Lecture Notes: Social Influence and Psychology Exam Preparation

Introduction

• Daily Patreon live streams until Paper 2, and a few before Paper 3.
• A total of 20 hours of live streams available for all signup levels.
• Encouragement to use AQA 2022 past papers for revision.
• Condensed content from social influence videos into a revision video.
• Recommended to use longer videos for detailed explanations.
• Additional resources:
  • Psych Boost App for knowledge testing with flashcards (Paper 1 free).
  • Over 16 hours of tutorial support videos on Patreon.

Types of Conformity (Asch, 1958)

• Compliance (Shallow): Agree externally, keep personal opinions, temporary behavior change.
• Identification (Intermediate): Behavior and private values change with the group, temporary.
• Internalization (Deep): Permanent personal opinion change due to the group.

Influences on Conformity

• Normative Social Influence (NSI): Desire to be liked, temporary change.
• Informational Social Influence (ISI): Desire to be correct, permanent change.

Asch's Line Judgment Task (1951)

• Experiment with deception: Only one genuine participant among Confederates.
• Results:
  • 32% conformity rate in critical trials.
  • 75% conformed at least once.
  • Group size affects conformity: 3% (1 confederate), 13.3% (2 confederates), 33% (3 confederates).
  • Unanimity reduces conformity: Addition of a correct-answer confederate drops rate to 5.5%.
  • Task difficulty increases ISI.

Evaluation

• Supports NSI: Desire to avoid rejection despite clear correct answers.
• Task ambiguity increases reliance on ISI.
• Cultural differences and lack of mundane realism noted.

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

• 24 male students assigned roles of guards or prisoners, showing role adaptation.
• Experiment halted early due to extreme behaviors.
• Evaluations:
  • Insight into social roles and behavior.
  • Ethical concerns and methodological criticisms.

Explanations for Obedience

• Milgram's Study (1963):
  • Demonstrated destructive obedience to authority figures.
  • Agentic state: Individuals feel no personal responsibility.
  • Legitimacy of authority emphasized.
  • Variations showed task and context influence obedience.

Evaluation

• Methodological criticisms: Lack of ecological validity, demand characteristics.
• Ethical issues: Participant distress due to deception.

Authoritarian Personality Theory (Adorno)

• Dispositional explanation for high obedience.
• Characteristics: High respect for authority, hostility towards lower status individuals.
• Criticisms: F-scale acquiescence bias, oversimplification of historical events.

Resistance to Social Influence

• Social Support: Observing others resist reduces conformity and obedience pressure.
• Locus of Control (Rotter, 1966):
  • Internal locus: Better resistance to social pressure.
  • External locus: Less empowered, more conforming.

Minority Influence and Social Change

• Consistency: Stability of minority beliefs influences majority.
• Commitment and Flexibility: Balance leads to influence.
• Snowball Effect: Gradual acceptance of minority views by majority.

Evaluation

• Studies like Moscovici (1969) support minority influence.
• Real-world implications: Civil rights movements, LGBT rights.

Conclusion

• Continuous testing and revision recommended using available apps and resources.
• Special thanks and encouragement to patrons and developers supporting educational resources.