Social Influence

Social Influence

• Process by which people change behavior due to the presence of others.

• Focuses on changes in outward behavior, not cognitive attitudes (unlike persuasion).

Social Facilitation

• People perform better on tasks when with others vs. alone.

• Norman Triplett's experiment (1898) with cyclists and spool winding.

• Occurs because the presence of others increases physiological arousal.

• Helpful for easy tasks but can hinder difficult tasks.

Social Loafing

• People put in less effort when working in a group vs. individually.

• Occurs when output is group-based.

• Combat by making each person accountable for individual efforts.

Conformity

• Changing one's actions to align with group norms.

• Solomon Asch's study (1951) on judging line lengths.

  • 35% of participants conformed to the confederates' incorrect answer.

  • 75% conformed at least once.

Types of Influence

• Normative Influence: Changing behavior to fit in and avoid disapproval.

• Informational Influence: Using group information to guide decisions, trusting majority.

Compliance

• Agreeing to an explicit request.

• Influenced by reciprocity: feeling obligated to return a favor.

• Robert Cialdini's research on principles of compliance.

Obedience

• Obeying a command from an authority figure.

• Milgram's Shock Studies: authority figures have powerful influence.

• Jerry Burger's partial replication (2009) mirrored Milgram's results.

• Gina Perry's critique: some participants were skeptical in Milgram's studies, impacting obedience.