UNIT 5 Flashcards
Social Influence: Conformity, Compliance and Obedience
What is social influence?
efforts by one or more people to change the behaviour, attitudes or feelings of one or more others
Is social influence always good OR bad?
no, it depends on the methods and the results
What are selfish outcomes, bad outcomes, positive social effects and inconsequential outcomes?
selfish: manipulating someone
bad: driving drunk, racist behavior
positive social: public campaigns
inconsequential: certain uniform regulations
What is Conformity?
doing what we are expected to do in a given situation
What can social norms be?
Explicit and detailed
Implicit developed informally
What are the 3 types of conformity?
Compliance, Obedience, Acceptance
What is Compliance?
insincere, outward conformity to avoid a punishment or obtain a reward
What is Obedience?
compliance to an explicit command
What is Acceptance?
sincere inward conformity. When we come to believe something we initially questioned
How does culture influence Conformity?
individualistic culture: submitting to peer pressure = negative
collectivistic cultures:
conformity = responsiveness, cooperation, communal sensitivity, etc.
What is Solomon Asch’s Line Judgement Task?
which line matches the comparison?
we have the desire to behave correctly: according to norms
What is the self-serving bias regarding conformity?
we underestimate the impact of social influence in our own actions. Evidence shows we conform more than we actually think we do
What is the actor-observer effect?
we focus on internal information rather than our overt actions
What is the introspection illusion?
conformity occurs nonconsciously, escaping our introspection
How does culture influence how susceptible we are to conformity?
In individualistic cultures uniqueness is highly valued
in collectivistic cultures conforming has no negative connotations
What is private acceptance in the light movement experiment?
when asked individually, participants continued to give estimates of the light’s movement consistent with the group norm
What is Cohesiveness?
being influenced by those we like
-> desire to belong, the more we want to belong, the more we conform
How does group size influence conformity?
the bigger the group, the greater tendency to conform
-> 8+ group members
How does Status within a group influence conformity?
conformity offers reassurance and status, although high status gives people an “out”, they do not have to conform
What are descriptive and injunctive norms?
Descriptive Norms: inform us about what is generally seen as effective or appropriate in a given situation
Injunctive Norms: how people ought to behave (approved or disapproved behavior)
what does proscriptive and prescriptive refer to in Injuctive norms?
Proscriptive: socially disapproved things that you shouldn’t do
Prescriptive: things we should do
when do norms influence our behavior?
when they are salient
-> normative focus theory
What are factors that are affecting conformity?
Normative social influence
Informational social influence
what is Normative social influence?
altering our behavior to meet others expectations and gain their approval and acceptance
What is Informational social influence?
our tendency to depend on others as a source of information about aspects of the social world
how can we explain the actor observer effect and which roles are there?
participating or observing synchronous behaviour
-> actors experience pressure to conform
-> observers may experience reactance
what is reactance?
the feeling that our personal freedom is being restricted and we should protect our individuality
What influence does power have in nonconforming?
it frees you from restrictions
-> powerful people are less socially dependent
-> people primed to think about power were less likely to show conformity
What is another way to resist conformity?
the desire to be unique
-> those who “rebel” are seen as more autonomous, independent and with higher status
What is Compliance?
Conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing
How does Friendship/liking influence compliance?
we are more willing to comply with requests from friends
-> flattery, self-promotion, emitting positive nonverbal cues, doing small favors, incidental similarity
How does Commitment/Consistency influence compliance?
once we are committed we are more willing to comply with requests for behavior consistent with this position
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
starts with something small (consistency or commitment principle)
What is the lowball procedure?
changing the agreement (consistency or commitment principle)
What is the Door-in-the-face technique?
starts with the big request
How does Scarcity influence Compliance?
outcomes or objects that are scarce or decreasing in availability are more valued and we try to secure them
-> deadline technique, playing hard to get
How does Reciprocity influence Compliance?
we are more likely to comply with a request from someone who previously provided a favour
-> we feel obligated to pay back in some way
How does Social validation influence Compliance?
because we want to be correct we are generally more willing to comply with a request for some action if this action is consistent with what we believe people similar to ourselves are doing
How does Authority influence Compliance?
we are more likely to comply with requests from someone who holds legitimate authority
What is Obedience?
Acting in accord with a direct order or command
What is the Milgram experiment?
experiment to test obedience, participants give electronic shocks
-> 65% showed total obedience
What are factors why destructive obedience works?
explicit discharge of responsibility and clear ranking of authority
What leads to a strong tendency to obey?
People in authority assume responsibility and often show visible signs of status and power.
Commands are gradual in nature, do not start out with orders to perform extreme actions
Events move at a fast pace - little chance to consider options
Is the foot-in-the-door technique also a reason why destructive obedience works?
yes
What is harder, resisting or obeying?
it is harder to resist than to obey
what are strategies to resist the effects of destructive obedience?
remind people perceiving commands of their responsibility, indicating clearly that total obedience is inappropriate, question the motives and expertise, knowing about the power authorities have
What is Unintentional social influence?
Influence over others without overtly intending to do so
what are the 3 types of unintentional social influence?
emotional contagion
symbolic social influence
modeling
What is Emotional contagion in unintentional social influence?
automatic mimicry
-> observing emotions in others and physically matching their feelings
! sometimes Schadenfreude - malicious happiness
What is Similarity in Emotional contagion?
extent to which we perceive the person who is showing emotions is similar to us
What is Symbolic Social Influence in Unintentional social influence?
The mere thought of the reactions of other people may have a strong effect on our actions and our attitudes
What are the 2 mechanisms of Symbolic Social Influence?
Mental representation (other people are present in our thoughts)
Triggering of goals associated with others (psychological presence of others may activate goals they want us to achieve)
What is Modeling?
Observational learning
-> learning through observing others and then do what they did
Is Modeling a strong or weak influence?
strong
-> individuals will match their actions to those of others
(can be applied to aggression and helping)
