Key term
OCR GCSE Psychology J203
Criminal Psychology
Development
Psychological Problems
Social Influence
Memory
Sleep and Dreaming
Social Influence
- 4 subtopics
- 12 things to know
- Component 02
What Social Influence covers
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.
Where it is assessed
Component 02
Studies and applications in psychology 2, a 1 hour 30 minute paper worth 50% of the GCSE.
Check the OCR specification ↗The 4 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Conformity, crowds and cultureMajority influence and Asch's findings, group size and unanimity, collective and crowd behaviour, deindividuation and anonymity, baiting crowds, and how culture affects social behaviour.Open →
- Obedience and Bickman's uniform studyObedience and authority figures, Milgram and agency theory, Bickman's field experiment on the power of a uniform, and free will and determinism.Open →
- Personality, the brain and the August riotsSelf-esteem, locus of control, morality and the authoritarian personality, the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, and the NatCen study of the 2011 riots in Tottenham.Open →
- Minority and majority influence on mental health stigmaConsistent minorities and Moscovici's slides study, the snowball effect, Time to Change, social norms campaigns, and changing attitudes against changing behaviour.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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What orders did Bickman's experimenters give to pedestrians?
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How does locus of control affect behaviour in a crowd?
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What is conformity?
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What is minority influence?
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What is majority influence?
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What is a dispositional factor?
Who and when
What makes a minority persuasive, according to Moscovici?
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How did Asch show the effect of majority influence on conformity?
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What is obedience?
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How does self-esteem affect conformity?
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What did Moscovici's (1969) blue and green slides study show?
Take Social Influence further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Conformity vs Obedience
Conformity: changing behaviour to fit in with a group of equals. Obedience: following a direct order from someone in authority.
Majority influence vs Minority influence
Majority influence: pressure from the larger part of a group that leads an individual to go along with it. Minority influence: a small but consistent group gradually changing the views of the many.
Situational factors vs Dispositional factors
Situational factors: features of the setting and other people that shape behaviour. Dispositional factors: features of an individual's personality that shape behaviour.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is conformity?
Model answer
Conformity is changing your behaviour or beliefs to fit in with a group. The pressure to fit in can be real or only imagined.
- 2
What is majority influence?
Model answer
Majority influence is when the larger part of a group leads an individual to adopt its views or behaviour. Majority influence often produces public agreement without a genuine change of mind.
- 3
How did Asch show the effect of majority influence on conformity?
Model answer
Asch asked participants to judge line lengths after a group of confederates had all given the same wrong answer. Roughly a third of answers on these critical trials went along with the wrong majority.
- 4
Why do people conform to a majority?
Model answer
People conform to be liked and accepted by the group, which is called normative influence. People also conform when they are unsure and think the group knows better, which is informational influence.
- 5
How do group size and unanimity affect conformity to a majority?
Model answer
Conformity rises as the majority grows, but levels off after about three or four people. A single dissenter who breaks the group's agreement sharply reduces conformity.
- 6
What is collective behaviour?
Model 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.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Social Influence revision questions
- What does Social Influence cover in OCR GCSE Psychology?
- 4 subtopics: 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. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Social Influence organised?
- By the OCR J203 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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