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1.1 Content social psychology A level edexcel
- Module
- Unit 1 - Social psychology
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
includes in-depth notes of required AO1 and AO3 knowledge to get A* in A levels
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1.1.1 - Theories of Obedience, including agency theory & social impact theory:
What is obedience?
An individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is usually an authority figure.
What is agency theory?
The theory suggests that there are two states:
Agentic state: become an agent to someone else and give your responsibility to them.
Autonomous state: state of free will and take responsibility for their own actions.
—> Moral strain is where the individual may feel anxiety and uncomfortable but will still carry out the immoral act given as an order (they
will be in an agentic state).
What is social impact theory?
Bibb Latané (1981) proposed an alternative theory of obedience which focuses on the presence or actions of others.
Social impact theory is a model that explains how social forces can influence an individual. The theory proposes that the strength,
immediacy, and number of sources of social influence determine the amount of influence a person experiences in group settings
What are the three laws of behaviour?
1. Social forces
2. Psychosocial law
3. Divisions of impact
what are the three social forces?
Strength: determined by the status, authority or age of the source.
Immediacy: determined by the proximity or distance between the source and target as well as the presence of buffers that could be
barriers to the distance.
Numbers: refers to the number of sources exerting pressure on the target.
Latané suggests a mathematical equation to work out the Social Impact in any situation. This is i = f (SIN) where Strength (S), Immediacy (I)
and Numbers (N).
What is the psychosocial law?
The idea that the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people, and the rest of the sources generate less and less Social
Force.
The effect is like a lightbulb in a dark room. One lightbulb will have a dramatic effect, a second will improve the lighting conditions, but as
more lightbulbs are added, the effect will become less pronounced.
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, Berkowitz, Bickman and Milgram (1969) conducted a study that demonstrates this reduction in social impact. They got between 1 to 15
congregate on the street and crane their necks up. The video was analysed to find the number of passer-by s who stopped. They found that
although the increasing number of confederates craning their necks did increase, the number of passer-by imitating their actions was smaller
relative to the confederate group. The effect was levelled off.
What is the multiplication vs division of impact?
If all the force is directed at a single person, that puts a huge pressure on them to conform or obey but if the force is directed at two people,
they only experience half as much pressure each. If there are ten of them, they only feel one tenth of the pressure. This is known as diffusion
of responsibility - the more of you there are, the less personal responsibility each of you will feel.
This can also be known as the division effect - where the number of targets to be influenced divides the effect of the impact of the source.
Latane and Darley (1970) demonstrated the divisional effect in a number of studies on bystander behaviour. They found a lone person was
more likely to help someone in need compared to a group pf people.
1.1.2 - Research into obedience, including Milgram’s research into obedience and three of his variation studies:
What is Milgram’s original study (1963)?
Aim: To see whether individuals would inflict harm on another innocent individual when given orders by an authority figure.
Procedure: He put out an advert looking for 40 males participants aged between 20-50 years who were paid $4.50 for just turning up. The
experiment took place in controlled Yale university setting. Through a rigged draw, the participant was always given the role of the teacher
and a confederate of Milgrams (Mr Wallace) was given the role of a learner. There was also another confederate (the experimenter) who was
dressed up in a grey lab coat (this was not milgram). The teacher (participant) witnesses the leaner being strapped to a chair with electrolytes.
The learner is given a list of word pairs to learn. The teacher asks the learner questions on them and if the learner gets them wrong, the
teacher has to administer shocks to the learner. The shocks go up from 15 volts to 450 volts in 45 volt intervals. A box recording of the
learner screaming in pain is played every time for each shock. When the teacher refused to administer shocks, the experimenter was to give a
series of verbal prods such as “the experiment requires you to continue.” …. “please continue”.
Results: 65% of the participants went all the way to 450 volts and 100% of the participants went up to 300 volts.
Conclusion: majority of the participants were willing to inflict harm on another person when given orders by an authority figure but a lot of
people showed signs of moral strain (anxiety and distress). A more realistic explanation is that the situation they were in influenced them and
caused them to behave in the way that they did. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.
What are the strengths of Milgram’s original study?
Somewhat ethical - participants were debriefed at the end and were also allowed to withdraw from the study at anytime but that was not
made clear due to the verbal prods given.
The results can be used in real life settings. For example, Hofling (1966) conducted a study in a hospital where nurses were telephoned
by a doctor who asked that they administered a drug to a patient. This order went against hospital regulations in a number of ways;
nurses were not suppose to take instructions over the phone, the instructions were from an unknown doctor and the dosage of the drug
was twice the that advised on the bottle. Nevertheless, 21 out of 22 (95%) nurses did as requested. This demonstrates obedience to
authority figure happens in real-life settings.
This study backs up by agency theory. This is because the participants were in an agentic state.
Usefulness – the experiment is useful because it does provide some support for the hypothesis that ‘Nazi soldiers were fundamentally
different to normal people”. The study is useful because it tells us that we have a tendency to follow people with authority.
Done in controlled environment so it can be replicated, this means that the results can be compared, this means this experiment is
reliable.
Quantitative data – the collection of quantitative data is a strength because it is easy to compare, easy to analyse and can be easily tested
for reliability.
What are the weaknesses of Milgram’s original study?
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