Social Influence (Kelman’s Theory)
What are the three types of social influence identified by Kelman in 1958?
Compliance, identification, and internalisation
What is obedience in the context of social psychology?
It is following orders or instructions from an authority figure
What is normative influence?
Conforming to be liked or accepted by a group
What is normative influence?
It is when people conform to fit in or be liked by others
What happens to conformity when the group size increases up to about 3–4 people?
Conformity increases, but adding more people after that doesn’t make a big difference until about 15-20 people
Which type of social influence involves accepting influence because it aligns with one’s own values?
Internalisation
How does obedience differ from conformity?
Obedience involves authority and direct orders.
Conformity involves peer pressure and social norms
What factor did Asch manipulate in his line judgement task to test conformity?
Group unanimity
What is informational influence?
It is when people conform because they think others know more or are right
What does unanimity mean in a group setting?
When everyone in the group gives the same answer or opinion
What is the key difference between compliance and identification in Kelman’s theory?
Compliance is public agreement without private acceptance.
Identification involves adopting behaviour to be associated with a group or person
What was the method used in Milgram’s 1963 study?
It was a lab experiment where participants believed they were administering electric shocks to a learner
What was the aim of Asch’s 1951 study?
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
Give an example of normative influence.
Example could be dressing a certain way because your friends do/doing the same activities because your friendsaredoing it (accept any other similar answer)
How does unanimity affect conformity?
People are more likely to conform when the group is unanimous
What was the aim of Kelman’s 1958 study on social influence?
To find out how and why people change their attitudes or behaviour when influenced by others in different situations
What was one key finding from Milgram’s study?
65% of participants administered the highest level of shock, showing high levels of obedience to authority?
What is deindividuation and how does it affect conformity?
It is the loss of self-awareness in groups, which can increase conformity due to reduced accountability
Give an example of informational influence.
Example could be agreeing with others on a tricky question because you think they know the answer. (accept any other similar answer)
What is deindividuation?
It is when people lose their sense of individuality in a group and act in ways they normally wouldn’t
Name one criticism or limitation of Kelman’s social influence theory.
That it makes social behaviour seem too simple and doesn’t have enough research to back it up
Name one ethical criticism of Milgram’s study.
It caused psychological distress and deception was used without informed consent
Name one limitation of Asch’s study.
It lacks ecological validity because it was conducted in an artificial setting. Ecological validity refers to how well the results of a study apply to real-life situations
How do normative and informational influence differ?
Normative is about fitting in, while informational is about believing others are correct
How can culture affect conformity?
People from collectivist cultures tend to conform more than those from individualist cultures