Conformity, Compliance & Obedience

Question 1

Define social influence

Answer 1

Process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by real or implied presence of other people

Question 2

What is compliance?

Answer 2

Changes in behaviour elicited by direct requests with the basis often being power

Question 3

What are the compliance strategies?

Answer 3

Ingratiation
Norm of reciprocity
Sequential requests

Question 4

What is obedience?

Answer 4

Behaviour change produced by the commands of authority ( Milgram’s teacher-student Shock experiment)

Question 5

What factors influence obedience?

Answer 5

1. Sex (males vs females)
2. Culture (some - collectivist)
3. Commitment to course of action
4. Immediacy = of the victim (decreased obedience and of authority figure (increased obedience)
5. Group pressure (influenced by others response)
6. The legitimacy of authority figure

Question 6

What is conformity?

Answer 6

Changing our perceptions, opinions or behaviour to be consistent with group norms

Question 7

What happened in Sherif’s study of conformity?

Answer 7

LIGHT DOT STUDY - Participants judged light movement in groups
Results showed norm convergence and norm persistence

Question 8

What is norm convergence?

Answer 8

People converged on the mean of the group’s estimate

Question 9

What is norm persistence?

Answer 9

Norm became internalised later when estimating alone

Question 10

What happened in Asch’s study of conformity? (1951, 1952, 1956)

Answer 10

LINE STUDY - The Group of males match three comparison lines to the standard line. Confederates chose correctly one 1/3 of the time.
Found saw lines as the majority did

Question 11

What factors influence conformity?

Answer 11

1. Privacy of responses reduces conformity
2. Sex - female vs male
3. Group size
4. Unamity of responses - dissenters reduce conformity and dissenters effective even more incorrect or indecisive

Question 12

What are the social influence processes underlying conformity?

Answer 12

normative + informational influence (Deutsh & Gerard)

• normative: gain social approval, must have surveillance by a group
• informational: reality check, especially for ambiguous stimuli

Question 13

What is minority influence?

Answer 13

The process by which dissenters produce change within a group. Is dependant on behavioural style of consistency