Summary AQA Psychology - SOCIAL INFLUENCE Revision
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Social Influence
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AQA Psychology for A Level Year 1 & AS - Student Book
A detailed set of AQA Psychology Social Influence revision notes including description and analysis. Written for the NEW 2015 Specification. Suitable for Paper 1 AQA Psychology. These helped me achieve A/A* quality work
AQA Psychology AS/A Level - Topic 1: Social Influence
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AQA A-Level Psychology | A* Student Notes | Social Influence
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SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Conformity
Conformity: A change in a person’s behaviour/opinions as a result of real or
imagined pressure from a group
Types of Conformity
COMPLIANCE – When an individual will publically conform whilst privately maintaining
their own opinion
Asch’s Compliance Study: Majority of participants who conformed privately trusted
their perception but changed their public behaviour by giving incorrect answer to
avoid disapproval from the group
IDENTIFICATION – An individual adjusts their opinions/behaviour to those of a group
and will believe them publically & privately, but are generally temporary and not
maintained when the individual leaves the group
Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment: Participants embraced their roles as
prisoners/guards by behaving in a certain way during the experiment, but they did
not continue these roles after the experiment
INTERNALISATION – Process by which an individual converts their private view to
match those of a group. These new beliefs are held publically and privately, becoming
part of a value system, and are therefore not dependent on the presence of the group
Sherif’s Study: Participants truly believed the light had moved a different distance
after hearing the judgements of others, therefore internalising the new viewpoint
privately, not just agreeing publically
Explanations of Conformity – Deutsch & Gerard
Dual Process Model – leads people to conform
NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE
People conform in order to be LIKED People conform in order to be
RIGHT
Leads to Compliance Leads to Internalisation
Lucas:
Asch’s Compliance Study: Participants gave a Asked students to give answers to
clearly wrong answer to a simple question mathematical problems that were either
easy or difficult. There was greater
because they did not want to feel disapproval
from the group Supports NSI as people conformity to incorrect answers when they
conformed to fit in and be accepted were difficult, especially for students who
rated their mathematical ability as poor
Supports ISI as people conform when they
These explanations have been criticised because it suggests these two types of
are feeling uncertain
conformity are separate and independent. Insko: The two complement each other
and in turn work together to affect levels of conformity They are not discrete
processed as proposed by Deutch & Gerard
Individual differences are not explained: Some people are less concerned with being
liked Less affected by NSI. Some people have a greater need for affiliation
More affected by NSI (Also affects ISI conformity)
Research into Conformity - Asch (1951)
Male students were grouped and shown two images. The first was a vertical line, and
the other showed three vertical lines of differing lengths. Participants called out in
turn which of the three lines was the same length as the standard line. The correct
answer was always obvious. All students, bar one, were actors. The genuine
participant always went last. The actors gave unanimous wrong answers on 12/18
trials (the critical trials)
FINDINGS:
, Conformity in 32% of critical trials
75% of participants conformed at least once (25% didn’t conform)
5% conformed in all 12 critical trials
Control group – 0.04% error rate
Post-experimental interviews: Most conformed because they did not want to be in the
minority as they risked being ridiculed by the others. However, some conformed
because they believed their judgement to be distorted, thus their perception of the
line was inaccurate and so they conformed to the majority
Clearly demonstrates conformity due to NSI as the task was simple and
unambiguous compared to previous research where measurements could be
genuinely misinterpreted
Practical Application: Gives insight into why some people do not act on their own
values/beliefs at times and how important it is for people to feel socially accepted
Helps to understand events within society
High Reliability: Experimental method enabled control of extraneous variables, such
as timings, order and number of confederates
Limited sample (Male American college students): Cannot generalise findings onto
collectivist cultures or women (Gender Bias Beta bias)
Time and Place of research may have affected findings: In 1950s America,
conformity was more common. Perrin & Spencer (1980) were unable to replicate
the findings in the UK using engineering students, which may be due to the
different era or type of participant Reduced validity
Low Ecological Validity: Artificial situation may result in demand characteristics, and
there are no consequences for not conforming May not be able to generalise
findings to the real world
Factors Affecting Conformity - Asch’s Variations
SIZE OF THE MAJORITY: Conformity rates increase as size of majority increases. But
after a certain point, further increases in size have no effect
1 Confederate 0% conformity
2 Confederates 12% conformity
3(+) Confederates 32% conformity
Bond & Smith: Conformity peaks with about 4/5 confederates
Gerard et al: Questioned these findings Conformity rates do rise as more
confederates are added, although rate of increase declines with each additional
confederate
UNANIMITY: Conformity rates drop when majority influence is not unanimous. The
important factor seems to be the reduction in the majority’s agreements rather than
an individual being given support for their opinions
1 confederate goes against other confederates in favour of participant 5.5%
conformity
1 confederate goes against other confederates and also participant 9% conformity
TASK DIFFICULTY: Conformity rates increase when task difficulty increases. Individuals
will look to others more for guidance as to what the correct response is (ISI is
dominant)
Made comparison lines similar to each other Conformity increased
Conformity to Social Roles – Zimbardo (1973)
Male volunteers were paid to take part in a two-week study. They
were randomly allocated to either a prisoner or a guard. The 9
prisoners were arrested at home, blindfolded, and taken to the
, Stanford University basement (prison) without knowledge of where they were. They
were allocated a number which they would be referred to by and given a smock to
wear. 3 guards were allocated to a shift, wore khaki uniforms, dark glasses and
carried a wooden baton. They were not permitted to be physically aggressive with the
prisoners
FINDINGS:
Guards conformed to their perceived roles with such strength that the study had to
be discontinued after 6 days. The guards put prisoners though a vast amount of
humiliation and harassment
Prisoners rebelled against the guards after two days and guards controlled this
using fire extinguishers
Depression and anxiety were experience by some of the prisoners. One prisoner
had to be released after the first day, and two more on the fourth day. By the sixth
day, all prisoners were submissive to the guards
The explanation for why the participants conformed is due to situational factors,
the type of conformity being identification. The prison environment was an important
factor in the creation of the guards’ cruel behaviour as none of the participants who
act as guards illustrated sadistic tendencies prior to the experiment
Practical Application: Demonstrates the power of social roles and may help explain
real world events involving brutal regimes. It can influence prison reform
High Internal Validity: Some control of variables such as selecting emotionally
stable participants and randomly assigning their role
Demand Characteristics: Behaviour not due to the situation Decreased Validity
Zimbardo insists the situation was real to the participants, and that 90% of their
conversation was about prison life. Prisoner 416 said the prison as real but run
by psychologists, not the government
Individual Differences: Not all guards behaved brutally (only 1/3). Some rarely
exerted control over prisoners. Conclusion that prisoners were conforming to social
roles may have been overstated and dispositional influences may have played a
large part
Ethical Issues: Lack of fully informed consent (Participants unaware they were going
to be arrested at home), protection of participants (suffered distress &
humiliation/guards had to face up to their sadistic behaviour which may have
caused long-term psychological damage)
Interviews after the study showed no long-term effects were present
Obedience
Obedience: Compliance with an order from another individual (higher status) to carry
out a specific action
Much interest into obedience stemmed from the extreme obedience that took place in
Nazi Germany
Research into Obedience – Milgram (1963)
40 male volunteers were told the purpose of this study was to examine
the role of punishment in learning. The genuine participant played the
teacher and the confederate played the learner whose task was to
memorise pairs of words. The genuine participant saw the learner
being strapped into a chair with electrodes attached to his arms Every
time the learner made a mistake, the teacher had to administer a
(fake) electric shock (15 volts – 450 volts). If the teacher was reluctant
to give the shock, they were be prompted by the experimenter to
continue “Please go on”. The study continued until the teacher refused
to continue or the learner reached 450 volts 4 times. At a certain
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