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Summary AQA A-Level Psychology (Yr12&13)
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Paper 1Social Influence
Conformity
Introduction –
Psychologists believe that we’re subject to the forces of social influence. Many of our everyday
decisions are the result of pressures to conform to the opinions and behaviours of other people,
or to obey the commands of others.
Conformity can be defined as –
1. A change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure
2. A tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes or values of other members of a
reference group
3. Yielding to the norms of a group
We all conform to some degree whether it is explicit: “no smoking in the pub” or implicit: smiling
at someone you have just been introduced to.
The term obedience to authority is an important term in Social Psychology. It is an outcome of
social influence where an individual acts according to the orders of some authority figure. It is
assumed that without the order the person would have not acted in this way.
Types of conformity –
Kelman (1958) suggested that there are three ways in which people conform to the opinion of a
majority –
1. Compliance – this is when an individual accepts the views of the majority in public but
maintains their own ideas in private. This is usually to gain the approval of the group. It is
the most superficial level of conformity as the behaviour stops as soon as the group
pressure stops.
2. Identification – this is when an individual publicly changes opinions to that of the group
because they value the group, even though they don’t privately agree with it. This is
therefore the second level of conformity.
3. Internalisation – this refers to going along with the group because you’ve fully accepted
their view. This is a permanent conformity in which you genuinely accept group norms.
The change in opinion and/or behaviour will continue even without the group being
present.
Explanations for conformity –
,People conform for many reasons, from complete acceptance of the group’s viewpoint
(internalisation), to just ‘going along’ with the crowd (compliance/identification). However, there
are two main reasons why people conform. They are based on two central human needs – the
desire to be right and the desire to be liked.
1. Normative social influence – is our desire to be liked - public conformity -
compliance/identification.
○ People don’t like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval rather than
be rejected.
○ It is an emotive rather than a cognitive process.
○ NSI is most likely to occur in situations with strangers
★ Evaluation –
○ (+) Research support – we can see NSI in habits like smoking.
Norms bring about conformity. In a campaign aimed at 12-17 year
olds in seven counties in Montana, Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)
found only 10% of non-smoker took up smoking following
exposure to a message that most children in their age group didn’t
smoke. In the control conditions (countries where the campaign
was not run) 17% of non-smokers took up smoking. This
difference can be attributed to normative social influence.
2. Informational social influence – is our desire to be right - identification or internalisation.
○ Going along with the group because they genuinely believe they are right.
○ It is a cognitive rather than an emotive process.
○ ISI is most likely to occur in situations that are new to the individual or in crisis
situations.
★ Evaluation –
○ (+) Research support – Fein (2007) showed how political opinions
could be shaped merely by seeing other people’s reactions to
them. Participants saw what they were told was other people’s
reactions to a televised US presidential debate on a screen. This
produced big shifts in participants’ judgements of the candidates’
performance. This shows the power of informational influence in
shaping opinion.
Research into conformity: Asch –
Asch (1956) carried out a study into conformity in which he asked students to volunteer in a
‘vision test’. All but one participant were real (naive) participants, whereas the others were
confederates. Participants were all seated in a room and asked to look at lines of different
lengths, and then were asked which of the three lines was the same length as the standard line.
The answer was always obvious but the confederates gave the wrong answer. Asch wanted to
find out if people would stick to what they believed to be right or conform to the pressure of the
majority.
,Procedure:
○ 123 American male undergraduates (naive participants).
○ They were put one at a time in a room with 6 confederates.
○ There were 18 trials but the confederates lied on 12 critical trials (giving the right
answers to the first few trials and then making errors in the following ones).
Findings:
○ There was a conformity of 36.8% in the 12 critical trials.
○ 65% of participants conformed at least once during the experiment.
Conclusion:
○ Asch interviewed his participants and found three reasons as to why people conform to
majority influence –
1. Distortion of perception – they really think they are wrong
2. Distortion of judgement – doubted accuracy of their judgement
3. Distortion of action – they didn’t want to be ridiculed
Variations of Asch’s Experiment –
○ Difficulty of the task – in one variation Asch varied the length of the line making it less
obvious (conformity increased).
○ Size of the majority – Asch found there was little conformity when the majority
consisted of one or two individuals, but when there was a majority of three the amount of
conforming responses increased to about 30%. Conformity dropped when the majority
was a small group size i.e. just two people = 12.8%. Subsequent increases in the size of
the majority did not increase the level of conformity significantly suggesting that the size
of the majority is important, but only up to a point.
○ Unanimity – When a participant gained a partner (either another real participant or a
confederate who gave the correct answer) conformity was reduced to an average of 25%
conformity.
★ Evaluation –
○ (-) Artificial situation and task – all participants were male so it has a low
population validity. It also has low ecological validity as conforming to
length of lines is unrealistic. Participants were also aware they were in a
research experiment so may have displayed demand characteristics.
○ (-) Ethical issues – participants were deceived and informed consent was
impossible. Distress was also a factor leading to psychological harm.
Research into conformity: Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment –
Zimbardo and his colleagues wanted to answer this question - do prison guards behave brutally
because they have sadistic personalities, or is it the situation that creates such behaviour?
, Procedure:
○ Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at
Stanford University.
○ Male students volunteered by responding to an advert that offered $15 per day to take
part.
○ The 24 most stable, both mentally and physically, were selected and randomly allocated
‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’.
○ The “prisoners” were unexpectedly arrested at home. On entry the prisoners were
deloused, searched, given a number and a uniform, nylon stocking cap & ankle chain.
Guards referred to prisoners by number and allowed 3 supervised loo trips and two hrs
letter writing. Guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and reflective sunglasses.
○ The social roles of the prisoners and guards were strictly divided. They were heavily
regulated and had to follow strict rules.
Findings:
○ The guards took up their roles with increasing enthusiasm. The guards became
increasingly tyrannical and some even volunteered for extra unpaid hours. They played
roles even when they weren’t being watched.
○ Within 2 days the prisoners rebelled against their harsh treatments by the guards. They
ripped their uniforms and shouted and swore at the guards.
○ The guards harassed the prisoners constantly, creating plenty of opportunities to enforce
the rules and punish even the smallest misdemeanours.
○ After the rebellion was put down, the prisoners became subdued, depressed and
anxious. One prisoner was released on the first day because he showed symptoms of
psychological disturbance. Two prisoners were released on the fourth day. One prisoner
went on hunger strike.
○ The guards identified more and more with their role. Their behaviour became brutal and
aggressive, with some of them appearing to enjoy the power they hand over the
prisoners.
○ The planned 14-day experiment was stopped after just 6 days as the behaviour became
a threat to the prisoners’ psychological and physical health.
Conclusion:
○ The simulation revealed the power of the situation to influence people’s behaviour.
Guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to their roles within the prison. These
roles were very easily taken on by the participants, even by volunteers who perform
certain functions, such as the prison chaplain.
★ Evaluation –
○ (+) Highly controlled experiment – the situation was very tightly controlled
e.g. guards and prisoners were randomly allocated and were selected
using a stringent criterion - this means that the researchers attempted to
rule out individual personality differences as an explanation for the
findings.
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