SOCIAL
INFLUENCE
Explanations of
independent
behaviour
Starter
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Using the images in your booklet,
identify the 4 explanations of why
people obey.
Write a summary of each
explanation in the box provided.
10 minutes, no notes!!!
What is independent
behaviour?
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Research has shown that the majority
conform (Asch, 1956) or give in to the
demands of authority and obey
(Milgram, 1963).
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However, there are always those who
refuse to comply or obey.
This is what we mean by independent
behaviour.
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Independent behaviour
Characteristics???
People displaying independent
behaviour:
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Have control over their own behaviour
and decisions.
Accept personal responsibility for actions.
Stand by morals (what they believe to be
right and wrong).
Refuse to comply or obey.
Why might some people
refuse to comply or obey?
 Personality.
 Culture.
 Awareness
of situational pressures.
 Desire for individuation.
Why might some people refuse
to comply or obey?
 Personality
type – certain characteristics that
make up an individual’s personality may make
them more likely to refuse to comply/obey.
Can anybody link this to what you’ve learnt in
the stress topic?
 The
‘nonconformist’ personality – respond to
majority influence with independence,
unconcerned about social norms, indifference
towards the group norm, predisposed to
oppose the norm.
Why might some people refuse
to comply or obey?
 Culture
– it could be argued that people from
individualist cultures are more likely to show
independent behaviour as their behaviour
centres around their own goals (they are in
control).
Why might some people refuse
to comply or obey?
 Some
people may be more aware of the
situational pressures around them and so are
better equipped to deal with them (e.g.
pressure from other people).
 Desire
for individuation – the desire to maintain
a sense of individuality may outweigh the
pressures to comply/obey e.g. feel
uncomfortable if appear exactly the same as
everyone else.
Resisting pressures to
conform
Recap: Asch (1956)
Who can tell me something
about the study on conformity
carried out by Asch?
Recap: Asch (1956)
Procedures
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123 male participants.
All but one PT (‘real’ PT) were really confederates.
PTs seated around a table.
Shown 3 lines of different lengths – asked which of
the 3 lines was the same length as a ‘standard’
line.
PTs always answered in same order (real PT always
last/second to last).
Confederates were instructed to give the same
incorrect answer on 12/18 trials.
Recap: Asch (1956)
Findings
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On the 12 critical trials, 36.8% of the responses
made by ‘real’ PTs were incorrect.
¼ of ‘real’ PTs never conformed on any of the
trials.
What finding from the study by
Asch can we use as evidence
of independent behaviour?
¼ of the ‘real’ PTs never
conformed on any of the
trials – stuck by what they
believed to be right.
Unanimity of the majority
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If the PT was given social support of another
real PT or a confederate (i.e. gave the same
answer), conformity levels dropped (32% to
5.5%).
If ‘dissenter’(other real PT) gave an answer
different to the majority and different from the
true answer, conformity levels dropped from
32% to 9%.
Social support from others who also go against
the majority and discrepancies in the answers
given can decrease conformity.
Resisting pressures to conform
Asch – the role of allies
Role of informational social influence
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PT given social support – conformity decreased.
The ‘real’ PT uses the other participant (who
provides social support) as a source of
information, to make an independent
assessment of reality.
The social support makes the PT feel more
confident in their own decision, and in rejecting
the majority position.
Independent task
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Read the study on social support and
conformity rates by Allen and Levine
(1971) and fill in the missing gaps.
•
Draw a visual representation of this study
on A4 paper.
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You have 8 minutes.
Resisting pressures to conform
Evaluation
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More willing to maintain independence if
moral rather than physical judgements.
Physical judgements (i.e. line lengths) –
psychological costs associated with
abandoning personal position are small
compared to the interpersonal benefits
achieved by fitting in with the rest of the
group.
If task involves moral judgements, the cost to
one’s personal integrity is much higher so less
likely to conform.
Independent task
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Gap fill of exemplar answer in booklet.
Resisting pressures to obey
Milgram
How was independent behaviour shown in
Milgram’s research?
12.5% (5 out of 40) participants stopped at 300
volts.
Why?
When the learner first cried out in pain.
Resisting pressures to obey
Milgram’s research
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High proportion (65%) gave maximum 450
volts yet others defied experimenter and
withdrew before this point (e.g. 12.5% at 300
volts).
Less than 50% obeyed orders in different
situational factors – resistance increased when
victim could be seen or allies were present.
Seeing consequences of actions and having
social support are key factors for resistance
thus independent behaviour.
Independent task
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Read the paragraphs on resisting
pressures to obey and fill in the
missing gaps using your
psychological knowledge.
Independent task
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Gap fill of exemplar answer in booklet.
Social heroism
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The few who resist authority are ‘heroes’
(Zimbardo, 2007).
Heroes – people who are willing to make
sacrifices for the good of others in society.
Social heroism involves putting oneself at
risk in the pursuit of an important principle.
It may be costly – lowered social status,
arrest, torture, death.
E.g. Nelson Mandela – imprisoned for 36
years for his resistance to the government
apartheid policies in South Africa.
Resisting pressures to obey
Evaluation
Individual differences in moral reasoning may
explain why some people are able to resist orders
from an authority figure and others are not.
Kohlberg (1969)
• Group of Milgram’s volunteers given set of
imaginary moral dilemmas.
• Found that those who based their decisions on
more general moral principles (e.g. importance
of justice) were more defiant in the Milgram study
(i.e. displayed more independent behaviour).