Compliance and Obedience Flashcards
What is compliance?
- requesting explicitly
- influence - adverts, favours
- reason-based, emotion-based and norm-based
- no authority figure
What is the norm of reciprocity?
- reason-based approach
- norm dictating that people should provide benefits to those who benefit them
- feeling obliged by later request (even if not equivalent)
- important for a social living (effective in economics)
Describe the door-in-the-face/ reciprocal concessions technique
- reason-based approach
- requesting a large favour (that you know will be declined) and then following with a modest request (that you actually want)
- Cialdini et al - request ppts to chaperone deliquents to school trip (1) and then request zoo trip and 2 years of counselling (2)
- condition 2: 50% agreed to trip and condition 1: 17% agreed
What is the foot-in-door technique?
- reason-based
- make an initially small request then slowly increase
- Freedman and Fraser (1966): “large sign in your yard?” (1) or small sign in window then large sign (2)
- 17% to 76% agreement
- works because of consistency (commitment to the first act, causes a change in self-schema via self-perception
Explain the “that’s not all” technique and evidence
- reason-based
- commonly in adverts
- adding something “extra” to the original offer “throw in”
- price usually includes the “extra”
- usually with time pressure
- perception of kindness
Burger (1986)
- sold desserts at uni
- 1 cupcake and 2 cookies for 75 cents
- cupcake for 75p and throw in 2 cookies
- framing caused 40 to 73% purchase
What is the “even a penny helps” technique?
- reason-based
- donation adverts
- works as it is legitimising any contributions
- invalidating the thought that someone can’t afford
- increases the number of donations (not the amounts in each)
How does a positive mood increase compliance?
-emotion-based approach
Isen (1976)
- ppts get phone call in booth - asked to relay msg to another person (1)
- condition 2, they received a gift before and then asked
- 10% agreement to 100% agreement
- the time frame is important; immediacy increases compliance
- construal changes - giving BOD
Forgas and East (2008)
- ppts watch an emotion-evoking film clip
- asked to watch an interview of lying thief
- positive mood, more likely to trust - decreases lie detection
WHY?
- positive mood maintenance
- want to continue feeling good so only works if the compliance is for a good thing
Isen and Levin (1972)
- approached to take part in experiment
- 1/2 told benefit
- 1/2 told it would be hindering
- positive mood only increased compliance when the task was helpful
Describe how a negative mood may increase compliance
- emotion-based
- specifically guilt
Harris (1975)
- asked Catholics to donate money to charity
- asked before confession or after confession
- more donations made before (thinking or guilt and sins) but absolved after- 100 to 11% men and 21% to 11%
Negative State Relief Hypothesis
- increase compliance as they are doing something for something
- feel better
- powerful motivator
What is reactance?
- emotion-based
- threats to freedom
- negative arousal, engage in forbidden behaviour - reverse psychology
- depends on construal - whom we react against depends on affiliation
What are the two types of norm?
Descriptive
- objective, factual description of what most people do (informational influence)
Prescriptive
- what most people should do according to rule/tradition (normative and less likely to do)
Describe studies for norm-based compliance
Schultz (2007)
- CA homeowners
- their electrical usage with the neighbourhood average
- those who consumed more than average than used less (but was also true for the opposite)
- counteract negative; info accompanied with smiley or sad face - had effect (approval)
Goldstein (2006) - reusing towels in hotels 1 ) no normative info 2) majority of past guest reuse 3) majority of past guests in this room reuse - 2 increased and 3 increase strongly
Cialdini (2006)
- placed signs in park to stop stealing wood
1) most have removed the wood, changing state
2) most have left the wood - theft was 4x lower for 2nd sign - highlighting good thing that majority do
What is pluralistic ignorance?
- people are unaware of the true norms of the group
- siding with the descriptive than prescriptive because of the lack of info about those following the rules
Prentice and Miller (1993)
- Binge drinking in UGs in Princeton
- compare how they felt about drinking compared to what others felt
- people assume others are comfier than they acc are
Briefly describe Milgram’s study in obedience
- 1950/60s
- learner/teachers (newspaper recruits)
- punishments to the learner for incorrect (confed)
- audio-only, shocks labelled
- 15v to 450v increasing by 15v each time
- predicted no more than 1% would reach max but 63% delivered the fatal shock
- authority figure with prompts
Briefly describe the Derren Brown replication of Milgram’s study
- 21st century
- more protests but still continued with prompts
- more ethical
Why did ppts in Milgram’s study obey?
Released from responsibility
- experimenter claims responsibility
Step by step
- gradually increasing the volts, not straight away
Lack of practice disobeying
- most ppts tried to end but not effective due to lack of boldness
- relied on authority
