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Social Influence
All key terms and key studies from Social Influence - AQA
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Compliance | Superficial type of conformity where people conform publicly by privately disagree |
Internalisation | Where people change their beliefs permanently |
Identification | Where people change their beliefs (sometimes temporarily) to fit in with a group or want to appear to belong to the group |
Normative social influence | An explanation for conformity which says we conform in order to fit in |
Informational social influence | An explanation for conformity which says we conform in order to make the correct decisions |
Task difficulty | A situational variable affecting conformity; the harder the challenge, the more people conform (due to ISI) |
Group size | A situational variable affecting conformity; the bigger the majority, the more we conform (due to NSI and/or ISI) |
Unanimity of the majority | A situational variable affecting conformity; if the group all agree, we are more likely to conform (due to NSI and/or ISI) |
Proximity | A situational variable affecting obedience; the closer the authority and the further away the victim, the more we obey |
Location | A situational variable affecting obedience; the more official the environment (e.g. a University lab), the more we obey |
Uniform | A situational variable affecting obedience; a person’s official clothing may signify high status |
Allies | A situational variable affecting obedience; if other people are disobeying, we are less likely to obey |
Legitimacy of authority | An explanation for obedience which says we follow people who have power over us because they are higher up the social hierarchy, especially if they have the support of an institutional framework |
Institutional framework | The backing needed to lend legitimacy to an authority - for example, the military is the institutional framework helping superior ranks to be legitimate. |
Agentic state | Individual carries out the orders of another person, acting on their behalf – feeling no personal responsibility |
Moral strain | Negative feelings brought on by following a command that goes against our values and beliefs |
Binding factors | Factors in a study which reduce moral strain and allow us to obey (e.g. not being held responsible) |
Authoritarian Personality | A dispositional explanation for obedience that says some are taught to have extreme respect for authority, while having contempt for inferior social status. |
F Scale | Adorno’s questionnaire scale method of measuring a person’s level of authoritarianism |
Social support | An explanation for resistance to social influence which states it is easier to resist if other people are resisting – since negative consequences are shared. |
Internal locus of control | An explanation for resistance to social influence which focuses on individual beliefs. Those with this mindset believe that they are responsible for their future and prefer to be leaders, so are less likely to obey or conform. |
Consistency | A characteristic needed by a minority to be influential. Keeping the same goals throughout. |
Commitment | A characteristic needed by a minority to be influential. Being willing to take risks and stick to your cause. |
Flexibility | A characteristic needed by a minority to be influential. Being reasonable and able to compromise |
Drawing attention to the issue | The first step needed for a social change to occur; the minority must be visible and vocal, by making protests |
Cognitive conflict | When the majority have to consider the minority's views, and it creates a debate |
Augmentation principle | A vital stage in social change whereby the minority takes risks and is willing to make sacrifices |
Snowball effect | Where the members of the majority slowly begin to agree with the minority, who convince other members, who then convince other members in an exponential way |
Jenness | Participants guessing the number of beans in a jar would change their second guess to be closer to the group estimate |
Asch | Participants conformed to confederates and said the wrong answer in a simple line-matching task 33% of the time |
Asch variations | Changed the difficulty of the task, the group size, the unanimity of the majority and whether they answered out loud or in private |
Zimbardo | Created a fake prison environment at Stanford University to see if student participants would conform to their roles |
Milgram | Got 65% of participants to 'shock' a confederate to 450Vs, just because of the presence of an authority figure in a lab coat |
Milgram variations | Changed the proximity of the authority and victim, tried with and without the lab coat, and moved the experiment to a run-down office |
Hofling | Studied obedience in real life hospital, where 21/22 nurses broke strict rules because an unknown doctor told them to over the phone |
Adorno | Created the Authoritarian Personality explanation of obedience, claiming some are just more likely to be obey because of their parents |
Elms & Milgram | Discovered that obedient participants in the original shock study were likely to have a higher F score |
Avtgis | Discovered that people with a high internal locus of control were significantly less likely to be persuaded, influenced or to conform - compared to high external LoC |
Moscovici | Found that a consistent minority (8%) were significantly more influential than an inconsistent one (1%) in a colour perception test |
Nemeth & Brilmayer | Jurors were more likely to be influenced by a confederate juror who was willing to compromise over the level of compensation given to the victim |