Social Influence in Psychology: Key Concepts and Studies

This comprehensive overview explores fundamental aspects of social influence psychology, focusing on conformity, obedience, and resistance. It delves into crucial theories, studies, and evaluations relevant to AQA A Level Psychology students.

Key points covered:

• Locus of Control theory and its impact on social influence
• Authoritarian Personality and its role in obedience
• Variations of Asch's conformity experiments
• Milgram's obedience study and its variations
• Minority influence and Moscovici's blue-green slides experiment
• Types of conformity: internalization, compliance, and identification
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
• Explanations for conformity and obedience

Highlight: This document serves as a comprehensive mind map for social influence topics in Psychology A Level, covering essential studies, theories, and evaluations.

Locus of Control and Resistance to Social Influence

The document begins by exploring Rotter's Locus of Control theory and its relationship to social influence.

Definition: Locus of Control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they have control over events in their lives.

• Internal locus of control: People who take responsibility for their actions
• External locus of control: Those who believe they have no control over events

Example: Individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist social influence and make independent decisions.

The text also discusses the Authoritarian Personality as a dispositional explanation for obedience.

Vocabulary: The F-scale is used to measure authoritarian personality traits.

Key Studies in Conformity and Obedience

The document covers several pivotal studies in social influence:

1. Asch's conformity experiments and their variations

   Example: Asch varied group size and task difficulty to study their effects on conformity rates.

2. Milgram's obedience study and its variations

   Quote: "All went up to 300V, 65% up to 450V" - highlighting the high levels of obedience observed.

3. Moscovici's blue-green slides experiment on minority influence

   Highlight: This study demonstrated that a consistent minority can influence the majority's perceptions.

4. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

   Example: Participants quickly internalized their assigned roles as prisoners or guards, leading to extreme behavior.

Types of Conformity and Explanations

The document outlines three main types of conformity:

1. Internalization: Permanent change in beliefs and behavior
2. Compliance: Temporary change to fit in with social norms
3. Identification: Conforming to the demands of a social role

It also explores various explanations for conformity and obedience, including:

• Normative Social Influence (NSI)
• Informational Social Influence (ISI)
• Agentic State Theory (Milgram)

Definition: Agentic State refers to the belief that someone else will take responsibility for one's actions.

Evaluation and Critical Analysis

Throughout the document, there are evaluations of the studies and theories presented:

• Strengths and limitations of Milgram's study, including ethical concerns
• Criticisms of the Authoritarian Personality theory
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's Prison Experiment, highlighting its ecological validity but also its ethical issues

Highlight: The document emphasizes the importance of critical analysis in Psychology A Level, encouraging students to consider both strengths and limitations of key studies and theories.

This comprehensive overview provides students with a solid foundation for understanding and discussing social influence topics in their AQA A Level Psychology course, including preparation for questions on resistance to social influence and evaluations of key studies like Asch's conformity experiment.