Social Influence and Group Processes
Social influence is change in behaviour or belief caused by others; group processes cover how groups form, decide and affect members. The exam tests classic experiments and their explanations.
Conformity, compliance and obedience
Asch: participants judged line lengths, and about 75% conformed at least once (roughly one-third of trials), driven by normative and informational influence. Milgram: obedience to an authority ordering shocks, explained by legitimacy, proximity and gradual commitment. Compliance techniques: foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face and low-ball.
Group effects
Social facilitation: the presence of others improves simple tasks and impairs complex ones (Zajonc's arousal account). Social loafing: reduced effort in larger groups. Deindividuation: loss of self-awareness in crowds. Bystander effect: helping falls as bystanders increase (diffusion of responsibility). Groupthink (Janis): cohesion and pressure suppress dissent; group polarisation shifts decisions to extremes. Tuckman's stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
Intergroup relations
Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination; realistic conflict theory and social identity theory explain ingroup favouritism; contact can reduce prejudice under supportive conditions.
Worked example
Nobody in a crowded room calls an ambulance. Reasoning: responsibility is diffused across many bystanders, so each feels less personally accountable - the bystander effect, not indifference.
Traps
- Confusing conformity (peer pressure), compliance (a request) and obedience (authority).
- Swapping social facilitation and social loafing.
- Equating groupthink with group polarisation.
- Explaining the bystander effect as personality.