social influences Flashcards
what are social influences
proceses whereby attitudes and behaviours are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people
what are norms
attitudinal an behavioural uniformities that define a group membership and differentiate between groups
what is a reference group vs a member group
reference group
- psychologically significant for our behaviours/attitudes
membership group
- we belong to due to some objective external criterion
what the 3 types of social inflences?
compliance
obedience
conformity
define compliance
superficial , public, short-term change in behaviour
expressed attitude in response to request coercion or group influence
what is compliance based on
power
power = capacity to influence others while resisting their attempts to influence you
what are the strategies of compliance influence
ingratiation - flattery
reciprocity - mutual benefit
multiple requests
according to ravens model,
what are the types of power used to persuade others
reward -
coercive -
informational power -
expert power -
legitimate power -
Referent power -
raven (1965)
what is reward power
the ability togive or promise rewards for compliance
raven (1965)
what is coercive power
the ability to give or threaten punishment for non-compliance
raven (1965)
what is informational power
the target’s belief that influencer has more information than oneself
raven (1965)
what is expert power
the targets belief that the influencer has generally greater expertise and knowledge the oneself
raven (1965)
what is legitimate power
the targets belief that the influencer is authorised by a recognised power structure to command and make decesions
raven (1965)
what is referent power
identification with, attraction to or respect for the source of influence
what is the major study that investigated obedience?
millgrams’s 1963, 1974 obedience stuies
what was the theoretical basis of milgrams obedience study
response to asch’s conformity study
response to world war 2 behaviour
what was the question of interest in milgrams study
would participants obey instructions even if causing obvious harm to others
what were the results of milgrams study
large majority obeyed
much more than predicted by experts
what are the factors influencing obedience
sex differences
cultural differences
commitment to course of action
immediacy
- of victim
- of authority figure
group pressure
legitimacy of authority figure
define conformity
deep seated, private and enduring change in behaviour and attitudes due to group pressure
what is different about conformity in comparison to compliance and obedience
less direct than compliance and obedience
what kind of social influence did sherif’s (1936) autokinetic experiment look at
conformity
what was the theoretical basis of sherifs autokinetic experiment
group norms developed from peoples uncertainty about the social world
use of others as a “frame of reference”
average/middle = better than the fringe
quesiton of interest in sherif’s autokinetic experiment was…
would people converge to a group norm
what were the results of Sherif’s autokinetic experiment
norm convergence and norm persistence was seen
what was the theretical basis for Asch’s confomity experiment
response to Sherif - ambiguous stimuli
uncertainty not explanation for unambiguous stimuli
what was the question of interest of Asch’s conformity experiment
would participants conform to other’s clearly wrong responses
what were the results of Asch’s conformity experiment
average conformity rate: 33%
what was concluded in Asch’s conformity about why people conform to an obviously wrong response
own perceptions are inaccurate
fear of censure
saw the lines as majority did
what are factors that influence conformity
privacy of response
personal traits (but situationally dependent)
sex difference
cultural differences (collectivist>individualist)
group size
type of judgement
unanimity of responses
describe the dual- process model of conformity
normative and informative influeces
informative -
reality check, especially for ambiguous stimuli (true change)
normative -
gain social approval, must have surveillance by group (surface)
what did Deutsch and Gerard find about conformity in regards to the dual process model
conformity occurred when neither informative or normative influences were operating
what is the referent informational influence
turner et al, 1987
criticism of the dual process model
from social identity theory (emphasis on group membership)
operates via process of self-categorisation
differences from dual-process approach
what is the process of the referent informational influence
> self categorisation
> discover stereotypic in-group norms
> cognitively represent in-group norms
> assigning cognitive representation of in-group norms to self
(self-stereotyping)
> in-group normative behaviour (conformity)
what is minority influence
social influence process whereby numerical or power minorities change the attitudes of the majority
