Conformity

CONFORMITY

Chapter 7

Types of Social Influence

Social Influence as “Automatic”

Chartrand & Bargh

The Chameleon Effect: nonconscious form of imitation

Conformity

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

Sherif (1936) Autokinetic

effect

Two Types of Conformity

Majority Influence

What situational factors make us more or less likely to conform? Group size Awareness of the norms A fellow dissenter Difficulty of the task

Majority Influence

What personal factors make us more or less likely to conform? Age differences Gender differences Cultural influences Self-esteem

Minority Influence

The process by which dissenters produce change in a group. Moscovici: Consistency strategy Hollander: Idiosyncrasy credits

Do majorities and minorities exert influence in different ways?

Compliance

Changes in behavior that are elicited by direct requests.

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Percentage

That Complied

No Reason Reason Given Irrelevant

Reason

May I Use the Xerox Machine?

Compliance

How do we get trapped into compliance?

The Norm of Reciprocity Treat others as they have treated you Feeling obligated to return a favor

Cialdini (2001)

Principles of Influence Reciprocation Scarcity Authority Commitment Liking/friendship Consensus/social validation

Sequential Request Strategies

The foot-in-the-door: Get someone to comply with a small request first. Request shift: small

large


Low-balling: Increase the size of the request by revealing hidden costs. Request shift: small large

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10

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50

60

Percent That

Volunteered

Told 7 a.m. First Told 7 a.m. Later

Sequential Request Strategies Door-in-the-face: Start with a request

that is so large that it is rejected. Request shift: large small

0

10

20

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50

Percent That Agreed

Real Request Only After Declining InitialRequest

Willing to Take Delinquents to the Zoo?

Sequential Request StrategiesRequest shift: large small That’s-not-all: Start with inflated request,

then decrease its size by offering a discount.

0

10

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Sales

75 Cents Reduced to 75 cents

Price of Cupcakes

Assertiveness

When do

people say NO?

Is there an unintended message?

Just Say No Training

“Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time.”

Petrified Forest National Park

Obedience

Behavior change produced by the commands of authority

Milgram’s research The basic procedure 65 percent of participants

delivered the ultimate punishment of 450 volts.

The Learner’s Protests in the Milgram Experiment

From Experiment 5: New Base-Line Condition, The Learner's Schedule of Protests from Obedience to Authority by Stanley Milgram, 1974, pp. 56-57.

Factors that Influence Obedience

Would you have obeyed?

Meeus & Raaijmakers (1986)Burger (2009)

Replicating Milgram

Social Impact Theory (Latane) Social influence depends on:

Strength of a source (status, ability, relationship to target)

Immediacy (source’s proximity in time and space to target)

Number of source persons relative to target persons

Conformity

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