Lecture 16 - Social Influence

Question 1

(lecture):

What is social influence?

Answer 1

(lecture):

Watch lecture back because she talks about it and there’s no info on the slides.

Conformity:
If majority of people are doing something, people tend to conform to it.

Compliance:
When we appear to agree with other people but keep our actual views hidden.

Obedience:
Describes a situation with an equal power relationship…..

Question 2

(lecture):

Can conformity be bad?

Answer 2

(lecture):

Yes

See slide 9

Question 3

(reading):

Chapter 9: Social Influence in Gilovich et al., Social Psychology

Answer 3

(reading):

Question 4

(lecture):

Describe Sherif’s conformity experiment.

Answer 4

(lecture):

See slide 10

Question 5

(lecture):

Describe Asch’s (1956) Conformity Experiment.

Answer 5

(lecture):

See slide 11-18

Question 6

(lecture):

Watch the rest of the lecture from after Asch’s experiment. Make notes on it.

Answer 6

(lecture):

Question 7

(lecture):

Conclusions of conformity:

▪ It is important for people to be validated by others
▪ In many contexts, other people are the most useful and important source of such validation
and/or information.
▪ People are often (at least temporarily) influenced by the unanimous majority opinion
▪ Both conformity AND resistance are ways of understanding the world around us and both are equally important.
▪‘Other’ opinions can encourage other minority opinions and can shift kkmajority consensus gradually
▪We need to be mindful of cultural differences and see research results in kktheir cultural context

Answer 7

(lecture):