In Asch’s line studies, what % of trials did participants conform to the obviously wrong answer?
37% of trials. But: one dissenter reduced conformity to ~¼ of peak. 13/50 never conformed at all.
You go along with your friends’ restaurant choice even though you disagree, because you don’t want to cause conflict. What type of influence?
Normative social influence — conforming to avoid social rejection (wanting to be liked).
You’re lost in a new city and follow the crowd because you assume they know where they’re going. What type of influence?
Informational social influence — using others as a guide in ambiguous situations (wanting to be right).
In Milgram’s study, what % of participants delivered the maximum shock (450V)?
65%. Dropped to 20% when authority figure left the room. Dropped to ~10% when a confederate openly defied the experimenter.
A team of doctors avoids questioning the lead surgeon’s decision even though they have doubts. What is this?
Groupthink (Janis) — prioritizing group harmony over critical thinking. Key antecedent: high cohesiveness.
Name 4 symptoms of groupthink.
Any 4 of: illusion of invulnerability, collective rationalization, belief in group’s morality, stereotyping outgroups, pressure on dissenters, self-censorship, illusion of unanimity, self-appointed mind guards.
A student performs worse on a math test when watched by others, but a gymnast performs better during a competition. Why the difference?
Social facilitation vs. social interference — audiences improve performance on SIMPLE/well-learned tasks (gymnastics routine) but HURT performance on COMPLEX/novel tasks (difficult math). Same cause (arousal), different outcomes based on task.
In a group project, one person does much less work because they assume others will pick up the slack. What is this?
Social loafing (Latané et al.) — exerting less effort in a group than alone. Caused by diffusion of responsibility. Less common in collectivist cultures.
