Social influence

Question 1

Social influence

Answer 1

1. conformity
2. minority influence
3. obedience
4. compliance

Question 2

Reference group

Answer 2

a group that is psychologically significant for our behaviour and attitudes

Question 3

Membership group

Answer 3

a group to which we belong by some objective external criterion

Question 4

Dual-process dependency model

Answer 4

general model of social influence in which two separate processes operate - dependency on others for social approval and information about reality

Question 5

referent informational influence

Answer 5

Pressure to conform to a group norms that defines oneself as a group member
> arises from social identity theory
> obeys the meta-contrast principle

Question 6

Power

Answer 6

1. Reward power: the ability to give or promise rewards for compliance
2. coercive power: The ability to give or threaten punishment for non-compliance
3. Informational power: the targets’ believe that the influencer has more information than oneself
4. Expert power: the targets’ believe that the influencer has generally greater expertise and knowledge than oneself
5. Legitimate power: the targets’ belief that the influencer is authorised by a recognised power structure to command and make decisions
6. Referent power: identification with, attraction to or respect for the source of influence

Question 7

Conformity

Answer 7

1. normative influence

2. informational influence

Question 8

Normative influence:

Answer 8

conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectation, often to gain acceptance

influence to conform to the positive expectation of others, to gain social approval or to avoid social disapproval

The motivation is to seek harmony and approval
­Will go along with others’ opinions to avoid confrontation

Asch’s Line Judgment Experiment: conform to the wrong line

Question 9

Informational influence

Answer 9

conformity that results from accepting evidence about reality provided by other people

an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality

The motivation is to seek validity and truth
­We use other’s judgment to gauge our own understanding of ambiguous stimuli (uncertainty in reality)

Sherif’s Autokinetic Experiment: did not converge

Question 10

Autokinetic effect

Answer 10

In a dark room looking at a small point of (stationary) light, and the point of light would appear moving after you stare at it for a while

Sherif’s Autokinetic Experiment

Frame of reference: complete range of subjectively conceivable positions on some attitudinal or a behavioural dimension, which relevant people can occupy in a particular context (relevant social comparative context)

Confident and certain about what is appropriate and correct, then others’ behaviour will be largely irrelevant and thus not influential

decreasing uncertainty and decrease in group pressure (i.e. the motivation and ability of the group to censure a lack of conformity) reduce conformity

cultural norms: conformity was lower among participants from individualist cultures in North America and north-western Europe than among participants from collectivist or interdependent cultures in Africa, Asia, Oceana and South America

Question 11

factors affecting conformity pressure

Answer 11

1. group size: plateau at 3; Inverted U shape, optimal at 3 to 5 person majority
2. anonymity: When the naive subject put down his or her responses privately, conformity rates decreased
3. Unanimity: With one dissenter (agreeing with the naive subject), i.e., No longer a “all-against-one” situation, conformity vanished
4. Expertise: if the person is an expert > less likely to conform /task difficulty / ambiguity

Question 12

Obedience

Answer 12

a person’s willingness to conform to the demands of authority, even if those demands violate the person’s sense of what is right

addresses humanity’s great failings in obedience without thinking of:

1. what they are being asked to do
2. The consequences of the obedience for other living beings

Question 13

reason of obedience:

Answer 13

1. once people have committed themselves to a course of action, it can be difficult subsequently to change their minds
   Similar to that involved in the foot in the door technique of persuasion
2. immediacy of the victim: how close or obvious the victim is to the participant
   > unseen, unheard
   > immediacy can prevent dehumanisation of the victim
3. immediacy of the authority figure
   > experimenter absent, relayed directions by telephone
   > experimenter: no orders
4. Group pressure: The actions of others help to confirm that it is either legitimate or illegitimate to continue
5. legitimacy of the authority figure: allows people to abdicate personal responsibility for their actions

Question 14

Milgram electric shock experiment: high compliance 65%

Answer 14

similar results regardless of age, sex, education, and prestige of the institution carrying out the experiment

agentic state: a frame of mind thought by Milgram to characterise unquestioning obedience, in which people as agents transfer personal responsibility to the person giving orders

criticisms:
1. Ethics
­ Use of deception
Put participants under stress

2. Generalizability
   Highly contrived situation which did not occur in real life
   No real harm done
   >­ Subjects did not really believe that they were causing harm to the learner
   >­ The experimenter assured the teacher (naive subject) that there would be no permanent damage
3. Is the research important? not justifiable to put such stress on participants
   > no way to judge importance
4. Is the participant free to terminate the experiment at any time?
5. Does the participant freely consent to being in the experiment in the first place?
   > not given fully informed consent: just volunteered, the true nature was not fully explained

Question 15

Factors affecting obedience

Answer 15

1. Personal responsibility: Being personally responsible diminishes obedience rates
2. teacher-learner proximity: A closer physical proximity with the victim diminishes obedience
3. Rebellion partners: Obedience rates decreased when the naive subject was supported by “rebellions” against the experimenter

Question 16

principal components of the code of performing psychological experiments

Answer 16

1. must be based on fully informed consent
2. must be explicitly informed that they can withdraw, without penalty, at any stage of the study
3. must be fully and honestly debriefed at the end of the study

Question 17

Administrative violence

Answer 17

administrators believe the authority, who instructed them to disrupt the job applicants, were responsible for the consequences
­> People complied to administering violence to others because they did not feel they were personally responsible for the consequences

Exp 1: Naive subjects (as interviewers) were instructed by the experimenter to deliver stress remarks to candidates (confederate) during job interviews to disrupt their performance: 90% obedience

Exp 2: hospital experiment: 21/22 nurses obeyed Dr Smith who agreed to sign an authorisation letter even though it might be wrong

Question 18

Assumptions: Symmetric influence

Answer 18

Both majority and minority can exert influence towards each other

Unlike the “traditional” model that majority is always the source and minority is the target of social influence

Question 19

Assumptions: Two-processes

Answer 19

Social influence processes differ depending on whether the majority or the minority is the source of influence

Unlike the “traditional” model that both majority and minority influence share the same process

Question 20

Majority influence

Answer 20

~conformity

The minority (the target) engages in social comparison

Recognizes the majority norm

Under majority pressure, avoids confrontation

Immediate public compliance and delayed private rejection

Question 21

Minority influence

Answer 21

social influence processes whereby numerical or a power minorities change the attitudes of the majority

usually more innovative

The majority (the target) engages in cognitive conflict

Resists minority opinion publicly (not to associate with minority [the deviant])

Reexamines the issue privately

When the threat of the minority is removed, change privately

Immediate public rejection and delayed private acceptance (internalization)

> Indirect, often latent, private change in opinion due to the cognitive conflict and restructuring that deviant ideas produce > people engage in a validation process: carefully examine and cogitate over the validity of their beliefs
outcome: little or no overt public agreement with the minority, for fear of being viewed as a member of the minority
private internal attitude change

the judging blue experiment
measure: public vs private response
private response: higher rate of being different

Question 22

conformity bias

Answer 22

tendency for social psychology to treat group influence as a one-way process in which individuals or minorities always conform to majorities

Question 23

conversion effect

Answer 23

When minority influence brings about a sudden and dramatic internal and private change in the attitude of a majority

Question 24

normalisation

Answer 24

Mutual compromise leading to convergence

Question 25

The most important behavioural style for effective minority influence

Answer 25

1. disrupts the majority norm and produces uncertainty and doubt
2. draws attention to the minority as an entity
3. conveys the clear impression that there is an alternative coherent point of view
4. demonstrates certainty and an unshakable commitment to this point of view (consistent!!)
5. shows that (and how) the only solution to this conflict is espousal of the minorities‘ viewpoint *be consistent in all context and time

Question 26

conversion theory

Answer 26

> Direction-of-attention hypothesis: majority influence causes people to focus on the relationship to the majority (interpersonal focus), whereas minority influence causes people to focus on the minority message itself (message focus)

> content-of-thinking hypothesis: majority influence leads to superficial examination of argument, whereas minority influence leads to detailed evaluation of arguments

> differential-influence hypothesis: majority influence produces more public/direct influence than private/indirect influence whereas minority influence produces the opposite

Question 27

Convergent-divergent theory

Answer 27

Majority influence: disagreeing is surprising and stressful > self-protective narrowing of focus of attention > convergent thinking that inhibits consideration of alternative views

Minority influence: disagreeing is unsurprising and not stressful > does not narrow focus of attention > Allows divergent thinking that involves consideration of a range of alternative views

Question 28

Compliance

Answer 28

the action or fact of complying with a wish or command.­

1. Reason-based (foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face) ­
2. Emotion-based (negative state relief hypothesis: human beings have an innate drive to reduce negative moods, reduced by engaging in any mood-elevating behaviour, including helping behaviour, as it is paired with positive value such as smiles and thank you)

Question 29

foot-in-the-door

Answer 29

Make a small, initial request that virtually everyone would agree to, and then follow it up with a larger request for what you really want.

Question 30

door-in-the-face

Answer 30

where larger requests are asked, with the expectation that it will be rejected, in order to gain compliance for smaller requests

Question 31

negative-state relief hypothesis

Answer 31

human beings have an innate drive to reduce negative moods. They can be reduced by engaging in any mood-elevating behaviour, including helping behaviour

negative mood increases helpfulness because helping others can reduce one’s own bad feelings