Unit 5: Conformity, Compliance and Obedience Flashcards
Social Influence
efforts by one or more people to change behavior, attitudes or feelings of one or others
Potential outcomes from social influence
is not good or bad per se(depend son methods and end results)
- selfish outcomes
- bad outcomes
- positive social effects
- inconsequential
Conformity
effort to change other behavior thru norms about how to behave ina given sitaution(real or imagines group pressure)
what is conformity
- doing what we are expected ina given situation
- change in brhaviour or belief to accord with others
- pressure to behave in way consistent with rules
What can social norms be
- implicit developed informally
- explicit and detailed
types of conformity
compliance; insincere, outward to avoid punishment or receive reward
obedience: compliance to explicit command
acceptance; sincere inward conformity, come to believe something we initially questioned
Notes; main diff between compliance and obedience is authority
compliance could be operant conditioning
how can conformity be influence by culture
FINISH
Individualistic cultures - view submitting to negative peer pressure as negative and a weakness
Collectivism- as responsiveness, no negative co notations
what is the asch line judgment task
FINISH
Shown three lines with a comparison line , asked which one was the same out of the options
All accomplices said the same wrong ans - no
All accomplices said the wrong ans and another accomplice said another wrong ans-
Participant asked to ans privately (doesnt conform)
susceptibility to bias
whats the self-serving bias
we underestimate the impact of social influence in our actions, evidence shows we conform more than we thing we do
actor-observer effect and how to use it to resist conformity
we focus on internal information rather than our overt action
participation/observing synchronous behavior
- actors; experience pressure to conform
- observer may experience reactance; feeling that our personal freedom is being restricted and we should protect our individuality
introspection illusion
conformity occurs nonconsciously, escaping our introspection
Muzafers Sherif in how social norms emerge
RE-EXPLAIN??
used ambiguous condition; the autokinetic phenomenon (self-motion- the apparent movement of a stationary point of light in the dark)
grouped together they influenced one another and converged on a particular amount of movement; group norm
- private acceptance; when asked individually, participants continued to give ans consistent with the group norm
factors affecting conformity
RE- CHECK- make it into smaller ones
-cohesiveness; being influenced by those we like (attracted to a particular social group, and desire to be in it)
-group size: the bigger the group, the greater tendency to conform up till 8 ppl
-Status within a group: the more power you have in a group the lesser tendency to conform
-Descriptive and injunctive norms
descriptive norms; inform us what is seen as generally effective or appropriate in given situation -> what ppl do
injunctive; how ppl ought to behave ->social judgment(social punishment or rewards)
-normative social influence; altering our behavior to meet others expectations and gain their approval and acceptance
- informational social influence ; our tendency to depend on others as a source of information about aspects of the world
when do these norms only affect out behaviour?
this is only for the 4th one of factors affecting conformity
when they are salient-> normative focus theory
