Social Influence Key Terms Flashcards
Conformity
Yielding to group pressure (also known as Majority Influence).
Types of conformity
Compliance, identification and internalisation.
Compliance
Publically, but not privately, conforming with the majority influence to gain approval.
Identification
Public and private acceptance of the majority influence in order to gain group acceptance.
Internalisation
Public and private acceptance of the majority influence, through adoption of the majority group’s belief system.
Informational Social Influence
The result of a desire to be right - it looks to others for guidance in order to gain evidence about reality (especially in unfamiliar situations).
Normative Social Influence
An individual conforms to the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval and avoid social disapproval.
Cognitive Dissonance
Unpleasant feeling of anxiety created by simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas.
Confederates
Individuals who pretend to be participants or researchers in research studies, but who are actually playing a part.
Situation Variables
Features of an environment that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressure.
Individual Variables
Personal characteristics that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressure.
Social Roles
The arts individuals play as members of a social group, which meet the expectations of that situations.
De-individualisation
A state in which individuals have lower self-awareness and a weaker sense of personal responsibility for their actions. This may result from relative anonymity of being part of a crowd.
De-humanisation
Degrading people by lessening of their human qualities.
Conversion
A new belief/behaviour is accepted both publically and privately.
Obedience
Complying with the demands of an authority figure.
Situational Explanation
Belief that behaviour is caused by external factors in the environment or situation.
Androcentrism
A bias towards over-emphasising the male perspective.
Agentic State
The individual surrenders moral responsibility for their actions and sees themselves as acting as an agent for someone else.
Autonomous State
Individual feels personally responsible for their own actions.
Legitimacy of authority
The degree to which individuals are seen as justified in having power over others.
Dispositional Explanation
Belief that behaviour is caused by internal characteristics of an individual.
Authoritarian Personality
A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority. A person who holds rigid beliefs, including absolute obedience.
Resistance to social influence
The ways in which individuals try to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice.
Explanations for social influence
Informational social influence and normative social influence.
Social Support
The view that the individual has assistance available from others, and they are part of a supportive network (solidarity).
Locus of Control
The extent to which individuals believe they can control events in their lives.
Minority Influence
A type of social influence that motivates individuals to reject the norms of their majority.
Social Change
This occurs when whole societies (not just individuals) adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things.
