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Summary AQA Psychology A Level - social influence notes

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- Notes on the whole of the social influence topic - Based on the Psychology A Level Year 1 and AS: The Complete Companion Student Book for AQA

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  • Social influence
  • September 14, 2023
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  • 2022/2023
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Social influence
Social influence = the study of the ways which peoples thoughts, feelings and behaviours are affected by
other people


Types of conformity and explanations for conformity

Conformity = is the tendency to change what we do, think or say in response to the influence of real or
perceived pressure from others

Types of conformity
● Kelman suggested that there are three ways in which people conform to the opinion of a majority
Compliance:
● When individuals go along with the group in order to gain their approval or avoid their disapproval
● Agreeing with others in public whilst disagreeing in private
● Wanting to fit in (desirable) is what motivates conformity - so adjust own actions to fit in
● Results in changes in the person's views and behaviours they express in public
● Shallowest level of conformity
Identification:
● Individual may accept influence as they want to be associated with another person or the group
● Adopt the groups attitudes or behaviours to feel more of a part of it
● Individual accepts the attitudes and behaviours they are adopting as right but the purpose of
adopting them is to be accepted as a member of the group
● Want to be perceived to belong by adopting a behaviour or attitude
● Often temporary change of behaviour or attitudes
● Temporary change of view
● Moderate level of conformity
Internalism:
● Individuals go along with group because of acceptance of their views
● Agreeing with other in private and in public
● Groups position may convince the individual they are wrong and the group is right so individual
changes their views
● More likely to be permanent change of view
● Deepest level of conformity
Difference between them:
● Each type has a particular set of motivation conditions which leads to a confirming response



Explanations for conformity
Normative social influence:
● Form of influence where an individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to
gain approval or to avoid social disapproval
● Humans are social species so have a fundamental need for social companionship and a fear of
rejection

, ● Want to be liked by majority even if don't agree - fit in
● Individual must believe they are under surveillance by the group - condition for normative social
influence to occur
● May not internalise the view (conform in public but not private)
● Does not endure over time
Informational social influence:
● Form of influence which is the result of a desire to be right - looking to others as a way of gaining
evidence about reality
● Conform as they genuinely believe that the majority are right so look to them for the right answer
● Occurs when an individual accept information from others as evidence about reality
● Humans need to feel confident that their perceptions and beliefs are correct
● Individuals make objective tests against reality (check the facts) but if this is not possible then
they must rely on the opinions of others
● Individual complies with behaviour but also changes their behaviour in line with the group position
● Involves changing public and private attitudes and behaviours
● Need to be right, going along because you agree



A03

1. Point: Research shows that normative influence was apparent in shaping behaviours, such as
energy conservation

Evidence: Schultz et al (2008) found that hotel guests exposed to the normative message that 75% of
guests reused their towels each day made them reduce their own towel use by 25%

Explanation: Shows that people shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in with others

Link: Therefore this study supports the power of normative influence


2. Point: Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s beliefs and opinions can shape
many aspects of social behaviour and beliefs

Evidence: Wittenbrink and Henly found that participants exposed to negative information about African
Americans (which were led to believe was the view of the majority) later reported more negative attitudes
towards black individuals

Explanation: The information produced large shifts in their judgments

Link: Therefore shows the importance of informational influence in shaping behaviour


3. Point: There is difficulties in distinguishing between when compliance and internalisation are
taking place

Explanation: E.g. It is assumed that a person who publicly agrees with the majority yet disagrees with
them in private must be demonstrating compliance rather than internalisation but it is also possible that

, acceptance of the groups views has occurred in public but dissipates later when in private. This could be
because they forgot the info given by the group or because they received new info which changed their
mind.

Link: Therefore, this shows the difficulty in determining if it is actually compliance rather than internalism




Variables affecting conformity

Key study - Asch (1956)
● He asked student volunteers to take part in a visual discrimination task
● Unknown to all the volunteers, all but one participant was a confederates (colleagues) of the
investigator
● Real purpose was to see how the ‘real’ participant would react to the behaviour of the
confederates
Procedure:
● 123 male US undergraduates
● Participants seated around a table
● Asked to look at 3 lines of different lengths
● Took turns to call out which of the 3 lines they thought was the same as the standard line
● On the 12th of the 18 trials the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer
● Asch wanted to see if the ‘real’ participants would stick to what they thought was right or cave into
pressure of the majority
Findings:
● On the 12 critical trials average conformity = 33% (participants agreed with incorrect answer)
● He discovered individual differences in conformity rates
● ¼ of the participants never conformed on any of the critical trials
● ½ conformed on 6 or more
● 1 in 20 conformed on all 12
● About 75% conformed on at least 1 trial
● Control condition (without distraction of confederates giving wrong answers) - found participants
made mistakes about 1% of the time
● Interviewed all participants afterwards and found that majority of them privately trusted their own
judgments, but changed public behaviour - gave incorrect answers to avoid disapproval from
other group members (showed compliance)



Variables affecting conformity
● Carried out a number of variations to see which variables had most significant effects on level of
conformity
Group size:
● Little conformity when majority consisted of 1 or 2 confederates (1 = 3%, 2 = 13%)
● Increases to 30% conformity when 3 confederates
● Further increases in size of majority did not increase level of conformity substantially - showing
size of majority is important but only up to a certain point

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