Interpersonal and Group Processes Flashcards
What is social influence
how other people influence our behaviour
How many types of social influence are there and what are they
3; conformity, compliance, obedience
Define obedience
change of behaviour in response to a directive from an authority figure
Define conformity
change in behaviour to match the response or actions of others
Define compliance
change of behaviour in response to a direct request
What are the principles of compliance
Reciprocity, consistency, authority, liking, commitment
What did Cialdini & Goldstein (2004) do with the principles of compliance
Apply them to advertising
How does reciprocity influence compliance; apply this to sales
Rule that obliges us to repay others for what we
have received from them
Free samples: acceptance of “gift” = social obligation
Door-in-the-face technique: Start with an (unreasonably) large request. Wait for say no, then lower your request
People feel obliged to reciprocate concession (of lowering the offer) by the requester
How does commitment influence compliance; apply this to sales
make commitment, we feel pressure to follow through
In sales: Low-balling technique
Have people commit to a course of action, then increase the request
How does consistency influence compliance; apply this to sales
Rule that obliges us to be consistent in our behaviour
In sales: Foot-in-the-door technique
Start with a small request. Wait for say yes, then ask for additional large (related) request
People feel obliged to keep consistent and are more likely to comply to the larger request
How does liking influence compliance; apply this to sales
Comply more with requests made by individuals they like
Factors that influence liking: Physical attractiveness/ Similarity/ Familiarity
e.g. use of well-liked celebrities
How does authority influence compliance; apply this to sales
Comply more with requests made by individuals in
position of authority and more likely to obey orders from individuals in authority
Who looked at the effect of authority on obedience
Milgram, 1963
Give an example of a RW replication of Milgram’s study
Hofling’s nurses 1966; 21/22 ready to inject
List 3 reasons why people conform
ISI; NSI; Referent informational influence
What is informational influence
conform because believe others understand the situation better than we do- influenced by others to produce the “correct” behaviour
What is normative influence
conformity in order to be liked and accepted by others - to gain social approval
What is referent informational influence
Identify as a group member by following the rules of the group
Give 2 psychologists who investigated conformity
Sherif and Asch
What did Sherif find out
norms were created and later used as basis
for decisions/ frame of reference
What were Asch’s findings
Normative conformity and not informational as 75% of participants conformed at least once
What is social facilitation and social inhibition
enhancement or impairment of performance based on the presence of others
Who investigated social facilitation and inhibition. Give their findings
Zajonc, 1965
SF improved task performance in presence of others; SI decreased performance
Other factors influencing were others as distraction and evaluation apprehension
What is social loafing
motivation loss occurring when group members’ work is unidentifiable so work less than would individually
Who invesitigated social loafing
Latané, Williams, Harkins, 1979
What are the 3 types of group schemas
prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination
Who researched into linguistic intergroup bias and what is it
Maass, 1999
Prejudice is not always obvious; there is tendency to use concrete/specific lang describing pos outgroup
characs and negative ingroup
vs
tendency to use general/abstract terms related to enduring traits with neg outgroup characs and pos ingroup
What are cognitive processes in prejudice
Illusory correlations and illusion of out-group homogeneity
What are illusory correlations
perceived relation between two distinctive elements that doesn’t exist/ is exaggerated. caused by tendency to focus on confirmatory evidence
What is an illusion of out-group homogeneity
tendency to perceive members of the outgroup as more similar to each other than members of the ingroup
What is one way prejudice can be reduced
contact hypothesis where contact with outgroup should reduce prejudice
What is an issue with the contact hypothesis
anxiety/ SFP/ power differential/ length of contact can all work against the contact hypothesis
What 2 things can a working contact hypothesis lead to
decategorisation and recategorisation
what is decategorisation
seeing the other as an individual rather than as a member of the outgroup – attention is on individual differences rather than group differences
what is recategorisation
focus is on common membership in a superordinate group rather than in vs outgroup
what is the bystander effect
bystander less likely to help in emergency if other onlookers present
what is a famous case of the bystander effect
Kitty Genovese, 1964
who investigated into bystander intervention
Latane and Darley, 1968
Give 2 principles that can prevent helping
pluralistic ignorance and diffusion of responsibility
what is pluralistic ignorance
majority of group members privately reject belief, but incorrectly assume most others accept it, therefore go along with it.
what is the diffusion of responsibility
Tendency for each group member to dilute personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all other group members
