social influence Flashcards
Fire walking in spain?
Villagers perform a tradition where they walk over hot coal
The more intense and humiliating the act is the more it makes you committed to the group
Similar to hazing to get into a group
Feeling of belongingness
Gain prestige and status, pressure from peers, find meaning in it, and want to conform to village traditions
Social influence
The many ways that people change one another’s attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, that result from the comments, actions, or even the mere presence of others
The good about social influence
Billionaires state they will donate their money to charity when they pass away, then many other billionaires influenced to do the same thing
Social pressure in countries from fossil fuels to renewable energy
The bad about social influence
increase sale of SUVs (gas guzzlers)
Increase in obesity rates
People who are obese social network with other obese people
The ugly about social influence
War crimes
Copycat suicides
Three kinds of social inlfuence:
1)conformity
2)compliance
3)obedience
Conformity
social influence in response to real or imagined pressure from others
example: beep experiment before doctor appointment
Three psychological mechanisms behind conformity
1)automatic mimicry and chameleon effect
2)informational social influence
3)normative social influence
Chameleon effect/automatic mimicry
the nonconscious mimicry of the expressions, mannerisms, movements, and other behaviors of those with whom one is interacting
Biological explanation for this: Mirror neurons in frontal cortex
2)informational social influence
The influence of other people that results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information as to what is correct or proper
example:Sherifs conformity experiment with autokinetic illusion
3)normative social influence
The influence of other people that comes from the desire to avoid their disapproval
example: asch’s conformity experiment
4 factors affecting normative conformity pressures(girl theres 6?)
Larger group size (up to 4 for informational)
Group unanimity
Anonymity
Expertise and status
Culture
ambiguity/difficulty of the task
Compliance
responding favorably to an explicit request by another person leading to change in attitude or behavior
compliance appeals to:
1)head (reasoning)
~give reasons to why you should comply
2)heart(emotions)
~appeal to emotions
3)group(norms)
Obedience
social influence in which the less powerful person in an unequal power relationship submits to the demands of a more powerful person
Normalist view
a lot of good people can do bad things
Exceptionalist view
: only bad people do bad things
Milgram’s experiment on obedience(shock experiment)
Milgram’s experiment aligns with the normalist view and goes against the exceptionalist view
Factors that increase obedience
Physical distance from victim
Depersonalization of victim
Gradual escalation of commitment
Shock increases little by little
Absence of rebellious role model or contradictory authorities
Do individual differences matter in terms of obedience to authority?
All in all individuals difference much less predictive of obedience than situational factors
Conformity and obedience: Bright side
Can tell us how societies can set up procedures to buffer people against destructive authority and bring out the best in us
Be aware of the gradual escalation trap
encourage/institutionalize dissenting voices
Tolerance for diverse views
Multiple leadership/accountable leadership
Cultural learning
acquiring new behaviors and beliefs from others through observation and imitation. Cultural learning is a good strategy when individual learning (trial and error learning) is too costly or unreliable
Were a cultural species because:
1)others have fitness-relevant information we want to have -> informational social influence
2)We need to learn the social norms of our group because we live in moral communities of cooperators->normative social influence
Conformist bias
copy the beliefs and behaviors of the majority
