Chapter 8 Flashcards
social influence
the way that a group or person can alter the behaviours of another
3 forms of social influence
- conformity
- compliance
- obedience
conformity def
changing or behaviours in accordance with others
ex. the way you dress
compliance def
changing our behaviours due to the requests of others
ex. will you pick up milk on your way home
obedience def
changing our behaviours because someone tell us to
ex. drink this
conformity at a
macro level
- socialization into our society’s descriptive norms and injunctive norms
descriptive norm
the way most people act in a certain situation
injunctive norm
expectation for the way we should act
why do we conform? (micro level)
- informational social influence
- normative social influence
informational social influence
results in private acceptance
ex.
normative social influence
results in public conformity
informational social influence
- other people as a source of information about what is correct
ex. place settings - looking at which utensils other people us first
autokinetic effect
- sherif
- when you’re in complete darkness and theres a pinpoint of light, you might see it move but you don’t know how much, you might base your answer on other people’s answers
informational social influence occurs when
- situation is ambiguous (ex. fire alarms that go off frequently)
- situation if a crisis (ex. war of the worlds)
- other people are experts
pluralistic ignorance
- when you rely on other people for information and assume it’s correct
- mutually agree
ex. a real fire alarm
informational social of influence won’t occur when
- level of knowledge/ expertise is great
- age (children rather than adults)
- need for cognition (to really think things through)
normative social influence
- other people as a source of social approval
- desire to fit in
Asch (1950s)
line judgement task
- 76% of people conformed at least once
- even though the answer if obvious, people would still give the wrong answer if others did too
minimal social group
- gathering of people who happen to be place together, at the same time
ex. a group of strangers coming together because they are taking part in the same research study
normative social influence occurs when
social impact theory
social impact theory
- strength of group
- size of the group (peak at 4-5 people)
- immediacy of the group (physical proximity - face to face)
resisting normative social influence
if there is someone else present in the group that resists normative social influence
normative social influence can have
negative impacts
- alcohol, drugs etc.
compliance
- various techniques can increase compliance
- role of scrips
- pique technique
role of scripts in gaining compliance
- automatic compliance scripts
- automatic refusal script
automatic compliance scripts
- agree without really thinking about it
ex. if someone asks us what time it is
automatic refusal script
- most people refuse without thinking about it
ex. panhandling
pique technique
make request in an unusually way
- disrupts automatic scripts
ex. if someone were to ask for change vs. if someone were to ask for 37 cents
santos, leve and pratkanis
study on panhandlers
- part 1: the wharf study
- part 2: survey
- pique technique works because it disrupts an automatic result scrips
part 1: the wharf study
2x2 design
- high amount vs. low amount
- typical amount (23%) vs. unusual amount (37%)
- low-typical: quarter
- high-typical: some change
- low -usual: 17 cents
- high-unusual: 37 cents
- more compliance when it was a low amount, and unusual amount
part 2: survey of undergrad students
- (hypothetical) more compliance when it was a unusual (60%) amount but no difference in low or high
- more compliance in hypothetical
amount of change given was dependent on
- attractive
- likeable
- irritation/empathy
- needy
- similarity to me
page 1 of survey
- how would you respond
- what would you say
- how much money would you give
page 2 of survey
describe any thought
- specific thoughts vs. general general thoughts
- specific thoughts were more likely in unusual conditions
page 3 of survey
rate the panhandlers 5 dimensions
panhandlers 5 dimensions
likeable
when will pique technique work?
- situations that involve mindless refusal
- must attract the target’s attention
- must induce positive thoughts about compliance and person who is making that request
obedience
- ordinary people bowing to extraordinary social pressures (change in our behaviours because someone orders us to act in a certain way)
- milgram
milgram
- series of obedience studies
- administering electric shocks to people
why do people obey?
- personal histories of obedience/ defiance
- binding
- strain
binding
feelings of comfort when obeying authority figures
strain
feelings of discomfort when obeying authority figures
gibson and haritos-fatouros
- can be manipulated in a way that many people are willing to cause harm because an authority figure told him to
3 steps to teaching to torture
- screening to find the best prospects
- techniques to increase binding
- initiation rites
- elitist attitudes and in-group language
screening to find the best prospects, being..
- normal, well adjusted humans (because it’s hard to train psycho people)
- physical (depending on the type of behaviour they are going to engage in ex. strong)
- intellectual
- political (the same as the ones being interpreted)
initiation rites
removing individual from the everyday society and introducing them to a new social group
elitist attitudes and in-group language
- make them think that the group they are now part of, is the best group
- new vocab develop
techniques to reduce strain
- dehumanize the victim
- physical and psychological intimidation (ex. being deprived of sleep)
- reward/punishment
- social modelling
- systematic desensitization
social modeling
watching other group members perform the action before they do
systematic desensitization
the more you observe certain types of behaviours the less those actions have an impact on you
(ex. violence on TV)
analysis of anti-communist military regime
- examined 21 official testimony of soldiers from the war crime and conducted 16 in-depth interviews
- all of these soldiers were drafted (they didn’t volunteer)
anti-communist military regime: initial screening
- looked for those who were strong
- have the same political beliefs
anti-communist military regime: later screening (to get in elite group)
- aggressive
- keep their mouth shut
- “be their man”
anti-communist military regime: techniques to increase binding
- kicked, punched, run without stopping
- making promises
- being told they were lucky to be accepted into the group
- “tea party” team beating of prisoner
- “tea party with toast” team beating of prisoner with weapon
anti-communist military regime: techniques to reduce strain
- national ethical education lectures (talking about the evils of communism)
- enemies were considered “worms”
- carrot and stick
carrot and stick method
- rewards and punishment
- carrot (free food, bus rides, guaranteed a job)
- stick (any member of group who failed would take prisoners place)
ronald jones
third wave movement
third wave movement
- teacher created a group with his students
- make them stand in attention and called him sir
- created a list of rules
- created a specific salute
- made third wave movement an official group
- had to rat on their peers
chameleon effect
the non conscious mimicry of the postures. mannerisms, facial expression and other behaviours of one’s integration partner, such that one’s behaviour passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one’s current social environment
social role
expectations for the ways in which an individual should behave in a given situation
social norm
patterns of behaviours that are accepted as normal and to which an individual is expected to conform in a particular group or culture
symbolic social influence
a type of influence that occurs when we change our behaviour according to the mental representation of other and our relationships with them
public conformity
occurs when we feel pressured to conform to group norms. when publicly conforming people pretend to agree with the group but privately think the group is wrong
private conformity
occurs when people truly believe the group is right
minority influence
a process in which a small number of people within a group guide a change in the group’s attitude or behaviour
foot in door technique
a compliance technique that begins with a small request, when granted, leads to a larger request
low ball
which a target accepts a low cost offer only to then be told that there are additional hidden costs
door in the face technique
the requester makes an initial offer that is much larger than the target offer, in the hops that the final offer will have the appearance of the requester doing a favour for the target person
thats not all technique
an initial request is followed by adding something that makes the offer more attractive
