Lecture 6, Chap 7

Question 1

whats Social influence?

Answer 1

The ways that people are affected by
the real and imagined pressures of others
* Conformity, compliance, obedience

Question 2

How is social Influence Automatic

Answer 2

• As social animals, humans are vulnerable to subtle
  influences
• Humans unwittingly mimic each other all the time
• E.g., yawn, grimace, laugh, clap
• Animals exhibit rudimentary forms of automatic imitation
• E.g., mimicking hunting techniques
• Why?
• Mimicry smoothens interaction/communication by
  influencing behaviours, emotions, and language/speech
  styles

Question 3

Conformity

Answer 3

The tendency to change our perceptions,
opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with
social or group norms

People in North America often identify themselves as
nonconformists and think they conform less than other
people in North America
* Adhering to social norms is necessary for community
peace

Question 4

explain the The Early Classics: Sherif (1936)

Answer 4

• Participant in dark room shown
  a single point of light, asked to
  estimate distance that light
  moves
• Difficult & ambiguous task
• Light is stationary but
  appears to move (autokinetic
  effect)
• Do task alone first, then with 3
  other participants in the room

Question 5

whats Informational influence:

Answer 5

Influence that produces
conformity when a person believes others are correct in
their judgments
* Sherif’s autokinetic study
* Want to make accurate judgements and assume if
others agree, they must be right

Question 6

explain the The Early Classics: Asch (1951)

Answer 6

• Went along with incorrect
  majority 37% of the time
• 25% refused to agree
  with incorrect group
  answers
• 50% went along on at
  least half of the incorrect
  answers
• Non-conformers said
  they felt “conspicuous,
  crazy, or like a misfit

Question 7

whats Normative influence:

Answer 7

Influence that produces
conformity when a person fears the negative social
consequences of appearing deviant
* Asch’s line studies
* Want to avoid ostracism or rejection that follow
deviance
* Rejection hurts
* Why does it hurt? We’ve evolved as social creatures
who need others to survive – rejection could be
deadly

Question 8

what are the types of Conformity

Answer 8

1. Private conformity
2. Public conformity:

Question 9

whats private conformity

Answer 9

The change of beliefs that occurs
when a person privately accepts the position taken by
others
* AKA “true acceptance” “conversion”
* Sherif’s autokinetic stud

Question 10

whats public conformity

Answer 10

A superficial change in overt
behavior without a corresponding change of opinion
that is produced by real or imagined group pressure
* May be done to get in someone’s good books
* Asch’s line studies

Question 11

whats Majority Influence

Answer 11

• Group size: 3-4 individuals or 3-4 small groups exert
  greatest effect
• Norms: Lead to conformity if we know and focus on the
  norms
• Often misperceive what is normative (e.g., substance use)
• Allies: Dissent can reduce normative pressures to conform
• A single confederate who agreed with a participant
  reduced conformity by almost 80%
• Gender: Gender differences in conformity are small and
  unreliable, except that in public women conform more and
  men conform less than in private (gender norms)

Question 12

whats Minority Influence

Answer 12

• Dangerous to dissent – rejection
• Minority influence: The process by which dissenters
  produce change within a group
• Consistent dissent
• Idiosyncrasy credits: Interpersonal “credits” that a
  person earns by following group norms
• First conform, then dissent
• Dissent can spark innovation

Question 13

whats Individualism:

Answer 13

A cultural orientation in which independence,
autonomy, and self-reliance take priority over group allegiances

Question 14

whats Collectivism

Answer 14

A cultural orientation in which interdependence,
cooperation, and social harmony take priority over personal goals

Question 15

how do Cultures differ by how much they expect social norm adherence

Answer 15

• Collectivist cultures tend to conform more than individualistic
• Can be helpful – lower COVID Deaths in collectivist cultures

Question 16

• Why are cultures individualistic or collectivistic?

Answer 16

• Complexity, affluence, heterogeneity

Question 17

whats Compliance:

Answer 17

Changes in behaviour that are elicited by
direct requests

Question 18

whats Mindlessness and Compliance

Answer 18

• Phrasing of a request (Langer et al., 1978)
  1. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” (60%)
  2. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine
  because I’m in a rush?” (94%)
  3. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine
  because I have to make some copies?” (93%)
• We respond mindlessly to words without fully processing the
  information they are supposed to convey
• Disrupting mindlessness can also increase compliance
• Pique technique: disrupt mindless refusal by making an unusual
  request to pique someone’s interest
• 17 cents vs. 1 quarter

Question 19

whats the norm of Reciprocity

Answer 19

• We treat others as they have treated us
• Can increase compliance
• E.g., tip more when there’s a happy face on a check
• Tends to be short-lived
• Individual differences
• Creditors: Keep others in reciprocity debt to cash in
  at will
• Non-creditors: Avoid being in reciprocity debt

Question 20

what did the study of Hao et al., 2011 say about. Cultural Differences

Answer 20

• Asked White Canadians and
  Chinese Hong Kongers if they
  would accept a favour
• Soup sample, free drink
• Chinese participants less likely
  to accept favour
• Follow-up questions revealed
  this was because they
  perceived favour as self-
  serving

Question 21

what are the 4 ways of Setting Traps in Sequential Request Strategies

Answer 21

1) Foot-in-the-door technique
2) Lowballing
3) Door-in-the-face technique:
4) That’s-not-all technique

Question 22

whats the Foot-in-the-door technique:

Answer 22

A two-step compliance
technique in which an influencer sets the stage for the
real request by first getting a person to comply with a
much smaller request
* E.g., Agreeing to sample something and then
purchasing it
* Increases compliance by 13% on average
* Why?
* Self-perception theory!
* Infer our own attitude by observing our behavior
22

Question 23

whats the Door-in-the-face technique:

Answer 23

A two-step
compliance technique in which an influencer
prefaces the real request with one that is so large
that it is rejected
* E.g., Volunteer daily at the library vs. once a month
* Does not result in empty promises
* Why? Reciprocal concessions
* Feel the requester is doing us a favor by
decreasing their ask, so we feel we should
concede and comply

Question 24

whatsw the That’s-not-all technique:

Answer 24

A two-step compliance
technique in which the influencer begins with an
inflated request, then decreases its apparent size by
offering a discount or bonus
* E.g., These cost $75, but I’ll give them to you for $70!
* E.g., You can buy the set for $50, and we’ll throw in a
bonus item!

Question 25

To resist the trap of compliance techniques you need to..

Answer 25

• Being vigilant
• Do not feel indebted by the norm of reciprocity
• Recognize the tactics and react accordingly
• Compliance techniques work only if hidden from view

Question 26

whats Obedience

Answer 26

Behavior change produced by the
commands of authority
* Or symbols of authority – titles, badges, uniforms, etc.
* Can have devastating consequences
* E.g., Holocaust
* E.g., Mass suicides in cults

Question 27

explain Milgram’s Obedience Studies

Answer 27

• Ethical debate – participant distress
• 65% administered maximum shock (450 volts)
• On average, participants delivered 27 of 30 possible
  shocks
• Findings replicated across ages and countries (Blass,
  2012)
• Replicated recently: Dolinski et al., 2017
• No correlation between year of study and level of
  obedience (Blass, 1999)

Question 28

what are some Factors that Influence Obedience:
Participant, Authority, Victim, Procedure

Answer 28

• Individual differences in participant
• E.g., Authoritarian personality more likely to deliver
  shocks (Elms & Milgram, 1966)
• Rigid, dogmatic, sexually repressed, ethnocentric,
  intolerant of dissent, and punitive, submissive toward
  authority, aggressive toward subordinates

Question 29

whats the Milgram’s Obedience Studies Procedure

Answer 29

4 elements that contributed to obedience:
1. Participants relieved of personal responsibility for
victim
2. Gradual escalation in small increments
3. The situation was novel with unknown norms
4. The task was quickly paced, preventing careful
thought

Question 30

since Milgram died in 1984 at the age of 51. Today, a grainy black-and-white film
that Milgram produced in 1965 in which a number of sessions were recorded
from a hidden camera stands as visual proof of this phenomenon. It is clear from
looking at this film that this experiment was conducted in another era, a pre-computer,
pre-digital era in which research participants called the young experimenter
“sir.” Would these results be repeated today? Would you obey the commands of
Milgram’s experimenter?
who came up with what study In an effort to answer this question

Answer 30

Dutch researchers Wim Meeus and
Quinten Raaijmakers (1995)

Question 31

exmplain the Burger (2009)

Answer 31

• C1: Replicated Milgram
• C2: Added defiant teacher
• Some differences…
• % at 450 volts estimated
• Exclusionary criteria
• Withdrawal 3x

Question 32

explain the Dutch researchers Wim Meeus and
Quinten Raaijmakers (1995)

Answer 32

created a different but analogous situation.
* Psychological harm
* Harass a job applicant taking a test during a job
interview
* When the applicant pleaded with the participant to stop:
* Control group: 0% obedience
* Experimental group: 92% complete obedience

Question 33

what arte some lingering question abt milgrams experiment

Answer 33

• Why did Milgram’s participants follow orders?
• Obedience
• Engaged followship: Identified with scientific process
  and wanted to help contribute to it
• What are the moral implications of this research?
• Do situational forces provide an excuse?
• Do social psychologists unwittingly excuse the
  perpetrators?
• Does focusing on situational forces let them off the
  hook of responsibility?

Question 34

whats Defiance

Answer 34

When People Rebel

Social influence –> rebellion and defiance
* The mere presence of one ally in an otherwise
unanimous majority gives individuals the courage to
dissent

Question 35

whats Social impact theory

Answer 35

he theory that social influence
depends on the strength, immediacy, and number of
source persons relative to target persons (Latané, 1981)
Social influence depends on three factors

Question 36

Social influence depends on what three factors

Answer 36

1. The strength of the source person
2. The immediacy of the source person to the target in
   time and space
3. The number of source people

Question 37

exmplain how Social Impact Theory depends on strength

Answer 37

• Determined by status, ability, or relationship to target
• E.g., competent source, more likely to conform

Question 38

exmplain how Social Impact Theory depends on Immediacy

Answer 38

• Determined by proximity of influencing person to target
• E.g., authority figure next to you tells you what to do,
  more likely to obey than if they are remote

Question 39

exmplain how Social Impact Theory depends on Number

Answer 39

• Determined by how many influencing persons there are
• Only increases conformity up to ~4; beyond, effects nil