Compliance and Commitment

Question 1

Compliance

Answer 1

DEF

• kind of response (acquiescence) to a particular kind of communication (request)
• recognizes that he or she is being urfed to respond in a desired way

Question 2

Goal of Accuracy

Answer 2

people are motivated to achieve their goals in the most effective and rewarding manner possible

Question 3

Compliance
Goal of Accuracy
Affect and Arousal

Answer 3

-simple arousal elicited
by performing an interesting task enhances the likelihood of compliance with a
request
-the conditions under which affect mediates
the processing of and responses to requests can be explained by the affect infusion model (AIM)
-AIM: a target’s mood will
permeate the processing of a request to the extent that the processing is effortful
and exhaustive
-evidence as a whole appears to validate the notion that mood effects in compliance scenarios
are mediated by both the targets’ and requesters’ levels of information
processing
-fear-then-relief participants behaved in a relatively mindless
manner, caused by a diversion of resources to cognitions and counterfactuals
regarding the fear-provoking event

Question 4

Compliance
Goal of Accuracy
That´s-Not-All Technique (TNA)

Answer 4

-technique: presenting a target with an initial request, followed by an almost immediate sweetening of the deal before the message recipient has an opportunity to respond
-explanation: based on the contrast between the two requests and shifting
anchor points
-unreasonably large initial request, the excessively high anchor value may be perceived as completely
out of the range of acceptance, leading to immediate rejection even before the solicitor has a chance to revise the request
-success of the TNA tactic is at least partially due to individual´s mindless consideration of the deal

Question 5

Compliance
Goal of Accuracy
Resistance

Answer 5

disrupt-then-reframe techniques (DTR):
-operates by disrupting an individual’s understanding
of and resistance to an influence attempt and reframing the persuasive message or request so that the individual is left more vulnerable to the proposition
-works by disturbing the evaluation stage of Gilbert’s (1991) two-stage model for message and situation comprehension
-that’s-not-all technique = special case of DTR in which the revision of the original request serves as the
disruption; the reframing (“It’s a bargain”) is implicit rather than explicit
-disrupt-then-reframe tactic enhances the likelihood of compliance by suppressing
the target’s resistance processes rather than by directly bolstering the
desirability of request fulfillment

Question 6

Compliance
Goal of Accuracy
Authority and Obedience

Answer 6

-soft influences originate from factors within the influence agent (e.g., credibility)
-whereas the power of harsh influences is derived externally by means of an existing social structure
-supervisors whose
compliance-gaining repertoires included the use of both forceful and nonforceful techniques were most likely to elicit compliance with their requests

Question 7

Compliance
Goal of Accuracy
Social Norms

Answer 7

-individuals often look to social norms to gain an accurate understanding of and effectively respond to social situations
-The impact of these social
norms on both subtle behavior-shaping and more overt compliance-gaining will be determined by the extent to which each of the norms is focal and the degree to which the different types of norms are in alignment
-one’s actions are relatively unaffected by normative information—even one’s own—unless the information is highlighted prominently in consciousness

Question 8

Compliance

Goal of Affiliation

Answer 8

-to create and maintain meaningful social
relationships with others
-we use approval and liking cues to help build, maintain, and measure the intimacy of our relationships with others.

Question 9

Compliance
Goal of Affiliation
Liking

Answer 9

-the more we like and approve of them, the more likely we are to take actions
to cultivate close relationships with them
-certain situational cues activate heuristics
that lead us to treat strangers as if they were friends or acquaintances
-Impression management through ingratiation is another means by which individuals
utilize the liking principle for maximal influence.

Question 10

Compliance
Goal of Affiliation
Reciprocation

Answer 10

• The norm of reciprocation= the rule that obliges us to repay others for what we have received from them
• one of the strongest and most pervasive social forces in all human cultures

Question 11

Compliance
Goal of Affiliation
Door-in-the-face-technique (DITF)

Answer 11

-The norm of reciprocity = used to explain the effectiveness of the door-in-the-face technique
-one employs the strategy by preceding the request for a truly desired action with a more extreme request that is likely to get rejected
-repeatedly found
that this rejection-then-moderation procedure produces a significant increase in compliance with the target request
-The emphasis on authenticity of the concession is not limited only to the target’s perception that the second request is truly less demanding than the initial request
-authenticity also refers to the target’s beliefs regarding the requester’s motives
-targets should feel less compelled to reciprocate a
concession—even when made in earnest—with a concession of their own as the time between the two requests grows longer
-alternative account for the DITF effect based on guilt
-DITF technique ceases to be effective when a different person makes the second request -> finding that substantially weakens the
social responsibility/guilt reduction explanation
-recently proposed explanations for the DITF
effect are not fully consistent with the available data
-potential mediators such as self-presentation, perceptual contrast, dialogue involvement, social responsibility, and guilt reduction may function at some level in DITF scenarios.

Question 12

Compliance

Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-concept

Answer 12

People have a strong need to enhance their self-concepts by behaving consistently with their actions, statements, commitments, beliefs, and self-ascribed traits

Question 13

Compliance
Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-concept
Foot-in-the-door technique
Pt.1

Answer 13

Foot-in-the-door technique =
first asking a target
individual to comply with a small request, typically one that is minimally invasive
so that the target is almost certain to respond affirmatively. After securing
compliance, either the initial requester or an associate of the requester makes a
larger, often related request
-after agreeing to the initial request, targets ascribe traits to themselves reflecting their recent actions, and this change in selfview helps direct future compliance

Question 14

Compliance
Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-concept
Foot-in-the-door technique
Pt.1

Answer 14

-self-perception as a mediator of the FITD effect
-easier to manipulate the self-views of those whose self-concept are more readily accessible
-individual differences may paly a role
-preference for consistency (PFC): individuals high in PFC are more consistent than those low in PFC in that they are more likely to determine their reactions to novel stimuli
-low in PFC may have exhibited the backfire effect because they have a greater desire to act inconsistently
with previous behaviors, specifically when those prior actions have been made
salient
-self-perception as a mediator of the FITD effect
-simply engaging in self-perception processes
may not be sufficient to produce the FITD effect
-rather, one must also have the motivation to be consistent with this self-view
-focus of our self-inferences
is on the processes associated with the compliance attempt itself, rather than on the outcome of that attempt
-both those who succeeded
and those who failed to accomplish the initial favor tended to rate themselves as more submissive
-variables that had bearing on the size and direction of FITD effects = conformity, attributions, and commitments.

Question 15

Compliance
Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-concept
Consistency and Commitment

Answer 15

-Individuals are driven to be consistent not only
with their trait self-attributions, but with their previous behaviors and commitments
-more effortful displays of one’s choice spurred individuals to attribute their decisions to their traits, attitudes, and tendencies (as opposed to self-presentational concerns) to a much greater extent than those who made passive
commitments
-Public commitments tend to be more persistent than private commitments
-consistency needs had a greater influence on participants in an individualistic country than in a collectivistic country

Question 16

Conformity

Answer 16

Conformity =

act of changing one’s behavior to match the responses of others

Question 17

Conformity

Goal of Accuracy

Answer 17

-individuals may conform to information supplied by
a group of confederates when reconstructing their memories for stimuli
-participants were more likely to conform to
(and implicitly view as more accurate) the objective estimates of a confederate
who earlier used stereotype-consistent (versus stereotype-inconsistent) traits to describe an outgroup member
-strong accuracy goal could counteract the normative pressures individuals face when making a decision for which they are accountable
-suggest conditions characterized by accountability and salient accuracy goals may create the most suitable environment for the promotion of independent decision-making

Question 18

Conformity
Goal of Accuracy
Perceived Consensus

Answer 18

-how individuals differentially process messages associated with numerical majorities and minorities and to explore the extent to which normative and informational influences govern motivations to conform to each type of source
-two most prominent theories, Moscovici’s (1980) conversion theory and Mackie’s (1987) objective consensus approach,
-conversion theory =
majority influence is normative
-objective consensus account views it
as informational
-when both the source and the issue were of low relevance to targets holding no prior attitudes on the subject, the targets applied little cognitive effort to process the message, often using an accuracy heuristic favoring the majority
-kinds of stereotypes that are most communicable
(and therefore most likely to be shared) are those that provide accurate,
functional information relevant to vital social motivations such as self-protection

Question 19

Conformity
Goal of Accuracy
Dynamical Systems

Answer 19

• Dynamic social impact theory (DSIT) = to explain the higher-order processes that emerge over time from local-level conformity within multiple-person assemblages of varying sizes, functions, complexities, and levels of interpersonal interaction
• an individual occupying a given social space will be more likely to conform to the attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral propensities exhibited by the local numerical majority than by either the local numerical minority or less proximate persons
• Influence at the local levels may be informational, normative, or both
• model predicts four core forms of self-organization emerging within the aggregate:
  (a) clustering of attitudes (or opinions, behavioral tendencies, etc.) in social space
  (b) a reduction in diversity via a consolidation of attitudes
  (c) correlations across attitudes possessed by cluster members
  (d) continuing diversity

-the self-reinforcing nature of clusters tends to perpetuate their existence once they are formed

Question 20

Conformity
Goal of Accuracy
Automatic Activation

Answer 20

-Conformity may also be the product of the less mindful activation of accuracy- or affiliation-oriented goals, providing an adaptive shortcut that maximizes the likelihood of effective action with minimal expense to one’s cognitive resources

Question 21

Conformity
Goal of Affiliation
Behavioral Mimicry

Answer 21

= chameleon effect:
behavior matching of postures, facial expressions, vocal characteristics, and mannerisms that occurs between two or more individuals
-participants nonconsciously conformed their facial expressions and mannerisms to closely mirror a confederate’s gestures
-behavior matching is more likely to occur in circumstances that enhance a would-be imitator’s attentional focus on others
and less likely to occur in situations that diminish external focus or specifically motivate internal focus
-ephemeral affiliation desires briefly strengthen the perception-behavior link because of increased attention to relevant environmental stimuli

Question 22

Conformity
Goal of Affiliation
Gaining Social Approval

Answer 22

-individuals often engage in more conscious and deliberate attempts to
gain the social approval of others, to build rewarding relationships with them, and
in the process, to enhance their self-esteem
-residents of collectivist countries were more inclined to conform to
the estimates of a group of confederates than were residents of individualistic
-even when not directly, personally, or publicly the target of others’ disapproval, individuals may be driven to conform to restore their sense of belonging and their self-esteem

Question 23

Conformity

Goal of Maintaining Positive Self-Concept

Answer 23

-people are frequently motivated to conform to
others’ beliefs and behaviors in order to enhance, protect, or repair their self esteems.
-individuals who focused on a fundamental foundation of their self-worth were less likely to conform later to others’ opinions than were control condition participants or those who focused on an external source of self-esteem,
such as an achievement

Question 24

Conformity
Goal of Maintaining Positive Self-Concept
Majortiy and Minority Influence

Answer 24

-The extent to which one identifies with a message source—be it a majority or a minority—is a significant factor in determining
the information processing strategies one employs as well as the outcome
of an influence attempt
-the self-categorization
perspective = the
conventional distinction between informational and normative influence creates
a false dichotomy because the two processes are interrelated in most cases
-when an ingroup minority attempts to persuade
a target, the message recipient becomes pressured to provide a direct and public response within a short period
-ingroup minority provokes
indirect change—that is, change in a target’s attitude toward matters related to the
focal issue, but not toward the focal issue itself—because the message recipient
(a) elaborately processes the information because of its distinctive source,
(b) wishes to avoid identification with the source (c) is motivated not to denigrate the source or counterargue the message in the name of ingroup solidarity, and
(d) experiences an imbalance in the system of beliefs surrounding his or her focal attitude

Question 25

Conformity
Goal of Maintaining Positive Self-Concept
Deindividuation Effects

Answer 25

-for conformity-related deindividuation phenomena in the form of the Social Identity model for Deindividuation Effects (SIDE)
-SIDE model = distinguishes itself from classical deindividuation accounts in
that “responsiveness to a group norm is not a mindless or irrational process reflecting
a reduced sense of self, but may be a conscious and rational process relating
to a meaningful sense of identity”
-rather than engage in antinormative activities, individuals subjected to deindividuation procedures instead conformed their behaviors to local, situation-specific norms defined by the group identity
-Visually anonymous groups have also been found to engage in greater grouprelated
self-categorization

Question 26

Conclusion

Answer 26

3 core motivations that
provide the bases for targets’ responses to influence attempts = accuracy, affiliation,
and the maintenance of a positive self-concept