Conformity and Obedience

Question 1

What is the Chameleon Effect

Answer 1

our tendency to unconsciously imitate others’ expressions, postures, and voice tones

Question 2

What is Conformity

Answer 2

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Question 3

What were the Asch’s Conformity Experiments

Answer 3

The Asch conformity experiments were a series of psychological experiments conducted by Solomon Asch during the 1950s. The experiments revealed the degree to which a person’s own opinions are influenced by those of groups.

Question 4

List 4 reasons that make people more likely to conform. When they:

Answer 4

1. are made to feel incompetent or ­insecure.
2. are in a group with at least three ­people.
3. are in a group in which everyone else agrees. (If just one other person disagrees, the odds of our disagreeing greatly increase.)
4. admire the group’s status and attractiveness

Question 5

What is Normative Social Influence

Answer 5

where a person conforms to fit in with the group because they don’t want to appear foolish or be left out.

Question 6

What is Informative Social Influence

Answer 6

where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right, and look to others who they believe may have more information

Question 7

Summarize Milgrim’s Obedience Experiments

Answer 7

In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of studies on the concepts of obedience and authority. His experiments involved instructing study participants to deliver increasingly high-voltage shocks to an actor in another room, who would scream and eventually go silent as the shocks became stronger.

Question 8

Explain how the foot-in-the-door effect explains Milgrim’s experiment results

Answer 8

After they agreed to his first request, it led to them complying with his bigger demands