Course: Social influence

Topic outline

General

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- Checklist for social influence (what you need to know) File
1. Why do people conform and go along with others?
Types of conformity: internalisation, identification and compliance.

Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and normative social influence
2. What variables did Asch find affect a person's likelihood to conform?
Variables affecting conformity including group size, unanimity and task difficulty as investigated by Asch.
- More information on Asch and variations of the study URL
- Lesson - Student notes version File
3. Do social roles have the power to make people conform?
Conformity to social roles as investigated by Zimbardo.
- BBC prison study website URL
  
  This is the website about the BBC prison experiment, a replication of the SPE. It is very useful to use as A02 commentary in long mark questions (Differences in findings etc).
- Stanford Prison Experiment Website URL
  
  The website created by the SPE investigators, detailing what happened, and their conclusions.
- The significance and practical applications of the SPE (A02) URL
- BBC radio 4 mind changers podcast - Stanford Prison Experiment URL
- Feature film about the Stanford Prison Experiment URL
- Annenberg video - SPE HW video URL
- Lesson - Zimbardo File
- Information and evaluation of Zimbardo URL
4. Would you have obeyed Nazi orders? (Milgram's research)
Milgram's research
5. What explanations are there for obedience?
Explanations for obedience: agentic state and legitimacy of authority, and situational variables affecting obedience including proximity, location and uniform, as investigated by Milgram.
Dispositional explanation for obedience: the Authoritarian Personality.
- Milgram's article File
  
  A detailed explanation and description of Milgram's original research and findings.
- Lesson - situational and dispositional explanations for obedience File
- Information about dispositional and situational explanations of obedience URL
6. What sort of people are likely to behave more independently and resist social influence?
Explanations of resistance to social influence: social support and locus of control.
7. Can a minority every influence the majority? And how can social influence research help us understand social change in real life?
Minority influence: consistency, commitment and flexibility.

The role of social change
Revision
8. How can social influence research help us understand social change in real life?

Not available

Topic outline

General

1. Why do people conform and go along with others?

2. What variables did Asch find affect a person's likelihood to conform?

3. Do social roles have the power to make people conform?

4. Would you have obeyed Nazi orders? (Milgram's research)

5. What explanations are there for obedience?

6. What sort of people are likely to behave more independently and resist social influence?

7. Can a minority every influence the majority? And how can social influence research help us understand social change in real life?

Revision

8. How can social influence research help us understand social change in real life?