DP6 - The concepts of Obedience and Conformity and their relative influence on individual behaviour

Obedience

occurs when people change their behaviour in response to direct commands from an authority figure

Factors affecting Obedience

• Social Proximity

• Legitimacy of authority figure

• Group Pressure

Social Proximity

refers to how physically close one or more people are to each other.

Legitimacy of authority figure

is a concept referring to an authority figure who has a higher position or status in a social hierarchy.

Group Pressure

is an occurrence in which other members reveal whether they are obedient to the authority figure or not.

Conformity

is the process by which people modify their ideas, attitudes, behaviours or perceptions to more closely reflect those held by groups to which they belong or aspire to belong.

Factors that affect conformity

• Normative influence

• Culture

• Informational influence

• Unanimity

• Group size

• Social loafing

• Deindividuation

Group Size

The number of individuals within a group

Unanimity

The complete agreement that group members experience in terms of knowing the answer

Normative Influence

The occurrence in which we conform with others because we want to be liked by them - and we assume that our conformity will make them like us more

Informational influence

An occurrence in which a person conforms because they want to be right, so they look to others they believe might have more information

Culture

The many characteristic of a group of people, including their attitudes, behaviours, customs and value, that are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Social Loafing

A persons tendency to reduce their effort when working in a group as opposed to when working alone

Deindividuation

When people act a certain way because of the anonymity that a group provides