Social Influence

Conformity: Changing attitudes and behaviors to match those of others around us.
Motivation for conformity includes concern about social perceptions and the desire for acceptance.
Real-life implications of conformity can lead to harmful behaviors, exemplified by binge drinking among college students.

Normative Influence
- People conform to fit in or avoid disapproval.
- Classic study by Solomon Asch (1956): Male college students given a visual judgment task.
  - Task was simple; however, when confederates purposely gave wrong answers, 76% of participants conformed at least once.
  - 33% conformed across 12 trials despite knowing the correct answer.
- Factors influencing normative influence:
  - More confederates = higher conformity (up to five confederates).
  - Teenagers exhibit higher conformity than adults.
  - Individuals conform less when they believe their responses are private.
Informational Influence
- Conforming because of the belief that others possess more accurate information; we assume their behavior reflects a correct or appropriate action.
- Example: Misperceptions in drinking norms lead to higher binge drinking among students.
- Communicating accurate norms can effectively reduce excessive behaviors, e.g., interventions that share correct drinking habits lead to reduced alcohol consumption.

Obedience: Following orders from an authority figure, which can sometimes lead to unethical actions.
Milgram's Obedience Studies (1963, 1965): Investigating the willingness of individuals to comply with an authority even when it conflicts with their morals.

Design:
- Participants believed they were conducting a memory test and administered electric shocks to a learner for incorrect answers.
- Confounding role: The participant was always the teacher, and the learner was a confederate.
Results:
- 65% of participants administered the maximum shock of 450 volts, indicating a significant level of obedience under authority pressure.
- Participants reported discomfort but continued when prompted by the experimenter.
Factors affecting obedience:
- Decreased obedience when the victim is close (same room).
- Less likely to obey if they had to physically touch the victim.
- Seeing other participants refuse to comply led to less obedience.

Continuous debate regarding implications of Milgram’s findings regarding historical atrocities.
Ethical concerns about participant stress; Milgram claimed concern for participants but many experienced significant discomfort.
Modern research ethics disallow such experiments, highlighting a need for participant welfare in psychology studies.

Each individual is influenced by social norms more than typically acknowledged.
The findings suggest a pervasive impact of both normative and informational influences on behavior, reinforcing the idea that social context plays a crucial role in decision-making.