aqa psychology social influence essay questions

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PAST PAPERS: SOCIAL INFLUENCE: AQA A-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY RESOURCES

Psychology aqa  a-level unit 1: 7182/1.

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THE SYLLABUS 

  CONFORMITY

• Types of conformity – internalisation, identification and compliance
• Asch’s research and variables affecting conformity: group size, unanimity and task difficulty
• Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and normative social influence
• Conformity to social roles as investigated by Zimbardo
• Milgram’s obedience research and situational variables affecting obedience: proximity, location and uniform
• Explanations for obedience: agentic state and legitimacy of authority
• Dispositional explanation for obedience: the Authoritarian Personality

INDEPENDENT BEHAVIOUR

• Explanations of resistance to social influence: social support and locus of control

MINORITY INFLUENCE & SOCIAL CHANGE

• Minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibility
• The role of social influence processes in social change

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SPECIMEN PAPER 1 ( Psychology A-level revision)

Which of the following terms best matches the statements below? Choose one term that matches each statement and write A, B, C, D or E in the box next to it. Use each letter once only.

A           Identification

B           Informational social influence

C           Normative social influence

D           Compliance

E           Internalisation

• Publically changing behaviour whilst maintaining a different private view. [1 mark]
• Group pressure leading to a desire to fit in with the group. [1 mark]
• When a person lacks knowledge of how to behave and looks to the group for guidance. [1 mark]
• Conforming to the behaviour of a role model. [1 mark]

Briefly outline and evaluate the findings of any one study of social influence.

Read the item and then answer the question that follows.

Two psychology students were discussing the topic of social influence.

‘I find it fascinating how some people are able to resist social influence’, said Jack. ‘It must be the result of having a confident personality.’

‘I disagree’, replied Sarah. ‘I think resisting social influence depends much more on the presence of others.’

Discuss two explanations of resistance to social influence. As part of your discussion, refer to the views expressed by Jack and Sarah in the conversation above.

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SPECIMEN PAPER 2 ( A-level Psychology revision)

Outline two explanations for obedience.

Briefly evaluate one of the explanations that you have outlined in your answer to the question above.

A small group of environmentally-aware sixth form students are campaigning for their school to become ‘paper-free’ for the next six months. Recently, they had a meeting with a group of teachers who represent the teaching staff. The teachers told the students that the school could become ‘paper-free’ if the group of students could convince the rest of the student body it was a good idea.

Use your knowledge of conformity and minority influence to explain the factors that will determine how successful the small group of students will be.

Outline the procedures and findings of Zimbardo`s research into conformity to social roles.

Briefly discuss two criticisms of Zimbardo`s research into conformity to social roles.

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SPECIMEN PAPER 3 ( AQA A-level Psychology revision)

Which two of the following are situational variables that can affect obedience? Choose two from the options A, B, C, D and E.

A           Proximity

B           Flexibility

C           Identification

D           Authoritarian personality

E           Location

Using an example, explain the role of social influence processes in social change.

Steph and Jeff are student teachers who recently joined other members of staff on a one-day strike. When asked why they decided to do so, Steph replied, ‘I never thought I would strike but I listened to the other teachers’ arguments and now I have become quite passionate about it’.

Jeff’s explanation was different: ‘To be honest, everyone else seemed to be striking and I didn’t want to be the only one who wasn’t’.

Discuss explanations for conformity. Refer to Steph and Jeff as part of your discussion.

2017 ( AQA A-level Psychology revision guide)

In an experiment, researchers arranged for participants to complete a very personal and embarrassing questionnaire in a room with other people. Each participant was tested individually. The other people were confederates of the experimenter.

In condition 1: the confederates completed the questionnaire.

In condition 2: the confederates refused to complete the questionnaire and asked to leave the experiment.

The researchers tested 15 participants in condition 1, and 15 different participants in condition 2.

The researchers recorded the number of participants who completed the questionnaire in each condition.

Identify the type of data in this experiment. Explain your answer.

Using your knowledge of social influence, explain the likely outcome of this experiment.

For this study, the researchers had to use different participants in each condition and this could have affected the results.

Outline one way in which the researchers could have addressed this issue.

In order to analyse the difference in the number of participants who completed the questionnaire in each condition, the researchers used a chi-squared test.

Apart from reference to the level of measurement, give two reasons why the researchers used the chi-squared test.

The calculated value of chi-squared in the experiment described on page 2 is 3.97

Table 1: Critical values for the chi-squared test

The calculated value of chi-squared should be equal to or greater than the critical value to be statistically significant.

With reference to the critical values in Table 1, explain whether or not the calculated value of chi-squared is significant at the 5% level.

Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience.

Outline one alternative explanation for obedience.

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2018 ( A-level Psychology resources)

Outline what is meant by ‘agentic state’ as an explanation for obedience.

Jenny is a psychology teacher who works with six other teachers in the department. Jenny believes strongly that homework should not be graded as it distracts students from reading verbal feedback on their work. She would like her colleagues to stop grading work. The other members of the department do not agree but have told Jenny they are willing to have a meeting about it.

Using your knowledge of minority influence, explain how Jenny might be able to persuade the rest of the department to accept her view.

Psychologists investigating social influence have discovered several reasons why people conform.

Discuss what psychological research has told us about why people conform.

2019 ( AQA A-level Psychology resources)

Outline two explanations of resistance to social influence.

In 1987, a survey of 1000 young people found that 540 said they smoked cigarettes, whilst 460 said they did not. In 2017, a similar survey of another 1000 young people found that 125 said they smoked cigarettes, whilst 875 said they did not.

Calculate the ratio of smokers to non-smokers in 2017. Give your answer in simplest form.

Show your workings.

Which statistical test should be used to calculate whether there is a significant difference in reported smoking behaviour between the two surveys? Give three reasons for your answer.

The survey shows that fewer young people are smoking today than in 1987.

Using your knowledge of social influence processes in social change, explain possible reasons for this change in behaviour.

Discuss ethical issues in social influence research.

2020 ( A-level Psychology notes)

Which one of the following is most associated with informational social influence?

Shade one box only.

A           It is an emotional, rather than cognitive, process.

B           It is based on a desire to be liked, rather than a desire to be right.

C           It is more likely to lead to a permanent, rather than temporary, change in attitude.

D           It occurs in unambiguous situations, rather than those where there is no obvious answer.

In a sixth form debating society, Samina is the only student in a group of six who does not believe that drugs should be legalised.

Using your knowledge of minority influence processes, explain two ways in which Samina could convince the other students in the debating society to agree with her.

Researchers have identified different features of science, including:

• replicability
• theory construction
• hypothesis testing.

Explain how Asch’s conformity research illustrates one of these features of science.

It is the end of the school day and Freddie is pushing other students in the bus queue.

“Stop it, will you?” protests one of Freddie’s classmates.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” laughs Freddie.

At that moment, Freddie turns to see the deputy head, wearing a high-visibility jacket, staring angrily at him. Without thinking, Freddie stops pushing the other boys and waits quietly in line.

Discuss the legitimacy of authority and agentic state explanations of obedience. Refer to Freddie’s behaviour in your answer.

2021 ( AQA A-level Psychology notes)

Describe how Zimbardo investigated conformity to social roles.

Fewer and fewer people use single-use plastic items, such as water bottles and plastic straws.

Using your knowledge of social influence processes in social change, explain why fewer and fewer people are using single-use plastic items.

A researcher wanted to investigate whether there was a relationship between locus of control and resistance to social influence. Before the investigation began, he devised a questionnaire to measure locus of control.

Why would the researcher’s questionnaire produce primary data? Suggest one limitation of primary data.

To assess the questionnaire’s validity, the researcher gave it to 30 participants and recorded the results. He then gave the same 30 participants an established questionnaire measuring locus of control. The researcher found a weak positive correlation between the two sets of results, suggesting that his questionnaire had low validity.

Explain how the validity of the researcher’s questionnaire could be improved.

Discuss legitimacy of authority as an explanation for obedience.

2022 ( A-level Psychology revision notes)

Which factors affecting minority influence are illustrated by the following examples?

For each example, write the correct factor in the space provided.

• Members of a religious group give up their Saturday mornings to distribute leaflets about the importance of worship.
• An environmental group acknowledges that recycling can be time-consuming while emphasising its importance for the future of the planet.
• All of the members of the ‘Flat Earth Society’ agree that the Earth is flat and not round.

Name one explanation of resistance to social influence.

A teacher was absent and left work for students to complete during the lesson. Some students in the class did not do the work their teacher had left for them.

Use one possible explanation of resistance to social influence to explain why this happened.

Describe how situational variables have been found to affect obedience. Discuss what these situational variables tell us about why we obey.

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Example Answers for Social Influence: A Level Psychology, Paper 1, June 2019 (AQA)

Last updated 15 Dec 2019

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Here are some example answers to the written Paper 1 questions on Social Influence in the 2019 AQA exams.

Question 01

One explanation for the resistance to social influence is locus of control. When individuals have an internal locus of control they are less likely to blindly obey authority figures as they are less likely to make the shift to agentic state because they believe they are responsible for their actions. They are also less likely to demonstrate normative social influence as they are less influenced by what others think.

Another explanation for the resistance to social influence is social support. Asch’s research demonstrated that when there is a dissenter in the group who supported the naïve participant and disagreed with the majority levels of conformity went down. This is similar to Milgram who fund that a disobedient ally who refused to continue decreased levels of obedience.

Question 04

In 1987 not as much was known about the harmful effects of smoking and therefore the group norm was to smoke as it was fashionable. This meant that young people would be influenced by normative social influence to smoke or risk rejection from the group. However as a minority of individuals began to understand the harmful effects and used minority influence processes to enact social change. This involves using internalisation to convince individuals of their beliefs using informational influence and people’s desires to be correct. This might involve the formation of anti-smoking pressure groups which research by Moscovici has shown would need consistency in their message to be successful as he demonstrated that it was possible for a minority of confederates to influence a majority of naïve participants to believe slides were a different colour. This could be done, for example, by keeping to the message of the harmful effects on the body. In addition this research showed that demonstrating a commitment to the message by putting yourself at risk in some way (augmentation principle) also helps to convince the majority to listen to the message, for example with strikes demonstrations. Finally a degree of flexibility is useful such as asking people to cut back, use nicotine patches or not smoke in public places first. This makes the majority listen and take the message seriously, making them internalise the message. This acts as a snowball, slowly gathering members until there becomes a tipping point and the minority becomes the majority and uses the social pressure of normative social influence such as young people today who are more concerned with health than smoking and frown on peers who smoke. This then results in social crypto amnesia where people don’t remember that it was ever acceptable to smoke in public places and that it was fashionable. (304 words)

Question 05

Social influence research has issues with the deception of its participants which leads to a further issue of a lack of informed consent to take part. For example in Asch’s study on majority influence participants were told they were taking part in a test of visual perception and in Milgram’s research into obedience they were told it was a study into the effects of punishment on learning. However these levels of deception are necessary in social influence research as telling the participants that your will be studying their levels of conformity to a social group, or their levels of obedience would result in demand characteristics and invalidate the results obtained.

Social Influence research has also been criticised for the lack of protection for its participants. For example in both Zimbardo and Milgram’s research the participants learned that they were capable of harming another human being, in addition some of the prisoners in the Stanford prison experiment suffered severe distress – being humiliated and exhibiting psychosomatic illnesses. However, whilst these effects are distressing for the participants at the time the cost benefit analysis of what was gained from this research might argue that the harm was worth it for what we learnt about the dangers of taking on these social roles, which was used in the investigations of the Abu Ghraib solders and the dangers of blind obedience to authority and the fact this was not isolated to Nazi Germany.

Finally social influence research has been criticised for lacking a right to withdraw with participants not always aware of their right to leave. For example in the prison experiment participants were pressurised to stay and were made to apply for the right to leave, and in Milgram’s research the four prods made it seem as though they had to continue with the study. However what has to be acknowledged is these studies were all conducted a t a time when the ethical guidelines as we know them were not in place and they had been approved using the guidelines of the time. (340 words)

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Topic essays for aqa a level psychology.

• Social Influence
• Normative Social Influence
• Informational Social Influence
• Identification: Social Influence
• Commitment: Social Influence

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20th January 2017

Model Answer for Question 4 Paper 1: AS Psychology, June 2016 (AQA)

Example answer for question 1 paper 1: as psychology, june 2017 (aqa), example answer for question 1 paper 1: a level psychology, june 2017 (aqa), example answer for question 3 paper 1: a level psychology, june 2017 (aqa), social influence: variables affecting conformity | aqa a-level psychology.

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Social Influence: Resistance to Social Influence | AQA A-Level Psychology

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