Some Key Terms from Last Lesson
•
•
•
•
•
Conformity
Compliance
Identification
Internalisation
Normative Social
Influence
• Can you think of any
more?
• Cognitive dissonance
• Informational Social
Influence
• Confederates
• Situational variables
• Individual Variables
Conformity: the evidence?
Describe the studies
• Jennes – Jelly Beans
Aim
Method
Sample
Results /
Findings
Conclusions
• Asch – Majority
influence.
• Mori & Arai Conformity
Asch (1955)
Study of Majority Influence
Asch (1955)
Asch video clip
• http://www.youtube http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=TYIh4
.com/watch?v=iRh5q
MkcfJA&feature=rela
y09nNw
ted
Shorter version
(~2 mins)
Longer version
(~4 mins)
Evaluate the studies
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
Generalisability
Reliability
Application
Use GRAVER to
develop two
strengths and two
weaknesses for
Asch’s study.
Validity
Ethics
Research Method.
Evaluation
of
Asch
Evaluation
Weaknesses
Strengths


•
Child of its time – Perrin & Spencer
(1980) UK students only 1 in 396 trials
conformed.
•
Lacks generalisability?
•
Lacks ecological validity – artificial
situation and task. Demand
characteristics.
•
Unethical – participants are deceived –
participants are psychologically
stressed.
•
2/3 of participants do not conform.
• Paradigm of conformity
research. Established a
scientific procedure.
Contemporary research
• Mori & Arai (2010)
Asch without the actors.
To combat the criticism of demand characteristics, this study
uses real participants with overlapping filter glasses which
change the participants view of the stimulus only.
Minority participants answered incorrectly 19.6% of the time
compared with control of 8.2%.
Variations
Question: What impact would you expect the following to
have on levels of conformity?
Group Size
Unanimity
Task
Difficulty
Individual
Differences
Group Size
Variations – Size of the Majority
• Conformity low when majority consisted of one or two
• With majority of three, conformity rose to 30%
• Further increases did not substantially increase conformity
Unanimity
Variations – Unanimity of the Majority
• When participant was joined by another real
participant or disaffected confederate,
conformity fell from 32% to 5.5%
• If the dissenter gave a different wrong answer
conformity fell to 9%
– Asch concluded: breaking the group’s consensus
important to reduce conformity
• Abu Ghraib – Private Joe Darby
Task
Difficulty
Task Difficulty
Q
A
C
B
Differences between the lines were made smaller
Conformity increased
When task is ambiguous we look to other people
for guidance INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL
INFLUENCE.
Lucas et al. (2006)
 Conformity is moderated by self-efficacy of the individual
 E.g. When exposed to maths problems, individuals confident in
their abilities remained more independent
 Demonstrates both situational (task difficulty) and individual
differences (self-efficacy) determine conformity
Individual Differences
Individual Differences
• Gender – Do women conform more than
men?
• Mood – Do anxious people conform more
than calm people?
• Culture – Do people from collectivist cultures
conform more than those from individualist
cultures?
Real-World Applications
Real-World Applications
• Conformity in juries

– Many jurors would not want to appear to have a
different attitude to their fellow jurors
Tanford and Penrod, 1986
 1st
vote of the jury
determines the outcome
95% of the time
 Suggests conformity
pressure is a real issue in
juries
 How
could this be reduced?
Plenary Questions
Quick quiz:
1. What are the three different types of conformity?
2. How many participants were there in Asch’s study? What
gender?
3. What percentage of the responses were incorrect?
4. What percentage of the population never conformed?
5. Conformity increased when the line lengths were closer or
farther apart?
6. The size of the majority must be more than what for
individuals to conform?
7. Do men or women conform more?
1.1 & 1.2 conformity
Exam Questions
1.
In the context of conformity, explain what psychologists mean
by the term identification. (2 marks)
1.
One type of conformity is internalisation. Explain what
psychologists mean by the term internalisation. (2 marks)
2.
Outline normative social influence as an explanation for
conformity (2 marks)
3.
Internalisation, identification and compliance are all types of
conformity. Outline one difference between any two of these. (2
marks)
4.
Describe and evaluate informational social influence and
normative social influence as explanations for conformity. Refer
to evidence in your answer. (12 marks)
1.3 Exam Questions
1. One variable that affects conformity is unanimity.
Explain what is meant by unanimity in relation to
conformity. (2 marks)
2. Apart from unanimity, identify TWO variables that
have been shown to affect conformity. Briefly
outline how each of these variables affects
conformity. Refer to evidence in your answer. (6
marks)
3. Describe Asch’s study of conformity. (6 marks)
4. Describe and evaluate Asch’s research into
conformity. (12 marks)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XN2X72jrFk Film
Stanford Prison Experiment
Conformity to Social Roles 1.4
A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a
Simulated Prison
Specification
1.1
Types of conformity
internalisation, identification and compliance.
1.2
Explanations for conformity
informational social influence and normative social
influence, and variables affecting conformity
including group size, unanimity and task difficulty as
investigated by Asch.
1.3
Conformity to social roles
investigated by Zimbardo
Explanations for obedience
Agentic state and legitimacy of authority, and situational
variables
affecting obedience including proximity, location and
uniform, as investigated by Milgram.
Dispositional explanations for obedience
the Authoritarian Personality
Explanations of resistance to social
influence
including social support and locus of control
Minority influence
including reference to consistency, commitment and
flexibility
The role of social influence processes in
social change
application of the above research to examples of social
change e.g. suffragettes, Rosenstrasse Protest, racial
equality, abolition of slave trade etc
Conformity to Social Roles
• Key Term: Social Roles- the parts individuals play
as members of a social group, which meet the
expectations of that situation.
• Can you think of the social roles you play?
– Think about different situations which you experience
regularly.
– How do you act differently in each situation?
– Why is that?
• Share your answers with a partner.
• Feedback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYv3J12pARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XN2X72jrFk Film
Stanford Prison Experiment
Reading Task 1
• Skim read the text to find information to
answer the following questions.
1. What two hypotheses was Zimbardo
investigating?
2. Which hypothesis was the preferred
explanation?
– You do not need to write the answers, you can
highlight the relevant information in the text.
Reading Task 2
• Read the text again in detail.
• Decide if the following statements are true or false.
1. Zimbardo used real criminals.
2. 75 male students were used and were paid $13 a day.
3. Dehumanisation was increased by prisoners wearing
numbered smocks and the guards wearing reflective
sunglasses.
4. Guards and prisoners agreed that their behaviour was
typical.
5. According to Zimbardo, individuals conform readily to
the social roles demanded of them.
Quick Quiz Quiz Trade
• Write down five quiz questions about
Zimbardo’s study.
• You do not need to write down the answers.
• Give your questions to somebody else.
• You have a few minutes to check you know the
answers to the questions you have been
given.
• Find a partner. Quiz your partner. Swap
questions and move on to another partner.
Evaluation
G
R
A
V
E
R
Evaluation- discuss the questions in
pairs
• Do you think this study was ethical?
– Were participants kept safe from harm?
• Are there individual explanations for the
behaviours observed?
• How was the prison situation similar to real
life? How was it different?
• This experiment was repeated (under slightly
different conditions by the BBC). The results
were very different. Why is this a problem?
Exam Question 
• Describe and evaluate two studies of social
influence. [12 marks]
– What are the key words in this question?
• Describe: Give an account of.
• Evaluate: Judge from the available evidence.
– Which studies could you include?
The Mark Scheme
What to Include: A01
• Likely studies include:
– Asch
– Zimbardo
– Other relevant studies
• Describe the procedure/method, findings
and/or conclusions
• You can also get credit for referring to
variations or replications of the original study.
What to Include: A03
• The mark scheme refers to effective evaluation.
• What is that?
• Two evaluation points per study, that are clearly
explained using psychological language.
• For example: It can be argued that Zimbardo’s
simulated prison study lacks reliability. This is
because the results have not been replicated.
When a similar study (BBC Prison Study) was
completed, albeit with different ethical protocols,
the results were very different.
Let’s all have a go!
• Any questions?
• In the exam you will have about 12 minutes to
complete this question, but today you can an
extra five minutes.
• Set the clock.
• Go!
What have we learned today?
• What were the key terms from today’s lesson?
• What is A01?
• What is A03?
Home Learning
• Complete the Strengthen your Learning questions on page
15 of the textbook. If you do not have a textbook, then buy
one.
• Make your own notes on Zimbardo’s study and social roles.
– What is the best way to do this?
• How is your folder looking? Is it already a mess? Sort it out.
• Learn the key terms you have learned so far.
• Read ahead. You should do this anyway. The next topic will
be Obedience and the Work of Milgram.
• What else can you do in your independent study time?
– I will be looking for evidence of independent study next lesson.
Real World (1)
• Use your knowledge of
Zimbardo’s research to
explain what happened
at Abu Ghraib.
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=LO_ZeYMbEBM
Home Learning
1. Explain what is meant by the term social roles.
Use an example to explain the concept. (2
marks)
2. Outline Zimbardo’s research into conformity to
social roles. In your answer, refer to what the
participants did and what was found. (6 marks)
3. Discuss research into conformity into social
roles. (12 marks)