Chapter 6 Flashcards
Conformity
Change in behavior or belief to accord with others (must be due to others’ influence.)
Acceptance
Conformity that involves both acting and believing. You actually were persuaded.
Compliance
Conforming without believing. You don’t want to do it but social pressures.
Obedience
Compliance in response to a command. Don’t want to do, social pressures, and they tell you to.
Which of the 4, conformity, acceptance, compliance, or obedience, has most cognitive arousal?
Obedience (a nonvoluntary nature)
Muzafer Sherif studies on Norm Formation
Changed answers when others had very different answers (how far light move in dark room)
People’s answers converge over repeated trials.
Autokinetic phenomenon
Apparent movement of a stationary point of light.
Mood linkage
Being around happy people can make us feel happier
Chameleon effect
Mimicking someone else’s behavior (eg. seeing happy face –> happy face yourself)
Mass hysteria
Mimicry on a large scale throughout a large group of people (eg. Lexus cars false malfunction example)
How does suicide and gun violence relate to mass hysteria?
These things could be socially contagious
Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure
3 lines and 1 is right. Social conformity.
From Asch’s studies, is it true that more people tell the truth even when others don’t?
Yes. 63% overall didn’t conform.
Soccer referee decisions and conformity
2.35 average (away team) vs. 1.89 average (home team) cards. Difference also larger in louder stadiums
How did self-estimates differ from the participants for Milgram’s study?
Not over 135 volts vs. 300+ volts
How have things changed about obedience conformity? Milgram replication
More people willing to disobey. Individualism shift maybe.
Why might Milgram’s findings not be as surprising as they seem?
4 phenomenon that support. 1) slippery slope (small –> large requests) 2) shock-giving as social norm 3) deny responsibility 4) limited time
Why Milgram might be considered unethical?
Agony from thinking about what they did to the ‘victims’ (trembled, stuttered, bit lips, groaned, etc.)
No true informed consent
Altered self-concepts
4 factors that bred obedience (Milgram)
1) victim’s emotional distance (greatest obedience when victim not seen)
2) authority’s closeness and legitimacy (presence of experimenter = more obedience)
3) Institutional authority (prestige university = more obedience)
4) liberating effects of group influence(when accomplices help out)
What happened when assistant took over study instead?
The participants disobeyed more. Even protested and unplugged
What do researchers argue the Nazi soldiers and other horrific obedience instances extended to?
Acceptance. They believed in the cause.
Compliance may breed _______
Acceptance.
“I think we need more women on the island to keep the men satisfied.”
How many thought they’d ignore, and how many actually ignored?
What’s the lesson?
5%, 55% actually did
social norms (kindness) are powerful.
Does situation of harm-doing exonerate harm-doers?
No. To explain is not to excuse.
How Group Size predicts conformity?
Percentage of imitation increased till group size of 5 (look at sky example)
How does unanimity predict conformity?
Even 1 dissenting view from majority makes people say their own opinion (even if they wrong)
How does cohesion predict conformity?
the “we feeling”. bounded together. Friends > aquaintance influence
How does status predict conformity?
higher-status = more impact.
How does public response predict conformity?
Conform more when respond in front of others
How does prior commitment predict conformity?
Conform more after making public commitment.
2 reasons why we conform
Normative influence: we want to be liked
Informational influence: we want to be right
How agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience is linked with conformity
Agreeableness: more likely to conform
Conscientiousness: more likely to conform
Openness to experience: less likely to conform
When and in what cultures are conformity rates higher? eg. milgrim
More conformist times and collectivistic cultures.
How social roles influence conformity
We all have roles. They are powerful. We conform to our social roles.
Reactance
Motive to protect one’s sense of freedom.
How to allow children freedom but also make them do something
Instead of giving command, give them limited choice (eg. it’s time to clean. bath or shower?)
What does the theory of psychological reactance entail about ads to stop drinking?
It might not work for them. They don’t want their freedom gone.
How does uniqueness play a role in conformity?
People also want to be unique. Scared to be the same as everyone else.
High ‘need for uniqueness’ = low conforming individuals
We are more aware of our race or gender when we ____
are with people of the other group
Communitarianism
a communal or nonconformist individualism (balance)
