CHAPTER 8 STUDY GUIDE

Social Influence

it’s the process by which individuals attitudes, belief and behavior are changed by others. This can occur through conformity, compliance, and obedience.

Real Social Influence

is when your thoughts or behavior change because of actual people who are present and directly affecting you. EX: you dress nicer because your friends are watching or you clap at a performance because others are doing it too.

Imagined Social Influence

is when you change your thoughts or behavior because of what you think others expect, even if no one is actually there. EX: you clean your room because you imagine your parents won’t judge you.

Conformity

it means to change in behavior or belief due to match those in a group or social norms. EX: you dress up like your group so you can fit in with them.

Public Compliance

is where you get along with the group in public but privately you disagree or don’t believe what you’re doing. EX: You say you like a movie because your friends all do, but secretly you hated it.

Compliance

is when you change your behavior because someone asked or pressured you, but you do not actually change your private beliefs, you go along with it. EX: You donate to a charity because they asked you, but you don’t really care about the cause.

Informational Social Influence

it means you conform because you believe the group has correct information and you behave appropriately or make the right decision. motivate to be right.

Normative Social Influence

it means you conform to fit in with a group and gain acceptance or avoid punishments, embarrassment, or rejection. motivate be liked and accepted.

Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure

Similar to Conformity, it’s a study showed that people often conform to a group’s wrong answer even when the correct answer is obvious. Participants judged line lengths, and when everyone else (confederates) gave the wrong answer, many participants went along with the group to avoid standing out.

Social Impact Theory

It’s a psychological theory developed by Bibb Latané that explains how and why people are influenced by others, it comes with three factors: Strength, Immediacy and Number.

Individualistic Culture

it’s a culture that values personal independence and personal goals, their conformity is generally lower.

Collectivist Culture

It’s a culture that values group harmony and shared goals, their conformity is generally higher.

Minority Influence

It’s when a small group (minority) causes a change in the opinions, belief or behaviors of a large group (majority). This happens because the minority presents a strong, clear, and confident arguments that make people rethink their views.

Consistency

this means that the majority sticks to their view overtime and all members of minority say the same thing, which makes the minority seem confident.

Idiosyncrasy Credit

It’s the “social credit” where a person earns by following group norms most of the time, and when someone has a lot of this credit, the group is more likely to accept their unusual opinions or behaviors later.

The more you work on a group, you earned the credit, and the more trust you gain in the group, you spent the credit.

Front in the Door

a technique when someone gets you to agree to a small request first, which makes you more likely to agree to a large request later.

Door in the Face

a technique when someone first makes a large request, you'll probably refuse, but then follows it with a smaller request which makes you more likely to accept the smaller one because it feels like a compromise.

That’s Not All

a technique when a salesperson or persuader adds something extra before you can say no, making the offer seem better.

Low-Balling

a technique when someone offer you a good deal to get you to agree with it, but then later raising the cost afterward.

Obediance

means to change your behavior in response to a command or order from an authority figure.

Milgram’s Study

is an obedience study where participants were instructed by an authority figure to give electric shocks to another person. The study showed that ordinary people will follow orders even when the orders cause harm.

This study is based on to Nazi’s in WWII, when the soldiers said, they made me do it.

Autokinetic Phenomenon

a visual illusion where a small, stationary point of light in a completely dark room appears to move, even though it’s not moving. Example for this is called “Candle in the Closet”. Studied by Muzafer Sherif (1936)

The Chameleon Effect

is the automatic imitation of another person’s behaviors without realizing it, it’s like a “social mirror” that blend in and connect with others. For example: you start smiling when the other person smiles. You don’t do it on purpose, it just happens naturally. Studied by Chartrand and Bargh (1999)

Contagion

a rapid spread of emotion through a crowed. EX: contagious yawning or laughing and panic spreading in the crowd.

Mass Psychogenic Illness

a physical symptoms in a group with no known cause. Example for this is when Ten of 39 workers smelling an unconfirmed "mystery gas" they were rushed to a hospital with symptoms of dizziness, fainting, nausea and vomiting.

Strength

One of the social impact theory, it’s the status and competence, the power of the source.

It’s how important, powerful, or credible the influencing group/person is.

The stronger the source, the more likely you will conform.

Immediacy

One of the social impact theory, it’s a physical proximity of majority, the physical and psychological closeness.

It’s how close the group/person is to you in time or space.

The closer the source, the stronger the social impact.

Number

One of the social impact theory, it’s the size of majority, the quantity of sources and targets.

It’s how many people are trying to influence you.

More people equals more influence.

Reactance

this means to act to protect freedom. EX: when you tell a child not to do something, what are they’re gonna do?

They’re gonna do it.