Exam 2: Chapter 6 Flashcards
What are the three main categories of social influence?
Conformity, compliance, and obedience
What happens as you move through the categories of social influence?
The pressure increases
What is conformity?
Changing ones behaviors to match the responses or actions of others to fit in (Asch)
Can you also conform without overt social pressure?
Yes
What is compliance?
Changing behavior in response to a direct request
What is obedience?
Changing behavior in response to directive from figure of authority (Milgram)
What happens when people are faced with strong group consensus?
They will sometimes go along with it even if they think they are wrong if others are confident enough
What is the pain of independence?
Defying ones peers produces a painful emotional state that causes participants to avoid nonconformity
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
Starting with a small request and advancing to larger ones to increase compliance
What is reciprocation?
More willing to comply with requests from people that previously did something good for them
What is commitment/consistency?
More willing to be moved in a particular direction if they see it as consistent with existing commitment
What is authority?
Automatic tendency to follow authority
What is social validation?
If people see evidence that other people, especially others similar to them are taking a step they are more willing to
What is scarcity?
People find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare, or dwindling in ability
What is liking/friendship?
People prefer to say yes to those they know and like
What do conformity, compliance, and obedience all refer to?
Not the act of wielding influence but yielding to it
Why do people yield to social influence?
Choosing correctly, gaining social approval, and managing self-image
What is the motive for competence?
Master our environments so we can consistently gain desired rewards and resources
What are the two powerful principles we rely on?
Authority and social validation
How do people shift their conversational voice and speech style?
Towards the style of individuals in positions of power and authority
What are the two reasons that we follow authority?
The person has power over you, they are experts in that area
What is expert power?
Comes from acknowledged competence in the matter at hand
How do we use authority as a decision-making heuristic?
We just accept authorities advice because we think that they will know more
What is a con for using authority as a decision-making heuristic?
Can lead us to respond to symbols rather than genuine authority, risk performing unethical or unwise actions
What happens when we aren’t thinking hard in a situation?
Can be easily steered in the wrong direction by false authorities
Why are authorities formidable sources of social influence?
They are often expert, following directions offers a shortcut route to choosing directly
What is social validation?
Way to locate and validate the correct choice
Why is herd mentality not always a bad thing?
Most of the time it sends us in the right direction
What are the factors that spur people to use the actions of others in the process of trying to choose correctly?
Consensus and similarity
Why does even a single dissenter embolden others to resist conformity?
Reduces the confidence that they grip has the right answer and urges others to looks for the correct answer and beyond the group
Why do people want to follow the actions of those similar to themselves?
Because we want to follow the lead of others that make good choices for themselves so we want to follow others like us that would make those similar choices
Why do consensus and similarity influence conformity?
Give us confidence that the other choices are also good choices for us as well
What happens when you are unfamiliar with the situation you are in?
You are more likely to look to others for guidance
When do people feel the most uncertain?
When they face a task that is difficult to solve
What happens when people feel unsure of their grasp on reality?
More likely to look at authority figures
What happens when people are unsure of their judgements?
More likely to conform
What is the critical difference between sure and unsure individuals?
Whether they felt if relying on themselves or on others was the best route to choosing correctly
When does the motivation to be accurate push us to conformity?
Only when we are unsure of our own judgements
What are the two methods for being accurate?
Accuracy and being social accepted
What happens when you place someone into the situation that doesn’t agree?
Will shift toward group consensus to be accepted and avoid rejection by the larger group
What is the effect of love bombing?
The willingness of some members to remain in groups
What are descriptive norms?
What is typically done
What are injunctive norms?
What is typically approved or disapproved
What can descriptive norms inform us of?
What is likely to be an effective action
What goal do descriptive norms connect to?
Goal of choosing correctly
What can injunctive norms inform us of?
What is likely to be acceptable to others
What goal do injunctive norms connect to?
Goal of social approval
What is the norm of reciprocity?
Obligates people to give back the type of behavior they have received
What are reciprocal favors?
You give something to someone they feel like they have to give you something back
What is the reciprocity norm often exploited by?
Professionals that begin by giving us something before asking compliance with their main request
What is the door-in-the-face technique?
Begins with large request intended to get target to say no, then following with the second request of the desired favor
What is the that’s-not-all technique?
Increases compliance by sweetening an offer with additional benefits
What is an important procedural difference between the door in the face technique and the that’s not all technique?
In that’s not all the target does not turn down the first offer before the second better offer is provided
In the United States when do people offer assistance?
Based on what they other person can do for you
In China when do people offer assistance?
Based on the connection to their personal unit
In Spain when do people offer assistance?
Based on connection to personal friends
In Germany when do people offer assistance?
Loyalty to the system that is in place
When do obligation norms differentiate?
Place to place
What are the three person factors that affect whether an individual is likely to accommodate to the group position?
Approval, collectivism versus individualism, and resistance (starts with approval)
What is the desire for approval?
People are highly motivated to gain the respect of those around them
Which personality factor is approval the center of?
Agreeableness
What would happen without a substantial amount of group conformity?
It would be impossible for groups to function efficiently
What determines the tendency to respond to social norms rather than personal preferences?
Persons definition of self
What do people that define themselves in individualistic ways make their decisions on?
Personal attitudes rather than group norms (individualistic)
What do people that define themselves through their groups make their decisions on?
Affected by what they thought others felt than what they feel (collectivistic)
What causes people to yield to social influence?
Authority, social validation, foot-in-the-door technique
What is the disrupt-then-reframe technique?
Disrupting ones initial, resistance-laden view of a request by quickly reframing it in more favorable terms
What is the reactance theory?
Brehms theory, we react against threats to our freedom by reasserting those freedoms, often doing the opposite of what we are being pressured to do
What features of a persons social situation are likely to alter their motive of going along to get along?
Appeal of group or individual pressuring for change, observability of that behavior
Are people more likely to conform in public or in private?
In public
Why are we more likely to conform to attractive people?
More motivated to gain the approval of those individuals
What are two important situational sources of personal appeal?
Physical attractiveness and common group membership
What gives people the strength to resist peer influence?
Only believing that you can resist allows you to resist
How can you reverse the effects of the boomerang effect?
Making the unwanted behavior seem like the exception rather than the rule
What happens if you don’t identify as strongly with a specific group?
You are less likely to be influenced by group norms since you don’t identify as strongly with it
What is a personal commitment?
Ties an individuals identity to a position or course of action, making it more likely that they will follow through
What is the simple request strategy?
Initiating a commitment and then making a request consistent with it is the core of compliance techniques
When is the foot-in-the-door technique successful?
Only when individuals score high on self-concept clarity
What is self-concept clarity?
Extent that people alter their self-concepts on the basis of new information
What is the low-ball technique?
Gaining a commitment to an arrangement and then raiding the cost of carrying out the arrangement
What happens when a person takes “mental possession” of something?
It becomes a part of self-concept and they are reluctant to relinquish it
What is the bait-and-switch technique?
Gaining commitment to an arrangement, then making the arrangement unavailable or unappealing and offering a more costly arrangement
What is the labeling technique?
Assigning a label to an individual and then requesting a favor that is consistent with the label
What do the commitment techniques have in common?
An early commitment that ties the target person’s identity to the desired action
What are two situational features that work successfully in the regard of connecting a course of action to a persons self concept?
Lasting commitments are active and public
What do active commitments give us?
The information we use to shape our self-images, which then shape future behaviors
What is it about active commitment that causes individuals to follow through?
one way people perceive and define themselves is through the examination of their actions so our actions tell us more about ourselves than our non-actions
What do public commitments increase?
The chance that people will maintain a specific course of action in the future
What are two reasons why public commitments are the most resistant to change?
Participants on record may not want to be seen by the experimenter as easily influenced/inconsistent, and once people have made a public announcement they believe it more
What do active and public commitments have in common?
When freely chosen especially they alter self-image
What are women more likely to base self-esteem on?
Factors that connect them to members of their groups
Why do men resist public conformity?
In an effort to stay true to the view of themselves as them possessing independence
When do men conform less than women?
When they have to do so in public
Where to women seek acceptance from?
Close cooperative relationships
Where do men seek acceptance from?
Demonstrating the ability or showing potential of leadership
What is the person aspect in the goal of choosing correctly?
Uncertainty
What is the situation aspect in the goal of choosing correctly?
Consensus and similarity
What is the interaction effect in the goal of choosing correctly?
Desire for accuracy increases conformity only when people are unsure of their judgements
What is the person aspect in the goal of gaining social approval?
Desire for approval, collective sense of self, resistance
What is the situation aspect in the goal of gaining social approval?
Others appeal, public observability
What is the interaction aspect in the goal of gaining social approval?
Even strong forms of group approval and disapproval can be resisted by people who believe they can withstand group pressure and don’t identify highly with the group
What is the person aspect in the goal of being consistent with commitments?
Existing commitments
What is the situation aspect in the goal of being consistent with commitments?
Active and public commitments
What is the interaction aspect in the goal of being consistent with commitments?
When conformity threatens identity one may conform less in public situations, especially true of men who see independence as an important aspect of self-concept
What is social influence defined as?
Change in behavior caused by real or imagined pressure from others
How is social influence different from persuasion?
Refers to the shifts in overt actions rather than in private attitudes and beliefs
What are people more likely to be influenced by on the authority and validation sides?
Authority figures and peers
What do the choices of others provide?
Social validation for the correctness of a choice
What does a tendency for reactance do?
It reduces ones susceptibility to social influence, especially when that is deemed as threatening for the freedom to decide
More cognitive dissonance arises when the action or decision….
Is seen as freely chosen
When should you try to change someones attitudes through central process of the message?
When your goal is to achieve attitude change that is resistant to counterattacks
When should you try to change someones attitudes through central processing of the message?
When noir goal is to achieve attitude change that is resistant to counterattacks
When attitudes are formed through the process of classical conditioning, the degree of liking for something is influenced by?
Its association with something we already like or dislike
Door-to-door sales companies discovered that if they had the buyer write the details of the contract, rather than the sales representative, fewer buyers canceled the deal after the salesperson left. This exemplifies the social influence principle of…
Commitment/consistency
The pressure to recycle that you feel when you hear that most of your neighbors recycle is primarily awareness of….
A descriptive norm
What is the cognitive dissonance theory?
You will change your attitudes and behaviors to line up and relieve the anxiety of the situation to match up with your attitudes or behaviors
