Social Influence Flashcards
What are situational factors?
External conditions or contexts that influence an individual’s behavior
Situational factors may include social, environmental, or contextual elements.
How do situational factors differ from dispositional factors?
Situational factors are external influences, while dispositional factors are internal traits or characteristics
Dispositional factors refer to personal attributes that influence behavior.
What is an example of a situational factor?
Stressful environments, peer pressure, or social norms
These factors can significantly alter behavior in various contexts.
True or False: Situational factors can lead to changes in behavior regardless of a person’s personality traits.
True
Situational factors can override personal characteristics in influencing behavior.
Fill in the blank: Situational factors can include _______ that impact how individuals act in different contexts.
environmental cues
Environmental cues can include anything from physical surroundings to social interactions.
What role do social norms play as a situational factor?
They dictate acceptable behaviors in specific contexts
Social norms can pressure individuals to conform to certain behaviors.
What effect does group dynamics have as a situational factor?
It can influence individual behavior, often leading to conformity or groupthink
Group dynamics refer to the behavioral and psychological processes that occur within a social group.
How can situational factors lead to behavior changes in stressful situations?
They can trigger fight-or-flight responses or alter decision-making processes
Stressful situations can lead to heightened emotional responses, affecting rational behavior.
What is the significance of situational awareness in understanding behavior?
It helps recognize how context influences decision-making and actions
Situational awareness involves being cognizant of the environment and potential impacts on behavior.
What is majority influence?
The impact of the majority’s opinions or behaviors on an individual’s decisions or actions
Majority influence can lead to conformity, where individuals align their beliefs or actions with the group.
Define conformity.
The act of aligning one’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors with those of a group
Conformity can occur due to real or imagined group pressure.
True or False: Majority influence always leads to private acceptance.
False
Majority influence can result in public compliance without private acceptance.
What is public compliance?
The outward expression of agreement with the group while privately disagreeing
This often occurs under majority influence.
Fill in the blank: _______ is where individuals change their beliefs to align with the majority.
Conformity
What factors can increase conformity under majority influence?
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Cohesion
- Status
Larger groups and unanimous opinions increase the likelihood of conformity.
What role does social support play in conformity? ?? Is it in the course
It can reduce conformity by providing individuals with an ally
Having at least one other person agree with an individual can diminish the pressure to conform.
True or False: Individuals are less likely to conform when they are aware of their own beliefs.
True
Self-awareness can empower individuals to resist majority influence.
The effect of crowd and collective behaviour
Individuals looses there sense of self ( deindividuation)
People become less conscious of what they are doing
This can be liberating
Dangerous as people don’t feel personal responsibility for their actions leading to mod violence
The effect of pro-social and anti-social behaviour
Pro- social — In certain cultures e.g china or Japan - people are collectivists - they consider others in their decision making, it’s normal for them to do things which may not suit them but benefits the community
Anti - social — opposite cultures, e.g USA or UK - people are individualistic -They make decisions to benefit themselves rather than others
If we are in a situation with individualistic people send tend to adopt this behaviour
- culture = the ideas and social behaviour/ norms or a particular group
The effect of authoritarian figures
The more authority a peon has the more obedience they can command.
Authority is having power over others and being able to punish people
When someone is superior to us we live in fear of the consequences of not obeying and vice versa if a person has less control
Under the control of someone with authority, people move from an autonomous state to an agentic state
Autonomous state - people feel responsible for their actions
Agentic state - that the authoritarian figure is responsible for their actions
Criticisms
Too deterministic - suggests people are at mercy of their situation and have little control over their actions
Over - generalised- only focuses on situational factors
Ignores individual differences
BICKMAN -
What was the aim of the study?
To investigate the degree of social power associated with different types of uniform
This study focuses on how uniforms influence public obedience.
BICKMAN -
What was the hypothesis of the study?
The members of the public would obey orders more or less depending on the uniform being worn by the figure giving orders
This suggests that the perception of authority is linked to clothing.
BICKMAN -
The study investigates the relationship between social power and _______.
[different types of uniform]
