DEFINITIONS 8 Social Influence: Changing Others’ Behavior

Question 1

social influence

Answer 1

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

Question 2

conformity

Answer 2

A type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behavior to adhere to existing social norms.

Question 3

compliance

Answer 3

A form of social influence involving direct requests from one person to another.

Question 4

symbolic social influence

Answer 4

Social influence resulting from the mental representation of others or our relationships with them.

Question 5

obedience

Answer 5

A form of social influence in which one person simply orders one
or more others to perform some action(s).

Question 6

social norms

Answer 6

Rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific situations.

Question 7

introspection illusion

Answer 7

Our belief that social influence plays a smaller role in shaping our own actions than it does in shaping the actions of others.

Question 8

autokinetic phenomenon

Answer 8

The apparent movement of a single, stationary source of light in a dark room. Often used to study the emergence of social norms and social influence.

Question 9

cohesiveness

Answer 9

The apparent movement of a single, stationary source of light in a dark room. Often used to study the emergence of social norms and social influence.

Question 10

descriptive norms

Answer 10

Norms simply indicating what most people do in a given situation.

Question 11

injunctive norms

Answer 11

Norms specifying what ought to be done; what is approved or disapproved behavior in a given situation.

Question 12

normative focus theory

Answer 12

A theory suggesting that norms will influence behavior only to the extent that they are focal for the people involved at the time the behavior occurs.

Question 13

normative social influence

Answer 13

Social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted by other people.

Question 14

informational social influence

Answer 14

Social influence based on the desire to be correct (i.e., to possess accurate perceptions of the social world).

Question 15

foot-in-the-door technique

Answer 15

A procedure for gaining compliance in which requesters begin with a small request and then, when this is granted, escalate to a larger one (the one they actually desired all along).

Question 16

low-ball procedure

Answer 16

A technique for gaining compliance in which an offer or deal is changed to make it less attractive to the target person after this

Question 17

door-in-the-face technique

Answer 17

A procedure for gaining compliance in which requesters begin with a large request and then, when this is refused, retreat to a smaller one (the one they actually desired all along).

Question 18

that’s-not-all technique

Answer 18

A technique for gaining compliance in which requesters offer additional benefits to target people before they have decided whether to comply with or reject specific requests.

Question 19

playing hard to get

Answer 19

A technique that can be used for increasing compliance by suggesting that a person or object is scarce and hard to obtain.

Question 20

deadline technique

Answer 20

A technique for increasing compliance in which target people are told that they have only limited time to take advantage of some offer or to obtain some item.