Social Influence

Conformity

• change in behaviour along with a group

• Solomon Asch - Majority Influence, had students identify which of the 3 lines was the longest, when other people gave the wrong answer participant was more likely to give the wrong answer too

Types of Social Influence

• normative - people conform to the group norm to fit in

• informative - people conform because they feel the group is competent and has correct information

Factors which induce conformity

• size of the majority, larger group = higher chance the individual will conform

• presence of another dissenter - at least one dissenter conformity rates drop to near zero

• Public responses create more conformity - eg saying something out loud. Why governments require secret voting → so we do not conform as to what others are doing

Minority Influence; Compliance vs Conversion

• minorities can exert influence on majority

  • minorities fought for womens rights, racial discrimination etc

• Compliance; form of influence based on a majoritys power to change public behavior rather than private beliefs. Your private beliefs remain the same, just the way you act changes.

• Conversion; convincing majority that minority views are correct

  • consistency; minority must be consistent in their viewpoint

  • flexibility; minority must appear rigid or dogmatic

  • commitment; committed minority will lead majority to re think

Compliance

• majority’s power to change public behaviour compared to private beliefs

Conversion

• convincing the majority that the minority’s views are correct

Conditions under which conversion occurs

• Consistency; minority must be consistent in their viewpoint

• Flexibility; minority must not appear rigid/dogmatic in their views

• Commitment; committed minority will lead majority to re-think their stance

3 effects of conformity

• Public Influence → behaviour in front of a group is influenced by views of others

• Direct Private Influence → your private opinion about the views begin to change

• Indirect Private Influence → private opinion about RELATED issue change

Obedience

• change of an individual’s behaviour to comply with a demand by an authority figure

obedience vs conformity

• obedience is when you are told to do something by an authority figure, while conformity happens through social pressure

Stanley Milgram - Experiment on Obedience

• Teacher and learner

• Teacher administered shocks to the learner when they made a mistake

• 65% of all participants obeyed instructions all the way to the highest voltage

Milgram’s 3 Main Reasons for Obedience

1. Agnetic State; pass off the responsibility for the consequences to the person giving the orders

2. Hierarchy of Power/Status: authorities are usually trust worthy, study being conducted at Yale makes people more likely to obey

3. Gradual Increments: orders given by experiment when from reasonable to extreme very gradually

Group Polarisation

• tendency for groups to show a shift towards extremes of decision-making compared to decisions made by individuals.

Why do groups become polarized

• Social Comparison theory; individuals want to be rated positively by other members in the group or belong to a group

• Information Theory; information discussed favors positions already held by members - reinforcement of ideas.

• Social Categorization Theory: members want to distinguish their group from others by taking positions which are more extreme

Groupthink

modification of opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus. Groupthink is when a group prioritizes agreement and harmony over making the best decision.

When does groupthink occur?

1. Group is cohesive -more likely to accept decisions, conformity pressures also rise as members become reluctant to say anything that goes against the ideas of the group.

2. Group only considers a few options and/or insulated from information coming outside the grp - refuse to modigy their beliefs to bring them into line with society’s beliefs

3. Stress in the group- minimise their discomfort by quickly choosing a plant of action without any revisitation. Exaggerate the +ives, minimizing consequences

4. Very directive leader - increase conformity pressures and bad decisions, leader determines the agenda for each meeting etc.

Social Power

• ability to influence others, shape decisions, and affect societal structures

Stanford Prison Experiment

• mock prison

• guards and inmates who were ‘arrested’ at their homes

• they both assumed their role very well

• infact experiment had to be conluded early due to inmates deteriorating mental state.

Deindividuation

• loss of sense of personal identity which can happen in large group or a crowd/online

Effects of Deindividuation

• poor monitoring of one’s own behaviour

• reduced concern to have social approval of one’s behaviour

• reduced constraints against behaving impulsively

• reduced capacity to think clearly