Social influence is the study of behaviour and attitudes and how they can be adapted when under the influence of another individual or group.
Within this is module there are some key topics that must be covered...
- CONFORMITY
- OBEDIENCE
- MINORITY INFLUENCE
- SOCIAL CHANGE
Within conformity, it can be broken down into three main types; compliance, which takes into account the view of an individual in a group. this viewpoint is altered to agreeing with the majority in public but privately disagreeing. This represents a temporary change for the individual to fit in with the majority group. Secondly, internalisation that represents the deepest form of conformity as the change alters both public and private viewpoints. Lastly, identification is an example of conformity towards a social role - this is seen in the Stanford Prison Experiment with Zimbardo.
The explanations for conformity are based on two ideas, normative and informational social influence. The normative explanation takes into account how people behave in order to fit in with a group along with the desire to be liked by the majority. Therefore presenting a strong correlation towards compliance because this is a temporary change in order to fit in. Whereas informational explanations are on the basis that people conform to those who are believed to be more knowledgeable and have the correct method of doing something.
KEY STUDIES:
ASCH:
AIM: Asch wanted to investigate whether people would conform to the majority in situations where an answer was obvious.
PROCEDURE: In Asch’s study there were 5-7 participants per group. Each group was presented with a standard line and three comparison lines. Participants had to say aloud which comparison line matched the standard line in length. In each group, there was only one true participant the remaining 6 were confederates. The Confederates were told to give the incorrect answer on 12 out of 18 trails.
RESULTS: True participants conformed on 32% of the critical trials where confederates gave the wrong answers. Additionally, 75% of the sample conformed to the majority on at least one trial.
ZIMBARDO:
AIM: Zimbardo wanted to investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
PROCEDURE: To study the roles people play in prison situations, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. He advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for a fortnight. Participants were randomly assigned to either the role of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison environment.
Prisoners were issued a uniform and referred to by their number only. Guards were issued a khaki uniform, together with whistles, handcuffs and dark glasses, to make eye contact with prisoners impossible. The guards worked shifts of eight hours each (the other guards remained on call). No physical violence was permitted.
Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards (as a researcher), and also acted as the prison warden.
FINDINGS: Within a very short time both guards and prisoners were settling into their new roles, with the guards adopting theirs quickly and easily. Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner, apparently enjoying it. Other guards joined in, and other prisoners were also tormented.
The prisoners soon adopted prisoner-like behaviour too. They talked about prison issues a great deal of the time. They ‘told tales’ on each other to the guards. They started taking the prison rules very seriously, and some even began siding with the guards against prisoners who did not obey the rules.
As the prisoners became more submissive, the guards became more aggressive and assertive. They demanded ever greater obedience from the prisoners. The prisoners were dependent on the guards for everything so tried to find ways to please the guards, such as telling tales on fellow prisoners.
MILGRAM:
AIM: Milgram wanted to know why Germans were willing to kill Jews during the Holocaust. He thought that it might have been because German’s were just evil. He thought that Americans were different and would not have followed such orders. To test this ‘German’s are different’ hypothesis he carried out this study.
PROCEDURE: Milgram wanted to see whether people would obey a legitimate authority figure when given instructions to harm another human being.
To test this he created a set up in which two participants were assigned either the role of a teacher (this was always given to the true participant) or learner (a confederate called Mr Wallace).
The teacher and learner were put into separate rooms. The teacher was then asked by the experimenter (who wore a lab coat) to administer electric shocks (which were actually harmless) to the learner each time he gave the wrong answer. These shocks increased every time the learner gave a wrong answer, from 15 - 450 volts.
The experimenter (Mr Williams) wore a grey lab coat and his role was to give a series of orders/prods when the participant refused to administer a shock. There were 4 prods and if one was not obeyed then the experimenter read out the next prod, and so on.
Prod 1: please continue.
Prod 2: the experiment requires you to continue.
Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
Prod 4: you have no other choice but to continue.
RESULTS: The results were that all participants went to 300 volts and 65% were willing to go all the way to 450 volts. Milgram did more than one experiment – he carried out 18 variations of his study.
All he did was alter the situation (IV) to see how this affected obedience (DV). For example, when the experimenter instructed and prompted the teacher by telephone from another room, obedience fell to 20.5%.
The agentic state was a theory that was tested as an explanation for obedience, aspects of this is found in the Milgram study. It focuses on whether the authority will take responsibility for the consequences - therefore in some cases increasing obedience rates. Within the Milgram study, some participants were more likely to obey the authorities 'continue' prods because they believed that the authority, in this case, the experimenters would take responsibility for the shocks being administered.
This also relates to legitimate authority, depending on the amount of legitimacy centred around the figure will depend on how individuals will respond. In the case of Milgram, participants believed the experimenters to be legitimate figures, therefore increasing obedience rates.
Situational factors were also explored in this experiment when using uniform, location and proximity. Firstly, the experimenter wore a lab coat which increased his legitimacy in comparison to everyday clothes meaning that obedience rates were increased. Secondly, the original experiment location was at the prestigious Yale University - setting a high standard of credibility. whereas in the variations the experiment was moved to a set of run-down offices that mean obedience rates dropped. Lastly, the original Milgram experiment had the authority figures in the same room whereas in the variation these were contactable through a phone leading obedience rates to drop.
Dispositional explanations were also formulated on the basis of one's personality, suggesting that some individuals favour the authoritarian personality and obedient to those of a higher status. In contrast to this, there is also the resistance to social influence meaning those who refuse to obey and conform.
Social support was a theory reinforced by Asch who created dissidents who were confederates who did not conform. This allowed participants to have confidence in their own ability to not just conform with the majority.
Locus of control refers to the amount of control one has over the actions in their own life and how much responsibility they claim for this. On a line, you can be directed to either an internal or external locus of control. An internal locus means that as an individual you have a high amount of control over the events that occur in your life. Whereas a high external locus means that events in your life happen outside of your control by external factors.
Minority influence occurs when a small group influence a larger group. However, in order to enforce this three factors are needed - consistency, flexibility and commitment to the aim. This has been backed up by the research of psychologist Moscovici...
KEY STUDY:
MOSCOVICI:
AIM: Moscovici stated that being consistent and unchanging in a view is more likely to influence the majority than if a minority is inconsistent and chops and changes their mind.
PROCEDURE: Moscovici conducted an experiment in which female participants were shown 36 blue slides of different intensity and asked to report the colours. There were two confederates (the minority) and four participants (the majority).
In the first part of the experiment the two confederates answered green for each of the 36 slides. They were totally consistent in their responses. In the second part of the experiment, they answered green 24 times and blue 12 times. In this case, they were inconsistent in their answers. A control group was also used consisting of participants only – no confederates.
FINDINGS: When the Confederates were consistent in their answers about 8% of participants said the slides were green. When the confederates answered inconsistently about 1% of participants Said the slides were green.
Social change is when a large society adopts a new belief or behaviour more often than not this is because of a minority influence also an internal locus of control and disobedience to authority. A key example I like to use is the Suffragette movement, once the minority gain a small following the snowball effect starts to occur meaning that social change is inevitable. In the long term, this will result in crypto amnesia in which the social change becomes law, meaning that the minority is dominant but most people forget it was ever a minority concern - the social change just becomes the norm.
I hope you found this brief overview helpful, as some of you may know I'm just going into year 13 so any sort of revision that could also help other people is completely worthwhile! Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I should be doing some more of these preferably centred around the novels and plays I study in English.
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