Social Influence- Psychology

Discuss methodological and ethical issues that might arise when studying social influence. Refer to evidence in your answer.

PLAN:

Paragraph 1: Demand characteristics (methodological and ethical), make reference to Milgram and Asch, evaluation

Paragraph 2: Ecological validity (methodological), make reference to Milgram and Asch, evaluation

Paragraph 3: Participants (methodological), deception (ethical), informed consent (ethical), make reference to Milgram and Ash, evaluation

Paragraph 4: Potential harm to participants (ethical), make reference to Milgram and Asch, evaluation

One methodological issue that might arise when social influence is studied is demand characteristics. These occur when participants in an experiment try to guess the aim of the experiment and therefore may begin to behave in an unnatural way in order to please the experimenter. One study where this happened was Milgram’s study of obedience; participants were not told the true aim of the experiment which may have led to them questioning what the experiment’s actual purpose was. As a result, the participants may have thought that Milgram wanted them to give shocks up to the highest level in order to fulfil the true aim of the experiment. Similarly, in Asch’s study the participants were not told the true purpose of the experiment causing them to believe that he wanted them to agree with the other participants. Demand characteristics can affect the overall findings of the study as once a participant wants to find out the true purpose of a study they are more likely to behave artificially, meaning that the results the researcher finds may not represent the participant’s behaviour if they were told the true aim of the experiment before taking part. This is also an ethical issue as the participants were deceived about the reasons the study was carried out. For example, in Milgram’s study the participants were told that the experiment was investigating learning whereas the study was actually...