Key term
Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0
Development
Memory
Psychological Problems
The Brain and Neuropsychology
Social Influence
Criminal PsychologyOptional topic
The SelfOptional topic
PerceptionOptional topic
Sleep and DreamingOptional topic
Language, Thought and CommunicationOptional topic
Research Methods
Topic overviewVariables, hypotheses and controlsSampling methodsExperiments and experimental designsInterviews, questionnaires and types of dataCorrelations, case studies and observationsEthical issues in psychological researchEvaluating studies and the core areas of psychologyAverages, calculations and graphs
Social Influence
- 5 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- Paper 1
What Social Influence covers
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.
Where it is assessed
Paper 1
A 1 hour 45 minute paper worth 55% of the GCSE.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 5 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Conformity to majority influenceConformity 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.Open →
- Obedience to authorityMilgram's obedience study and its variations, agency theory, the authoritarian personality, uniform and setting, and how blind obedience can be prevented.Open →
- Bystander interventionThe bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance, Darley and Latané's findings, and the personal and situational factors that decide whether people help.Open →
- Crowd behaviour, society and cultureDeindividuation 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.Open →
- Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison studyPiliavin'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.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Evaluation
What are the weaknesses of Piliavin et al.'s study?
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How were participants chosen for the Stanford prison study?
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What is conformity?
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What is obedience?
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What is the bystander effect?
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What is deindividuation?
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What is meant by majority influence?
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How does obedience differ from conformity?
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What is bystander intervention?
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Why does anonymity lead to deindividuation?
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Why do people conform to a majority?
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What did Milgram (1963) find about obedience to authority?
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What is diffusion of responsibility?
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What did Zimbardo (1969) find when participants wore hoods?
Take Social Influence further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Obedience vs Conformity
Obedience: following a direct order from a person in authority. Conformity: going along with the unspoken pressure of a group of equals.
Diffusion of responsibility vs Pluralistic ignorance
Diffusion of responsibility: each bystander feeling less duty to act because others are present. Pluralistic ignorance: deciding nothing is wrong because no one else is reacting.
Normative influence vs Informational influence
Normative influence: going along with a group to be liked and accepted. Informational influence: going along with a group because it is believed to be right.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is conformity?
Model answer
Conformity is changing your behaviour or opinions to match those of a group. The change happens because of real or imagined group pressure.
- 2
What is meant by majority influence?
Model answer
Majority influence is the effect a larger group has on the views or actions of an individual. The individual moves towards the position the majority holds.
- 3
Why do people conform to a majority?
Model answer
People may conform to be liked and accepted by the group, which is called normative influence. People may also conform because they believe the group is right, which is informational influence.
- 4
What did Asch's line judgement study show about conformity?
Model answer
Asch found that participants gave the same obviously wrong answer as a group of confederates on about a third of critical trials. Roughly three-quarters of participants conformed at least once.
- 5
How does locus of control affect conformity?
Model answer
People with an internal locus of control believe they control their own lives and tend to conform less. People with an external locus of control are more likely to go along with a group.
- 6
How might self-esteem affect conformity?
Model 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.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Social Influence revision questions
- What does Social Influence cover in Edexcel GCSE Psychology?
- 5 subtopics: conformity to majority influence, obedience to authority, bystander intervention, crowd behaviour, society and culture and piliavin's subway study and the stanford prison study. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Social Influence organised?
- By the Edexcel 1PS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Social Influence, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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