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Detailed Essay Plans covering all topics Social Influence topics

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  • Course
  • Social Influence
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  • AQA
  • Book
  • Psychology A Level Year 1 and AS: The Complete Companion Student Book for AQA

This document covers every possible essay that may come up for Social Influence (AQA A-Level Psychology). They are simplified and easy to learn yet still have lots of detail to ensure you achieve the highest grade possible. There are abbreviations throughout that you should understand as a psycholo...

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  • August 21, 2023
  • 17
  • 2023/2024
  • Essay
  • Unknown
  • A+

Subjects

  • social influence
  • a level psychology
  • conformity
  • obedience
  • minority influence
  • asche
  • milgram
  • zimbardo
  • resistance to social influence

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Essay Plans




Social Influence
Paper 1 - Section A

,Types of conformity

Outline types of conformity (6)

Compliance (AO1)
● Change behaviour to fit in with the group - most favourable outcome
● Public acceptance not private - most superficial / not permanent
● Likely to be linked to NSI
● E.g laughing at a joke you don’t find funny

Internalisation (AO1)
● Behaviour / belief of the majority is accepted by the individual
● Public / private acceptance - most permanent / lasts if majority isn’t present
● Linked to ISI
● E.g a person becomes vegan after living with vegans

Identification (AO1)
● Conform to behaviour / belief of the group as you value them / want to fit in
● Public acceptance - maybe not a private change (temporary)
● Involves role models
● Looks to group for guidance
● E.g trying a spicy dish your friends made, but you don’t like spice

,Explanations of conformity

Steph: ‘I have become quite passionate about it’
Jeff’s: ‘Everyone else was striking and I didn’t want to be the only one who wasn’t’

Polly asks her friends what they’re wearing - she doesn’t like to be the odd one out
Jed watches his colleagues when he starts a new job so he can work out where to
put his things / how long to take for lunch

Discuss explanations for conformity, refer to the conversations (8) / (16)

Para 1 → Outline: normative social influence (AO1)
● Social rules that govern behaviour - need to be seen as a member / fit in
● Desire for social approval / acceptance / avoidance of rejection
● Conformity is public / not private agreement (compliance)
● Change in attitude / behaviour is temporary

Para 2 → Outline: informative social influence (AO1)
● Conformity driven by the need to be right / have accurate perception of reality
● Conformity due to uncertainty about correct responses / behaviour
● Believe the group has more knowledge / expertise
● Public behaviour / private opinion match (internalisation)
● Change in attitude/behaviour is likely to be more permanent

Application: (AO2)
● Steph - conformed for informational reasons
● She has become ‘passionate’ suggesting permanent change / internalisation
● Jeff - conformed for normative reasons
● Didn’t want to be the ‘odd one out’ suggesting temporary behaviour / compliance
● Polly’s - NSI as she is wanting to be the same as everyone else / be part of the norm
● Jed - ISI - using colleagues as a source of information

Para 3 → Strengths: evidence for NSI - Asche (AO3)
● Unambiguous (obvious) task ↓
● P’s said they knew the correct answer / but conformed to fit in

Para 4 → Strengths: evidence for ISI - Jennes (AO3)
● Ambiguous task (not obvious) - beans in a jar
● P’s changed their answer after talking to a group
● They believed the group was more likely to be right

Para 5 → Weakness: individual differences (AO3)
● Factors that distinguish people - intelligence, traits, culture…
● nAffiliators have a bigger need to be liked
● They are more likely to conform as they need to be liked
Para 6 → Weakness: dual-process model (AO3)
● Although it’s suggested there are two distinct types of social influence
● The 2 could work together to influence conformity
● In Asche’s study people influenced by NSI (thought they'd misunderstood) / ISI
● You can’t always determine between ISI and NSI

, Variables affecting conformity

Outline Asch’s findings in relation to two variables affecting conformity (16)
Outline and evaluate Asch’s conformity research (8) / (16)

Para 1 → Outline: Asch’s studies (AO1)
● Conformity is the tendency to adopt the behaviour, attitudes, values of a group
● P’s (123 male USA) said aloud which of 3 lines matched standard (unambiguous)
● Groups of 7-9 - all confederates and 1 naive participant
● 12 trials - confederate gave wrong answer / 6 trials - confederate gave right answer
● 37% in the 12 trials incorrect / 75% conformed at least once / 25% never conformed
● Reasons: wanted to please experimenter / misunderstood/ didn’t want to embarrass
themselves / genuinely believed their answer / thought their eyesight was bad
● Conclusion: p’s often go along with something they know to be wrong - compliance

Para 2 → Outline: variations (AO1)
● Asch made variations to investigate the variables that affect conformity
● P’s write down answer = less conformity (less judgement)
● 3 confederates = same / 2 confederates = conformity dropped (no majority)
● Smaller difference (harder) = increased conformity
● Found 3 variables affect conformity group size / unanimity / task difficulty
Para 3 → Weakness: ‘child of it’s time’ (AO3)
● Asch’s findings may not be so relevant today
● Outcome may have been influenced by social attitudes of the 1950s
● At the time in the US conformity was important
● Post-war attitudes people should work together / consent NOT dissent
● Later on, Perin repeated the study in the UK - found 1 conforming result out of 396
● However when they used youths on probation as p’s and probation officers as confederates,
they found similar conformity to Asche
● Confirmed conformity is likely if the perceived costs of not conforming are high
Para 4 → Weakness: artificial (AO3)
● Lab study / standardised procedures = good internal validity
● Artificial task - p’s not invested / don’t care if wrong
● DC’s - p’s may have guess the aim of the study
● P’s may have wanted to impress other so conformity increased
● All these factors would have affected the answers of the p’s = bad validity

Para 5 → Weakness: unrepresentative (AO3)
● Gender bias as only use males - do findings apply to women
● Volunteers - do their personalities apply to the general population
● Culture bias as only used white Americans - can’t apply findings to other cultures
● Smith analysed results from Asche-type studies in different cultures
● Conformity in individualist cultures (Europe / UK) was 25% whereas in collectivist cultures
(Africa / Asia) was 37%
● Asch's study therefore lacks ecological validity as the findings can’t be generalised
Para 6 → Weakness: ethical issue (AO3)
● Deception - p’s didn't know true aim / thought it was a study into perception
● Informed consent - couldn’t give informed consent as they didn’t know aim
● Protection from harm - p’s were put in a stressful and embarrassing situation
● But no more than normal life

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