Chapter 29 - Conformity and Obedience

Synchrony

when the speech, language, and physiological activity of two or more people become more similar during a social interaction

Mimicry

copying the behaviours, emotional displays, and facial expressions of others

Social norms

rules that regulate human life, including social conventions, explicit laws, and implicit cultural standards

norms make life more predictable and orderly

failure to follow norms may lead to ostracism

social roles

• social positions governed by a set of norms for proper behaviour

The Stanford Prison Experiment

study where participants were randomly assigned to the roles of guards or prisoners, but were given no instructions on how to behave

• mimicked real arrest procedures

• study was stopped after 6 days due to the 1/3 of guards becoming tyrannical

• by Philip Zimbardo and colleagues

Prisoners’ behaviours in the Stanford Prison Experiment

• became distressed, helpless, and in panic within a short period of time

• developed emotional symptoms and physical ailments

• some became apathetic, others became rebellious

• after a few days, more than half of the prisoners begged to be released

Guards’ behaviour in Standford Prison Experiment

became adjusted to their new power in a short period of time

• some tried to be nice and helped prisoners

• some were tough but fair, holding strictly to the rules

• about 1/3 became tyrannical

  • were harsh and abusive even when prisoners weren’t resisting

Takeaway from Standford Prison Experiment

• shows us the power of social roles on our behaviour

• we need to be have cautious when we have situations with clear social roles (ex. guards vs. prisoners)

Philip Zimbardo quote

“you can’t be a sweet cucumber in a vinegar barrel”

Conformity

maintenance or alteration of one’s behaviour to match the behaviour and expectations of others

The Autokinetic Effect

is an optical illusion

• in a dark room, a single point of light will will appear to move back and forth after a little while

• Showed that when asked individually, people’s estimates varied from person to person

• but when asked as a group, estimates will converge on the group mean

  • and individuals stick to the group mean even if tested alone later

2 types of influences

• Informational influence - when people feel the group is giving them useful info

  • private acceptance of a belief or norm

• normative influence - result of social pressure to adopt a group’s perspective in order to be accepted, rather than being ostracized from the group

  • public acceptance of a belief or norm

Power of Uncertainty

when situations are ambiguous (unclear on what to do), we rely on others to help us make judgements

• but social pressures cause us to conform even in situations that are not ambiguous

Asch’s Conformity Study

demonstrated that conformity was also likely even when one could be fairly sure that his or her judgement was correct

• participants were placed in pairs, with “actors” who randomly gave the wrong answers to an identification task

• results

  • subjects went along with the wrong answer 1/3 of the trials

  • 78% of participants conformed at least once

Stanley Milgram and the Obedience Study

wanted to study Eichmann’s claim that he was not a monster and that he was just a normal man following orders

• tested whether ordinary Americans would obey an authority figure when directly ordered to violate their own ethical standards

• participants would shock a “victim” everytime they did something wrong in a learning experiment

Results of Milgram Experiment

• 2/3 of participants obeyed to the fullest extent (shocking the victims)

• many protested to the experimenter but backed down when the experimenter calmly told them that “the experiment requires that you continue”

Conclusion of Milgram Experiment

Milgram concluded that obedience was more a function of the situation than of the particular personalities of the participants

Why do People obey?

Obedience

Responding to an order or command from a person in a position of authority

Deceptive norm

the perception of what most people do in a given situation