lecture 2

Question 1

what is social influence?

Answer 1

• process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the presence of other people

Question 2

what is norms?

Answer 2

• norms: attitudinal and behavioural uniformity that define group membership
• i.e. helps differentiate in-groups to out-groups

Question 3

what is the difference between reference and membership groups?

Answer 3

• membership: indvisiauls belong to the group due to some objective external criterion
• depending on the indivisual the group they are in may be
• university is not the be all end all
• attend lectures/tutorials but not whole heartdly invested in university
• believs other things (extra cirricular/work) is important as well

reference group:

• psychologically significant towards our behaviour
• university is so important to the person -> how they describe themselves
• very heavily involved in university politics

Question 4

what are the 3 different types of social influence? are they all equally as influencial/strong?

Answer 4

1. compliance
2. obedience
3. conformity
   - not all equal. conformity is the strongest and most influential

Question 5

what is compliance?

Answer 5

• defined as superficial, public change in behaviour and expressed attitudes
• ie. when someone asks you to o something - you comply with that order but it is not a deep level (it does not change you as a person)

Question 6

what is the basis of compliance? i.e. what forms compliance?

Answer 6

• basis of compliance is power
• power: power to influence others while resisting their capacity to influence
• diff. types of power

Question 7

Does pwoer = influence? Explain this in terms of Moscovici’s theory/hypothesis

Answer 7

• power does not = influence
• Moscovici stated that if indivisual has power over someone -> no influencial tatics are needed due to power inbalance between the two ppl
• reverse is true too -> if indivisual has influential power -> no need to use power status for someone to obey

Question 8

what are the different methods in getting someone to comply?

Answer 8

1. ingratitation
   - presenting your way in a positive way to people you want to persuade
   
   • complimenting them, recognising +ive charac., overlooking someones weakness, emphasising their strengths
     - also involves persuading the person you are likeable - prosocial behaviour from body language, eye contact, smiling
2. multiple requests
   - two-step producdure: 1st request is set up to make the real second request sound better/softer
   - 3 tactics used in multiple requests;
3. reciprocate
   - bases on the norm “treat others as we would like to be treated”
   - if we do others a favour -> they feel obligated to recriprocate
   - greater compliance from people who recieved favour compared to others who didnt
   - guilt arousal tactic: making the indivisual feel guilty -> indivisual more likely to comply
   
   • example: when your in traffic and someone cleans your windows without asking -> you feel obligated to pay and feel guilty if you dont

Question 9

what are the 3 strategies used in multiple requests?

Answer 9

1. foot-in-the-door technique: based on the notion that if indivisual complies with small request -> likely to comply withlarger request later on
   - example: telephone sales people do this alot -> ask you first to answer few Q’s for survey (small request) then will ask you to join the larger survey that many in your area are taking (larger request)
   - does not always work -> if 1st request too small and 2nd request is too large
   
   • link bet. multiple requests breaks down -> T.F not effective
2. Door-in-the-face tactic
   - opposite of FIDT -> indivisual asked large request then asked smaller request (real request)
   - indivisuals believe more reasonable to comply with actual request when compared to larger one
   - analogy: lukewarm water feels cool when youve had your hand in hot water
3. low ball technique

• influencer changes rules midway and gets away with it
• effective when the indivisual is persuaded to agree with request before revealing hidden requests
• based on the fact that once poeple are commited to something -> more likely to accept slight increase in the cost of that action
• Example: You go to car dealership -> dealer agrees toreduce marketed price for your dream car -> you sign papers -> dealer informs you that boss will not reduce car price -> cusomter agrees and buys the car at marketed price.

Question 10

what are the 3 strategies used in multiple requests?

Answer 10

1. foot-in-the-door technique: based on the notion that if indivisual complies with small request -> likely to comply withlarger request later on
   - example: telephone sales people do this alot -> ask you first to answer few Q’s for survey (small request) then will ask you to join the larger survey that many in your area are taking (larger request)
   - does not always work -> if 1st request too small and 2nd request is too large
   
   • link bet. multiple requests breaks down -> T.F not effective
2. Door-in-the-face tactic
   - opposite of FIDT -> indivisual asked large request then asked smaller request (real request)
   - indivisuals believe more reasonable to comply with actual request when compared to larger one
   - analogy: lukewarm water feels cool when youve had your hand in hot water
3. low ball technique

• influencer changes rules midway and gets away with it
• effective when the indivisual is persuaded to agree with request before revealing hidden requests
• based on the fact that once poeple are commited to something -> more likely to accept slight increase in the cost of that action
• Example: You go to car dealership -> dealer agrees toreduce marketed price for your dream car -> you sign papers -> dealer informs you that boss will not reduce car price -> cusomter agrees and buys the car at marketed price.

Question 11

What is the famous study that tested obidience? what was the theoretical basis of it?

Answer 11

• Milgrims obidience study
• theoretical basis - Response to Asch’s conformity study (line est. study) and world war 2 behaviour
• method: males recruited from advirtisements -> one group became teachers -> told learner to continue shocks even if learner was in pain

Question 12

what are some ethical issues with Milgrims study?

Answer 12

• milgrims study has numerous ethical issues
• participants in study have the right to leave the experiement at any time they wish to
• traumatising to think you are hurting someone -> T.F debriefing is defintley needed
  
  • debriefing needs to be sufficient enough -> might be ok straight after but participants might go home later and be affected by it
• deception used -> T.F debrief them about it after experiment

Question 13

what factors influence obidience?

Answer 13

• gender: does not influence
  
  • females = males in degree of influence
• cultrural: some differences
  
  • places like spain, netherlands obeyed more
  • AUS obeyed less
• commitment to course of action: agreed tocome to study -> T.F must obey with whatever they tell me to do
  
  • foot-in-door: gave them slight shock at start -> more likely to give shock again
• immediacy of victim: more closer you are with person -> less likely to obey authority figure
• immediacy of authority: physcially closer authority figure (standing over you) -> more likely to obey
• group pressure: if someone else disobeys -> obidience of indiv. decreases sig.
  
  • vise versa -> someone else obeys -> indiv. sig increases
• legitmacy of authority figure: whether the authority is from pristegious workplace/normal workplace doesnt have so much effect

Question 14

what is conformity?

Answer 14

• deep-seated, private + eduring change in behaviour + attitudes due to group pressure
• less direct than compliance and obediance
• emphasis that compliance is NOT surface lvl -> i.e. enduring change

Question 15

what was one of the first experiments on conformity? what was the theoretical basis of this exp? What was the conclusions made from this experiment?

Answer 15

• Sherif’s kinetic experiment (1936)
• theoretical basis on Allports convergence effect -> looked at ppl making guesses on smell/weight
  
  • ppl make more conservative estimates when with groups
  • ppl make more wild/broad estimates when by themselves
• sherif concluded that group norms built from ppls uncertainity of social world
  
  • i.e we look to others in how we feel/think/behave
• results-> average/middle answers > fringe answers

Question 16

How did Asche then respond to Sherifs experiment?

Answer 16

• That his results were expected -> i.e. argued that it is expected that people will converge on ambigous stimuli
• Asche argued that as social psychologists -> should be focussing on WHY ppl CONVERGE in situations when the answer is OBVIOUSLY wrong -> i.e. they are certain about the world
• Method:
  
  • 7-9 males (1 real participant) called out which of the 3 comparison lines matched the standard line
  • real partipant answered 2nd last in each trial
  • confederates planned to only answer correctly 1/3 of time
  • results: 1/4 people answered correctly,
  • 50% conformed to wrong majority in all 6 + trials
  • 5% conformed to wrong majority in ALL trials
• important message: most people conformed AT LEAST some of time to wrong majority

Question 17

based on post-study interviews of Asches experiment, why did people conform?

Answer 17

• own perceptions inaccurate
• fear of censure
• saw the lines as majority did

Question 18

In general, what are the factors that influence conformity?

Answer 18

• group number: when group size is 3-5 ppl -> more likely to conform
• privacy of response: less likely to conform when answers are in private
• personality traits: (CONTEXT DEPENDANT) conformist personality -> more likely to conform
• sex (somewhat accurate) : F > conform with masculine tasks and M > conform with feminine tasks
• type of judgement: ppl conform more when things are objective, harder to conform when it is things like (YOU LIKE JASS NOT ROCK)
  unimity of responses: as soon as you get people deviating from majority -> decrease in confomity

Question 19

what does figure 7.8 illustrate about the relationship between conforming and conpentancy of support?

Answer 19

• individuals are more likely to conform when they have no social support
• as support increases on their oppinion/behaviour/beliegs -> LESS likely to conform

Question 20

what are the two social influence processes that underline conformity?

Answer 20

1. normative: agree with others to gain social approval and must be SURVEILLANCED by the group (surface change)
2. informational influence: turn to others when we are uncertain -> reality check for ambiguous stimuli and brings TRUE change

Question 21

Can conformity still occur without these two processes operating?

Answer 21

• Deutsch + Gerard (1955) showed that conformity can still occur
• i.e. even when group is not there (Norm.I cancels out) + the answer to something is obvious (info.I cancels out)
• figure 7.6 illustrates this: when indivisual is private + anonymous setting (no normative influence) + when stimulus is still present and certain (no informational influence) -> STILL 25% CONFORMITY OCCURING)

Question 22

if normative + informational influence is not enough to explain why ppl conform, what are some theories proposed to explain?

Answer 22

• referent informational influence
• critisies “dual-process” model (AKA normative + informational influence)
• proposes that indiv. conform because we belong in groups/identify with our in-group -> group norms has become our own mantra and our own way of thinking
• indiv. genuinely belives group norm/beliefs and genuinely become apart of who indiv. is

Question 23

what are the steps in conforming according to the referent informational model?

Answer 23

1. self categorisation - you put yourself in that group
2. discover stereotypic norms of the group
3. cognitively represent in-group norms
4. self-stereotyping -> assign these in-group norm to your ornw self
5. conforming -> in-group normative behaviour

Question 24

It is usually the majority that is powerful and produce conformity - BUT can the minority group have the same effect?

Answer 24

• minority influence - social influence process where power and numerical minority change the attitudes/behaviour of the majority
  
  • numerical minority: politicians, UNI protestors
  • power minority: peace protestors

Question 25

What study in particular was reinterpreted in terms of minority influencing forming conformity?

Answer 25

• Asche’s line experiment
• Moscovici re-interpreted Asch’s line experiment and said that it was minority influence
  
  • confederates opinion of the line 2 matching standard was MINORITY oppinion when compared to general public (us) interpreting the line

Question 26

what is the genetic model of minority influence?

Answer 26

don’t understand - email the tutor

Question 27

when is a minority group considered to be the most effective?

Answer 27

• minority group considered to be the most effective -> WHEN CONSISTANT and be on the same page
• NOT EFFECTIVE when there are different oppinions/conflict within the minority group
• insert PYB202 4 pic here

Question 28

explain why minority influence produces TRUE change

Answer 28

• when indivisual decides to follow minroity group -> not doing it for social approval
• conforming to minority will usually GO AGAINST what society approves/believes
• T.F indivisual must really believe minority group for them to conform