Social influence

Question 1

Define ‘norms’ and identify how norms are relevant to the topic of social influence.

Answer 1

norms are attitudinal and behavioral uniformities that define group membership and differentiate between groups.
norms describe uniformities of behavior that characterize groups. eg. the behaviour of students and lecturers in a university is governed by very different norms. knowing whether someone is a student or a lecturer established clear expectations of appropriate normative behaviour.

Question 2

What is the difference between implicit and explicit norms?

Answer 2

explicit norms- rules that are enforced by legislation and sanction eg social norms to do with private property, pollution and aggression.

implicit- unobserved, taken for granted background to everyday life. these norms are hidden because they are so integral to everyday life and they account for much behaviour that is often labelled native, instinctive and innate.

Question 3

What did Sherif (1936) argue? Now study ‘Research Classic 5.1 on page 148. Describe Sheriff’s classic experiment and explain its implications. You should also make sure that you can define ‘frame of reference’.

Answer 3

that people use the behaviour of others to establish the range of possible behaviour- the frame of reference (complete range of subjectively conceivable positions that relevant people can occupy in that context on some attitudinal behavioural dimension.

• social norms emerge in order to guide behavior under conditions of uncertainty.
• when people did the experiment alone they used their own estimates as a frame of reference, (with difference people adopting their own personal range or norm)
• when they did the task together in groups of 2-3 the participants used each others frame of reference and quickly converged on a group mean, so that they all gave very similar estimates.

Question 4

What did Asch (1952) argue and how did this differ from Sherif? Describe his classic experiment and experimental results. You should also make sure that you can define ‘conformity’.

Answer 4

conformity- deep-seated, private and enduring change in behaviour and attitdes due to group pressure.
so people construct a norm from other people`s behaviour in order to determine correct and appropriate behaviour for themselves.
so Asch argued that is one was certain about what is appropriate and correct then others behaviour will be largely irrelevant and thus not influential. so that is the object of judgement was clear cut, then the views of others could have not effect on behaviour, an individual should remain entirely independent of group influence. pg 150

Question 5

Define and differentiate between ‘informational influence’, ‘normative influence’, and ‘referent informational influence’.

Answer 5

informational influence- an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality.
we need to feel confident that our perceptions, beliefs and feelings are correct, informational inflence comes into play when we are uncertain, either becasue stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because their is social disagreement, we initially make objective rest against reality; otherwise we make social comparions.

Normative influence- an influence to conform with positive expectation of others, to gain social approval or to avoid social disoproval. our need for social approval and acceptance leads us to ‘go along with the group and avoid censure or disapproval. normative inflences comes into play when we believe the group has the power and ability to rewards or punish us according to what we do. However, this normative influence creates surface compliance rather then true cognitive change.

referent informational influence- pressure to conform to a group norm that defines oneself as a group member.
it is different from normative and informational influences, eg people conform because they are group members not to validate physical reality or to avoid social disapproval. people do not conform to other people but to a norm; other people act as a source of information about the appropriate ingroup norm.

Question 6

what is social influence?

Answer 6

Process whereby attitudes and behavior are influences by the real or implied presence of other people.

Question 7

How do Vaughan and Hogg define compliance? How does compliance differ from conformity?

Answer 7

compliance- superficial, public and transitory change in behaviour and expressed attitudes in response to requests, coercion or group pressure.
so, compliance refers to a change in behavioural response to a request by another individual, whereas conformity to refers to the influence of a group upon an individual.

Question 8

What are the different types of strategies that people can adopt to maximise the chances of compliance to a direct request? Can you provide an example from your own experiences? Make sure that you can define the terms ‘ingratiation’ and ‘reciprocity principle’.

Answer 8

Ingratiation- strategic attempt to get someone to like you in order to obtain compliance with a request. so you might try to influence others first agreeing wiht them and getting them to like you. next make various requests. using this stratergy if you were making them feel good, made yourself look attractive, paid compliments, propped names of those held in high esteem or physically touched target person.

reciprocity norm- “based on the principal that ‘we should treat others the way they treat us.’ if we do others a favour they feel obliged to reciprocate. people would comply more often if they had previously recieved a favour. also guilt arousal produced more compliance, people who are made to feel guilty are more likely to comply with later requests.
eg. when someone washes your car windscreen before you can refuse and therefore their is a subtle pressure on you to pay for the service- this is reciprocity norm.

Question 9

What are multiple request tactics?

Answer 9

tacticts for gaining compliance using a two step procedure; the first request functions as a set-up for the second, real request.

Question 10

Multiple request tactics; Describe the 3 classic techniques for inducing compliance and note the research findings for each.

Answer 10

the foot-in-the-door tactic- in which the focal request is preceded by a smaller request that is bound to be accepted. so first asking something small, if this is accepted then they are more likely to accept a larger request later.

the door-in-the-face tactic-
so the person is asked a large favour first and a small request second. eg. the government will first say that student fees will go us 30% so you might feel angry, but then later will say only 10% increase and therefore you are more likely to accept it.
it is more effective if the request comes from the same person who made the initial request.

low ball tactic- a person who agrees to a request still feels committed after finding that there are hidden costs. so the influencer changes the rules half way and manages to get away with it. based on the principal that once people are committed to an action they are more likely to accept a slight increase in the cost of that action.

Question 11

Read Research Classic 5.2 on page 160. Describe Milgram’s famous obedience experiment.

Answer 11

the electric shock experiment where the person told to shock the learner by the experimenter complied much further than predicted. 65% complied all the way to the end.

Question 12

Milgram conducted a series of studies to explore different contributing factors that influence obedience. What factors did he identify and what were their effects?

Answer 12

• that perhaps one they have taken on the role of giving the trivial electic shocks at the start, taken on this course of action it is difficult to change their mind- simular to the foot in the door persuasion.

the immediacy of the victim, how close of obvious the victim is to the participant. when participants couldnt see or hear participants they complied to the end 100%. but as immediacy increase obedience decreased (being in same room or holding victims hand down.

immediacy of the authority figure, obedience was reduced when the experimenter was absent from the room.

group pressure was one of the most dramatic influences. Group disobedience probably has its effects becasue the actions of others hel to confirm that it is either legitimate or illegitimate to contunue administering the shocks.

the legitimacy of the authority figure; when authority figures were percieved as less legitimate the obedience dropped.

Question 13

What ethical issues are raised by Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

what was the importance of the experiment
the participants were never explicitly told they could withdraw from the experiment at any time
- volunteers volunteered to take part but, but the nature of the experiment was not fully explained to them.

Question 14

How might we carry out research connected to Milgram’s while still conforming to ethical guidelines?

Answer 14

participation must be based on fully informed consent
participant must be explicitly informed that they can withdraw, without penalty at any given stage of the study
participants are to be debriefed.

Question 15

What is minority influence? List two examples. What does minority influence help to explain?

Answer 15

minority influence- social influence processes whereby numerical or power minorities change the attitudes of the majority.

eg. anti-war rallies Vietnam war or when suffregettes for the 1920s gradually changes public opinion to that woman could vote
- so it help explain that if the only form of social influence was majority influence then social homogeneity would rule.

Question 16

What alternative explanation for Asch’s results was provided by Moscovici and Faucheux (1972)?

Answer 16

explained by conformity bias- tendency for social psychology to treat group influence as a one-way process in which individuals or minorities always conform to majorities.
that people should always adapt to the status quo, be uniform and remain stable. this is clearly good and important for individuals, groups and society. but altered circumstances sometimes requires a change in norms.

Question 17

According to Moscovici, what are the 3 ways that define how people respond to social conflict?

Answer 17

within group conflict

• conforming- the majority persuades the minority to adopt the majority viewpoint
• normalising- a mutual compromise leading to convergence
• innovating- a minority creates and accentuate conflict, trying to persuade the majority to adopt the minority viewpoint

Question 18

According to Moscovici and his colleagues, what is the most important behavioural style that can be used by minority groups to influence a majority? Why?

Answer 18

people do not like social conflict. an active minority capitalises on this by going out of its way to create, draw attention to and accentuate conflict.

so consistency is the most important behavioural style
because it;
-disrupts the majority norm and produces uncertainty and doubt
-it draws attention to itself as an entity
-it conveys that there is an alternative coherent point of view
-it demonstrates certainty and an unshakable commitment to its point of view
-it show that the only solution to the conflict is espousal of the minority viewpont.

Question 19

Describe and note the major findings of the classic ‘blue-green studies’.

Answer 19

although not as effective as a consistent majority, a consistent two-person minority in a six-person group was more influential than an inconsistent minority. it is remarkable that four people we influenced by two.

Question 20

According to Moscovici, what are the different sorts of change brought about by majority and minority influence? What is a ‘conversion effect’?

Answer 20

majority influence brings about direct public compliance for reasons of normative or informational dependence, people accept the views passively without much thought.
whereas, minority influence brings about indirect, often latent, private change in option due to the cognitive conflict and restructuring that deviant ideas produce,
minorities produce conversion effect: when minority influence brings about a sudden and dramatic internal and private change in the attitudes of a majority.

Question 21

What is the main argument of ‘social impact theory’ and to what extent can this explain minority influence?

Answer 21

Bibb Latané drew on social impact theory to argue that as a source of influence increases in size (number), it has more influence (Latané & Wolf, 1981). However, as the cumulative source of influence gets larger, the impact of each additional source is reduced – a single source has enormous impact, the addition of a second source increases impact but not by as much as the first, a third even less, and so on. A good analogy is switching on a single light in a dark room – the impact is enor­mous. A second light improves things, but only a little. If you have ten lights on, the impact of an eleventh will be negligible.
There is a sense in which the effect of a large majority on an individual majority member has reached a plateau: additional members or ‘bits’ of majority influence have relatively little impact. Although a minority viewpoint has relatively little impact, it has not yet attained a plateau: additional members or ‘bits’ of minority influence have a relatively large impact. In this way, exposure to minority positions can, paradoxically, have greater impact than exposure to majority viewpoints.

Question 22

What are norms, and how does Sherif’s classic study explain how norms form?

Answer 22

social norms- shared beliefs within a group or wider society about appropriate conduct in a specific social situations

• groups and societies have ‘rules’ for how group members are expected to think and act in certain situations
• conformity, result in us aligning to the groups social norms or ‘rules’

one method to detect norms: deliberately violate a norm and see what happens (ethnomethodology).

social norms within groups (aka ingroup norms)
-defines group membership (explains why one groups acts one way but another doesn’t)
differentiates between social groups (the context of the norms are different group to group)
-can be descriptive (how group members currently think and behave)
-but can also be prescriptive ( how group members should or ought to think and behave)
- also provide stability and predictability for group members

two major types:

Descriptive- specify what most people do in certain social situations. (how many people are wearing masks in the restaurant)

Injunctive- specify how people ought to behave in a certain social situation.
(suppose to wear a mask).
this can be influenced by how we identify with a group at a time.

Question 23

How are the terms ‘conformity’, ‘compliance’ and ‘obedience’ described, and how do these concepts differ?

Answer 23

conformity: is where people change their attitudes or behaviour to follow to a social norm.
tend to conform to positive reference groups
e.g following tick tock trend conforming to the social norm.
more of a deep seated change, change in our belief.

compliance: people change their behaviour due to a request by others, coercion, or group pressure. tends to be a superficial, public, and transitory change in behaviour and expressed attitudes.
eg. someone requesting you to do a dance.

obedience:
people change their attitudes or behaviour because of a direct order from an authority figure.
Practise of obeying those in authority.

Question 24

What are the major findings of Asch’s studies of conformity, and how do the theoretical approaches to explaining conformity differ?

Answer 24

conformity- is deep-seated, often private, enduring, and is the result of implied social pressure.

positive things

• ensures social cohesion (solidarity in groups)
• make own behaviour and others more predictable
• makes us look good in front of others
• reduces uncertainty and ambiguity in our social world.

e.g using rubbish bins is a good thing

sometimes though can be bad, when you are conforming to a bad action or social norm.

what factors influence conformity:

• how psychologically significant the group is to us (positive reference groups)
• how cohesive the group, so the tighter the group eg sporting clubs, fraternities. more likely to conform
• how large the group is (the larger it is, the more likely conformity will occur) this can differ as well
• your position in the group (low status individual have more pressure to conform).

some factors that can make you resist conformity;

• when you sense of uniqueness is threatened
• when there is no clear way or correct rule of how to act from the group

Question 25

What key tactics are utilised for enhancing compliance, including multiple request tactics?

Answer 25

compliance- is a superficial, public, and temporary change in behaviour or expressed attitudes in response to a request by others

1. friendship/liking: more willing to comply from from people or firends we like than those we dont like.
   get people to like you by;
   -Attempt to get other to like us. often done by praising them or making them feel good.
   -tell others of past achievements or positive characteristics
   -point out small but surprising similarities between them and ourselves.
2. Scarcity, more likely to comply with requests that make scarcity the focus.
   - sale techniques “going out of business” wont be available forever
   - not always readily avalible

commitment/
consistecy: once we have committed to an action/position, we are more likely to comply with requests that align with this action
foot-in-the-door (small favor then a bigger favor)
low-ball- someone gets committed to a first choice (buying car) then rules change (price increase) because we agreed to the first option we are more likely to continue agreeing.

reciprocity- we are more likely to comply to someone who has helped us previously
we love things to be equal
door-in-the-face
ask for a real large favor, then asks for a smaller favor. (firstly ask if you can work sunday, but then you say no which creates this sense like yo u owe your boss, the they ask to cover lunch break, smaller reqest)
-reciprocity norm, you do a favor for someone, then they reciprocate back.

Question 26

what factors influence obedience?

increase and decrease?

Answer 26

obedience: is the practice of following direct orders from an authority figure that you perceive as legitimate. The order is direct and explicit.

factors that increase obedience;

• authority figure will take sole responsibility (“I was only just following orders”)
• authority figure wears certain items that reminds you of the social norm to following orders = good (lab coat, uniform)
• authority figure escalates the orders from mild to severe, especially in a fast moving and uncertain social environment
• you strongly identify with the authority figure and/or their cause

resisting obedience:

• remind yourfelt you are an individual and you are responsible for your own actions
• seek out examples of someone disobeying orders
• actively question authority figures motives and expertise

Question 27

What different processes are involved in majority and minority influence, and what key factors impact how influential a minority can be?

Answer 27

minority influence; when a minority (in number or power) within a group attempt to change the attitudes of the rest of the group.
-relies on creating conflict in social norms within the group (as people don’t like conflict and will try to resolve it)
is often how social change occurs

when does minorities influence majorities? depends on their approach?

• must be consistent message acress time and members
• message is distinct from the majority
• should avoid being percieved as rigid (be flexible) but not too adaptable
• must be seen as acting on principle (not self-interest)
• the position they are arguing should be in line with the current social trend

Question 28

why do we conform?

Answer 28

informational social influence;

• we use people as a source of evidence about reality
• so we conform because it can help us gain ‘accurate’ information and evidence for our social world
• most likely when someone is uncertain- either because of an object ambiguity or social disagreement is present

normative social influence;

• we use people’s expectations of us for how we should act.
• we conform because it can help us win approval/acceptance, or avoid social disapproval, from the group
• most likely when we are under surveillance by the group, and the group can administer rewards/punishment

referent informational social influence

• key thing that is different is we use other people within our social group.
• we use other who are in our social group as a source of information in our complex social world
• we conform to follow ingroups norms, even in private, or when the majority is not unanimous
• most likely when we self categories/identify strongly with a group

Question 29

why do we conform?

Answer 29

informational social influence;

• we use people as a source of evidence about reality
• so we conform because it can help us gain ‘accurate’ information and evidence for our social world
• most likely when someone is uncertain- either because of an object ambiguity or social disagreement is present

normative social influence;

• we use people’s expectations of us for how we should act.
• we conform because it can help us win approval/acceptance, or avoid social disapproval, from the group
• most likely when we are under surveillance by the group, and the group can administer rewards/punishment

referent informational social influence

• key thing that is different is we use other people within our social group.
• we use other who are in our social group as a source of information in our complex social world
• we conform to follow ingroups norms, even in private, or when the majority is not unanimous
• most likely when we self categories/identify strongly with a group

Question 30

why do we obey authority?

Answer 30

recent explanations other then previous research;

willingness to perform unpleasant tasks is contingent upon identification with the group and its collective goals

• leaders cultivate identification with goals by making them seem virtuous rather than vicious & thereby ameliorating the stress that achieving them entails
• we do it because we identify with the group and want to help the leader achieve the group goals

Question 31

what are some of the implications of social influence?

Answer 31

juries can come to inappropriate decisions if everyone just conforms to the majority position in the group

• making the donor system pot-out rather then opt-in increases the number of organ donors (by changing social norm)
• using compliance tactics can increase the likelihood that people will engage in prosocial behaviours
• obeying an authority figure with questionable ethics can lead to human rights violations against certain groups, intergroup conflict, and large scale atrocities.