Social Influence Flashcards
What is social influence?
When one person’s attitudes, cognitions, or behaviours are changed through the doings of another.
- Involves a degree of pressure exerted on individuals to change their thoughts, feelings or behaviour.
- Can be constructive, destructive, or neutral.
What is a norm?
What behaviours are considered typical/proper in a given context.
Describe Tripletts (1898) Cyclist study
First study on social facilitation, examined how the presence of others affects performance.
3 conditions:
- Alone (time trials).
- Against a pacer (another cyclist).
- Against other competitors.
Found that cyclists performed better when racing against others or a pacer.
What is Zajonc’s (1965) Drive Theory of Social Facilitation?
Key components:
Increased arousal
- The presence of others makes a person more alert.
Dominant response
- Arousal strengthens the most likely behaviour in a situation.
Task difficulty
- Easy tasks: Dominant response is correct → better performance (social facilitation).
- Difficult tasks: Dominant response is incorrect → worse performance (social inhibition).
What is Zajonc et al. (1969) Cockroach Study?
Two conditions:
1. Simple maze (straight path to dark box).
2. Complex maze (more difficult path to dark box).
- Alone.
- With an audience (other cockroaches watching).
Findings:
- Simple maze: Faster performance with an audience (social facilitation).
- Complex maze: Slower performance with an audience (social inhibition).
What are the implications in the real world of Zajonc’s Drive Theory?
Helps explain why people sometimes thrive under pressure and others struggle, depending on the task at hand.
What is Sherif’s (1935) study on Conformity and Social Norms?
Aim
- Investigate conformity and the formation of social norms.
Method
- Autokinetic effect (light appears to move in dark room).
Conditions:
- Individual: Estimate light movement alone.
- Group: Estimate in small groups (2-3) spoken aloud over trials.
- Post-group: Estimate alone again after group trials.
Findings:
- When alone, individual estimates varied.
- Group estimates gradually converged to form a shared norm.
- Group norm persisted even when tested alone afterwards.
Social norms develop naturally and persist.
Impact
- Influenced later research on conformity (Asch, Zimbardo).
What is conformity?
The act of changing one’s behaviour to match the response of others.
- Going along with the crowd to fit in/be liked/accepted.
What is informational conformity?
The desire to form an accurate interpretation of reality and behave correctly.
What is normative conformity?
The goal of obtaining social approval from others.
What is Asch’s (1951) study on Conformity?
Aim
- Test if people conform to the majority opinion even when it’s wrong.
Method
- 123 college students.
- 6-8 confederates
- Visual perception task with 18 trials.
Conditions:
1. Control group: No group pressure.
2. Experimental group: Confederates gave wrong answers on 12/18 trials.
Findings:
- 32% conformed on critical trials.
- 74% conformed at least once.
- 26% never conformed.
- Less than 1% made errors in the control group.
Conclusions:
- This is normative social influence: Conformity to fit in or avoid embarrassment.
- Conformity increased with more confederates and plateaued in smaller groups.
- Participants conformed due to self-doubt, fear of disapproval, or wanting to fit in.
- Some knew the confederates were incorrect but wanted to fit in.
- Demonstrates how peer pressure increases group decision-making.
What did Perrin & Spencer’s (1980) revisited study of Asch’s conformity study show?
Conformity is not a universal phenomenon, but it is influenced by culture, time period, and individual differences.
What is normative influence?
Being influenced to conform with the positive expectation of others to gain approval/avoid disapproval.
- Going along with others to be liked and accepted.
- Often in unambiguous settings (Asch).
What is informational influence?
Being influenced to accept something as evidence about reality.
- Getting along with others because you think they know more than you.
- Often arises in ambiguous situations (Sherif).
Describe Cialdini et al. (1990) Littering Studies
Aim
- Investigated how social norms affect littering behaviour.
Findings:
Descriptive norms
- More litter in an environment encourages more littering.
- Clean environments discourage it.
Injunctive norms:
- Seeing someone pick up litter in a messy space reduces personal littering.
Power of a single litter item:
- One piece of litter in a clean space can reduce further littering, acting as a reminder.
Implications:
- Clean environments and visible prosocial behaviour reduce littering.
- Small cues shape behaviour.
Describe the Broken Windows Theory of Crime (Kelling & Wilson, 1982)
Aim
- Maintaining urban environments to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour.
Key Ideas:
- Small signs of disorder (e.g., broken windows, graffiti) lead to bigger crimes.
- Disorder creates fear, withdrawal and encourages more disorder (snowball effect).
- Proactive policing and community involvement can reduce crime.
Method & Evidence:
- Observational research and Newark Foot Patrol Experiment.
- Increased safety and reduced social disorder, but no crime rate drop.
Impact:
- Influenced “Zero-Tolerance Policing” and urban renewal. - Critics argue it can lead to over-policing and racial profiling.
Describe Keizer et al. (2008) study on Social Norms and Anti-Social Behaviour
Aim
- Explore how visible social norms (positive/negative) influence behaviour.
Method:
- Flyers on bikes in areas with or without graffiti.
Findings:
- In graffitied areas, people were more likely to litter (anti-social behaviour).
- Clean areas encouraged responsible behaviour.
Key Concept:
- Visibility of social norms shapes individual actions.
Implications:
- Designing environments with positive cues can promote pro-social behaviour.
How is power defined?
An individual or group’s ability to control/influence the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another person or group.
What are French & Raven’s (1965) six bases of social power?
Reward Power
- Ability to give rewards or remove negatives (e.g., employer offering promotion).
Coercive Power
- Ability to give punishments or remove rewards (e.g., employer dismissing employee).
Legitimate Power
- Power due to status or position (e.g., group leader, police officer).
Referent Power
- Influence due to admiration or desire to be liked (e.g., a celebrity).
Expert Power
- Power based on specialised knowledge or skills (e.g., expert helping others).
Informational Power
- Power from access to valuable or unique information (e.g., someone with a specific experience).
What is compliance?
Being influenced to accept something as evidence about reality.
- Main aspect is status and power.
What did Milgrams study of obedience find?
Individuals are more likely to be obedient when an authority figure is seen as legitimate.
- Symbols of authority, like uniform, are enough to bring obedience.
What is an ‘agentic state’?
A state of mind in which a person will allow others to direct their behaviour and pass responsibility for their actions to that other person.
What did Zimbardo find?
Atrocities are not just due to following orders but conforming to group expectations.
Guards’ aggression in the Stanford Prison Experiment resulted from adopting the “guard” role and its power, not just blind obedience.
Conclusion
- Brutality occurs when individuals strongly identify with groups that promote a brutal ideology.
What is deindividuation?
Zimbardo suggests that when people are in large groups, they lose their sense of individual identity, leading to impulse and antisocial behaviour.
What is Haslam & Reicher’s Social Identity Model?
Deindividuation doesn’t cause antisocial behaviour; it shifts personal identity to group identity.
Group Identity Shapes Behavior:
- Can lead to positive/prosocial behaviour or aggression depending on the group’s norms and values.
Example:
- BBC Prison Study (2001)
- Unlike Zimbardo’s study, prisoners overthrew guards, showing that leadership and social identity are key.
Conclusion:
- Behavior depends on group norms, context, and leadership, not just anonymity.
What are social influence tactics based on liking?
- Ingratiation: Flatter or enhance self to appeal to target.
- Personal Appeals: Appeal to loyalty or friendship.
- Mimicry: Imitating the target’s behaviour to increase likability.
What are social influence tactics based on commitment/consistency?
- Foot-in-the-Door: Small request followed by a larger one.
- Lowballing: Changing the deal after an agreement to get better compliance.
What are social influence tactics based on reciprocity?
- Door-in-the-Face: Make a large request, then follow with a smaller one you actually want.
- “That’s Not All”: Sweeten the deal in the middle of a proposal.
What are social influence tactics based on scarcity?
- Playing Hard to Get: Suggest the item is scarce or valuable.
- Deadline Technique: Limited time to buy or act.
