AQA AS PSYCHOLOGY 7181 1 PAPER 1
INTRODUCTORY TOPICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION TEST 2026
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS 100% CORRECT
◉ Authoritarian submission. Answer: Uncritical submission to
legitimate authorities
◉ Resistance to social influence. Answer: Social support, locus of
control
◉ Non-conformity. Answer: Resisting pressure to conform
◉ Anti-conformity/Counter-conformity. Answer: Acts opposite to
rules (purpose)
◉ Truly independent behaviour. Answer: Not influenced by actions
of others
◉ Locus of control. Answer: Refers to the feeling of control people
have over the successes, failures and events in their lives.
,◉ High internal locus of control. Answer: Feel that their actions are
their own choice and responsibility
◉ High external locus of control. Answer: See their actions as
resulting largely from factors outside their control such as luck or
fate.
◉ Evaluation for resistance of social influence. Answer: Social
support (the importance of response order) - Allen and Levine
(1969)
Social support (support may not have to be valid to be effective) -
Allen and Levine (1971)
Locus of control is related to normative but not informational
influence - Spector (1983)
◉ Allen and Levine 1969. Answer: 1969. Studied whether the
response position of the person providing social support made any
difference to the participant resisting the majority. Social support
1st was more effective than social support 4th when there were 4
confederates and the participant answering 5th.
◉ Allen and Levine 1971. Answer: 1971. Looked at whether social
support that was not particularly valid would also be effective in
helping participants resist conformity. Valid social support reduces
the amount of conformity more than invalid social support even
though both have an effect.
,◉ Minority influence. Answer: Takes place when an individual or
small group of people influence the majority or larger group to
change their attitudes or behaviour towards an issue.
◉ Majority influence. Answer: The behaviours or beliefs of a larger
(majority) group of individuals influences the behaviours or beliefs
of a smaller group.
◉ Factors that effect minority influence. Answer: Consistency,
commitment, flexibility
◉ Commitment. Answer: Dedication or obligation to a cause or
other people.
◉ Flexibility. Answer: Minorities must be willing to adapt their point
of view and accept reasonable counter arguments, they must be
non-dogmatic
◉ Dogmatic. Answer: To be inclined to lay down principles as
indefinitely true.
◉ Examples of minority influence. Answer: Suffragettes and
Suffragists. Recycling.
, ◉ Evaluation of minority influence. Answer: Research support for
flexibility - Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987)
The 'real' value of minority influence - Nemeth (2010)
Do we really process the minority's message more? - Mackie (1987)
A 'tipping point' for commitment - Xie et al (2011)
◉ Social change. Answer: When a whole society adopts a new belief
or way of thinking which then widely becomes accepted as the
norm.
◉ 5 stages of minority influence. Answer: Consistency, Draw
attention to a cause or issue, Augmentation Principle, Snowball
Effect and Cognitive Conflict
◉ Drawing attention to a cause or issue. Answer: Minorities can
bring about social change by drawing the majorities attention.
◉ Cognitive conflict. Answer: Minority creates a conflict between
what majority group members currently believe and the position
advocated by the majority. Creating conflict/arguments or making
someone think twice about an issues.
INTRODUCTORY TOPICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION TEST 2026
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS 100% CORRECT
◉ Authoritarian submission. Answer: Uncritical submission to
legitimate authorities
◉ Resistance to social influence. Answer: Social support, locus of
control
◉ Non-conformity. Answer: Resisting pressure to conform
◉ Anti-conformity/Counter-conformity. Answer: Acts opposite to
rules (purpose)
◉ Truly independent behaviour. Answer: Not influenced by actions
of others
◉ Locus of control. Answer: Refers to the feeling of control people
have over the successes, failures and events in their lives.
,◉ High internal locus of control. Answer: Feel that their actions are
their own choice and responsibility
◉ High external locus of control. Answer: See their actions as
resulting largely from factors outside their control such as luck or
fate.
◉ Evaluation for resistance of social influence. Answer: Social
support (the importance of response order) - Allen and Levine
(1969)
Social support (support may not have to be valid to be effective) -
Allen and Levine (1971)
Locus of control is related to normative but not informational
influence - Spector (1983)
◉ Allen and Levine 1969. Answer: 1969. Studied whether the
response position of the person providing social support made any
difference to the participant resisting the majority. Social support
1st was more effective than social support 4th when there were 4
confederates and the participant answering 5th.
◉ Allen and Levine 1971. Answer: 1971. Looked at whether social
support that was not particularly valid would also be effective in
helping participants resist conformity. Valid social support reduces
the amount of conformity more than invalid social support even
though both have an effect.
,◉ Minority influence. Answer: Takes place when an individual or
small group of people influence the majority or larger group to
change their attitudes or behaviour towards an issue.
◉ Majority influence. Answer: The behaviours or beliefs of a larger
(majority) group of individuals influences the behaviours or beliefs
of a smaller group.
◉ Factors that effect minority influence. Answer: Consistency,
commitment, flexibility
◉ Commitment. Answer: Dedication or obligation to a cause or
other people.
◉ Flexibility. Answer: Minorities must be willing to adapt their point
of view and accept reasonable counter arguments, they must be
non-dogmatic
◉ Dogmatic. Answer: To be inclined to lay down principles as
indefinitely true.
◉ Examples of minority influence. Answer: Suffragettes and
Suffragists. Recycling.
, ◉ Evaluation of minority influence. Answer: Research support for
flexibility - Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987)
The 'real' value of minority influence - Nemeth (2010)
Do we really process the minority's message more? - Mackie (1987)
A 'tipping point' for commitment - Xie et al (2011)
◉ Social change. Answer: When a whole society adopts a new belief
or way of thinking which then widely becomes accepted as the
norm.
◉ 5 stages of minority influence. Answer: Consistency, Draw
attention to a cause or issue, Augmentation Principle, Snowball
Effect and Cognitive Conflict
◉ Drawing attention to a cause or issue. Answer: Minorities can
bring about social change by drawing the majorities attention.
◉ Cognitive conflict. Answer: Minority creates a conflict between
what majority group members currently believe and the position
advocated by the majority. Creating conflict/arguments or making
someone think twice about an issues.
