Social Influence: Conformity & Obedience

A set of vocabulary flashcards based on the key concepts of social influence, conformity, and obedience as discussed in the lecture.

Social Influence

The effects of other people on an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, values, or behaviour.

Conformity

Individuals change their attitudes or behaviour in order to adhere to existing social norms.

Obedience

One person obeys direct orders from an authority figure to perform some action.

Compliance

Involves a direct request from one person to another.

The Autokinetic Effect

An optical illusion where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark room.

Asch's Line Judgement Task

An experiment that demonstrated the effects of group pressure on conformity using line length judgments.

Majority Influence

A form of social influence where the beliefs or behaviors of a majority group affect an individual.

Milgram Experiment

A series of social psychology experiments conducted to measure obedience to authority, often involving delivering shocks to others.

Agentic Shift

A psychological state where a person feels that they are acting on behalf of an authority figure, absolving personal responsibility.

Unanimity

When all members of a group agree, significantly increasing pressure on an individual to conform.