Social Influence: Lesson 2

Study Notes

Lesson Objectives: Students will be able to explain factors impacting conformity (group size, unanimity, task difficulty) focusing on Asch's research. Students will also be able to summarise, apply and evaluate Asch's study.

Identification: This involves both public and private acceptance. It's typically temporary and is driven by conforming to a social role or trying to imitate a role model to fit into a specific social group. Examples include taking on a specific role such as a teacher or nurse.
Internalisation: This is the truest form of conformity; involving both public and private acceptance. It's not dependent on the presence of the group. It involves agreeing with the majority's viewpoints and making those views one's own. Often leads to lasting behavioural changes, such as religious beliefs.
Compliance: This type of conformity is motivated by a desire to fit in. Participants publicly agree with the majority even if privately they disagree. It's based on wanting to appear normal and avoid exclusion. This is an example of normative social influence.

Homework: Students are asked to read and summarise Asch's study from a resource sheet

Focus: Asch examined factors affecting conformity, including group size, unanimity and task difficulty.
Group Size: The likelihood of conformity increases with larger group sizes. Whether the majority is united or divided is another influencing factor.
Unanimity: A united majority creates stronger pressures to conform than a divided one.
Task Difficulty: The level of conformity goes up when the task is more challenging. This is because there's more uncertainty among participants.

Asch's Study Questions: The number of participants in Asch's study; the percentage of critical trials where participants conformed; the dependent variable; and the independent variable need to be recalled from previous lessons.
Zimbardo's Study Questions: The number of participants in Zimbardo's study; the length of the study (in days) before Zimbardo halted it.

GRAVE: Students are instructed to use GRAVE (Goodness, Reliability, Applicability, Validity, Ethics) when evaluating studies. They shouldn't need to memorize evaluation points, but should be able to effectively apply this framework given a detailed understanding of the study.