Chapter 7: Social Influence: Conformity, Social Roles, and Obedience

Vocabulary flashcards that summarize key terms related to social influence, conformity, obedience, and the importance of social roles.

Social Influence

Changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors due to pressure from the social world.

Implicit Social Influence

Unspoken rules that guide behavior without explicit communication, such as social roles and norms.

Explicit Social Influence

Clearly stated expectations for social behavior, often involving compliance or obedience.

Normative Social Influence

Conforming to gain social acceptance or fit in with a group.

Informational Social Influence

Conforming because we want to be correct and look to others for guidance.

Conformity

Voluntary change in behavior to imitate the actions of those around us.

Social Roles

Expectations regarding how individuals in specific positions should behave.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness and individual identity when immersed in a group.

Social Norms

Implicit rules about how individuals should behave in a social context.

Herd Mentality

The tendency to follow the group rather than making independent decisions.

Social Contagion

The spread of ideas, attitudes, and behaviors within a group.

Mass Psychogenic Illness

Symptoms of an illness that appear in a group without any physical cause.

Contagious Yawning

The phenomenon where one organism's yawn triggers yawning in others nearby.

Compliance

Changing behavior in response to a request or suggestion, rather than an order.

Obedience

Changing behavior in response to a direct order from someone with authority.

Stanford Prison Study

An experiment designed by Zimbardo to assess the impact of social roles on behavior.

Milgram's Obedience Study

An experiment that examined how far individuals would go in obeying authority against their conscience.

Cultural Conformity

The varying rates of conformity influenced by cultural expectations and values.

Generational Influence

The persistence of cultural beliefs or norms even as original members depart and new ones join.

Descriptive Norms

Perceptions of what most people do in a given situation.

Injunctive Norms

Perceptions of what individuals should do in a given situation.