L5 - Conformity and Obedience

Conformity

A change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group.

Acceptance

Conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure.

Compliance

Conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing.

Obedience

A type of compliance involving acting in accord with a direct order or command.

T or F: Acceptance happen when you genuinely believe in what the group has persuaded you to do - you inwardly and sincerely believe that the group’s action are right.

True

conforming to an expectation

Compliance is _____ or a request without really believing in what you are doing.

insincere

Compliance is an ____, outward conformity.

variation on compliance

Obedience, or complying with a direct command, is a ______.

Autokinetic Phenomenon

Self (auto) motion (kinetic). The apparent movement of a stationary point of light in the dark.

Mood Linkage

Just being around happy people can help us feel happier. Phenomenon by Peter Totterdell and his colleagues.

Mimicry

helps people look more helpful and likeable — people become more likely to help pick up dropped pens for someone whose behavior has mimicked their own.

T or F: When women viewed avatars with happy, sad, or angry facial expressions, they unconsciously made the same expressions, and the brain regions responsible for these emotional expressions were activated.

True

Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure

People in collectivistic countries were more willing to conform than those in individualistic countries.

Ethical Concerns of Milgram’s Obedience Studies

1. The study raised significant ethical issues, such as the psychological stress caused to participants and the use of deception.

2. This study is pivotal in understanding the dynamics of obedience, authority, and the potential for individuals to commit harmful acts under pressure.

Victim’s Distance

It is easiest to abuse someone who is distant or depersonalized.

Ex. People who might never be cruel to someone in person may be nasty when posting comments anonymous people on internet discussion boards.

T or F: People act most compassionately toward those who are personalized. That is why appeals for the unborn, for the hungry, or for animal rights are nearly always personalized with a compelling photograph or description.

True

Liberating Effects of Group Influence

The heroic firefighters who rushed into the flaming World Trade Center towers on 9/11 were incredibly brave, also “partly obeying their superiors, partly conforming to extraordinary group loyalty.

Group Size

Found that 3 to 5 people will elicit much more conformity than just 1 or 2. Increasing the number of people beyond 5 yields diminishing returns.

Unanimity

Conformity experiments teach the practical lesson that it is easier to stand up for something if you can find someone else to stand up with you.

Cohesiveness

A “we feeling”; the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as by attraction to one another

Own-group conformity

People within an ethnic group may feel this similarly — to talk, act, and dress just as everyone else does in their own group.

Status

As you might expect, higher-status people tend to have more impact.

Public Response

People conform more when they must respond in front of others rather than writing their answers.

Normative Influence

Conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often to gain acceptance.

Ex. Wearing popular brands or styles to be seen as "cool" or current, despite personal preference

Informational Influence

Conformity occurs when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people.

ex. If you are in a new city and aren't sure which exit to take at a train station, you might follow the crowd, assuming they know the correct way.

T or F: Conformity is greater when people respond publicly before a group; this reflects normative influence because people receive the same information whether they respond publicly or privately.

True

T or F: Conformity is greater when participants feel incompetent, when the task is difficult, and when the individuals care about being right — all signs of informational influence.

True

Personality

Two studies found that students with strong belief in their own free will and personal control were less likely to conform to the group.

Culture

Conformity rates are higher in collectivistic countries and in more conformist times. In individualistic countries, university students see themselves as less conforming.

Social Roles

Allow some freedom of interpretation to those who act them out, but some aspects of any role should be performed.

Ex. Student must at least show up for exams, turn in papers, and maintain some minimum grade point average.

Role playing

can also be a positive force; by intentionally playing a new role and conforming to its expectations, people sometimes change themselves or empathize with people whose roles differ from their own.

T or F: Roles often come in pairs defined by relationships — role reversals can help each understand the other.

True

T or F: Social roles do not always vary with culture, but the process by which those roles influence behavior vary much less.

False

Reactance

A motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom. This arises when someone threatens our freedom or action.

Asserting Uniqueness

Seeing oneself as unique also appears in people’s “spontaneous self-concepts.”

Ex. : An individual might follow the general fashion trends but add a unique accessory, specific color, or vintage piece to express personal style.