Social influence Flashcards
What are the types of conformity?
- compliance
-obedience
-acceptance
What is compliance as one of the types of conformity?
- Ashers study
- people do as they are asked and required by formal regulations
- changing behaviour but not beliefs
What is obedience as one of the types of conformity?
- Milgrams study and zimbardo
- people doing as they are told by authority figures
What is acceptance as one of the types of conformity?
- changing behaviour and beliefs
Who defined normative and informational influence in why people conform?
- Deutsch and Gerard 1955
What is normative influence in why people conform?
- going along with the crowd
- gain approval or avoid disapproval
- people suppress their disagreement
- wanting to be liked and avoid being disliked
What is informational influence in why people conform?
- leads people to acceptance/conversion
- when a task is ambiguous, others can be a useful source of information
- desire to be correct
- people rate the judgements of others better than their own judgments
Why do people conform in cases of minimal normative and informational influence?
- social identity theory
- normative and influential influence do not consider group belonging
- we adhere to group norms because we believe the group is part of who we are
- the group norm is internalised and becomes an appropriate way to act for members of that group
Who was behind the social identity theory?-
- Tajfel and Turner 1979
What is majority social influence?
- social pressure exerted by the greater part of the group onto individuals within the group
-often achieved through pushing conformity
What is minority social influence?
- when a group changes the attitude of a majority group
- also called ‘innovation’
Can a minority in a group bring about changes in the opinions of a majority?
- Moscovicis conversion theory 1980
- minorities stand out and can make them stand out temporarily- distinctiveness
- people re-evaluate their opinions and go through a process of validation in which they try to determine whether their own view is correct
- main advantage is their distinctiveness
Who proposed the conversion theory?
- Moscovici 1980
What is Moscovicis conversion theory 1980?
- demonstrated majorities are at an advantage, since the power of social norms and confomirty
- majorities often have power to coerce their audience to pay attention to their arguments and, at least outwardly, agree with them
What are the two characteristics should a minority have to produce an effect?
- diachronic consistency
- synchronic consistency
What is diachronic consistency as one of the two characteristics should a minority have to produce an effect?
- they must display intraindividual consistency ( each individual must not waver in their opinion)and therefore show stability over time
What is synchronic consistency as one of the two characteristics should a minority have to produce an effect?
- they must display interindividual consistency (individuals within the minority should show the same opinion) and therefore show stability across the group
What is important for a minority to produce an effect?
- if they disagree or change their minds, they are likely to lose their distinctive position and someone in the crowd thinking systematically will see this
- but if minorities remain consistent, audience attempts to understand why they hold their position, creating systematic thinking
Do minorities exert their influence through the same mechanisms as majorities?
- Nemeth 1989, 1995
-minority groups tend to win acceptance without compliance - but majority enjoys compliance without necessarily achieving acceptance- Moscovicis conversion theory basis
What did Nemeth 1986,1996 argue in do minorities exert their influence through the same mechanisms as majorities?
- argued minority (but not majority) influence allows divergent thinking and innovation
- the stress that is induced when people realize that they disagree with the majority restricts divergent thinking, compared to realization that one agrees with the minority
What is the role of perceptions in influence?
- consensus across majority groups is evident
-perceptions of consensus are important for minority groups - Erb et al 2006- expectations of consensus - features of minorities and the way it is perceived are important
What are disadvantages of majority groups?
- people desire to feel unique and autonomous
- Imhoff and Erb 2009- exactly average personality test outcome
Who is the key research in disadvantages of majority groups?
- Imhoff and Erb 2009
