Social influence vocab

The change from an autonomous state to an agentic state

Agentic shift

A way of acting in which a person denies personal responsibility and instead, allows someone else to direct their behaviour who is then perceived as being responsible for one’s actions.

Agentic state

Where a person performs an act knowing that there are constraints e.g. a risk to life, their motivation becomes stronger

Augmentation principle

A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors.

Authoritarian personality

A way of acting in which people direct their own behaviour and take responsibility for their own actions.

Autonomous state

Aspects of a situation that people ignore or minimise in order to reduce moral strain.

Binding factors

A factor affecting minority influence in which the minority shows dedication to their position e.g. by making personal sacrifices, thereby not acting out of self-interest.

Commitment

A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view but we privately disagree with it. The change in our behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.

Compliance

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people e.g. “going along with the group”.

Conformity

A factor affecting minority influence in which the minority keeps the same beliefs over time and between individuals within the minority group, thereby drawing attention to the minority group.

Consistency

A type of consistency which shows the same message over time.

Diachronic consistency

An explanation for behaviour which is based upon an individual’s personality characteristics as opposed to situational factors.

Dispositional explanation

A factor affecting minority influence in which there is acceptance of the possibility of compromise to avoid a rigid and dogmatic approach which could be considered unbending and unreasonable.

Flexibility

A factor affecting conformity that involves increasing the size of the majority.

Group size

A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with the group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don’t necessarily agree with everything the majority believes.

Identification

A group of people who value the rights and interests of the individual. This results in concern for independence and assertiveness. It is typical of Western cultures.

Individualistic culture

A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.

Internalisation

An explanation for conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it to be correct and we want to be correct as well.

ISI

An explanation for obedience in which a person is more likely to follow the orders of someone whose perceived authority is justified.

Legitimacy of authority

The place where an order is issued. Obedience is more likely when this place has prestige.

Location

A theory for why people resist social influence which refers to the sense we each have of what directs events in our lives. Internal believe that they are most responsible for what happens to them whereas externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces.

Locus of control

A form of social influence in which a small group of people (sometimes just on person) persuades others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. It will lead to a process of internalisation or conversion, in which private attitudes are changed as well as public behaviours.

Minority influence

Something experienced by people when they feel that behaviour is going against their values e.g. when participants in Milgram’s study heard the cries of the learner.

Moral strain

Refers to how an experiment mirrors the real world. The simulated task environment is realistic to the extent to which experiences encountered in the simulated environment will occur in the real world.

Mundane realism

People who have a greater need for being in a relationship with others.

nAffiliators

An explanation of conformity that says that we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked.

NSI

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming.

Obedience

The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to. It also refers to the physical closeness of the teacher to the victim (learner) in Milgram’s studies.

Proximity

Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey the authority. This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.

Resistance to social influence

External circumstances that contribute towards obedience rather than the personalities of the people involved.

Situational variables

A process that starts from an initial state of small significance and increasingly becomes larger with a faster conversion rate e.g. starting with a small group of people supporting an idea with gradually more people adopting the idea.

Snowball effect

A process that occurs when whole societies, rather than just individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things such as women’s suffrage.

Social change

A term that refers to when social change happens, the new attitude becomes an integral part of the society’s culture, and the source of the minority influence that led to it is often forgotten.

Social cryptoamnesia

A structure in society that sees some people as having more authority over others.

Social hierarchy

The ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. Everyday examples include, teacher, parent and student. These are accompanied by the expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role e.g. caring, obedient, industrious.

Social role

A theory for why people might resist social influence which is based upon the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey helping others to do the same.

Social support

A type of consistency which shows the same message amongst different members of the minority group.

Synchronic consistency

A factor which affects conformity that involves making it harder to work out the correct answer leading to an increase in conformity (due to ISI).

Task difficulty

The extent to which all the members of a group agree. This produced the greatest degree of conformity in the naïve participants in Asch’s study.

Unanimity

People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority e.g. police officers and judges.

Uniform