Lecture Notes on Psychology Revision

Introduction

• Daily Patreon live streams until Paper 2 and before Paper 3.
• Total of 20 hours planned.
• Available to all signups and above.
• Encourages downloading 2022 AQA past papers.
• Video summarizes social influence content.
• Longer videos available for full explanations.
• Psych Boost App for active learning with flashcards.
• Over 16 hours of tutorial support on Patreon.

Conformity

Types of Conformity (Kelman, 1958)

• Compliance: External agreement, internal disagreement. Temporary behavior change.
• Identification: Behavior and values change with group but revert back.
• Internalization: Genuine change in personal opinions, permanent change.

Influences

• Normative Social Influence (NSI): Driven by desire to be liked.
• Informational Social Influence (ISI): Driven by desire to be correct.

Asch's Study (1951)

• Line judgment task with confederates.
• Conformity rate 32% in critical trials.
• Variables influencing conformity: Group size, unanimity, task difficulty.
• Evaluations: High internal validity, cultural variations in conformity.

Social Roles

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

• Fake prison setup, random assignment of roles.
• Guards became abusive; prisoners showed stress.
• Evaluations: Ethical concerns, influence of environment on behavior.

Obedience

Milgram's Experiment (1963)

• Study on obedience with shock generator.
• 65% of participants obeyed to the maximum voltage.
• Influencing factors: Proximity, location, uniform.
• Evaluations: Methodological and ethical criticisms, cultural differences.

Explanations for Obedience

• Agentic State: Shifting responsibility to authority.
• Legitimacy of Authority: Socialization and visible symbols.

Authoritarian Personality

• Proposed by Adorno to explain obedience in WWII.
• Authoritarian personality linked to strict upbringing.
• Evaluations: F-scale as a measure criticized for bias.

Resistance to Social Influence

• Social Support: Reduces pressure to conform/obey.
• Locus of Control (Rotter, 1966): Internal vs. external control of actions.

Minority Influence and Social Change

• Consistency, commitment, and flexibility as key factors.
• Snowball Effect: Gradual conversion of majority views.
• Evaluations: Real-world applications and limitations of controlled experiments.

Tools for Revision

• Psych Boost App for testing knowledge.
• Patreon resources for deeper learning.

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to patrons for support in developing free psychology courses.