Key Terms / Definitions

Social Influence

• Process by which individuals and groups

• change each others’ attitudes and behaviour

Conformity

• Change in an individual / groups behaviour or opinion

• As a result of a real or imagined pressure

• From another individual / group

Obedience

• form of social influence

• Individual follows direct orders from a perceived authority figure

Minority Influence

• Individual/Small group persuades

• Another individual/larger group to go along with minority

• Instead of with the majority

Independent Behaviour

• Individual resists the pressures to:

• Conform/Obey

• Behaves how they would have done without influence of others

Internalisation

• Lasting type of conformity

• Take the majority view

• Because we accept it as correct

• Causes a permanent change in behaviour

• Even when the group is absent

Compliance

• Superficial / Temorary type of conformity

• Go along with the majority view outwardly

• But privately disagree

• Change in behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us

ISI

Informational Social Influence

• Explanation for internalisation

• Desire to be correct

NSI

Normative Social Influence

• Explanation for compliance

• Desire to be gain social approval and be liked

Group Size (Asch study)

• Asch increased the number of confederates

• Conformity increased with group size

• Levelled off after 3 confederates

Task Difficulty (Asch Study)

• Asch made it more difficult to work out the correct answer

• Conformity increased

Unanimity (Asch Study)

• All members of the group agree

• Which produced the most conformity

• Adding a dissenter (disagreed) decreased conformity

Location (obedience situational variable)

• place where an order is issued

• The status / prestige associated with the location influences obedience

Proximity (obedience situational variables)

• physical closeness or distance of

  • an authority figure to the person being ordered

  • The teacher and their victim (Milgram)

Uniform (obedience situational variable)

• people in positions of power often have a specific outfit that symbolises their authority

• The outfit indicates that they’re entitled to expect our obedience

Situational Variables

• features of the immediate physical and social environment

• They may influence a person’s behaviour

• Opposite of dispositional variables

Agentic State

• mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour

  • Because we believe ourselves acting on behalf of an authority figure

• Frees us from moral strain

• Allows is to obey a destructive authority figure

Authoritarian Personality (AP)

• personality type defined by Adorno

• Makes people susceptible to obeying authority

• Makes people submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors

Dispositional Explanation

• explanation of behaviour which highlights the importance of personality

• Opposite of situational explanations

Locus of Control (LOC)

• sense of what directs events in our lives

• Internals believe they’re mostly responsible for what happens to them

• Externals believe events are mainly due to luck or outside forces

Social Support

• presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey

• These people act as ‘models’ to show others that resistance to social influence is possible

Resistance to social influence

• ability to withstand the real or imagined pressure from others to conform or obey

• This ability is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors

Commitment

• when the minority demonstrates dedication to their position

• It’s effective as it shows the minority isn’t acting out of self-interest

Consistency

• when the minority keeps the same beliefs, both over

  • time (diachronic consistency)

  • Individuals (synchronic)

• It’s effective because it draws attention to the minority view

Flexibility

• accepting the possibility of compromise

• It’s effective because relentless consistency can be counter-productive

Minority Influence

• form of social influence

• Small number of people persuade others to adopt their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours

• Leads to internalisation or conversion