Social Influence | AQA A-Level Psychology (7182)
Social Influence
- 116 questions
- 6 subtopics
- Paper 1: Introductory topics in psychology
- Paper 1
Social Influence is the first topic of Paper 1.
It covers the types of conformity and the reasons people conform, the explanations and situational variables behind obedience to authority, the factors that allow people to resist social pressure, and the process by which a minority changes the view of a majority.
Sample questions from Social Influence
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
Types of conformity and explanations for conformity
Under what conditions is informational social influence most likely to occur?
Show the answer
In ambiguous situations, when the task is difficult, or when others are perceived as experts. -
Types of conformity and explanations for conformity
Why does a dissenter reduce conformity even when they give a different wrong answer?
Show the answer
Breaking the unanimous position is more important than providing social support for the correct answer; the presence of any dissent reduces the pressure to conform. -
Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's prison study
How was the guards' role reinforced in Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment?
Show the answer
They wore khaki uniforms and mirrored sunglasses that prevented eye contact, carried handcuffs and a club, and were told they had complete power over the prisoners but could not use physical violence. -
Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's prison study
How did Banuazizi and Movahedi criticise the realism of Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment?
Show the answer
They argued the participants were play-acting roles based on media stereotypes of prisons rather than genuinely conforming; one guard said he modelled his behaviour on a film character. -
Explanations for obedience
If an authority figure moves further away from a participant, what would you predict would happen to obedience levels and why?
Show the answer
Obedience would decrease because proximity is a situational variable; reduced physical closeness of the authority figure reduces their influence over the participant. -
Explanations for obedience
What is the Authoritarian Personality as an explanation for obedience?
Show the answer
A dispositional explanation proposing that some individuals have personality characteristics that make them more likely to obey. -
Resistance to social influence
In Asch's conformity studies, what was the conformity rate when participants faced a unanimous majority?
Show the answer
Approximately 33%. -
Resistance to social influence
Why are people with an internal locus of control more likely to seek information and act independently?
Show the answer
Because they believe they can influence outcomes through their own efforts, so they actively gather information to make their own decisions rather than relying on others.
The 6 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Types of conformity and explanations for conformity | Internalisation, identification and compliance as the three types of conformity, explained by informational social influence and normative social influence. | 22 |
| Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's prison study | Social roles in Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment: how guards and prisoners were selected and given their roles, how their behaviour changed over six days, and the criticisms of its realism, its ethics and its claim that the situation overwhelms personality. | 14 |
| Explanations for obedience | The agentic state and legitimacy of authority as explanations for obedience, the situational variables that raise or lower it, and the obedience rates from Milgram's baseline study and its variations. | 29 |
| Resistance to social influence | Social support and locus of control as the two factors that help people resist conformity and obedience, with the figures that show each one working. | 24 |
| Minority influence | How a consistent, committed and flexible minority shifts majority opinion, including the two forms of consistency and the augmentation principle. | 14 |
| Social influence and social change | How minority influence brings about social change through drawing attention, consistency, deeper processing, the augmentation principle, the snowball effect and social cryptomnesia, how majority influence and obedience research explain change, and the limits of social norms interventions. | 13 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
-
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Psychology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 2,999 questions with their answers.