Social Influence Flashcards
Why does social influence matter?
Most needs structures (ex: Maslow) show that belonging and connection are important to people so the influence of social shit makes an impact
What is conformity?
When we adjust our attitudes, beliefs, or behaviours to be in line with other people’s
** no explicit attempts at persuasion
What are some general examples of conformity experiments?
- Elevator experiment!
- Asch experiment
- Waiting room beep experiment
What are some marketing examples of conformity?
- 5 star ratings, therefore people more likely to also give 5 stars and also buy smthn
- Person beside you in flight buys something on plane, you are 30% more likely to also buy smthn
- Reuse towels at hotels: ‘please reuse towels’ vs ‘75% of people in this room reuse towels’ = 10% more effective (social proof!)
Does non-conformity exist? What’s an example?
Yes it does exist!
ex: In restaurant try to avoid ordering the same thing as other people, so if someone ahead of you steals your order, you maybe don’t order it and end up less happy with your second choice
When is conformity more likely?
- Direction/alignment of attributes
- Identity relevance
- When norms are salient
What impact does the direction/alignment of attributes have on conformity? What is an example?
- Consumers match on vertically differentiated attributes – size, price, quantitative stuff → b/c minimize social discomfort
- Consumers do not match on horizontally differentiated – flavour, more subjective/qualitative
Ex: movie with other person, offered options of small and large, chocolate and vanilla cakes – people more matched on vertical (small/large) and less match on horiz (flavour)
What impact does the identity relevance have on conformity?
1) More identity relevant things were (music, hairstyle, etc) the less people conformed with others
2) Less identity relevant (dish soap, etc), the more people conformed bc didn’t care and other people probably choose the best one!
High identity relevance = less conformity
Low IR = more conformity
What impact does the salience of norms have on conformity? What is an example?
Make obvious what is good or bad / what is expected, and people will be more likely to conform
Example: Energy company showed lil stats on energy bill/use, compared customer with similar homes and with most efficient homes => Ppl that were below average energy use (even though that’s good) try to use more to conform more with group (so backfired!)
THEN switched to give a lil smiley face for rating of good (keep it up, its low!), okay, could be better (use less) => norm is salient with smiley face because show that this thing is GOOD and should keep doing it, even though its not what everyone else is doing
What are the types of reference groups? How can they be used in marketing?
1) Aspirational = groups we are not members - people we like, want to be, and desire to emulate
- – Marketing: Admiration ad strategy (ex; using celebrities!)
2) Associative = in-group - the one you belong to
- – Marketing: Membership ad strategy (ex: ‘Canadian people love Tim Horton’s!’)
3) Dissociative = outgroup - the one you don’t want to be associated with
- – Marketing: Avoidance ad strategy (undesirable people using competitors product ex: this ugly guy uses an Xbox, but this hot person plays PlayStation babey)
What is in group favouritism? How do people treat those inside/outside their group? What is the big problem with ingroup favouritism?
= we tend to prefer ppl who similar to us and are part of our group (formed very easily) Things like... - Race/ethnicity - Gender - Age - Nationality - Political affiliation
Treat them well, like them more // exclude others, feel disconnected and not want to associate with others
ex: see someone with canada flag on backpack, more want to talk to them, be nice to them, etc
Big problem = provides basis for discrimination and prejudice!
What is the minimal group paradigm?
= even arbitrary distinctions between groups can trigger ingroup favouritism
ex:
- Assigned to certain group (ex: summer camps: kids assigned to group at beginning and some kinda crazy competition arose between the groups over the summer)
- Same coloured name tag even, given randomly by researcher (end up talking more to each other, etc.)
- Being told like the same artists
What are two examples of experiments that prove the minimal group paradigm?
1) Dissociative (out group) groups → dorms study
= At Stanford uni, dorms are split into sections for athletes ‘jocks’, ‘geeks’ for nerds etc. Sold wristbands to the target group (jocks) and control group (no label) dorms, then measured the # people wearing them. Then sold to geeky dorm (aka dissociative group for jocks) and measured after. Resulted in jocks wearing less bands bc didn’t want to be associated with geeky group.
2) Steaks = Choose between larger steak and smaller one. Label larger as house steak and smaller as either ‘chef’s cut’ or ‘ladies cut’. Females didn’t care, evenly chose between the two labels, but men WAY less got ladies cut (still only 50% ish got the chefs cut though, so obvs often wanted larger one anyway)
What is the impact of political identity on conformity? What is an example?
Political identity shapes…
- Where live (urban vs not)
- Where work
- Where shop
- Who date
- Memories of fales events (described events that never happened that may be impacted by politics, conservatives more likely to say that never happened bc want it to be false, liberals say true bc want it to be that way bc works better with my desires)
- Product choices
ex: Clinton vs trump supporters, when told to stay home, clinton supporters more likely to stay home and follow rules while less trump supporters (so follow what your in-group does/what your outgroup does not do)
What is a norm? How are they enforced?
collective beliefs about what constitutes appropriate behaviour (diff from personal beliefs and attitudes)
Enforced by groups:
- Not following norm = punishment ridicule etc
- Following norm = celebrated included etc
