Social Influence - Types of influence

Question 1

This occurs when people feel that pressure to behave in a particular way threatens their personal freedom and they attempt to regain their freedom by, for example, doing the opposite of what has been requested or acting aggressively toward the person who made the request.

Answer 1

Psychological reactance (Brehm & Brehm, 1981)

Question 2

What was the percentage of subjects that delivered “fatal” levels of shock in Milgram’s original experiment?

Answer 2

65%

Question 3

What explanations have been offered for people’s conformity to Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 3

Agentic state - a term coined by Milgram (1974) to describe acting as an agent for someone else’s orders.

Burger, 2001

• The novelty of the situation and subject were unsure of behavior
• The fast pace didn’t allow subjects to reflect
• The increase in intensity was gradual leading subjects to not recognize unreasonable requests

Question 4

This occurs when people conform to the judgments of others because they think others know more than they do. It helps explain conformity in ambiguous situations and is likely to lead to private (genuine) acceptance of the judgments of others.

Answer 4

Informational influence

Question 5

This occurs when people conform to the judgments of others to avoid their ridicule or rejection. It helps explain conformity in unambiguous situations and is likely to lead to public acceptance (compliance) without a real change in judgment.

Answer 5

Normative influence

Question 6

This is a two-step process in which the influencer first makes a small request that most people would agree to and, when the person agrees, the influencer makes a larger request. One explanation for the effectiveness of this is that people usually want to act in consistent ways, and turning down the second request would be inconsistent

Answer 6

Foot-in-the-door technique

Question 7

When using this technique, the influencer first makes a large request that most people would reject. Then, when the person turns down the request, the influencer makes a smaller request. One explanation for the effectiveness of this technique is perceptual contrast. Another explanation is the norm of mutual reciprocity.

Answer 7

Door-in-the-face technique