Chapter 6 (Midterms) Flashcards
A change in behavior or belief
as the result of real or imagined
group pressure.
Comes in two forms:
Acceptance and Compliance; overall term for
acting differently due to the influence of
others; acting or thinking differently from the way you would act and think if you were
alone
Conformity
Conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure.
Acceptance
Conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing.
Compliance
A type of compliance involving acting in accord with a direct order or command.
Obedience
Self (auto) motion (kinetic).
The apparent movement of a stationary point of light in the dark.
Autokinetic phenomenon
A behavior that we share with most vertebrates; “fixed action pattern” that lasts about six seconds, with a long inward breath and shorter climactic (and pleasurable) exhalation
Yawning
Neurons that rehearse or mimic witnessed actions
Mirror neurons
Phenomenon of just being around happy people can help us feel happier
Mood linkage
Our natural mimicry of others’ postures and language generally elicits liking—except when echoing others’ negative expressions, such as anger
Chameleon effect
Suggestibility to problems that spreads throughout a large group of people.
Mass hysteria
4 DETERMINING FACTORS OF
OBEDIENCE
- The Victim’s Distance
- Closeness and Legitimacy of the Authority
- Institutional Authority
- Liberating Effects of Group Influence
A determining factor of obedience which states that it is easiest to abuse someone who
is distant or depersonalized; people act most compassionately toward those who are personalized.
The Victim’s Distance
A trait wherein an individual is seen as unimportant because their thoughts or feelings do no matter
Depersonalize
A determining factor of obedience where if the one making the command is physically
close, compliance increases; the authority must be perceived as legitimate to be obeyed.
Closeness and Legitimacy of the
Authority
An individual who is entitled to have its decisions and rules accepted by others.
Legitimate Authority
A determining factor of obedience where authorities backed by institutions wield social power.
Institutional Authority
A society or organization founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose
Institution
A determining factor of obedience which states that conformity can also be constructive and be liberated.
Liberating Effects of Group Influence
Showing freedom from social conventions or traditional ideas
Liberated
When external influences override inner
convictions, attitudes fail to determine behavior.
Behavior and Attitudes
In trying to break with social constraints, we
suddenly realize how strong we are.
Power of Social Norms
6 situations/conditions which predict conformity
Group Size
Unanimity
Cohesion
Status
Public Response
Prior Commitment
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where people conform most when three or more people, or groups, model
the behavior or belief.
Group size
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where people will usually voice their own convictions if just one other person
has also differed from the majority.
Unanimity
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where a minority opinion from someone outside the groups we identify with
sways us less than the same minority opinion from someone within our group
Cohesion
A “we feeling”; the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as by attraction to one another.
Cohesiveness
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where higher-status people tend to have more impact and lower-status people
tend to conform more
Status
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where people conform more when they must respond in front of others
rather than writing their answers privately.
Public response
A situation/condition which predicts conformity where a prior commitment to a certain behavior or belief increases the
likelihood that a person will stick with that commitment rather than conform
Prior commitment
2 Forms of Social Influence
Normative influence
Informational influence
Conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often to gain acceptance.
Normative influence
Conformity occurring when people accept
evidence about reality provided by other people.
Informational influence
3 Predictors on How Conformity Varies
Personality
Culture
Social Roles
A predictor on how conformity varies where people higher in agreeableness and conscientiousness are more likely to conform; people high in openness to experience are less likely to conform.
Personality
People who value getting along with others
Agreeableness
People who follow social norms for neatness and punctuality
Conscientiousness
People has creativity and socially progressive thinking
Openness
A predictor on how conformity varies which states that conformity rates are higher in
collectivistic countries and more conformist times such as the 1950s.
Culture
A predictor on how conformity varies which states that social life is like acting on a
theatrical stage, with all its scenes, masks, and scripts, and those roles have much to do with conformity
Social roles
Changing oneself or empathize with people whose roles differ from their own to
intentionally play a new role and conform to its expectations.
Role Reversal
2 factors that motivate people to actively resist social pressure
Reactance
Asserting uniqueness
A factor that is a motive to protect or restore
one’s sense of freedom; arises when
someone threatens our freedom of action.
Reactance
People act to protect their sense of freedom
Theory of psychological reactance
An anticonformity produced when a restrict to a person’s freedom is attempted
Boomerang effect
A factor that motivates people to actively resist social pressure where people feel better when they see themselves as moderately unique and act in ways that will assert their individuality
Asserting uniqueness
