Psych 331 Chap 7 Conformity Compliance Obedience

What is the difference between compliance and obedience?

compliance - when someone agrees to a request (ask)

obedience - when someone is told do to do something by a more powerful authority (demand)

Conformity

A change in behaviour due to the real or imagined presence of others

- can have a negative and positive connotation (positive - conform to do what's best for others, or negative - blindly follow others unhealthy actions)

Is conformity a good thing?

Yes and no - we praise individualists in history after the fact but at the time can be seen as deviants ex. Nelson Mandela

Good - can lead to social order

Bad - blind following

Example of negative conformity/groupthink

The challenger space shuttle disaster - engineers believed there might be an issue and brought it to decision makers who ignored their warning and asked for them to go ahead due to how important this event was, the engineers conformed to the leaders wishes which ended in tragedy

Groupthink

Mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group overrides their ability to realistically assess a course of action and its alternatives

Happens when a group wants to be cohesive so they discourage any questioning that would prevent that

Why do people prefer those who conform rather than devils advocates?

Questioning the groups position/offering a different idea right away gives a bad impression

People don't like when someone disagrees last minute

How to improve the chance of your different idea/disagreement being heard by the group

more likely to be heard when you've been a part of the group for a while - they already have trust built and are more ready to listen, you have "gained credit" in the group and can use that credit to be listened to when you disagree

if someone has been assigned to be the devils advocate

when you have an ally to your position

Biology of conformity

Appears to be some biological explanation

Chameleon effect - we mirror other peoples behaviours and mannerisms (can be done unconsciously) Ex. Server morphing into what patrons want them to be

Study in which one person mirrored the others mannerisms showed they were more likely to enjoy the conversation (at an unconscious level)

Mirror neurons - enable empathy, can be turned off when we dislike people

Why do we conform?

1. informational social influence (private acceptance) - if we don't know what to do and we see someone act in a certain way we accept that behaviour as right

more likely to believe in conformative behaviour if it is informative

2. normative social influence - need to be accepted, following social norms (implicit and explicit rules about acceptable behaviour) doesn't necessarily lead to private acceptance ex. Ash's line study

- if we resist normative social influence -> social rejection

How to resist normative influence

If you fear rejection - find an ally (much easier to resist group pressure with another person)

Reflective surfaces can prime you to be authentic

Can the minority influnece the majority?

Have to be consistent (with their message)

Have to agree among eachother

Have to use informational social influence - more likely to privately accept it

Ex. democrats often do not have enough agreement between them to influence majority

Compliance

Change in behaviour due to a request from another

Principles of Influence (Caldini)

Reciprocity - you do something for someone they'll do something for you

Scarcity - do whatever it takes to get something

Commitment/consistency - once you get someone to do something for you they are more likely to do it again

Consensus (social proof) - everyone else is doing this, you should too!

Authority

Liking - we do things for people we like

Obedience

Response to a demand from an authority figure

- authority is associated with power

Power (French and Raven)

How much power does the authority have over us

Coercive, Reward, Expert, Legitimate, Referent, Informational

According to French and Raven the more sources of power you have the more powerful you are

Coercive Power

ability to threaten and punish

Reward Power

ability to provide rewards or favors

Expert Power

power that is based on the special knowledge, skills, and expertise that a leader possesses

Legitimate Power

the power a person has based on their role Ex. judge has this power inside the courtroom but not outside it

Referent Power

power that comes from being admired, liked, revered

Informational Power

a form of power that stems from the ability to control access to information

Milgrams shock study revisited

Original study done to demonstrate that what happened in WWII can happen again because anyone can engage in that behaviour

Tried an alternative procedure where the subject could select any volt they want with no coercion from the experimenter

Results showed only ONE person ever pressed the maximum shock, while it remained around a 45-60 volt range for others

This showed people OBEY, they are not evil and don't like to see suffering. They only hurt the person under coercion and conditions in which we think others will take responsibility for our actions

Nurse Study

real-life nurses were called by a experimenter pretending to be a doctor and asked to administer a what they would know to be lethal dose of a medication. 95% of all nurses/ 21 out of 22 prepped the needle

Showed us that like milligrams study - people will do what is asked by an authority figure (a higher up doctor) and afterwards claim they were just following orders

- however, found that if the nurse was very knowledgeable about the drug/had more experience they were more likely to speak up

Similarities between the Jonestown Cult and the Third Wave Classroom Exercise