SOCIAL INFLUENCE
EXAM QUESTION ANSWER FORMAT FOR 8/16 MARKERS
Conformity
Discuss types and explanations of conformity. (16 marks)
Discuss research into conformity. (16 marks)
Discuss (Zimbardo's) research into conformity to social roles. (16 marks)
Obedience
Discuss research into obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss situational variables affecting obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss situational explanations of obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss the dispositional explanations for obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss resistance to social influence. (16 marks)
Discuss research and the features of minority influence. (16 marks)
Discuss the processes of social influence and social change. (16 marks)
, CONFORMITY
Discuss types and explanations of conformity. (16 marks)
AO1
- Conformity is the act of changing oneself to fit in with the group or be perceived as normal
- There are 3 different types of conformity:
- Internalisation, when a person changes both their private and public beliefs to match
the group
- Identification, when a person changes their public beliefs to identify with a group, but
may disagree privately
- Compliance, when a person changes their public beliefs but disagrees with the group
privately
- There are 2 different explanations for conformity, normative social influence (NSI) and
informative social influence (ISI):
- NSI explains compliance, and suggests that a person changes their public opinion to be
liked by the group as humans have an inherent need to be liked and accepted
- ISI explains internalisation, and suggests that a person changes both their private and
public beliefs as they want to be correct and trust the group as a source of information
AO3
+ Research support for NSI
+ Asch found in his lines study in 1959 that participants changed their answers even
though they knew that they were incorrect so that they would be liked by the group
+ This is a strength as it shows that NSI occurs in situations where it is completely
unnecessary to be liked by the group, but people will choose to do so anyway.
+ This increases the theories external validity as it showcases the theory in real situations
- However this study was a laboratory experiment, so some participants may have been
able to guess the aims of the study, as well as the study being inaccurate to real life
situations, thus bringing into question the validity of the support for NSI
- Individual Differences in NSI
- People conform differently in different situations, for example, personality types may
influence levels of conformity between people, such as nAffiliators who are people who
seek social approval much more than others.
- This is a weakness as it questions the explanations reliability as an explanation of
conformity, as it suggests that it cannot be applied to all individuals and that not
everyone is influenced by NSI
- One major limitation of explanations of conformity is that NSI and ISI work together
- The idea of conformity is that either ISI or NSI are responsible for conformity however
this is often not the case
- ISI and NSI have been found to influence conformity at the same time, for example,
returning to Asch’s research, the introduction of one dissenter drastically reduces
conformity levels
- This is because the dissenter relieves the participant of social norms of the group and
also encourages the participant to be confident in their own intelligence of being correct
- This is a weakness as it questions the reliability of the explanations, as they are often
incapable of being comprised into one explanation of conformity.
EXAM QUESTION ANSWER FORMAT FOR 8/16 MARKERS
Conformity
Discuss types and explanations of conformity. (16 marks)
Discuss research into conformity. (16 marks)
Discuss (Zimbardo's) research into conformity to social roles. (16 marks)
Obedience
Discuss research into obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss situational variables affecting obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss situational explanations of obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss the dispositional explanations for obedience. (16 marks)
Discuss resistance to social influence. (16 marks)
Discuss research and the features of minority influence. (16 marks)
Discuss the processes of social influence and social change. (16 marks)
, CONFORMITY
Discuss types and explanations of conformity. (16 marks)
AO1
- Conformity is the act of changing oneself to fit in with the group or be perceived as normal
- There are 3 different types of conformity:
- Internalisation, when a person changes both their private and public beliefs to match
the group
- Identification, when a person changes their public beliefs to identify with a group, but
may disagree privately
- Compliance, when a person changes their public beliefs but disagrees with the group
privately
- There are 2 different explanations for conformity, normative social influence (NSI) and
informative social influence (ISI):
- NSI explains compliance, and suggests that a person changes their public opinion to be
liked by the group as humans have an inherent need to be liked and accepted
- ISI explains internalisation, and suggests that a person changes both their private and
public beliefs as they want to be correct and trust the group as a source of information
AO3
+ Research support for NSI
+ Asch found in his lines study in 1959 that participants changed their answers even
though they knew that they were incorrect so that they would be liked by the group
+ This is a strength as it shows that NSI occurs in situations where it is completely
unnecessary to be liked by the group, but people will choose to do so anyway.
+ This increases the theories external validity as it showcases the theory in real situations
- However this study was a laboratory experiment, so some participants may have been
able to guess the aims of the study, as well as the study being inaccurate to real life
situations, thus bringing into question the validity of the support for NSI
- Individual Differences in NSI
- People conform differently in different situations, for example, personality types may
influence levels of conformity between people, such as nAffiliators who are people who
seek social approval much more than others.
- This is a weakness as it questions the explanations reliability as an explanation of
conformity, as it suggests that it cannot be applied to all individuals and that not
everyone is influenced by NSI
- One major limitation of explanations of conformity is that NSI and ISI work together
- The idea of conformity is that either ISI or NSI are responsible for conformity however
this is often not the case
- ISI and NSI have been found to influence conformity at the same time, for example,
returning to Asch’s research, the introduction of one dissenter drastically reduces
conformity levels
- This is because the dissenter relieves the participant of social norms of the group and
also encourages the participant to be confident in their own intelligence of being correct
- This is a weakness as it questions the reliability of the explanations, as they are often
incapable of being comprised into one explanation of conformity.
