Social Influence - key terms

conformity

when someone changes their attitude or behaviour due to "real" or "imagined" peer group pressure

compliance

public, short-term, superficial change that stops immediately after the pressure stops, has no lasting effect on beliefs or values

identification

with the intent of gaining or maintaining a group membership, publicly changing attitudes and behaviour even if they do not privately agree with the group

internalisation

conforming to the group because you accept its norms - you agree privately as well as publicly

informational social influence (ISI)

conforming in order to gain knowledge and to be right; cognitive process

most likely to happen in a new or ambiguous situation, in a crisis, or if there is an expert

may lead to internalisation

normative social influence (NSI)

conforming to be accepted into a group and gain social approval; emotional process

most likely to happen with friends or with strangers when there is concern of rejection, or in stressful situations where there is a greater need for social support

may lead to compliance

social roles

'parts' people play as members of a social group, accompanied by expectations of what behaviour is considered appropriate

situational behaviour

behaviour that is caused by environmental circumstances

dispositional behaviour

behaviour that is caused by innate factors

obedience

when people are given direct order by an authority figure who has the power to punish them

obedience alibi

situational explanations could be used to excuse undesirable behaviour such as the Holocaust

agentic state

feeling no personal responsibility for actions, acting as the agent of an authority figure

autonomous state

free to behave according own principles, so feel responsible

agentic shift

shift from autonomy to agency

binding factors

allows individuals to ignore the damaging effects of their obedient behaviour, maintains the agentic state

moral strain

experiencing anxiety, due to being asked to do something that goes against moral judgement

legitimacy of authority

the degree to which individuals are seen as justified in having power over others

authoritarian personality

a personality that is disposed to obedience of authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status

f-scale

questionnaire used to measure authoritarian traits, Likert scale

psychodynamic theory

attitudes stem from childhood influences

conditional love

love depends on behaviour

scapegoats

weaker groups that receive displaced resentment

reaction formation

defence mechanism in which unacceptable impulses are transformed into their opposite

dissenter

someone who does not conform or obey

locus of control

a belief about the amount of control a person has over situations in their life

internal LOC

the perception of being in control of one's own fate, acting from own beliefs

external LOC

the perception that life is controlled by powerful others, luck, or fate

minority influence

one person or a small group persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours

synchronic consistency

consistency between group members

diachronic consistency

consistency over time

augmentation principle

the idea that we should assign greater weight to a particular cause of behaviour if there are other causes present that normally would produce the opposite outcome

snowball effect

as more people convert, the rate of conversion becomes faster

social change

societies, rather than individuals, adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours

social cryptomnesia

people have a memory that change has occurred but don't remember how it happened

gradual commitment

when you start with a small commitment but this gradually increases and before you know it you have made more of a commitment than you intended