Lecture 6, Chap 7 Flashcards
whats Social influence?
The ways that people are affected by
the real and imagined pressures of others
* Conformity, compliance, obedience
How is social Influence Automatic
- As social animals, humans are vulnerable to subtle
influences - Humans unwittingly mimic each other all the time
- E.g., yawn, grimace, laugh, clap
- Animals exhibit rudimentary forms of automatic imitation
- E.g., mimicking hunting techniques
- Why?
- Mimicry smoothens interaction/communication by
influencing behaviours, emotions, and language/speech
styles
Conformity
The tendency to change our perceptions,
opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with
social or group norms
People in North America often identify themselves as
nonconformists and think they conform less than other
people in North America
* Adhering to social norms is necessary for community
peace
explain the The Early Classics: Sherif (1936)
- Participant in dark room shown
a single point of light, asked to
estimate distance that light
moves - Difficult & ambiguous task
- Light is stationary but
appears to move (autokinetic
effect) - Do task alone first, then with 3
other participants in the room
whats Informational influence:
Influence that produces
conformity when a person believes others are correct in
their judgments
* Sherif’s autokinetic study
* Want to make accurate judgements and assume if
others agree, they must be right
explain the The Early Classics: Asch (1951)
- Went along with incorrect
majority 37% of the time - 25% refused to agree
with incorrect group
answers - 50% went along on at
least half of the incorrect
answers - Non-conformers said
they felt “conspicuous,
crazy, or like a misfit
whats Normative influence:
Influence that produces
conformity when a person fears the negative social
consequences of appearing deviant
* Asch’s line studies
* Want to avoid ostracism or rejection that follow
deviance
* Rejection hurts
* Why does it hurt? We’ve evolved as social creatures
who need others to survive – rejection could be
deadly
what are the types of Conformity
- Private conformity
- Public conformity:
whats private conformity
The change of beliefs that occurs
when a person privately accepts the position taken by
others
* AKA “true acceptance” “conversion”
* Sherif’s autokinetic stud
whats public conformity
A superficial change in overt
behavior without a corresponding change of opinion
that is produced by real or imagined group pressure
* May be done to get in someone’s good books
* Asch’s line studies
whats Majority Influence
- Group size: 3-4 individuals or 3-4 small groups exert
greatest effect - Norms: Lead to conformity if we know and focus on the
norms - Often misperceive what is normative (e.g., substance use)
- Allies: Dissent can reduce normative pressures to conform
- A single confederate who agreed with a participant
reduced conformity by almost 80% - Gender: Gender differences in conformity are small and
unreliable, except that in public women conform more and
men conform less than in private (gender norms)
whats Minority Influence
- Dangerous to dissent – rejection
- Minority influence: The process by which dissenters
produce change within a group - Consistent dissent
- Idiosyncrasy credits: Interpersonal “credits” that a
person earns by following group norms - First conform, then dissent
- Dissent can spark innovation
whats Individualism:
A cultural orientation in which independence,
autonomy, and self-reliance take priority over group allegiances
whats Collectivism
A cultural orientation in which interdependence,
cooperation, and social harmony take priority over personal goals
how do Cultures differ by how much they expect social norm adherence
- Collectivist cultures tend to conform more than individualistic
- Can be helpful – lower COVID Deaths in collectivist cultures
- Why are cultures individualistic or collectivistic?
- Complexity, affluence, heterogeneity
whats Compliance:
Changes in behaviour that are elicited by
direct requests
whats Mindlessness and Compliance
- Phrasing of a request (Langer et al., 1978)
1. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” (60%)
2. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine
because I’m in a rush?” (94%)
3. “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine
because I have to make some copies?” (93%) - We respond mindlessly to words without fully processing the
information they are supposed to convey - Disrupting mindlessness can also increase compliance
- Pique technique: disrupt mindless refusal by making an unusual
request to pique someone’s interest - 17 cents vs. 1 quarter
whats the norm of Reciprocity
- We treat others as they have treated us
- Can increase compliance
- E.g., tip more when there’s a happy face on a check
- Tends to be short-lived
- Individual differences
- Creditors: Keep others in reciprocity debt to cash in
at will - Non-creditors: Avoid being in reciprocity debt
what did the study of Hao et al., 2011 say about. Cultural Differences
- Asked White Canadians and
Chinese Hong Kongers if they
would accept a favour - Soup sample, free drink
- Chinese participants less likely
to accept favour - Follow-up questions revealed
this was because they
perceived favour as self-
serving
what are the 4 ways of Setting Traps in Sequential Request Strategies
1) Foot-in-the-door technique
2) Lowballing
3) Door-in-the-face technique:
4) That’s-not-all technique
whats the Foot-in-the-door technique:
A two-step compliance
technique in which an influencer sets the stage for the
real request by first getting a person to comply with a
much smaller request
* E.g., Agreeing to sample something and then
purchasing it
* Increases compliance by 13% on average
* Why?
* Self-perception theory!
* Infer our own attitude by observing our behavior
22
whats the Door-in-the-face technique:
A two-step
compliance technique in which an influencer
prefaces the real request with one that is so large
that it is rejected
* E.g., Volunteer daily at the library vs. once a month
* Does not result in empty promises
* Why? Reciprocal concessions
* Feel the requester is doing us a favor by
decreasing their ask, so we feel we should
concede and comply
whatsw the That’s-not-all technique:
A two-step compliance
technique in which the influencer begins with an
inflated request, then decreases its apparent size by
offering a discount or bonus
* E.g., These cost $75, but I’ll give them to you for $70!
* E.g., You can buy the set for $50, and we’ll throw in a
bonus item!
