Conformity Flashcards
What is social influence? What are the different types of social influence and how do they vary along a continuum?
Social Influence: How people are affected by the real and imagined pressures of others.From yielding to influence - resisting influence they are:.Obedience, Compliance, Conformity, Independence, Assertiveness, Defiance
Define conformity, compliance, and obedience.
Conformity: Tendency to change our perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms.Compliance: changes in behaviour as the result of direct requestsObedience: a form of “social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure”[1] Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which is behavior influenced by peers, and from conformity, which is behavior intended to match that of the majority.
Describe the methods and results of Muzafer Sherif’s classic laboratory study of how norms develop in small groups.
.Took advantage of autokinetic effect, pitch black room, dot of light is stationary but appears to move and to widely varying degrees depending on the person.initially participants alone, but then brought into groups over next three days, gave responses aloud.each group seemed to converge on its own unique consensus, develop own norm
What did Sherif theorize about the relation of these results to confusion and uncertainty?
.Informational influence.because of ambiguity, participants turned to each other for guidance
What evidence emerged from related research that the influence of the group can be internalized?
.up to a year later, participants were brought back in, and people continued to give group norm!!
Discuss the seminal research conducted by Solomon Asch (1956) using a line judgment task, including the design and results of the study.
.participant placed with 6-7 other confederates in a room, asked to do a task with 99% correct answers with control group.first two trials everyone agreed, then after that, the rest of the group started to pick the wrong answer deliberately. did the participant change their answer?.75% conformed on at least one trial, 50% for at least half of trials, participants went along with incorrect majority 37% of time!.25% of participants NEVER conformed
Were the results of this research driven by informational or normative influence? How do we know? (Solomon Asch Line Task)
.normative influence, because the answer was clear to 99% of participants in control group.
Compare normative and informational influence. Explain each in the context of Sherif’s and Asch’s studies, and in relation to public and private conformity. How can we tell the difference between private and public conformity? How does motivation play a role?
.Informational Influence: People conform because they believe others are correct (b/c of ambiguous situations, use external cues like other people as info, influences internal beliefs).Sherif Autokinetic Task was ambiguous, so info influence.want to be accurate, look to others for cues on how to be accurate.Private Conformity: Person privately accepts the position taken by others (in head) (actually believes others)Normative Influence: People conform because they fear negative social consequences (clear-cut situations, external cues influence behavior, no change in INTERNAL beliefs).Solomon Asch line task was clear-cut, so norm influence.Public conformity: a superficial change in overt behavior (still doesn’t believe it themselves)
What did the social neuroscience study by Gregory Berns and others (2005) in which participants were asked to “mentally rotate” two geometric objects reveal about the neural processes involved in conformity?
.ask passey
Identify and explain each of the factors that have been shown to predict levels of conformity, including group size, awareness of norms, having an ally, and gender.
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Explain group size as it relates to affecting conformity. What is the law of diminishing returns, and how does it apply to the effects of group size?
.Group Size: conformity inc. with group size, but only up to a point, law of diminishing returns. beyond 3-4 group members, didn’t make much more of an effect on conformity, can even DECREASE if group is TOO large (if 20 people all have the EXACT same response, you might get a little suspicious, right). number of independent minds that counts
When do norms influence our behaviour? What is pluralistic ignorance? How was this illustrated in the studies by Cialdini and colleagues on littering? How did the Iron Eyes Cody public service announcement include conflicting normative messages?
.Awareness of Norms: Conform only when know about and focus on social norms, sometimes norms are ambiguous! norm most salient in our minds will influence behavior most.Pluralistic ignorance: In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance is a situation where a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume incorrectly that most others accept it,[1] also described as ‘no one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone believes.” In short, pluralistic ignorance is a bias about a social group, held by a social group.Cialdini & Littering: ppl walked down border path at amusement park to get to another part of park, it was isloated and bushes high enough couldn’t see over, manipulated how much litter on path, 0,1,2,4,8, or 16 pieces.as litter increased, so did littering.BUT, just one piece of litter had opposite effect, was salient, hey look at this one piece on this otherwise beautiful path!.Iron Eyes PSA: Indian in beautiful park, then starts wading thru litter.had injunctive norm: don’t litter!.but descriptive norm: look at how many people litter, so much that I have to wade through all this shit. makes it look normative.
Does having an ally decrease conformity? Why?
.If ally in Asch’s study (line task), conformity dropped by 80%.b/c more difficult to stand alone for one’s convictions than when one is part of even a tiny minority.any dissent can reduce the normative pressures to conform, even if just a DIFFERENT wrong answer
Differentiate between majority and minority influence. Explain how to account for the effects of minority influence, and how majorities and minorities exert pressure to affect people’s behavior.
.majorities derive power from their size, minorities from their STYLE.minorities: private acceptance from informational social influence.majorities: public compliance from normative social influence.majorities: b/c power and control, elicit public conformity thru normative pressures (but not necessarily private acceptance!!).minorities, seens as seriously committed to views, produce private conformity or conversion, more lasting.if objective issue, majority more power. if SUBJECTIVE, wider range of permissable answers, minority more influence (socially appropriate to give deviant response).minority introduces new, unexpected info to group, causes to examine issues more carefully, this careful examination may cause majority to realize minority view has merit2 views.Moscovici: Nonconformists/minorities derive power from being CONSISTENT in their dissent, don’t YIELD to influence of majority, draws mainstream attention, they must have a legit reason.Hollander: Minorities influence by accumlating idiosyncrasy credits or BROWNIE points, as in first conform, THEN dissent.either approach seems good, consistency is what is really important
Explain the relationship between culture and conformity
.certain factors affect whether culture individualistic or collectivistic: complexity, affluence, heterogeneity (multicultural).wide variety of levels of conformity across cultures, BUT HIGH CONFORMITY OVERALL regardless.is culture/society complex? specialized roles? more complex means membership in more groups, work groups, family groups, hobby groups, so less likely to conform, less pressure because doesn’t risk membership in other groups.affluence, as people prosper they gain more independence, more of their own goals and less conformity.heterogeneity, lots of diff beliefs/cultures, if homogenous instead, more pressure t conform
Describe the ways in which the discourse of making requests affects compliance with reference to mindlessness. How was mindless compliance demonstrated in Langer’s Xerox study? Does mindlessness always result in more compliance?
.phrasing of request can lead to compliance.excuse me, i have five pages, may i….use the xerox machine?.use the xerox machine because i am in a rush?.use the xerox machine because i have to make copies?.turns out the second and third options got EQUAL compliance, regardless of validity of reason!!!.seems the word BECAUSE triggers something in people’s minds, just assumes whatever comes afterwards is justification.anything that breaks up habit is more likely to lead to compliance, shake things up (just 300 pennies, that’s only 3 dollars!).otherwise just mindless “NO” response usually
Explain the role of the norm of reciprocity in such efforts to elicit compliance.
.norm leads us to feel obligated to repay acts of kindness, even when unsolicited.but it is shortlived, doesn’t last a week later
What is the foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique? How does it work?? Discuss the seminal research conducted by Freedman & Fraser (1966) on this technique. How does self-perception theory explain the effectiveness of the FITD technique?
.person begins with very small request, secures agreement; then makes a seperate larger request.self-perception theory: we see our previous behavior, feel like we need to stay consistent.friedman/fraser: phone survey housewives during day, on household products.called back next week, much more intrusive request, can we go through all the cabinets in your house and look at all your products, 4 strange random men come over.those who did first survey more likely to comply! (20% still did it tho regardless, wtf).FITD increases compliance by average of 13 percent
What is the low-ball tactic? Provide an example of the low-ball technique in action? Describe the study by Cialdini and colleagues (1978) demonstrating the effectiveness of the low-ball technique. Why does low-balling work?
.lo ball: person secures agreement with a request, then increases size of that request by revealing a hidden cost.classic example, used car salesman, let me go talk to boss, oh turns out i can’t give you that discount (you’ve already committed to buying car), it’ll be $500 more sorry.because start being satisfied with commitment, imagining yourself in the car. weee.cog diss, start to exaggerate positives of your decision.Cialdini study, study on vision and memory, called, participate on a saturday,.one condition, asked first if interested, then OH BTW you must come in at 7am.other condition said 7am upfront.more came at 7am if already committed to study (90% of people who said would do study showed up!!)
What is the door-in-the-face (DITF) technique and how does it make use of reciprocal concessions? How did Cialdini’s Zoo study demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique? How is the effectiveness of the DITF technique explained by perceptual contrast and reciprocal concessions?
.DITF: Person begins with a very large request that will be rejected; then follows that up with a more moderate request..Cialdini zoo study: would you commit to 2 hours a week for 2 years volunteer service (everyone obviously says no), THEN ask would you take kids to the zoo for an afternoon.if asked big nonsense request first, 50% complied with second request, as opposd to 17% when just asked about the afternoon outright!.works because contrast between first request and target request, makes seem reasonable.also reciprocal concessions, if we see someone give up something (i.e. their first request), we feel we should meet them halfway.participants perceive shift from larger request to smaller request as a concession on part of requester.ppl also might just feel guilty about rejecting first request too
What is the “that’s-not-all”(TNA) technique? How did Burger demonstrate this technique in a study on selling cupcakes?
.TNA: Person begins with somewhat inflated request, then immediately decreases the apparent size of the request by offering a discount or bonus.you can get 2 shamwows for 8 bucks, BUT WAIT IF YOU CALL NOW YOU CAN GET 4.Burger (1986) found that this technique works partly because a customer sees the salesperson as entering into a type of negotiation by offering an additional product. With each increment, the customer feels an increasing obligation to purchase the product in return for the salesperson’s ‘concessions’.In Burger’s experiment, he sold a cupcake with two cookies together for 75 cents (this was the control) or stated the price of cupcake was 75 cents and then added two cookies ‘for free’ (TNA). Successful sales in the control were 40%, whilst in the TNA case they were 73%.In a second experiment, Burger showed it going the other way, either selling the cupcakes straight for 75 cents (the control) or starting at one dollar and then immediately discounting to 75 cents (the TNA case). Successful sales in the control were 44% whilst in the TNA case were again 73%.The method depends largely on an automatic social response and hence works better when the customer does not have time to think hard about what is going on.
How did the Milgram experiment, and the variations conducted by Milgram demonstrate the power of authority in inducing compliance?
.factors that influenced obedience in the study:.Physical presence of authority.Legitimacy of authority figure (expert or not).Legitimacy of location/organization (research lab by YALE vs building downtown by business association).Victim’s proximity (how close, can you see, hold victim hand onto shockplate).Experimental procedure (victim’s welfare on experimenter or on participant? gradual escalation (only increase by 15 each time, think of the frog in the boiling pot)?).any allies, or rebelling confederates?
What was involved in the Milgram obedience paradigm? What was the cover story given to the participants?
.the study was to examine the effects of punishment on learning
How did the experimenters induce the participants to apparently shock other people?
.you are the teacher, they are the learner, deliver an electric shock to learner when makes mistake
