Psychology: Conformity, Obedience & Prosocial Behavior

Conformity

Changing your behavior, beliefs, or attitudes to match those of a group because of real or perceived social pressure.

Normative Social Influence

Conforming because you want to fit in, be accepted, or avoid rejection.

Informational Social Influence

Conforming because you believe other people have more accurate information than you.

Social Norms

Written or unwritten expectations about how people should behave in a group or society.

Descriptive Norms

Beliefs about what most people actually do.

Injunctive Norms

Beliefs about what behaviors other people approve or disapprove of.

Misperceived Norms

Incorrect beliefs about how common or acceptable certain behaviors are.

Social Pressure

Influence from other people that encourages someone to change their behavior or decisions.

Group Unanimity

When everyone in a group agrees, creating stronger conformity pressure than disagreement.

Social Support

Having someone else disagree with the majority, which can significantly reduce conformity.

Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiment

Participants compared line lengths with confederates giving wrong answers, showing people conform even when the group is wrong.

Asch Experiment Results

Approximately 76% of participants conformed at least once, and on about one-third of critical trials.

Confederate

A person who secretly works with the researcher while pretending to be a regular participant.

Factors That Increase Conformity

A unanimous group, public answers, wanting social approval, and believing others have better information.

Factors That Decrease Conformity

At least one person disagreeing, private answers, and feeling confident in your own judgment.

Individualistic Cultures

Cultures emphasizing independence and personal achievement, with less pressure to conform.

Collectivistic Cultures

Cultures emphasizing group harmony and cooperation, where conformity is strongly encouraged.

Obedience

Following direct orders or instructions from someone perceived as an authority figure.

Conformity vs. Obedience

Conformity is matching a group; obedience is following direct instructions from an authority figure.

Authority Figure

Someone with power, status, or expertise that makes others more likely to follow their instructions.

Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiment

Tested whether people would obey authority by administering seemingly painful electric shocks to another person.

Milgram Experiment Results

65% of participants continued to the maximum 450-volt shock level in the baseline condition.

Teacher in Milgram's Experiment

The real participant instructed to administer shocks when the learner answered incorrectly.

Learner in Milgram's Experiment

A confederate pretending to receive electric shocks (which were not real).

Factors That Increase Obedience

Direct instructions from a legitimate authority and greater physical distance from the person being harmed.

Factors That Decrease Obedience

Being physically closer to the harm, seeing another refuse, or lacking legitimate authority.

Ethical Concerns in Milgram's Experiment

Deception, psychological distress, pressure to continue, and concerns about ability to withdraw.

Jerry Burger's 2009 Replication

A modified Milgram replication stopping at 150 volts that found continued willingness to obey.

Prosocial Behavior

Voluntary actions intended to benefit another person or group, such as donating or volunteering.

Helping Behavior

Providing assistance to another person who needs support.

Altruism

Helping someone purely out of care for their well-being, without expecting a personal reward.

Egoism

Helping someone primarily because doing so benefits yourself.

Altruism vs. Egoism

Altruism is helping for the other's benefit; egoism is helping for your own benefit.

Empathy

The ability to understand or share another person's emotions or experiences.

Empathic Concern

Feeling compassion or sympathy for another's well-being, motivating altruistic helping.

Personal Distress

Feeling personally upset when witnessing suffering, which can motivate helping to reduce discomfort.

Bystander Effect

The tendency to be less likely to help someone when other people are present.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Feeling less personally responsible to help because others are present.

Pluralistic Ignorance

Incorrectly assuming a situation is not serious because others are not reacting.

Diffusion vs. Pluralistic Ignorance

Diffusion is 'someone else will help'; pluralistic ignorance is 'nothing must be wrong since nobody reacts.'

Latané and Darley's Bystander Research

Demonstrated that the presence of others reduces helping, explaining diffusion and pluralistic ignorance.

Factors That Increase the Bystander Effect

Many witnesses, emergency ambiguity, and assuming others will intervene.

Factors That Reduce the Bystander Effect

Recognizing an emergency, personal responsibility, knowing how to help, and direct requests.

Recognizing an Emergency

The first step in helping: noticing assistance is needed and interpreting the situation correctly.

Accepting Responsibility

Recognizing your personal role in helping rather than assuming someone else will.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Weighing risks, effort, and rewards before deciding to help.

Costs of Helping

Negative consequences like losing time, spending money, embarrassment, or physical danger.

Benefits of Helping

Positive consequences like feeling good, receiving gratitude, or strengthening relationships.

Arousal: Cost-Reward Model

Distress from witnessing suffering drives people to evaluate costs and rewards of helping.

Negative State Relief Model

Helping others because it improves your own negative mood or reduces guilt.

Negative State Relief vs. Arousal: Cost-Reward

Relief focuses on mood improvement; arousal cost-reward focuses on distress and intervention costs.

Agreeableness

A Big Five trait involving kindness, cooperation, and concern for others, linked to helpfulness.

Prosocial Personality Orientation

A combination of traits associated with regularly helping and caring about others.

Other-Oriented Empathy

Concern for others, social responsibility, and understanding their feelings.

Helpfulness

A history of helping and confidence in one's ability to assist others.

Gender Differences in Helping

Traditional roles influence helping types: men more in heroic helping, women in caregiving.

Evolutionary Perspective on Helping

The idea that helping behaviors developed because cooperation improved survival and reproduction.

Kin Selection

Helping genetic relatives to increase the survival of shared genes.

Inclusive Fitness

Genetic success from both personal reproduction and the reproductive success of relatives.

Reciprocal Altruism

Helping someone because cooperation can lead to future benefits.

Kin Selection vs. Reciprocal Altruism

Kin selection is helping relatives; reciprocal altruism is mutual cooperation.

Batson's Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Empathy can motivate helping with the ultimate goal of improving another's well-being.

Empathy-Altruism vs. Negative State Relief

Empathy-altruism is caring about the other; negative state relief is improving your own mood.

Altruistic Motivation

Helping because your primary goal is to improve someone else's well-being.

Egoistic Motivation

Helping to gain personal benefits or avoid negative feelings.

Why Do People Help Others?

Empathy, social norms, personal benefits, distress reduction, and kin selection/cooperation.