Social Psych Exam 3

Social influence

change in behavior caused by real or imagined pressure from others (pressure may vary)

3 levels of social influence (low to high)

conformity, compliance, obedience

Conformity

going along with the crowd

Asch’s line study

Compliance

changing your behavior in response to a direct request, but not an authority figure

(ex. friend asks for ride to airport)

Obedience

taking orders from an authority figure

Milligram’s shock study

Conformity and obedience have…

varying degrees and levels

Word framing and compliance

wording and how you frame things has strong effect, use of words like “because” points to reasoning → more compliance

Copy print experiment and compliance

1st person asked to cut line “because of a rush” → 99% complied

2nd person asked to cut with no explanation, “I have 5 pages” → 60% complied

3rd asked to cut “because I have to make copies” → 93% complied

Asch line study

tested conformity, group of all confederates except for 1

Difference in responses Asch study

when people had no influence/people around them they almost all got it right

when placed in a group if wrong answer said, 37% also said wrong answer

The more people there are answering from…

1-4, the more likely you are to give a wrong answer

2 key conforming aspects of Asch experiment

1. unanimity: more likely to conform

2. group size

Conformity helps people…

live together, form a group, and get along in society

Evolution and conformity

those who didn’t conform (looked different, brutally honest) more likely to be kicked out of groups and die off

People conform more when…

others are watching

Examples of conforming around others

more likely to wash hands in bathroom if others in there

people 7x more likely to donate when others watching

2 types of conformity

1. Normative

2. Informational

2 types of acceptance in conformity

Public and private acceptance

Normative

going along with majority/crowd to be liked and accepted

Norms

unwritten rules often followed to fit in

Informational

believing the crowd knows more than you, looking for info from them

Informational conformity is often used in…

crisis or ambiguous situations

Public acceptance

normative, going along with crowd outwardly but believing they may be wrong

Private acceptance

informational, genuine belief inside that others know what they’re doing and are informed

Looking to others in emergencies may lead to…

death if not careful, fire at concert had people follow others to wrong exit

Restaurant conformity

if person before you orders what you wanted you are more likely to switch it but found to be less happy with their new choice

Background of Miligram shock study

lots of U.S. criticism of nazis after WW2 for obedience, Miligram wondered how different we really are

Setup of Miligram shock study

“study on learning and memory” at Yale, participants were teachers and confederates were learners, taught learners words and shocked them when wrong

learner asked “I have a heart condition, is this painful?”, experimenter said yes

How was the Miligram study kept controlled?

by using a recorded reaction of “learner” to ensure everyone has same reactions

Shocks of the Miligram study

mild, medium, and dangerous shock levels

later redone to only go to mid range b/c of trauma

Connection between studies and Nazis

one participant who was an electrician, Troy, said “Just doing my job” by shocking

Nazis said “Just following orders”

As shocks went up the line and learner yelled louder…

participant turns to experimenter as “authority figure” and experimenter said “the experiment must go on”

People often laughed as shocks went up b/c…

they were nervous

Predictions vs. reality of shock study

predicted 1% of people would go to maximum shock (based off 1% being psychopaths) → 65% went all the way

Money makes people…

more likely to conform and be obedient

Re-doing the shock experiment in a seedy area found…

½ of the people in the area went to max shock

Authority doesn’t…

have to be in the room to hold obedience

Obedience in shock study would be dramatically reduced with…

2 teachers, 1 confederate or 2 conflicting researchers → breaks unaminity of conformity

Men vs. women conformity

mostly equal, women slightly more likely to conform

Culture and obedience

those in law-abiding countries found to be more obedient and happy

“Captainitis” and conformity

many people who fly airplanes have a military background and very obedient to higher ranks → caused many co-pilots to be scared to question mistakes of their captains

4 types of commitment techniques in compliance

foot in the door technique

low ball technique

labeling offer

bait and switch

Committment…

once made, fear of changing it out of cognitive dissonance

Foot in the door technique

small requests that gradually get larger (ex. Jim Jones got followers into cult by asking for 5 mins to stuff envelopes)

Foot in the door and campaigns

asking for $5 for a campaign basically ensures votes of psychological discomfort of disagreeing with actions (may not vote at all)

Low ball technique

low cost offer that is slowly built on and becomes less favorable/worse

Labeling offer

assign a label, feel like you must be consistent with that label (ex. kinda guy who makes his own decisions or runs home to wife)

Bait and switch

drawing people in with an unavailable offer (often fake or too good to be true), then giving a less appealing option when you get to store

offer makes you commit to come to store, likely to buy something else

Fast speakers are…

more persuasive than slow

Study on speakers

compared speaker credibility and speaker speed on radio announcement on “dangers of coffee”, locksmith vs. biochemist

Coffee speaker study results

high speed message more persuasive than low speed

high credibility source more persuasive than low credibility

2nd study on speakers

used unfamiliar topic of hydroponically grown vegetables → faster speeches judged as more persuasive

Fast speakers are judged as (4)…

more credible, knowledgable, intelligent, objective

Fast speeches are good if…

thinking is shallow

If thinking is deep, fast speaking…

distracts people from processing arguments

Fast speaking can reduce persuasion if…

argument is strong

increases persuasion if weak b/c listener won’t have time to see flaws

Study on undergrad students and fast talking

played message on new law raising drinking age from 19 to 21

speech presented at slow, moderate, and fast

students more likely to change their attitude if speech was slower but more credible

Non-conformity and restaurants

deliberately changing your order when someone else orders it → often leaves you less satisfied with your meal than you would’ve been

People feel an obligation not to order…

something if someone else at table has already ordered it, try to order different, act like theres only 1 per menu

Study on restaurant non-conformity

tracked 100 diners and compared ordering results to computer simulation → people who ate together order different foods more often than they would by chance

Study on non-conformity and beer ordering

some groups ordered in secret, others ordered aloud

when diners didn’t know what others had they ordered same more often but switched if they heard another order the beer aloud

Those who ordered first aloud or the same beer in secret were…

happier than those who switched, were less satisfied

The urge to order differently is…

unclear, some may view conformity as bad or try to avoid it but not accurate b/c of less satisfaction

Best practice in ordering

get first choice instead of non-conforming, second choice won’t taste as good

Reciprocity

“if you take care of me I’ll take care of you”, deeply rooted in human nature, important not to squander or disregard it

Door in the face technique

start with an inflated request, then retreat to a smaller one, seen as a “concession” (reasonable to grant)

Thats not all technique

start with slightly inflated request that could go lower, makes you feel like you are done a favor so you reciprocate by buying (ex. $25 hose, if you order it now its $20!)

Scarcity

rare opportunities are more valuable that plentiful ones (ex. gold vs. sand)

Heuristic of scarcity

“whats rare is good”, if somethings made scarce viewed as better b/c it takes more effort to get (ex. playing hard to get makes you more valuable, JFK junior)

Psychological reactance

reaction to scarcity, when personal freedom threatened we are uncomfortable emotionally, may use aggression to get it back

Capture and disrupt attention technique

capturing then disrupting the attention of the person you are trying to influence can help you persuade them

Pique technique

capturing someones attention by making a new request they haven’t seen before

Disrupt and reframe technique

introducing an unexpected element that disrupts critical thinking, then reframe in positive light (ex. want to buy a half cake? they’re delicious!”)

3 components of persuasion

1. source delivering message

2. message trying to transmit

3. audience receiving message

4 aspects of effective Sources

credible, likable, honest and attractive

Credibility of Source

expertise and trustworthiness, inspires belief of a message over another

(ex. Lebron sells basketball + is person honest?)

Likability of a source

more persuaded by those who are likable, similar to you (talk, dress, act), and who are physically attractive

Honesty attractiveness used just as often in persuasion of…

selling small and large purchases (ex. window cleaner vs. car)

Messages

both humor and moderate fear can work in persuasion

Negative political messages against opponents usually…

deter persuasion and voting b/c people prefer positive messages

Too much fear in a message can lead to…

paralysis of decision making

Stealing thunder message

revealing potentially incriminating or bad evidence to negative its importance, done to enhance honesty and credibility

Example of stealing thunder

Scott Peterson killed pregnant wife on xmas eve, lawyer told court hes a jerk who cheated but didn’t kill his wife → saying it first looks more honest

Repetition of messages

repeating a message makes you more familiar and receptive to accepting it (ex. mere exposure effect)

Messages and instincts

sometimes our gut feelings and automatic systems may sense something before our brains can detect it

Audiences

good moods, moderate IQs, and low self esteem all easier to persuade

Good mood and audiences

if in good mood. more responsive (telling joke can create good mood → humor)

2 parts of persuasion in IQ

receptivity and yielding

Receptivity

Do you understand the message? (low IQ may not)

Yielding

Do you accept the message? (high IQ likely to understand but likely won’t yield b/c they already thought it through)

IQ and persuasion question example

janitor with low IQ but lots of baseball knowledge got a baseball question wrong

professor with high IQ but little knowledge got it right b/c theyre more informed on world

Self esteem and persuasion

high esteem hard to persuade, receptive but likely won’t yield b/c happy with their choices and judgement

low esteem more likely to yield to crowd

“Need for cognition”

love to think about their lives, feel need to know more about world, more curious but mainly think about what they like (opposite of cognitive miser)

“Need for cognition people” persuaded by…

stronger arguments b/c more likely to listen to and consider strong reasonings

Ages most resistant to change (and persuasion)…

Ages 39-59 b/c of set habits and lifestyles

Salespeople go after ages…

younger people and elderly (under 40 over 60), may be less set in ways and more open to change

Elaboration likelihood model

2 basic routes to persuasion messages, central and peripheral

Central route of persuasion

conscious, deliberate processing based on logic and careful thought of message

Peripheral route of persuasion

automatic, non-message that we are often unaware we think about (ex. emotions, attractiveness, slogans) (Obamas slogan “hope and change”)

For central persuasion, you need…

motivation and ability to listen and understand (not needed for peripheral)