SOCIAL ANIMAL- SOCIAL INFLUENCE , KEY STUDIES AND KEY TERMS

What is the difference between conformity, compliance and obedience ?

• conformity (imitated others behaviors and movements)

  • change in one beliefs or behavior to align with other in response to some real or imagined pressure

• compliance -

  • way to appeal to a persons self image is to employ what is known as the food in door technique

    • small requests leading up to big ones

• obedience - (response cuz of someone in higher rank)

  • when someone acts in response to a direct order or command from a perceived authority figure

what factors lead to an increase/ decrease in conformity ?
(group size, group unanimity, culture)

• group size:

  • if its a big group this can increase conformity because there’s more behaviors to mimic

• group unanimity (everyone has the same opinion/ decision)

  • this would increase conformity

• culture

  • collectivist countries - prioritizes group goals over individual (self)

how does conformity differ across cultures?

• Collectivist cultures like asia and latin america have higher conformity rates

• Individualist cultures like euro and the US value individual goals, meaning lower conformity rates

what is the automatic mimicry and are there cultural differences in the extent people engage in this behavior?

• automatic mimicry

  • the unconscious, spontaneous imitation of others’ facial expressions, gestures, postures and speech patterns during social interactions

• collectivist cultures are more likely to engage in this behavior

Harold Garfinkel: breaching studies

• breaching studies, broke the rules of unstated social norms to study them

• lodger study

  • students were told to act like guest in their own homes , treating parents with polite formality rather than family intimacy

middlemist et al: urinal study

• guys tend to use every other urinal

  • when a man was alone average pee time was 4 seconds

  • when an actor stood one urinal away, the delay increased to 6.2 sec

  • close invasion when the actor stood at the adjacent urinal delay was 8 sec

• closer someone is the longer it takes for the pee to come out

sherif- autokinetic effect

• visual illusion where a stationary pinpoint of light in the dark room appears to be moving but that’s just cuz of the lack of frame of reference

asch line study (and all the follow up studies)

• designed to see if individuals would stay independent or yield to group pressure when the correct answer was obvious

• the task

  • someone was placed with actors in a room and was made to believe it was a simple vision test

• stimulus

  • shown two cards - one with a single “standard” line and another with three “comparison” lines (A B C) had to state aloud which comparison line matched the standard one

• twist

  • the actors unanimously gave a blatantly incorrect answer to see if someones answer would change cuz fo someone elses

milgram obedience study

• when someone was being “shocked” on the other side and the person who pressed the button didn’t know the learner wasn’t ACTUALLY being shocked

• some ppl resisted the shock but was pressured to keep doing it

• key point

  • people are naturally obedient which can lead them to becoming evil

norms: descriptive and injunctive

norms: situation specific rules for accepted or expected behavior

• descriptive- what people do in a situation

  • tend to be culture specific

  • “what is” (observable) but “what ought to be”

• injunctive - what most approve of

  • you believe littering is wrong, and you think ppl should recycle

normative and informational social influence

• normative

  • asch line study (when the answer changes based on other ppls answer)

• informational

  • when ppl conform to a groups actions of beliefs because they see a group as accurate info

social exclusion

• when people feel socially excluded ppl feel the pain physically

• experience of being kept apart from others, physically, emotionally due to being rejected, ignored by a group or person

door in the face technique

• ask for a favor so big and unreasonable that the person refuses even a small request

foot in the door technique

ask for a smaller favor in the beginning, and then add it up to bigger ones