Social Influence | OCR GCSE Psychology (J203)
Social Influence
- 70 questions
- 4 subtopics
- Component 02
- Component 02
Social Influence is examined in Component 02, Studies and applications in psychology 2.
It covers conformity, crowds and culture, obedience and Bickman's uniform study, personality, the brain and the August riots and minority and majority influence on mental health stigma.
Sample questions from Social Influence
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Conformity, crowds and culture
What is collective behaviour?
Show the answer
Collective behaviour is the way people act when they come together as a group, often spontaneously. People in a collective may act quite differently from how they would act alone. -
Conformity, crowds and culture
When are crowds more likely to bait a person threatening to jump from a building?
Show the answer
Mann (1981) found baiting was more likely when the crowd was large and when it was dark. Large crowds and darkness both increase anonymity and so deindividuation. -
Obedience and Bickman's uniform study
What was the aim of Bickman's (1974) study?
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Bickman aimed to measure how much social power a uniform gives its wearer to make people obey. Bickman also tested whether the uniform still works when the wearer acts outside their normal role. -
Obedience and Bickman's uniform study
What did Bickman's second experiment show about being watched?
Show the answer
The experimenter either stayed or walked round the corner after giving the dime order. Obedience to the guard was just as high when he could not see whether the order was carried out. -
Personality, the brain and the August riots
How is hippocampal volume linked to self-esteem?
Show the answer
Pruessner and colleagues (2005) found that people with higher self-esteem tended to have a larger hippocampus. The link is a correlation, so it does not show whether brain structure causes self-esteem. -
Personality, the brain and the August riots
What held some young people back from the riots, according to NatCen?
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Tugs included a belief that rioting was wrong, having a job, and knowing the risk of being caught. Family disapproval also held many young people back. -
Minority and majority influence on mental health stigma
How can minority influence reduce mental health stigma?
Show the answer
Campaigners and people with lived experience can speak out consistently about mental illness over many years. A consistent, committed message can gradually change the views of the majority. -
Minority and majority influence on mental health stigma
Why can majority influence also keep mental health stigma in place?
Show the answer
When most people hold negative views about mental illness, individuals may conform to those views. Stigmatising attitudes can then be passed on as the accepted norm.
The 4 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Conformity, crowds and culture | Majority influence and Asch's findings, group size and unanimity, collective and crowd behaviour, deindividuation and anonymity, baiting crowds, and how culture affects social behaviour. | 16 |
| Obedience and Bickman's uniform study | Obedience and authority figures, Milgram and agency theory, Bickman's field experiment on the power of a uniform, and free will and determinism. | 17 |
| Personality, the brain and the August riots | Self-esteem, locus of control, morality and the authoritarian personality, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, and the NatCen study of the 2011 riots in Tottenham. | 23 |
| Minority and majority influence on mental health stigma | Consistent minorities and Moscovici's slides study, the snowball effect, Time to Change, social norms campaigns, and changing attitudes against changing behaviour. | 14 |
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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
OCR GCSE Psychology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 577 questions with their answers.