conformity & obedience Flashcards

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1
Q

what is conformity?

A

the tendency to change our perceptions, opinions or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms

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2
Q

what is social influence

A

the process whereby attitudes & behavior are influenced by the real or implied presence of others

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3
Q

what is obedience

A

behavior change produced by the direct request of someone

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4
Q

what is compliance

A

changes in behavior that are elicited by a direct request - agree in public, disagree in private

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5
Q

conversion

A

changing your own beliefs to fit group norms - privately agreeing

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6
Q

sherif 1937 (auto-kinetic experiment)

A
  • p’s had to judge how far a light dot was moving in a dark room (it didn’t actually move)
  • 2 conditions: alone or in a group
  • answers differed from each other when p’s were alone, but when they joined a group, answers began to converge
  • suggests that others can influence our basic perceptions
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7
Q

private vs public conformity

A

private = the change of beliefs that occurs when a person privately accepts the position taken by others

public = a superficial change in overt behavior without a corresponding change of opinion

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8
Q

informational vs normative influence

A

informational = involves peoples desire to be right - we conform because we want to make good & accurate judgements

normative = revolves around peoples desire to be like or to not appear foolish - we conform because we are afraid of rejection

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9
Q

situational factors that effect conformity (4)

A
  1. group size: conformity increases with group size up to a point (3 or 4 people)
  2. unanimity: dissent, of any kind, can reduce the normative pressure to conform
  3. mood: happier = more likely to conform
  4. culture: collectivistic = more likely to conform to group members, not strangers
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10
Q

dispositional factors that affect conformity (5)

A
  1. age: increases until adolescence, decreases into adulthood
  2. gender: depends on familiarity & type of social situation - women conform more if they think they are being watched, and vice versa
  3. intelligence: less intelligent ppl conform more
  4. personality traits: more shy, introverted, etc. = more conformity
  5. self esteem: low self-esteem = more conformity
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11
Q

what factors influence obedience? (5)

A
  1. authoritarian personality: submissive to authority = more likely to obey
  2. dehumanization: doesn’t see victim as human = more obedience
  3. the authority figure
  4. proximity of the victim
  5. procedure
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12
Q

what is the social impact theory

A

states that social influence depends on strength, number & immediacy

  • strength: ability, status or relationship to target - people more likely to conform with someone they view as competent
  • immediacy: proximity in time & space to target - closer the source, the greater its impact
  • number: as number of sources increases, so does their impact (to a point)
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13
Q

Haun & Tomasello (asch children)

A
  • groups of 4 children, 1 child was the minority (had a different picture book to the others)
  • books had 3 pictures of different sized animals on the one page, and one animal on the other which matched
  • minority child always went last
  • 3 conditions: pointing (private) x2 - at the beginning and end - speak no conflict and speak conflict
  • performance was almost perfect on pointing trials
  • minority children performed better on speak no conflict than conflict trials = conformed
  • 2nd experiment was the same but had 4 conditions: no conflict point, conflict point, no conflict speak, conflict speak
  • in conflict trials minority performed sig better when pointing that speaking = conformed when speaking but not pointing
  • normative influence bcuz they conformed to manage others evaluation of their public self
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14
Q

Dolinski et al (milgram copy)

A
  • very similar to milgram but used females as well & only went up to 10th shock level (ethical issues)
  • dominant majority of p’s went up to 10 = obedience
  • p’s were 3x more likely to withdraw before 10 if learner was female, regardless of their own gender
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15
Q

what is the foot in the door technique?

A
  • a 2 step compliance technique where an influencer sets the stage for the real request by first getting a person to comply with a much smaller request
  • could work because of self perception theory - we infer out attitudes by observing our own past behavior
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16
Q

asch’s line experiment

A
  • showed p’s 3 diff lines next to one that was the same
  • first few trials confederates gave the right answer, then started giving wrong ones
  • ps conformed to incorrect answers most of the time
17
Q

minority influence

A

social pressure exerted by a single person or smaller fraction of a group
influential when:
- consistent
- idiosyncrasy credits: people know u = more influence
- motivation

18
Q

group polarization

A

phenomenon in which group decisions enhances or amplifies the og opinion of the members

19
Q

group think

A

when maintaining harmony among group members is more imp than carefully analyzing the problem

20
Q

what are the 6 types of power?

A
  1. reward - based on one’s control over the distribution of rewards
  2. coercive - based on one’s ability to punish or threaten others
  3. legitimate - authorized power by law
  4. referent - based on charisma and group
  5. informational - based on potential use of info
  6. expert
21
Q

milgram’s og experiment

A

imp factors: authority figure, proximity of the victim & experimental procedures

65% of p’s obeyed the experimenter on administering the highest level of voltage