Social Influence

Social Influence

  • Dr. Valerie Todd

Overview of Social Influence

  • Incidental Influence: Automatic, unconscious social knowledge activation.

  • Deliberate Influence: Intentional influence from sources like celebrities.

  • Conformity: Adjusting behavior or beliefs to align with others.

  • Reactance: Opposing perceived threats to personal freedom.

  • Minority Influence: Small groups affecting majority views.

  • Obedience: Following commands from authority figures.

  • Disobedience: Choosing not to follow commands or social norms.

  • Conclusion: Impact of social norms on personal behavior.

Defining Social Influence

  • Affects attitudes, opinions, values, and behaviors.

  • Involves conformity, obedience, and societal interactions.

  • Raises the question of individual control over actions.

Incidental Influence

  • Definition: Triggering relevant information based on environmental cues without conscious awareness.

  • Example: Online public affairs exposure improving recognition and recall (Lee & Kim, 2017).

Social Norms

  • Definition: Informal rules and standards governing behavior in specific circumstances.

  • Characteristics: Context-dependent and not legally defined.

Reasons for Following Social Norms

  • Reduces anxiety about social situations.

  • Facilitates coordination and positive social interactions.

  • Motivated by fear of negative evaluations by peers.

Descriptive Social Norms

  • Observational behavior patterns based on how others act.

  • Context-specific, informal, and can result in negative outcomes (e.g., from banter to bullying).

Injunctive Social Norms

  • Norms indicating behaviors that should be followed.

  • Formal conventions with potential social sanctions by peers rather than legal consequences.

Social Facilitation and Inhibition

  • Performance Influences: Confidence can enhance performance, while uncertainty may hinder it.

Susceptibility to Incidental Influence

  • Influenced by group conformity pressures.

  • Desire for acceptance and relationship building drives social navigation.

Deliberate Influence

  • Example: Kylie Jenner, renowned for influencing consumer behavior with 450 million followers.

  • Implication: Links to attitude change through persuasion.

Response to Deliberate Influence

  • Conformity: Aligning one’s views with the majority.

  • Reactance: Adopting opposing views when personal freedom is threatened.

  • Persuasion: Changing beliefs through emotional engagement or information.

  • Minority Influence: Small groups prompting reflection in the majority.

Understanding Conformity

  • Definition: Change in belief/behavior to match a group.

  • Triggers include:

    • Group Pressure: Physical presence.

    • Imagined Group Pressure: Social norms or unspoken expectations.

  • Classic studies: Sheriff (1935) and Asch (1951).

Motives for Conformity

  • Normative Conformity: Desire for social acceptance.

  • Informational Conformity: Seeking correctness and factual accuracy.

  • Identification Conformity: Aligning with social roles.

Reactance Explained

  • Response to perceived threats against personal freedoms.

  • Involves cognitive, motivational, and affective processes.

  • Likelihood of reactance increases with outside group threats.

  • Vicarious Reactance: Feeling threatened on behalf of others.

Minority Influence Dynamics

  • Minorities present alternative viewpoints.

  • Majority’s conflict creates pressure, requiring minority consistency for impact.

  • Challenges conventional thinking, fostering broader consideration of issues.

Neural Correlates of Conformity

  • Brain regions involved in conformity and conflict, highlighting interaction with reward mechanisms (Klucharev et al., 2009).

  • Individual versus aggregate rating discrepancies activate relevant brain areas predicting conformity.

Obedience Defined

  • Compliance with commands from authority, often with personal reluctance.

  • Foundational research: Milgram (1963).

Insight into Milgram's Findings

  • Individuals may harm others believing they serve a virtuous purpose.

  • Engagement conditions influence conformity to authority figures.

Disobedience

  • Definition: Choosing not to follow commands, which can lead to various outcomes.

Formal Disobedience: Whistleblowing

  • Whistleblowing entails lawful disclosure of wrongdoing.

  • Degree of morality and ethics dictate the likelihood of whistleblowing behavior (Dungan, Young, & Waytz, 2019).

Influence of Group Affiliation on Whistleblowing

  • Predicting Factors: People are influenced by their internal social groups regarding wrongdoing.

  • Individuals are more likely to report misconduct against outsiders than against insiders due to group loyalty.

Conclusion on Social Influence

  • Compliance stems from social pressures to conform.

  • Behavioral changes often arise from fear of exclusion or misinformation.

  • Emphasizes the discomfort associated with standing out.