Social Influence
The ways people affect one another (changes in attitude, beliefs, feelings) resulting from the comments, actions or mere presence of others.
- Can vary along a continuum
[Conformity] [Compliance] [Obedience]
| | |
| | |
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[Low] | --------------------------------------------------------------------| [High]
How explicit is the pressure from others- Conformity - changing one’s behavior of beliefs in response to real or imagined pressure from others (norms)
Ex. Asks a beer at party
- Compliance - responding favorably to an explicit request from another person
Ex. Not in mood to go out to drink, but friends asks, you said yes
- Obedience - In an unequal power relationship submitting to the demands of the person in authority
ex. Go to a party when boss asks to have drink with them
Conformity
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Pros: want norms to exist that are beneficial or safe for the group members
Ex. drive inthe right side of the road
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Cons: people can act badly due to desire to fit in
Ex. drink too much, Nazy Germany
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Automatic Mimicry - imitating of other’s behavior without conscious awareness`
Study of Automatic Mimicry
- Method
- Participants were asked to do certain tasks in a room with experimenter (sitting).
- They were looking through photos.
- Experimenter were mimicking other person
- Result
- Mimicking people makes people feel accepted
- Not mimicking might cause destructive of norms
Informal vs Normative
| Informational | Normative |
|---|---|
| Actually accepting and internalizing other people’s perceptions, even in private | Agreeing with the position in public, even if we continue at believe something else in private |
Informational social Influence
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The influence of other people the results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct, proper, or effective.
- Want to know what’s right
- People are uncertain of their views
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Related Studies: Sherif’s Study
Normative Social Influence
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The influence of other people that comes from the desire to avoid their disapproval and other social sanctions (ridicule, ostracism)
- People want to fit int and be liked
- People have strong opinions
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Related Studies: Asch Conformity Experiment
Factors promoting conformity
- Group size (within 4 people, then not too much difference)
- Group unanimity
- Expertise and status (expert’s opinion are taken more seriously)
- Being from an interdependent culture (collectivistic cultures)
Compliance
Cognitive approach
- Reciprocity(互利) - people should provide benefits to those who benefits them
People are more likly to buy somehting from store that has free sample People who recieved gifts with donation letter are more likely to domate (sense of obligation)
- Door-in-the-face - start with extreme request that is sure to be rejected and then ask for smaller request (the one wanted all along)
- Foot-in-the-door - start with small request that almost everyone will agree to, then a larger request (the one wanted all along)
Mood/Emotion approach
- Positive mood that increase compliance
- Mood colors interpretation of request (think that request nature is good)
- Mood maintenance (say yes make people feel good)
- Negative mood that increase compliance
- Negative state relief (say yes make people feel better)
- Guilt (more obligated)
Shopping Study
- Method
- Participants were asked to take picture in store
- Then they were told that they broke the given camera
- Then the experimenter provided an actor that needed help
- Result
- Participants were more likely (50%) to help than the control group (15%) after the bad mood
Norm approach
- Use the norms approaches grounded to make people compliance
- ‼️Careful‼️ - highlight norms in good way, not bad way (so don’t promote bad behavior as norm)
Ex. Make like most people use reusable towers a hotel, to make people more likely to reuse towers
Obedience
Related Study: Milgram Experiment
Reduce obedience
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Tuning in the victim (physical closeness promotes empathy)
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Tuning out authority (physical distancing reduce fears of disapproval)
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