Assignment Task

Classically, social influence researchers distinguish two explanations underlying conformity. Normative influence occurs when people conform to maintain social acceptance. Informational influence occurs when people use others’ behaviour as a source of information about sensible or appropriate ways to think and behave.

Choose one of the above, or another as agreed with the teacher, to research whether it is linked to social influence processes.

There are three parts to this assessment:

• Deconstruct: mind-map
• Design
• Report

Deconstruct

Present the following information as a mind map

• Background research on your chosen topic
• Background research on why people conform to your chosen topic
• What is social influence
• Define conformity
• Types of conformity
• Explanations for conformity
• Research investigation options - include strengths and weaknesses of all three
• Ethical considerations
• Extraneous variables
• Confounding variables – which variables need to be controlled and why?
• Population and sample

Design and carry out the research

Psychological investigation – Design

• State your research question
• State your hypothesis
• Identify the independent variable (if applicable)
• Identify the dependent variable (if applicable)
• Outline the population and sample that will be/could be use
• Outline the research design and procedures that would need to be undertaken to collect data
• Include a justification of the plan of action
• Explain why the method chosen is appropriate to answer the research question
• Identify any variables that may need to be controlled
• Describe any limitations to the proposed research
• Describe any ethical considerations and how you might overcome them

Report 

• Introduction , explaining the background of the study, the aim or the question that was investigated, the independent and dependent variables and a suitable hypothesis.
• Materials/apparatus
• Method and Participants
• Ethical Considerations
• Results (include a table of results)
• Analysis , providing a clear and in-depth explanation of what the results suggest and whether the hypothesis was supported
• E valuation
  • Validity (Internal and External)
  • Reliability                                                                
  • Strengths and weaknesses                          
  • Suggested Improvements
  • Conclusion with justification
• Bibliography