Social Influence | Edexcel GCSE Psychology (1PS0)
Social Influence
- 78 questions
- 5 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Social Influence is examined in Paper 1, every student.
It covers conformity to majority influence, obedience to authority, bystander intervention, crowd behaviour, society and culture and Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study.
Sample questions from Social Influence
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
Conformity to majority influence
How might self-esteem affect conformity?
Show the answer
People with low self-esteem are more likely to conform because they fear rejection and doubt their own judgement. Confident people with high self-esteem conform less. -
Conformity to majority influence
How does answering in private affect conformity?
Show the answer
Conformity falls when people can give their answers privately rather than aloud in front of the group. Anonymity removes the fear of being judged by the majority. -
Obedience to authority
What evidence links the authoritarian personality to obedience?
Show the answer
People with an authoritarian personality believe orders from those in charge should be followed without question. Obedient participants in Milgram's research scored higher on the F-scale, which measures authoritarianism. -
Obedience to authority
How does seeing others disobey affect obedience?
Show the answer
Milgram found obedience fell to 10% when two confederate teachers refused to continue. Disobedient peers give a person the support and example needed to resist. -
Bystander intervention
Which personal factors make a bystander more likely to help?
Show the answer
Bystanders with relevant skills, such as first aid, are more likely to help. Similarity to the victim, a good mood and high empathy also increase helping. -
Bystander intervention
How does time pressure affect helping?
Show the answer
Darley and Batson found only 10% of trainee priests in a great hurry helped a man slumped in a doorway. Students who had time to spare helped in 63% of cases. -
Crowd behaviour, society and culture
What is pro-social crowd behaviour?
Show the answer
Pro-social crowd behaviour benefits others. Crowds raising money at charity events and people working together after a disaster are examples. -
Crowd behaviour, society and culture
What is a social issue?
Show the answer
A social issue is a problem that affects many people in a society and that people want to solve. Crime, antisocial behaviour and prejudice are examples.
The 5 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Conformity to majority influence | Conformity and majority influence, Asch's line judgement study, and how locus of control, self-esteem, expertise, group size, a dissenter, task difficulty and privacy affect conforming. | 15 |
| Obedience to authority | Milgram's obedience study and its variations, agency theory, the authoritarian personality, uniform and setting, and how blind obedience can be prevented. | 16 |
| Bystander intervention | The bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance, Darley and Latané's findings, and the personal and situational factors that decide whether people help. | 15 |
| Crowd behaviour, society and culture | Deindividuation and anonymity, Zimbardo's hooded participants and Diener's trick-or-treat study, pro-social and anti-social crowds, social identity, and cultural bias in social influence research. | 16 |
| Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study | Piliavin's field experiment on helping ill and drunk victims on a New York subway, and Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's Stanford prison study, with their ethics. | 16 |
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
Edexcel GCSE Psychology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 891 questions with their answers.