Week 5 Review - Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience

Question 1

What is Social Influence?

Answer 1

A process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people.

Question 2

What is Compliance?

Answer 2

Changes in behaviour elected by direct requests.

Question 3

What are some strategies towards inducing compliance?

Answer 3

Ingratiation - Complements, etc.

Norm of reciprocity - Ill scratch your back if you scratch mine

Sequential requests - The “foot in the door” effect

Question 4

What is Obedience?

Answer 4

Behaviour change produced by the commands of authority.

Question 5

What did Milgram’s 1963, 1974 obedience studies observe?

Answer 5

Would participants obey instructions even if causing obvious harm to others?

Question 6

What method did Milgram’s 1963, 1974 obedience studies use?

Answer 6

Males recruited from advertisements
Became ‘teacher’ … administered shocks to a ‘learner’ (confederate)
Instructed to continue shocks even if learner in pain

Question 7

What are some ethical considerations for Milgram’s obedience study?

Answer 7

Right to withdraw
Distress
Deceptions

Question 8

What is Conformity?

Answer 8

The intentional changing of our perceptions, opinions, or behaviour to be consistent with group norms.

Question 9

What was the basis for Sherif’s 1936 autokinetic experiment?

Answer 9

would people converge on a group norm?

from Allport’s (1924) convergence effect where people give more conservative estimates in groups than alone

group norms develop from people’s uncertainty about the social world

use of others as ‘frame of reference’

average/middle positions considered more correct than fringe positions

Question 10

What method was used in Sherif’s 1936 autokinetic experiment?

Answer 10

groups judged a perceptual illusion ‘autokinetic effect’ of spot of light’s movement in the dark (actually stationary)

called out estimates in random order

Question 11

What was the result of Sherif’s 1936 autokinetic experiment?

Answer 11

Participants converged to the group norm the more sessions they had with a group, guessing the light’s supposed movement continually closer to the guesses of those around them.

Question 12

What was the theoretical basis for Asch’s (1951, 1952, 1956) conformity experiment?

Answer 12

response to Sherif (who examined ambiguous stimuli)

uncertainty not explanation for unambiguous stimuli (no need to turn to others when obviously right answer!)

Question 13

What Method was used in Asch’s (1951, 1952, 1956) conformity experiment?

Answer 13

would participants conform to others’ clearly wrong responses?

groups of 7-9 males (1 real participant, rest confederates) called out which of 3 comparison lines the standard line matched; ‘real’ participant responded 2nd last; in 18 trials, confederates chose correctly only one third of the time

Question 14

What were the results of Asch’s (1951, 1952, 1956) conformity experiment?

Answer 14

• 25% independent throughout
• 50% conformed to wrong majority on 6 or more trials
• 5% conformed to wrong majority on ALL trials
• average conformity rate: 33%

why did people conform to an obviously wrong response?

• own perceptions inaccurate
• fear of censure/social disapproval
• saw the lines as majority did

Question 15

What is normative influence?

Answer 15

Conformity based on one’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations and gain acceptance; social approval.

Question 16

What is normative influence?

Answer 16

Conformity based on one’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations and gain acceptance; social approval.

Question 17

What is informational influence?

Answer 17

Conformity under acceptance of evidence about reality which has been provided by others.

Question 18

What is referent informational influence? (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955)

Answer 18

group polarization as conformity, through self-categorization, to a local in-group norm which is polarized as a result of the in-group being located towards an extreme of the salient comparative context or social frame of reference.

Question 19

What is minority influence?

Answer 19

process by which dissenters produce change within a group.

Question 20

Why should a consistent behavioural style prove effective when trying to influence from a majority position?

Answer 20

One possible reason is that unwavering repetition draws attention from those in the mainstream, which is a necessary first step to social influence.

Another possibility is that consistency signals that the dissenter is unlikely to yield, which leads those in the majority to feel pressured to seek compromise.

A third possible reason is that when confronted with someone who has the self-confidence and dedication to take an unpopular stand without backing down, people assume that he or she must have a point.

Question 21

What style of influence did Sherif’s (1936) autokinetic experiment demonstrate?

Answer 21

Informational influence.

Question 22

What style of influence did Asch’s (1951, 1952, 1956) conformity experiment demonstrate?

Answer 22

Normative influence.