lecture 4 section 3

Flashcards on obedience and compliance concepts, including the Milgram experiments, cognitive dissonance, the reciprocity norm, and specific compliance-gaining techniques from Social Psychology Lecture 4.

Milgram experiments

A series of social psychology studies examining obedience to authority, where $65\%$ of subjects complied with orders from an experimenter to progressively deliver higher electric shocks to another individual.

Teacher

The actual subject in the Milgram experiments who was instructed by the authority figure to administer electric shocks to the learner.

Learner

The confederate in the Milgram experiments who pretended to receive electric shocks from the subject.

Proximity (Obedience)

A factor affecting obedience levels in Milgram-style studies: physical closeness to the experimenter (authority) increases obedience, whereas physical closeness to the suffering learner decreases obedience.

Modeling (Obedience)

A social factor influencing obedience where the greatest disobedience occurs if someone else disobeys, and the greatest obedience occurs if someone else obeys to the end.

Cognitive dissonance

A psychological principle rooted in the avoidance of inconsistency, driving individuals to maintain consistency between their statements, prior decisions, and behaviors.

Reciprocity norm

A social norm centered on feeling obligated to return a favor or reciprocate when someone has done something for you.

Foot-in-the-door technique

A compliance method that begins with a small request followed by a larger request; it relies on cognitive dissonance because people want to remain consistent with their initial agreement.

principle- cognitive dissonance

Pre-giving

A compliance tactic that involves offering a small gift prior to asking for a donation or request, operating on the reciprocity norm to make the recipient feel obligated to return the favor.

principle- reciprocacy norm

Pre-giving and foot-in-the-door interaction

cancel each other out when used together because they operate on conflicting psychological principles (reciprocity norm versus cognitive dissonance).

Door-in-the-face method

A compliance technique where the requester begins with an unreasonably large request that is rejected, then quickly follows with a smaller target request;

principle-reciprocity norm.

Low-ball technique

A compliance tactic in which an agreement is reached to purchase an item at a specific price, after which the price is raised under the excuse that an authority or boss will not allow the lower price.

principle- cognitive dissonance.

Four Walls technique

A compliance procedure that leads a target to make a series of statements consistent with a desired behavior, commitment, or purchase, producing cognitive 'boxing in'

principle of cognitive dissonance.