Paper 1Introductory Topics in Psychology

Social influence Memory Attachment

1hr 30 mins

50% of the AS

Social Influence

Social Influence• Social psychology is about understanding individual

behavior in a social context. • Baron, Byrne & Suls (1989) define social psychology

as ....'the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations‘.

Social Influence• Social influence is the study of

how the presence of other people influences individual behaviour.• Social psychologists have

investigated the effect of a group on the individual.• Social psychologists have

conducted carefully controlled experiments to find out why individual behaviour can change when they join a group.

Social Influence• One type of social influence that

has interested psychologists is majority social influence.• This research has focussed on how

the group can influence individual behaviour.• Solomon Asch was one important

social psychologist who conducted a lot of research on the influence of a group on how an individual thinks, what they believe, and how they behave.

Social Influence: conformity

Social Influence

• What do these photos tell us about conformity?• To what extent do you think people in the second photo are

displaying anti-conformity?• To what extent do you conform? What do you conform to?

Social Influence

Stan: But if life is only pain, then.....what's the point of living?

Goth: Just to make life more miserable for the conformists.

Stan: Alright, so how do I join you?

Goth: If you wanna be one of the non-conformists, all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do.

Social Influence

• Solomon Asch was a Jew that escaped Europe during the 1930’s.

• He was interested in understanding why ordinary German’s could have become member’s of the Nazi Party and participated in the holocaust.

Social Influence: conformity• Asch was interested in the power

of the group.• He investigated the influence of

group pressure on the opinions, attitudes and beliefs of the individual. • He wanted to find out what

social psychological processes led individuals to conform to the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour of a group.

Social Influence: conformity• Conformity is a type of majority

social influence.• It is a form of social influence

where people adopt the behaviours, attitudes, beliefs and values of other members of a reference group.

Conformity

• Is a type of social influence that results in compliance with the majority position. It is the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of other members of a group.

Kelman (1958)There are different

types of conformity:

1.Compliance

2.Identification

3.Internalisation

Shallow Level

Deep Level

Explanations for conformityNormative Social Influence

This occurs when we wish to be liked by the majority group, so we go along with them even though we may not agree with them. This is really just following the crowd in order to fit in with the ‘norm’ and be liked by the group.

Informational Social Influence

This occurs when we look to the majority group for information as we are unsure about the way in which to behave. A person will conform because they genuinely believe the majority to be right and we look to them for the right answer.

Read the examples of conforming behaviour.

Identify the type of conformity displayed.

Identify the explanation for the type of conformity displayed.

Write your answer in the box provided

Social Influence

Complete the exam question sheet.