Conformity Flashcards
Conformity
Tendency to change perceptions, opinions, and behaviour in ways that are consistent with social norms
6 types of social power
Reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, expert, informational
Reward power
Ability to reward others when they follow your wishes/instruction
Coercive power
Ability to deliver consequences to a person who doesn’t follow your wishes
Legitimate power
Power through role (i.e. CEO)
Referent power
Ability to influence based on personality/attractiveness
Expert power
Someone who is an expert in the field
Informational power
ability to withhold/divulge powerful information
What are the 2 influences on conformity?
Normative and informative
What is the motivation behind normative influences
Want to fit in/be liked, avoid consequences of rejection that follows deviance
Why are people so afraid of rejection?
Biologically wired, can feel like physical pain
What type of situation do you use normative influence?
Non-ambiguous
What are the 2 types of normative influence
Compliance and conformity due to identificaition
What is the motivation behind informational influence
Wanting to make the correct choice/decision
What kind of situation is informational influence used in?
Ambiguous situations
What is the one type of informational influence
Conformity with internalization
Pluralistic ignorance
Encompasses situations which a minority group is incorrectly perceived to be the majority
Sherif “Autokinetic effect” results
In groups, common to conform to a normative answer
Asch “Testing impact of conformity in unambiguous situation” Findings
People conform to knowingly incorrect answers because they don’t want to be embarrassed
Slippery slope hypothesis (Milgram)
Explains why some people conform, can’t figure out when/where to stop
Empirically supported reasons for obedience
- Proximity to victim
- Proximity to experimenter
- Authority
- Group effects
- Subsidiary roles
How does proximity to experimenter impact obedience?
Closer physically = more obedience, if done over the phone = less obedience
How does authority impact obedience?
Majority will only listen to experimenter, 1/5 listened to confederate because they figured he knew something they didn’t
Why do dissenting peers cause conformity?
- Informational influence
- Normative pressure
- Diffusion of responsibility
- Diminished social power of experimenter
- Subsidiary role
Does legitimacy influence obedience?
No
Does fairness of the experiment influence obedience?
No
Does aggression of participants influence outcome?
No most people don’t want to hurt others
Lowball technique
Get target to commit to some deal and then change the terms
Foot in the door technique
Ask for something small and after you get it, ask for something bigger
What makes the foot in the door technique more effective?
“But it’s entirely up to you”
Rejection-then-retreat technique
Ask for something huge, after you get turned down ask for a smaller request (what you wanted in the first place)
Freedman & Fraser - FITD findings
- Target must actually perform small task
- Familiarity with source >
- Source don’t need to be same both times
- Second request can be different
Why does door in the face work so well
People are often grateful to be able to do something for you
Gueguen & Pascual “but you are free” technique
BYAF increased participation by about 40%
Regan (1971) “reciprocation”
If you like someone you’re more likely to give them things. You’re more likely to like someone if they give you something
