Study Notes on Social Psychology: Social Influence and Social Cognition

Introduction to Social Psychology

• Importance of social influence in behavior evaluation and explanation.
• Social psychology affects thoughts and actions deeply.

Overview of Course Structure

• The course will be divided into two subsections:
  • Social Influence: Discussion on how the presence or perception of others influences behavior (to be covered today and on Wednesday).
  • Social Cognition: Exploration of self-perception and perception of others (to be covered on Friday and Monday).
• Topics will include uncomfortable subjects like stereotypes, discrimination, and stereotype threat within social cognition.

Social Influence

• Definition: The impact of others’ presence or perceived presence on individuals' thoughts and behaviors.
• Key Concept - Compliance:
  • Specifically refers to the act of acquiescing to an explicit request from another individual.
  • Involves no significant power differential (e.g., peer-to-peer requests vs. requests from individuals of authority).
  • Common experiences of compliance include day-to-day interactions with peers, roommates, and friends.

Techniques Increasing Compliance

• Various techniques enhance compliance, especially during peer interactions:

  1. Buttering Up:
  • Definition: Involves being overly nice and flattering to the individual before making a request to elevate their mood and increase the likelihood of compliance.
  • Example: Giving compliments to a friend before asking for a favor.
  1. Foot-in-the-Door Technique:
  • Definition: Starting with a small request, which is more likely to be accepted, and then proceeding with larger requests.
  • Example: Asking a friend to borrow a small amount of money, and subsequently asking for a larger sum later.
  1. Door-in-the-Face Technique:
  • Definition: Making an outrageous request that is sure to be rejected, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request.
  • Example: Asking for a large donation first, and then asking for a smaller amount.
  1. Low Ball Technique:
  • Definition: Offering an exceptionally low initial offer that isn't realistically accepted, which makes subsequent offers appear more reasonable.
  • Example: A car salesperson offering a car at a very low price to initially get a buyer’s interest.

Class Activity on Compliance Techniques

• Students divide into groups of 3-4 to share personal experiences or recognize instances where compliance techniques were used.
• Examples shared include:
  • Buttering Up: Acting deferentially to influence decisions (e.g., inquiring about a mall trip despite needing to study).
  • Door-in-the-Face: Using over-the-top requests followed by a realistic one (e.g., child asking for a mature movie to later ask for another less intense one).
  • Low Balling: Using initial low offers in negotiations (e.g., in market contexts like cars).

Obedience

• Definition: Following the commands of an authority figure, differing from compliance as it denotes a power differential.
• Milgram’s Study on Obedience:
  • Overview of the controversial experiment investigating obedience to authority by subjects ('teachers') giving shocks to a learner (actor) in response to incorrect answers.
  • Findings showed that about two-thirds of participants were willing to administer the highest shock levels despite the learner’s apparent distress.
  • Ethical dimensions of the study are noted as questionable.
  • Observations on how people often follow the authority figure's directives even when uncomfortable, influenced by the perceived legitimacy of authority, objection to the learner, and emotional stress.

Milgram’s Experiment Details

• Shock Board Overview:
  • Voltage levels ranging from slight shock to extreme danger shocks (e.g., XXX to indicate severe shock or potentially fatal outcome).
• Emotional distress observed in participants as they were directed to continue administering shocks, often neglecting the learner's pleas to stop.
• Common Points of Disobedience:
  • Many subjects expected to potentially stop at lower voltage levels out of empathy for the learner, but nearly 80% did not stop until reaching high voltage levels due to authoritative persuasion.

Follow-up Variables in Milgram’s Experiment

• Explore conditions that influenced obedience levels:

  1. Uniform Presence:
  • Changing the authority figure from a lab-coat-wearing figure to a casually dressed subordinate reduced compliance from 67% to 20%.
  1. Contextual Changes:
  • Moving the experiment from a prestigious Yale setting to a rundown facility lowered obedience to 48%.
  1. Chain of Command:
  • When participants directed another to administer shocks rather than doing so themselves, obedience increased dramatically to 93%.
  1. Peer Disobedience:
  • When peers refused orders (“teachers” disobeying), obedience fell to 10%.

Introduction to Conformity

• Definition: Adjusting opinions and behavior to match a social norm without explicit request.
• Significance of Conformity: Displays how norms can dictate behavior autonomously.
• Example of the Solomon Asch Study: Investigated conformity through a simple task where clear group consensus often led individuals to provide incorrect answers despite knowing the right response.
• Findings indicated about 36% of individuals conformed because of group pressure.
• Influence of Others on Conformity:
  • Conformity is strongly reduced when at least one other individual offers a different response from the group norm.

Real-World Applications of Conformity

• Exploration of Behavioral Influence:
  • Situational factors and subtle social pressures can induce conformity unconsciously.
  • Comparisons to current social behaviors (e.g., trends in fashion and lifestyle choices influenced by peers).

Social Learning Implications

• Understanding social behavior based on the observation of group dynamics.
• Implicit learning through imitation may contribute to habit formation and social norms, both positively and negatively.