CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Question 1

Process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people.

Answer 1

Social influence

Question 2

Attitudinal and behavioural uniformities that define group membership and differentiate between groups.

Answer 2

Norms

Question 3

Superficial, public and transitory change in behaviour and expressed attitudes in response to requests, coercion or group pressure.

Answer 3

Compliance

Question 4

Kelley’s term for a group that is psychologically significant for our behaviour and attitudes.

Answer 4

reference group

Question 5

Kelley’s term for a group to which we belong by some objective external criterion.

Answer 5

Membership group

Question 6

General model of social influence in which two separate processes operate – dependency on others for social approval and for information about reality.

Answer 6

Dual-process dependency model

Question 7

Capacity to influence others while resisting their attempts to influence.

Answer 7

power

Question 8

The ability to give or promise rewards for compliance

Answer 8

Reward power

Question 9

The ability to give or threaten punishment for non-compliance

Answer 9

Coercive power

Question 10

The target’s belief that the influencer has more information than oneself

Answer 10

Informational power

Question 11

The target’s belief that the influencer has generally greater expertise and knowledge than oneself

Answer 11

Expert power

Question 12

The target’s belief that the influencer is authorised by a recognised power structure to command and make decisions

Answer 12

Legitimate power

Question 13

Identification with, attraction to or respect for the source of influence

Answer 13

Referent power

Question 14

A frame of mind thought by Milgram to characterise unquestioning obedience, in which people as agents transfer personal responsibility to the person giving orders.

Answer 14

agentic state

Question 15

Deep-seated, private and enduring change in behaviour and attitudes due to group pressure.

Answer 15

Conformity

Question 16

Complete range of subjectively conceivable positions on some attitudinal or behavioural dimension, which relevant people can occupy in a particular context.

Answer 16

Frame of reference

Question 17

Optical illusion in which a pinpoint of light shining in complete darkness appears to move about.

Answer 17

autokinesis

Question 18

An influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality.

Answer 18

Informational influence

Question 19

An influence to conform to the positive expectation of others, to gain social approval or to avoid social disapproval.

Answer 19

Normative influence

Question 20

Theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on selfcategorization, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of ingroup-defining properties.

Answer 20

Social identity theory

Question 21

Pressure to conform to a group norm that defines oneself as a group member.

Answer 21

referent informational influence

Question 22

The prototype of a group is that position within the group that has the largest ratio of ‘differences to ingroup positions’ to ‘differences to outgroup positions’.

Answer 22

Meta-contrast principle

Question 23

Social influence processes whereby numerical or power minorities change the attitudes of the majority.

Answer 23

Minority influence

Question 24

Tendency for social psychology to treat group influence as a one-way process in which individuals or minorities always conform to majorities.

Answer 24

Conformity bias

Question 25

When minority influence brings about a sudden and dramatic internal and private change in the attitudes of a majority.

Answer 25

Conversion effect

Question 26

The effect that other people have on our attitudes and behaviour, usually as a consequence of factors such as group size, and temporal and physical immediacy.

Answer 26

Social impact

Question 27

Social psychology was defined by Gordon Allport (1954a) as

Answer 27

‘an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others’

Question 28

an outward change in behaviour and expressed attitudes in response to a request from another person, or as a

Answer 28

public compliance

Question 29

a process of influence that enlists and mobilises others in the attainment of collective goals; it imbues people with the group’s attitudes and goals and inspires them to work towards achieving them

Answer 29

Leadership

Question 30

Once people have committed themselves to a course of action (i.e. to give shocks), it can be difficult subsequently to change their minds. The process, which reflects the ___________ in which once committed to a course of action people will continue their commitment even if the costs increase dramatically

Answer 30

psychology of sunk costs

Question 31

tend to have low self-esteem, a high need for social support or approval, a need for self-control, low IQ, high anxiety, feelings of self-blame and insecurity in the group, feelings of inferiority, feelings of relatively low status in the group and a generally authoritarian personality

Answer 31

Those who conform

Question 32

The two situational factors in conformity that have been most extensively researched are

Answer 32

group size and group unanimity

Question 33

three main processes of social influence to account specifically for conformity

Answer 33

informational influence, normative influence and referent informational influence.

Question 34

three social influence modalities that define how people respond to such social conflict:

Answer 34

1. Conformity – majority influence in which the majority persuades the minority or deviates to adopt the majority viewpoint.

2 Normalisation – mutual compromise leading to convergence.

3 Innovation – a minority creates and accentuates conflict in order to persuade the majority to adopt the minority viewpoint.

Question 35

Empirical evidence for conversion theory can be organised around three testable hypotheses these are?

Answer 35

1. direction-of-attention hypothesis – majority influence causes people to focus on their relationship to the majority (interpersonal focus), whereas minority influence causes people to focus on the minority message itself (message focus)
2. content-of thinking hypothesis – majority influence leads to superficial examination of arguments, whereas minority influence leads to detailed evaluation of arguments
3. differential-influence hypothesis, that majority influence produces more public/ direct influence than private/indirect influence whereas minority influence produces the opposite