Social Influence

1. Social Influence

2. Social Influence • Efforts by one or more individuals to change the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviors of others • Conformity • Compliance • Obedience

3. Conformity • Type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behavior in order to adhere to existing social norms • Social Norms: Rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in certain situations • Explicit (written) • Implicit (unwritten)

4. Is conformity a good thing or a bad thing? Why? • List 5 social norms. If they are specific to a group or context, describe it.

5. Conformity class exercise

6. Why do people conform?

7. Asch’s Conformity Experiments

8. Asch’s Conformity Experiments

9. Asch’s Conformity Experiments • 25% never conformed • 75% conformed at least once • Average conformity: 33% of trials • Number of people in the majority are important • One person giving correct answer almost eliminated conformity

10. Why do people conform? • Informational social influence • Based on desire to be correct • Social Comparison: • Evaluate the accuracy of beliefs or the quality of personal attributes by comparing themselves to others

11. Why do people conform? • Informational social influence • Based on desire to be correct • Normative social influence • Based on desire to be liked and accepted • Negative consequences of nonconformity? • Internalized standards

12. Why do people conform? • Informational social influence • Based on desire to be correct • Normative social influence • Based on desire to be liked and accepted • Cohesiveness • Accept influence from those we like • Group size • As group size increases, conformity increases

13. Resisting Pressure to Conform • Reactance • React against threats to a personal freedom by asserting that freedom

14. Resisting Pressure to Conform • Asserting Uniqueness • Need to see ourselves as unique results in less conformity

15. Compliance • Type of social influence in which a person changes attitudes or behavior in response to another’s direct request • Six principles involved in getting people to comply with requests • Friendship/Liking • Commitment and Consistency • Scarcity • Reciprocity • Social Validation • Appeals to Authority

16. Compliance • Friendship/Liking • Ingratiation: If someone likes you, they are more apt to agree with your request • Self-enhancement: If you look good, use appealing nonverbal behavior, people will come to like your request as well! (think of classical conditioning) • Enhancing the other: flattery will get you places; gifts and favors work too

17. Compliance • Commitment and Consistency • Once we make a choice or take a stand, we encounter pressure to behave consistently with that commitment • Foot-in-the-door • Lowballing • Bait-and-switch • Effortful commitment

18. Effortful Commitment • Aronson & colleagues • Female participants came to the lab to join a ‘discussion group’ • Control participants: Asked to read a neutral passage to the male experimenter • High-Effort participants: Asked to read an explicit passage from an erotic novel

19. Effortful Commitment • Aronson & colleagues • They discover that the group is BORING! • High-effort participants rated the discussion group as • more interesting • more fun • they were more willing to come back to the group • than the control participants

20. Compliance • Scarcity • Opportunities seem more valuable when they are less available • Limited number—Item is rare and hard-to-get • Limited-time offer

21. Compliance • Reciprocity • We should try to repay what another has provided us • Door-in-the-face • That’s not all

22. Compliance • Social Validation • We view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the extent we see others performing that behavior • Bystander intervention

23. Compliance • Appeals to Authority • Authority provides benefits to society • Automatic compliance with authority can cause trouble • Titles • Material culture • Experts agree…

24. Obedience • Type of social influence in which a personobeys a direct order from another to perform an action • Nazi Germany—Many people were simply following orders. Is this legitimate? Are normal people capable of true evil when ‘following orders’?

25. Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments • 40 males, aged 20 to 50, each paid $4.50 for a study onlearning and memory • Participant is the ‘teacher’—teach a list of word pairs to the‘learner’ and shock him in increasing levels if he gets it wrong

27. Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments • At certain levels, the ‘teacher’ hears the ‘learner’ protest • If the ‘teacher’ asks to end the experiment, the experimenter responds with a verbal prod • How far would you go? How far do you think the average person would go?

28. Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments

29. Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments • Replications • Distance from participant to ‘learner’ • Distance from participant to experimenter • Outside the Yale University setting • Women, other cultures • Autonomy of participant

30. What Breeds Obedience? • Emotional Distance of the Victim • Depersonalization

31. What Breeds Obedience? • Closeness and Legitimacy of Authority

32. What Breeds Obedience? • Institutional Authority

33. What Breeds Obedience? • Disobedience of a fellow group member liberates us from obedience

34. Intense Indoctrination: Cults

35. Intense Indoctrination: Cults • Compliance breeds acceptance • Foot-in-the-door • Charismatic leader • Vivid, appealing message • Potential converts are often at a turning point in their lives • Isolation from outside influences • Social validation