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A* Alevel Psychology Notes - Social Influence
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A* Alevel Psychology Notes - Social Influence
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AQA AS Psychology Unit 1: SocialInfluence
Introduction
This topic concerns how are behaviour can be affected by others; social influence is a major topic in
social psychology and more specifically investigates how individual thoughts, actions and feelings are
influenced by social groups. Various types of social influence include peer pressure, obedience,
leadership, conformity and persuasion. Research within this topic tends to be controversial in the
sense that it often suggests behavioural trends that we would prefer not to acknowledge. Consider
the following quote from Stanley Milgram:
“Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can
become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their
work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental
standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.”
―Stanley Milgram,Obedience to Authority
Milgram here points out an essential finding; that obedience, and our vulnerability to it, can be an
incredibly powerful barrier to morality. Moral lines we think ourselves unable to cross can wither in
the face of authority, causing ordinary people to be capable of terrible things. The importance of this
field of psychology cannot be understated; the very essence of what we consider to be ‘civilised
society’-morality, individuality and freedom of choice, are under empirical inspection. The
implications of these findings are fundamental to understanding some of the most interesting
challenges within modern society.
Conformity
Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to fit in with
a group. This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined
(involving the pressure of social norms / expectations) group pressure.
Conformity is an extremely interesting aspect of social psychology and social influence. We prize
individuality, agency and freedom in modern society yet conformity is everywhere; in our work,
home and social lives. Explanations include the idea that this evolved due our extreme dependence
on socially transmitted information and thus greater adaptability of learning strategies that
emphasise effective copying and group decision making. Suffice to say, this a strong element of
human nature-there are probably very few examples out there of people who have never been
affected by the influence of conformity (Have you?)
Key knowledge areas for the exam include:
Types of conformity
Explanations of conformity
Variables affecting conformity
Research of Solomon Asch
Research of Philip Zimbardo
,Types of Conformity
Kelman (1958) proposed three different types of conformity. Each type of conformity has a separate
set of motivating conditions, and can be defined and explained as such:
Compliance occurs when individuals conform to gain social approval or avoid social
disapproval. Fitting in is seen as desirable so this motivates conformity (Think of the link to
other psychological theories; if social acceptance is a positive reinforcer or is associated with
pleasure, we will become conditioned to seek it). Whilst the public views and behaviour
expressed by the individual change, their private beliefs do not
Internalisation occurs when individuals conforms because of acceptance of a group’s view.
Internal analysis and acceptance of a previously alternate viewpoint will result in the
individual changing their beliefs and behaviours in line with the group, particularly likely if
the group is trustworthy or perceived to be expert. Both publicly expressed and private
views change
Identification occurs when an individual desires to be associated with a particular group,
and they adopt the group’s attitude and behaviours in order for a sense of belonging. This
has elements of compliance, as the purpose of conformity is social acceptance, but also of
internalisation, as the individual internally accepts the group view
-Evaluation
A simple evaluation point of Kelman’s conformity theory is that it can be difficult to fully distinguish
between compliance and internalisation. The theory assumes that a person who public conforms
yet privately disagrees is exhibiting compliance. However, it is also possible that initial public
conformity later erodes perhaps due to forgetting of information or receipt of new information. The
theory also assumes that public and private conformity represents internalisation, yet this could be
down to self-perception (changing their beliefs to support their actions) they take the position as
their own.
Explanations for Conformity
Two key explanations exist for conformity. The first of these is normative social influence, which is
particularly related to the compliance form of conformity. It posits that humanities social nature
creates an inherent need for companionship and fear of social rejection. This forms the basis of
normative social influence; the desire to be liked – when we conform to fit in with the group
because we don’t want to appear foolish or be left out.
A useful study for further AO1 points is Nail (1986). Nail investigated whether group surveillance was
an important factor in the occurrence of normative social influence. He found that lack of group
surveillance decreases internalisation (So the two variables have a positive relationship), as people
tend to conform to the majority position in public but this does not carry into private settings.
-Evaluation
US research has suggested a link between people’s normative beliefs and the likelihood of
smoking. Linkenbach & Perkins (2003) found that exposure to the simple message that their peers
didn’t smoke decreased taking up of smoking in adolescents. This supports the idea that people
shape their behaviour to fit in with their reference group. (Eval: Culture bias and generalisation)
, An interesting further research avenue is to what extent people realise normative social influence
affects them. Nolan et al (2008) investigated whether people detected the influence of social norms
on their own energy conservation behaviour. When asked, people believed the behaviour of others
at the least impact on their own energy conservation, yet results showed it had the strongest
impact. This shows an interesting facet of our nature; why do we conform as readily as we deny it?
A further explanation for conformity is informational social influence, which occurs when an
individual accepts information from others as sufficient evidence about reality to change their
beliefs. This is thus more related to internalisation. It holds that as well as having a need for
acceptance we have a need to feel that we have valid beliefs. If fact checking isn’t possible, we rely
on the opinions of others (consider how often fact-checking was possible in a prehistoric
environment, and how this might relate to computational group decision models).
Informational social influence is more likely in an ambiguous situation, or when the opinions of
others are perceived as higher in expertise. As a result, the individual changes not just their public
behaviour but also the private beliefs attached to that behaviour.
-Evaluation
Wittenbreck & Henley (1996) investigated whether exposure to others beliefs had an influence on
social stereotypes i.e. our beliefs about others. He found that participants exposed to negative
majority information about African Americans later reported more negative beliefs about black
individuals (What might research in this area accomplish when it comes to combating racism?).
Research has also shown how informational social influence can shape political opinion. Fein et al
(2007) demonstrated that judgements of a US candidate’s election debate performance were
positively related to exposure to others reactions. Both these examples suggest that exposure to
information can change our beliefs in the right circumstances.
A very interesting further evaluation point is that the impact of informational majority influence
depends on the task. For some judgements criteria for analysis is non-social and objective (e.g.
height of Albert Einstein), however for others judgement criteria is non-objective and must be made
on the basis of social consensus (e.g. attractiveness of Albert Einstein). Research by Laughlin in 1999
supports the natural inference of this; that majorities exert greater informational social influence on
issues of social rather than physical reality.
Exam Style Questions
Distinguish between compliance and internalisation (2 marks, AO1)
Jerry is watching the new Star Wars films with his friends Jeff and Jason. After the movie Jeff and
Jason keep joking and discussing how amazing the movie was. Jerry joins in even though he thinks
you can never beat the originals.
With references to Jerry’s action, explain how normative social influence works (4 marks, AO2)
Outline and evaluate normative and informational explanations of conformity (12 marks, 6 AO1 + 6
AO3/16 marks A2)
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