are doing at the time’ relates to whether ‘they’ are seen to be conforming / obeying, suggesting social support is influential in resisting social influence.

use of evidence to support / illustrate the influence of the explanations chosen, eg specific studies of defiance / non-conformity and / or variations of Asch's and / or Milgram's basic experiments that demonstrated increased resistance other social psychological concepts / processes used to support discussion of the explanations, eg influence of social support may be explained by reduced normative pressure, minority influence

Resistance to social influence Research studies carried out by Asch, Zimbardo and Milgram have shown how many people conform or obey when put under pressure. However, in each of these studies, some individuals resisted the pressure put on them and retained their independence. How many participants in Asch, Milgram and Hofling retained their independence? Asch: 24% Zimbardo: 2/3 Hofling: 1 Milgram: 35% (5 minutes)

Elms and Milgram studied 20 of the obedient participants and 20 defiant participants. Carried out a range of test including the F-scale The found higher levels of authoritarianism among those participants who were obedient in the study. The obedient participants admired the experimenter more suggesting they were higher on the trait of authoritarianism.

Research Evidence for Locus of Control   Elms and Milgram (1974) investigated the background of some of the disobedient participants from Milgram’s first four obedience experiments. They found that disobedient participants had a high internal locus of control and scored higher on a scale that measured their sense of social responsibility On the big whiteboard write a conclusion, 2 evaluation points of each piece of research and one practical application from the research. feedback

Oliner & Oliner 1988) interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who had lived through the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. They compared 406 people who had rescued Jews with 126 who had not done so. Oliner & Oliner found that the ‘rescuers’ were more likely to have scores demonstrating a high internal locus of control than the non-rescuers, and also scored more highly on measures of social responsibility Why is this piece of research important?

Spector (1983) used Rotter’s locus of control scale to determine whether locus of control is associated with conformity. From 157 students, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with a high external locus of control, but only in situations of normative social influence, where individuals conform to be accepted. Why might this be? Rotter points out that LOC only is a factor in novel situations. It has very little influence over our behaviour in familiar situations , where our previous experiences will always be more important.

Research into social support Studies showing how social pressure can be resisted from the support of other people Milgram variation: teacher paired with two confederates who either refused to administer the shocks or obeyed the order. 10% continued to max 450V shock. When both obeyed: 92.5% This shows that if the real participant has support for their desire to disobey, then they are more likely to resist the pressure of an authority figure 10 minutes Find an ally to join them in opposing authority figure. Milgram variation team of three testing learner. Other two, confederates, refused to shock learner. Only 10% continued to max 450V shock. When both obeyed: 92.5 Asch dropped from 33% to just 5.5% - breaks the unanimous position of the majority. Other equally legitimate ways of thinking. Presence of an ally provides the individual with an independent assessment of reality - feel more confident in own decision/stand up to majority. Even when the answer was incorrect still didn’t change. However showed that if this non-comforming person starts conforming again. So does the naïve participant. Thus the effect of dissent is not long lasting.

Research into social support Asch: Unanimity variation. Asch dropped from 33% to just 5.5% This demonstrates that if the real participant has support for their belief (social support), then they are likely more likely to resist the pressure to conform. 10 minutes Find an ally to join them in opposing authority figure. Milgram variation team of three testing learner. Other two, confederates, refused to shock learner. Only 10% continued to max 450V shock. When both obeyed: 92.5 Asch dropped from 33% to just 5.5% - breaks the unanimous position of the majority. Other equally legitimate ways of thinking. Presence of an ally provides the individual with an independent assessment of reality - feel more confident in own decision/stand up to majority. Even when the answer was incorrect still didn’t change. However showed that if this non-comforming person starts conforming again. So does the naïve participant. Thus the effect of dissent is not long lasting.

Evaluation Resistance to conformity: Allen & Levine (1971) Whether social support that was not particularly valid would also be effective in helping participants resist conformity. Conformity decreases when one person dissents even if they are not credible in an Asch type study Resistance not just motivated by following what someone else says but it enables someone to be free of the pressures from the group. 10 minutes

Discuss at least two explanations for defiance of authority Discuss at least two explanations for defiance of authority. Refer to evidence in your answer. (Total 16 marks)

The influence of disobedient role models / presence of social support; AO1 The influence of disobedient role models / presence of social support; internal locus of control lack of proximity of authority figure lack of legitimacy of authority figure / uniform / setting lack of authoritarian personality.

AO3 Use of evidence to support / illustrate the influence of the explanations chosen, eg specific studies of defiance and / or variations of Milgram's basic experiment that demonstrated increased defiance. Only credit evaluation of the methodology used in studies when made relevant to discussion of the explanations eg use of specific studies. Discussion of the wider implications of the explanations, eg in real-life situations of defiance.

Mike and his grandfather were having a conversation about recycling Mike and his grandfather were having a conversation about recycling. Mike explained that he always puts empty cans and plastic bottles in one box and newspapers and cardboard in another box and that his mum takes these to be recycled once a week. His grandfather said that when he was Mike’s age, people did not recycle. Mike said that everyone in his street recycles and that they have a big box at school especially for recycling. Using your knowledge of the psychology of social change, explain why recycling is now behaviour carried out by a majority of people in this country.

Social change occurs when a minority view challenges the majority view and is eventually accepted as the majority. This can take place in several ways, such as social impact theory, the snowball effect, social cryptoamnesia, or the views and beliefs of a powerful individual.
Research into minority influence by Moscovici and Nemeth can be used to explain how this change happens. In the example of recycling, while the idea started with the minority of individuals, it is now a common behaviour (majority influence). Many schools are now actively teaching the importance of recycling and local authorities are introducing new schemes to encourage recycling. The majority of homes in the country have some form of recycling facility provided by their local authority. Through the snowball effect, what was originally a minority belief, the importance of recycling, has become a majority behaviour and accepted as the social norm. Candidates need to use their knowledge of how social change occurs and apply it to recycling.
Candidates may draw on other parts of the specification, such as attitude change, the role of the media and if it is sound psychology, this can clearly gain credit.