ch 7: social influences: norms, conformity, compliance, and obedience

social norms

unspoken but shared rules of conduct in a formal and informal group

conformity

the tendency to change our perceptions, opinions, or behaviours in ways that are consistent with perceived group norms

compliance

changes in behaviour that are caused by direct requests

• change of behaviour due to implicit or explicit request

obedience

behaviour that is produced by the commands of authority figures

descriptive norms

norms that describe how people behave in a given situation

injunctive norms

norms that describe what people ought to do in a given situation, meaning the type of behaviour that is approved of in the situation

pluralistic ignorance

a particular type f norm misperception that occurs when each individual in the group privately rejects the groups norms, but believes that others accept these norms

informational influence

the influence that produces conformity when a person believes othets are correct in their judgments and the person wants to be right

private conformity

when peoplerethink their original views, and potentially change their minds to match what the gorup thinks

normative influence

the influence rgar produces conformity when a person fears the negative social consequences of appearing deviant

public conformity

when peopls’s overt behaviours are in line with group norms

social impact theory

the theory that people we are close to have more impact on us than people who are more distant

demographic variables

describe the nature and characteristics of the sample such as gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status

minority influence

a process in which a small number of people in a group lead an overall change in the groups attitudes or behaviour

reciprocity

a mutual exchange between two people

door-in-the-face technique

a compliance technique where one first asks for a big request and then asks for a smaller request which then seems more reasonable

thats-not-all technique

a compliance technique in which the influencer begins with an inflated request and then decreases uts apparent size by offering discounts or bonuses

foot-in-the-door technique

a two-step compliance technique in which an influencer first asks someone to perform a small request and then asks for a larger request

lowballing

a two-step compliance technique in which the influencer secures agreement with a request, but then increases the size of that request by revealing hidden costs

scarcity

a compliance technique in which the opportunity to act is limited in terms of the time to act or the number of opportunities