Conformity & Obedience

Conformity

a change in one’s behaviour due to the real or imagined influence of other people

Conformity is largely driven by two things…

Social ambiguity and/or

Fear of rejection/diminished status

Private acceptance

conform to the behaviour of others because one genuinely believes others are correct

When does informational social influence motivate conformity?

in an ambiguous situation, we may believe that others’ interpretation is more correct than ours.

When we consider others as a valuable source of information

What type of influence often results in private acceptance?

Informational social influence

Public compliance

conforming to others’ behaviour publicly without necessarily believing in what you are doing/saying

Why conform?

to overcome ambiguity & act in a ‘correct’ manner

Muzafer Sherif’s study of the Autokinetic effect

convergence of estimates as a result of informational social influence. Everyone converged to a shared estimate of movement, even though there was no movement at all!

Susceptibility to informational conformity is affected by how important we believe it is to make a correct judgment how

we are more susceptible to informational conformity when we perceive the importance of accuracy to be high

Contagion

the rapid spread of (possibly irrational) emotions or behaviours through a crowd as a result of informational social contagion

When will people conform or be most susceptible to social influence/informational conformity & contagion?

1. When the situation is ambiguous
2. When an apparent crisis is occurring
3. When others are perceived as experts/as having more information

Social norms

implicit or explicit rule a group has for the acceptable values, behaviours, and beliefs of its members

Those who do no conform are perceived as…

different, difficult, and eventually deviant.

Deviant members can be ridiculed, punished, or even rejected by other group members.

Why conform in Asch’s classic line judgment?

Don’t want to feel peculiar; look like a fool

Belief that what others think is important, even if they are strangers

The social impact theory

States that conforming to social influence depends on the group,

* Strength: importance of group to the person
* Immediacy: closeness of others in time and space
* Size: number of people in the group

Impact of an ‘ally’ in the Asch line study

in a group of 6-7, a single ally lowered conformity from 32% to 6%

Four factors of Informational Social Influence

* importance of accuacy
* ambiguity
* other expertise
* perceived crisis

Four factors in Normative Social Influence

* Group strength, immediacy, numbers
* importance of accuracy
* allies
* culture

What two factors are key for grassroots influence

Consistency & internal agreement.

People with minority views must express same view over time; must agree with one another.

Injunctive norms

People’s perceptions of what behaviours are approved or disapproved by others (ought & should)

Descriptive norms

People’s perceptions of how people actually behave in given situations, regardless of whether the behaviour is thought to be generally approved/disapproved of by others.

Boomerang Effect

Failed attempt at using norms to change behaviour as desired

A situation in which a persuasive message produces attitude change in the direction opposite of that intended.

Foot-in-door technique

getting people to agree first to a small request, which makes them more likely to agree later to a second, larger request

Door-in-the-fact technique

making a large request that they will probably refuse, making them more likely to agree to a second, smaller request.

Propaganda

a deliberate, systemic attempt to advance a cause by manipulating mass attitudes & behaviours, often through misleading or emotionally charged information

Dehumanization

process by which certain other people or groups are depicted as less than human, as non-comparable in humanity or personal dignity to those who do the labelling

characteristics of propaganda

* Ideological & Persuasive (encourages particular thoughts & actions)
* Emotionally Evocative
* High Volume, mass media
* Creates a sense of conflict (us vs them)
* Uses Ethically suspect methods (deception, distortion)
* Institutionalized (supports interests of an organized group)
* Uses simplistic messages & Clear symbols
* Scapegoating

Obedience

A change in behaviour due to the direct influence of an authority figure.

A social norm, universally valued as necessary at some level for social order.

Includes internalized obedience

Milgram’s findings

62\.5% of px delivered highest shock (450-volt)

80% of px continued giving shocks even post crying out in pain, saying heart was bothering him

Role of normative social influence in Milgram’s studies

Do not want to disappoint experimenter

* difficult to say no - fear experimenter angry, hurt, disappointed

Experimenter actively tried to get people to conform

* “it is absolutely essential that you continue”

Inclusion of allies in adaptation of Milgram’s studies

Seeing peers disobey made easier for px to disobey

* only 10% gave max shocks (vs 62.5%)