Chapter 8: social influence, changing other's behavior

Question 1

social influence

Answer 1

Efforts by one or more people to change the behavior, attitudes, or feelings of one or more others.

Question 2

Conformity

Answer 2

The accordance with social norms; most people underestimate the degree to which they confirm to social norms, but often do so most of the time.

Question 3

Cohesiveness

Answer 3

The degree of attraction felt by an individual toward some group, group size, and type of social norm operating in that situation.

Question 4

Descriptive norms

Answer 4

Norms that simply describe what most people do in a given situation

Question 5

Injunctive norms

Answer 5

Norms that specify how people ought to behave, what is approved or disapproved behavior in a given situation.

Question 6

Normative focus theory

Answer 6

Suggests that norms will influence behavior only to the extent that they are salient to the people involved at the time the behavior occurs. They will obey injunctive norms only when they think about them and see them as applying to themselves and their actions.

Question 7

Informative social influence

Answer 7

Reliance on others opinions and actions as a guide for our own; is often a powerful source of the tendency to conform.

Question 8

Synchronous behavior

Answer 8

Behavior in which individuals match their actions to those of others.

Question 9

Reactance

Answer 9

The feeling that our personal freedom is being restricted, and that we should resist strong pressure to conform to maintain our individuality. Whether we choose to confirm or resist depends, in part, on whether we are participating in such actions or observing them.

Question 10

Status and confirmity

Answer 10

People who conform –> low autonomy –> low status

People who don’t conform –> high autonomy –> high status

Question 11

Compliance

Answer 11

Getting others to say “yes” to your requests

Question 12

six principles of compliance

Answer 12

• Friendship/liking
• Commitment/consistency
• Scarcity
• Reciprocity
• Social validation
• Authority

Question 13

Tactics based on friendship/liking

Answer 13

• Impression management
• flattery
• self-promotion
• incidental similarity

Question 14

Foot-in-the-door technique

Answer 14

Involves presenting target people with a small request - something so trivial it is hard for them to refuse - and then following it up with a larger request. Rests on principal of consistency: Saying yes to larger request feels consistent with previous behavior of saying yes to smaller request

Question 15

Lowball procedure

Answer 15

A very good deal is offered to a customer. After customer accepts, something happens that makes it necessary for the deal to change, making it less advantageous. Often customer will still agree to the less advantageous deal because having committed initially makes it harder to walk away. Rests on principal of commitment.

Question 16

The lure effect

Answer 16

In this technique, the intended target of a request is first asked to agree to do something he or she finds appealing; After they agree to this, they are told they do not need to do the appealing task (a questionnaire for example), and instead are needed to do a boring task (copying paperwork, for example). Most individuals agree to do the boring task, because they feel a sense of obligation.

Question 17

Door-in-the-face technique

Answer 17

Opposite of the foot-in-the-door technique, where instead of beginning with a small request and working up to a big one, they START with a big request and after it is rejected, shift to a smaller request (but one that was the intended goal all along).

Question 18

That’s-not-all technique

Answer 18

An initial request is followed, before the target person can say “yes” or “no”, by something that sweetens the deal - an extra incentive from the people offering it. People on the receiving end of this feel, due to the norms of reciprocity, that they now ought to accept because the other person is doing something “extra” for them.

Question 19

Deadline technique

Answer 19

Sales that are effective due to an indication of an approaching deadline on the deal.

Question 20

Obedience

Answer 20

In which one person directly orders one or more others to behave in specific ways

Question 21

Why destructive obedience occurs

Answer 21

1. people in authority relieve those who obey of the responsibility for their own actions
2. people in authority often possess visible badges or signs of status, and this reminds individuals of the social norm “obey the authority”
3. involves the gradual escalation of the authority figure’s orders.

Question 22

Resisting the effects of destructive obedience

Answer 22

1. individuals exposed to commands from authority figures can be reminded that THEY are responsible for their actions
2. Individuals can be given a clear indication that beyond some point, total submission to destructive commands is inappropriate
3. It may be easier to resist influence from authority figures if their expertise is questioned
4. simply knowing about the power of authority figures and the norms associated with it is helpful

Question 23

Unintentional social influence

Answer 23

When individuals influence others without overtly intending to do so

Question 24

Symbolic social influence

Answer 24

When the mere thought of the reactions of other people may have strong effect on our actions and attitudes.