Social Psychology, Eighth Edition Elliot Aronson | Timothy D. Wilson | Robin M. Akert ©2013 Pearson...

Social Psychology, Eighth EditionElliot Aronson | Timothy D. Wilson | Robin M. Akert

©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.All Rights Reserved.

Slides prepared by JoNell Strough, Ph.D. & Philip Lemaster, M.A.West Virginia University

Chapter 8

Conformity:Influencing Behavior



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Slide 7Confirmity to Social Influence VideoSlide 84Obedience and Authority Figures VideoSlide 97Milgram and Obedience Video



Conformity Influencing Conformity Influencing BehaviorBehavior

It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races.

–Mark Twain



Conformity—When and WhyConformity—When and Why

• American culture – Stresses the importance of not conforming– Celebrates the rugged individualist




• Are we nonconforming creatures? • Are our decisions – Always based on what we think? – Do we sometimes use other people’s

behavior to help us decide?



Confirmity to Social Influence Confirmity to Social Influence VideoVideo

Click on the screenshot to watch a brief example of conformity to social influence.

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• Conformity– A change in one’s behavior due to the real

or imagined influence of other people.



Informational Social Influence:Informational Social Influence:The Need to Know WhatThe Need to Know What’’s s ““RightRight””

• Example Scenarios– How should you address your psychology

professor—as “Dr. Berman,” “Professor Berman,” “Ms. Berman,” or “Patricia”?

– How should you vote in the upcoming referendum that would raise your tuition to cover expanded student services?




• Example Scenarios– Do you cut a piece of sushi or eat it whole? – Did the scream you just heard in the

hallway come from a person joking with friends or from the victim of a mugging?




• Informational Social Influence– The influence of other people that leads us

to conform because we see them as a source of information to guide our behavior.

– We conform because we believe that others’ interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more correct than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action.



Figure 8.1One Group’s Judgments in Sherif’s (1936) Autokinetic Studies

People estimated how far a point of light appeared to move in a dark room. When they saw the light by themselves, their estimates varied widely. When they were brought

together in groups and heard other people announce their estimates, people conformed to the group’s estimate of how much the light moved, adjusting their private beliefs

based on the information other group members provided. (Adapted from Sherif, 1936)



Private AcceptancePrivate Acceptance

• Conforming to other people’s behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right.

• Informational social influence often results in private acceptance!



Public CompliancePublic Compliance

• Conforming to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying.



Eight thousand pumpkins meet the Eiffel Tower. While the holiday is based on ancient British and Irish traditions surrounding All Hallows’ Eve, Halloween as we know it is a

completely American phenomenon—until October 1997, that is, when “Ah-lo-ween” was introduced to the French public by retailers in an effort to boost consumer spending to

spark a sagging French economy (Cohen, 1997). (Associated Press, 2002)Source: Jeremy Bembaron/Sygma/Corbis



SherifSherif’’s Study s Study

• Public compliance or private acceptance? – Subsequent research suggested private

acceptance



Conformity and Task Conformity and Task Importance Importance

• Eyewitness conformity when picking “perpetrators” out of police lineups

• Manipulated importance of task – High importance—Expect to receive $20 for

accurate identification, used to develop real task

– Low importance—Just another PSYC experiment

– Confederates gave incorrect answers



Even for judgments of the utmost importance—such as when an eyewitness to a crime later tries to identify the culprit—informational social influence influences our

perceptions.Source: Flirt/SuperStock



Conformity and Task Conformity and Task Importance Importance

• Results—more conformity when important



When Informational When Informational Conformity BackfiresConformity Backfires

• Contagion– The rapid spread of emotions or behaviors

through a crowd.



When Informational When Informational Conformity BackfiresConformity Backfires

• Mass psychogenic illness– The occurrence, in a group of people, of

similar physical symptoms with no known physical cause.



The Southern Standard headlined a frightening and mysterious event at a local Tennessee high school. An investigation found that the “poisonings” were a case of mass

psychogenic illness.Source: The Southern Standard



Mass Psychogenic Illness and Mass Psychogenic Illness and Other Forms of ConformityOther Forms of Conformity

• Mass media – Plays a powerful role in spreading

psychogenic illness• TV, radio, magazines, Internet, spread

information quickly and efficiently – Middle Ages

» 200 years for “dancing manias” to crisscross Europe

– Has power to stop contagion• Introduce more logical explanations for

ambiguous events



When Will People Conform to When Will People Conform to Informational Social Influence? Informational Social Influence?

• When the situation1. is ambiguous2. is a crisis

• When other people are experts



When the Situation Is When the Situation Is AmbiguousAmbiguous

• Ambiguity is the most crucial variable. • When you are uncertain, you will be

most open to influence from others.• The greater the uncertainty, the more

reliance there is on others!



When the Situation Is a CrisisWhen the Situation Is a Crisis

• Don’t have time to stop and think about action we should take– Need to act—immediately

• May be scared, panicked• See how other people are responding,

and do the same• Problem– The people we imitate may not be

behaving rationally!



When Other People Are When Other People Are ExpertsExperts

• Usually, greater expertise associated with better information – Example—Passenger who sees smoke

coming out of an airplane engine will probably check the flight attendants’ reaction rather than their seatmates’

• Experts are not always reliable sources of information!



Informational Social InfluenceInformational Social Influenceand Emergenciesand Emergencies

• Emergency = crisis situation • Often ambiguous – Sometimes “experts” present, but not

always

• In an emergency, the bystander is thinking: – What’s happening? What should I do?

What’s everybody else doing?



To Resist Informational Social To Resist Informational Social InfluenceInfluence

• Ask yourself critical questions.– Do other people know any more about

what is going on than I do? – Is there an expert who should know more?



To Resist Informational Social To Resist Informational Social InfluenceInfluence

• Ask yourself critical questions.– Do the actions of other people or experts

seem sensible? • If I behave the way they do, will it go

against: –my common sense?–my internal moral compass?–my sense of right and wrong?



Normative Social Influence:Normative Social Influence:The Need to Be AcceptedThe Need to Be Accepted

• Why do some adolescents engage in risky behavior?

• Why does anyone follow the group when the behavior may even be dangerous?




• Humans are a social species. • Other people are important to our well-

being.• Being deprived of human contact is

stressful and traumatic.




• Normative social influence– The influence of other people that leads us

to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them; this type of conformity results in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily private acceptance of those beliefs and behaviors.




• Social norms– The implicit or explicit rules a group has for

the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members.



Conformity and Social Conformity and Social ApprovalApproval

• Asch’s Line Judgment Studies– Participants guessed which line in the right

box is the same length as the line on the left.

– Almost everyone gets this right—when alone.

– Participants repeatedly evaluated lines.




• Asch’s Line Judgment Studies– They heard other people also evaluating

the lines.– Sometimes, everyone else gets it wrong.



Figure 8.2The Judgment Task in Asch’s Line Studies

In a series of studies of normative social influence, participants judged which of the three comparison lines on the right was closest in length to the standard line on the left. The

correct answer was always obvious (as it is here). However, members of the group (actually confederates) gave the wrong answer out loud. Now the participant faced a dilemma: Give the right answer and go against the whole group, or conform to their

behavior and give an obviously wrong answer? (Adapted from Asch, 1956)



Figure 8.3Results of the Asch Line-Judgment Study

Participants in the Asch line study showed a surprisingly high level of conformity, given how obvious it was that the group was wrong in its judgments. Seventy-six percent of the participants conformed on at least one trial; only 24% of participants never conformed at all (see bar labeled zero). Most participants conformed on one to three of the 12 trials in

which the group gave the wrong answer. However, a sizable number of participants conformed to the group’s incorrect response nearly every single time (see the two bars

on the right). (Adapted from Asch, 1957)




• Classic normative reasons for conforming– Don’t want to feel peculiar– Don’t want to feel like a fool– Belief that what others think is important,

even if they are strangers



Normative Social InfluenceNormative Social Influence

• Usually results in public compliance without private acceptance– One goes along with the group even if he

or she do not believe in the group’s actions or think the group’s actions are wrong




• Variation of original Asch study– Participants wrote answers on paper

instead of saying them out loud • Answers were private, not public

– People did not have to worry about what the group thought of them

• Conformity dropped dramatically– Occurred on average of only 1.5 of the 12

trials



SherifSherif’’s and Aschs and Asch’’s Studies of s Studies of Conformity SummaryConformity Summary

• Sherif – Ambiguous stimuli– Conformity occurred• Private acceptance

– “need to know what’s right”



SherifSherif’’s and Aschs and Asch’’s Studies of s Studies of Conformity SummaryConformity Summary

• Asch– Unambiguous stimuli – Conformity occurred• Public compliance

– “need to be accepted”



Participants in an Asch line study. The real participant is seated in the middle. He is surrounded by the experimenter’s accomplices, who have just given the wrong answer

on the line task.Source: Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2012 Scientific American, Inc. All

rights reserved



Conformity and Brain Imaging Conformity and Brain Imaging (fMRI)(fMRI)

• When participants conformed to group (gave incorrect answer) – Vision and perception areas active in brain



Conformity and Brain Imaging Conformity and Brain Imaging (fMRI)(fMRI)

• When participants disagreed (gave correct answer) – Different brain areas active• Amygdala

– Negative emotions

• Right caudate nucleus–modulating social behavior



The Importance of Being The Importance of Being Accurate RevisitedAccurate Revisited

• What happens when it is important to people to be accurate? – These people conform less to answers of

the group that are obviously wrong.

• But they still conform sometimes!



The Importance of Being The Importance of Being Accurate RevisitedAccurate Revisited

• Conformity can occur – Even when the group is wrong– The correct answer is obvious– There are strong incentives to be accurate

• People find it difficult to risk social disapproval– Even by strangers



Consequences of Resisting Consequences of Resisting Normative Social Influence Normative Social Influence

• If you disregard the group norms of your friends & fail to conform:1. Group would try to bring you “back into

the fold” • Long discussions, teasing comments

2. If discussions don’t work• Friends may say negative things to you and

about you, • Start to withdraw from you



Normative Social InfluenceNormative Social Influencein Everyday Life in Everyday Life

• Trivial example– Fads • Fashion



By 2007, the Crocs fad was in full force as kids (and parents) everywhere could be found out and about in these plastic clogs with Swiss-cheese holes. Five years later, reviews are decidedly more mixed: an anti-Croc page on Facebook currently has more than 1.6

million fans.Source: Jeff Greenberg/Alamy



Social Influence and Social Influence and WomenWomen’’s Body Images Body Image

• Nontrivial example – Women’s attempts to conform to cultural

definitions of an attractive body

• Current Western, American culture value extreme thinness in women– Not universally valued• Other cultures desire plumpness



Social Influence and Social Influence and WomenWomen’’s Body Images Body Image

• As the reliability of the food supply increases, the preference for heavy-to-moderate bodies decreases.

• Only in cultures with very reliable food supplies (like the United States) was the slender body type highly valued.



Figure 8.4What Is the “Ideal” Female Body Across Cultures?

Researchers divided 54 cultures into groups, depending on the reliability of their food supply. They then determined what was considered the “ideal” female body in each culture. Heavy female bodies were considered the most beautiful in cultures with

unreliable food supplies. As the reliability of the food supply increased, the preference for a moderate-to-heavy body type decreased. Only in cultures where food was very readily

available was the slender body valued more. (Adapted from Anderson, Crawford, Nadeau, & Lindberg, 1992)



Figure 8.5The Mean Bust-to-Waist Ratios of Models in Vogue and Ladies’ Home Journal,

1901–1981What is considered an attractive female body changed dramatically during the twentieth century, from heavy women at the beginning of the 1900s, to rail-thin women during the 1920s, to somewhat heavier and more-curvaceous women during the 1940s and 1950s, to a return to very thin women in the 1960s and thereafter. (Adapted from Silverstein,

Perdue, Peterson, & Kelly, 1986)



Social Influence and WomenSocial Influence and Women’’s s Body ImageBody Image

• Japanese women– Change in standards for physical

attractiveness since WWII– Preferred look has taken on a “Westernized”

element• long-legged, thin bodies

– “hattou shin beauty”

– Feel strong, normative pressure to be thin




• Informational social influence – Women learn what body type considered

attractive in their culture (and how they compare)• Family, friends, media




• Sororities (Crandall, 1988)– Develop group norms regarding eating

disorders

• Normative social influence– Binge eating– new members conformed to their sorority’s

group norms



Social Influence and MenSocial Influence and Men’’s s Body ImageBody Image

• Cultural norms for men’s bodies have changed over time– Ideal male body is now more muscular• Men feel pressure to achieve an ideal body

similar to pressure felt by women



Social Influence and MenSocial Influence and Men’’s s Body ImageBody Image

• Male ideal body– “Six-pack”

• Increasing use of risky substances to achieve muscular physique– Steroids – Ephedrine



Has the American cultural ideal of the male body changed over time? Harrison Pope and his

colleagues (1999) measured the waist, chest, and biceps of the most popular action-figure toys of the last three decades. The researchers found

that the toy figures had grown much more muscular over time, far exceeding the muscularity of even the largest human

bodybuilders. The researchers suggest that such unrealistic images of the male body may

contribute to body-image disorders in boys.Source: Richard Heyes/Alamy



When Will People Conform to When Will People Conform to Normative Social Influence?Normative Social Influence?

• Social Impact Theory– The idea that conforming to social

influence depends on:1. Strength

– Importance of group to person

2. Immediacy– Closeness in time and space

3. Number of people in the group



When Will People Conform to When Will People Conform to Normative Social Influence?Normative Social Influence?

• More conformity to normative pressures when group is:– More important – More immediate

• BUT, number (group size) operates differently



Figure 8.6Effects of Group Size on Conformity

Asch varied the size of the unanimous majority in his study and found that once the majority numbered four, adding more people had little influence on conformity. (Adapted

from Asch, 1955)



When the Group Size is Three When the Group Size is Three or Moreor More

• Conformity increases as the number of people in the group increases.– BUT, once the group reaches 4 or 5 other

people, conformity does not increase much.



When the Group is ImportantWhen the Group is Important

• Normative pressures are much stronger when there is a cost to losing the group– People whose friendship, love, and respect

we value

• Highly cohesive groups can make less logical decisions – No one wants to upset relationships



When One Has No Allies in the When One Has No Allies in the GroupGroup

• Variation on original Asch study– 6 of 7 confederates selected incorrect line

instead of unanimous

• Participant had an “ally” – Person not alone in dissenting – Conformity dropped to 6% of the trials

(compared to 32% when the person was the only dissenter)



When One Has No Allies in the When One Has No Allies in the GroupGroup

• U.S. Supreme Court– Most common decision ratio • Unanimous, 9-0 vote

– Least common decision ratio • 8-1 (single dissenter)

– It is difficult to be the lone dissenter!



When the GroupWhen the Group’’s Culture is s Culture is CollectivisticCollectivistic

• Greater conformity in collectivist cultures– Asch’s line judgment task• Norway more conformity than France



The extent to which conformity is valued varies across cultures. In the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a worldwide television audience was

mesmerized by the sight of 2,008 drummers performing in perfect synchronization.Source: Aflo Foto Agency/Alamy



Gender and ConformityGender and Conformity

• Eagly and Carli (1981)• Meta-analysis of 145 studies of the

degree of group influence that included more than 21,000 participants – Gender differences very small• On average, men are somewhat less prone

to being influenced than women



Gender Differences in Gender Differences in ConformityConformity

• Eagly Carli (1981)– Gender of the person conducting

conformity studies makes a difference • Male researchers more likely than female

researchers to find that men were less influenceable



The Dark Side of Social The Dark Side of Social Influence—Propaganda Influence—Propaganda

• Propaganda– Systematic attempt to manipulate thoughts

and behavior of others• E.g., Nazi Germany

– Informational social influence• Incorrect information

– But builds on pre-existing beliefs

– Normative social influence• Rejection, ostracism for failure to accept

beliefs



How to Resist Inappropriate How to Resist Inappropriate Normative Social InfluenceNormative Social Influence

• Be aware that it exists.• Take action.– Try to find an ally.

• Conforming most of the time, “earns” occasional deviation without consequences.



Idiosyncrasy CreditsIdiosyncrasy Credits

• The tolerance a person earns, over time, by conforming to group norms; if enough idiosyncrasy credits are earned, the person can, on occasion, behave defiantly without retribution from the group.



Minority Influence When the Minority Influence When the Few Influence the Many Few Influence the Many

• Minority influence– The case where a minority of group

members influence the behavior or beliefs of the majority.



Minority Influence When the Minority Influence When the Few Influence the Many Few Influence the Many

• Consistency is key – People with minority views must express

the same view over time

• Members of the minority opinion must agree with one another



Using Social Influence to Using Social Influence to Promote Beneficial Behavior Promote Beneficial Behavior

• Cialdini and colleagues• Can use social norms to induce people

to conform to correct, socially-approved behavior– First, must identify the norm that is

operating in the situation



Injunctive Versus Descriptive Injunctive Versus Descriptive NormsNorms

• Injunctive norms– People’s perceptions of what behaviors are

approved or disapproved of by others.

• Descriptive norms– People’s perceptions of how people actually

behave in given situations, regardless of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved of by others.



Invoking conformity to social norms can be used in the effort to address societal problems such as littering.

Source: Craig Steven Thrasher/Alamy



Figure 8.7The Effect of Injunctive and Descriptive Norms on Littering

The data for the control group (left) indicate that 37% to 38% of people litter a handbill found on their car windshield whether the environment (a parking lot) is littered or clean.

When a descriptive norm is made salient, littering decreases significantly only in the clean environment (middle). When an injunctive norm is made salient, littering decreases

significantly in both types of environment, indicating that injunctive norms are more consistently effective at changing behavior. (Adapted from Reno, Cialdini, & Kallgren,

1993)



Using Norms to Change Using Norms to Change Behavior: Boomerang EffectBehavior: Boomerang Effect

• Invoking descriptive norms may backfire– Depending on pre-existing behavior • E.g., college binge drinking, energy use

• Invoking descriptive + injunctive most successful– Example—energy use (Schultz et al)



Obedience to AuthorityObedience to Authority

• Obedience is a social norm – Universally valued

• Without obedience, would be chaos • We are socialized to obey legitimate

authority figures– Internalize social norm of obedience• Obey even if authority figure isn’t present

– E.g., traffic lights



Obedience and Authority Obedience and Authority Figures VideoFigures Video

Click on the screenshot to see an example of misguided obedience to authority.

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• Obedience can have serious, tragic consequences– Obey the orders of an authority figure to

hurt or even kill other human beings




• The Milgram studies– Most famous series of studies in social

psychology



Imagine that You Were a Imagine that You Were a ParticipantParticipant

• When you arrive at the laboratory, you meet another participant, a 47-year-old, somewhat overweight, pleasant-looking fellow.

• The experimenter, wearing a white lab coat, explains that one of you will play the role of a teacher and the other a learner.




• You draw a slip of paper out of a hat and discover that you will be the teacher.

• Your job is to teach the other participant a list of word pairs (e.g., blue–box, nice–day) and then test him on the list.




• The experimenter instructs you to deliver an electric shock to the learner whenever he makes a mistake because the purpose of the study is to examine the effects of punishment on learning.

• The learner makes many mistakes.• The experimenter instructs you to keep

shocking the learner.• What would you do?



MilgramMilgram’’s Studiess Studies

• How many people do you think would continue to obey the experimenter and increase the levels of shock until they had delivered the maximum amount, 450 volts?



Left: The shock generator used in Milgram’s research. Right: The learner (an accomplice of the experimenter) is strapped into the chair, and electrodes are attached to his arm.

(Adapted from Milgram, 1974)Source: From the film Obedience copyright © 1968 by Stanley Milgram. Copyright

renewed 1993 by Alexandra Milgram, distributed by Penn State Media Sales.



MilgramMilgram’’s Studies s Studies

• Estimate about 1% of the population– Psychology majors at Yale University – Middle-class adults – Panel of psychiatrists made similar

predictions



Figure 8.8Transcript of the learner’s protests in Milgram’s obedience study and of the prods used by

the experimenter to compel people to continue giving shocks. (Adapted from Milgram, 1963, 1974)




• Average maximum shock delivered was 360 volts

• 62.5% of participants delivered 450-volt shock




• 80% of participants – Continued giving the shocks even after the

learner cried out in pain, said heart was bothering him

• Note—no learners were harmed in the making of Milgram’s experiments! – The learner was Milgram’s confederate,

pretending to get shocked.



Role of Normative Social Role of Normative Social InfluenceInfluence

• Don’t want to disappoint experimenter• Insistent experimenter– Difficult to say no

• Variations on original study– Other teachers (confederates) refused to

continue – Only 10% gave maximum shock• Compared to 62.5% in original study



Milgram and Obedience VideoMilgram and Obedience Video

Click on the screenshot to watch a replication of Milgram's experiment forty years later using both men and women.

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• Confusing situation for participants– Competing social norms• Obey authority versus Don’t harm others

• Experimenter is an expert– Look to experimenter for information on

how to respond• Follow orders of expert




• Variations on original study– Non-expert gives instructions about shock

level • 20% of participants gave maximum shock

– Compared to 62.5% in original study

– Two experts disagree about continuing• All participants stopped obeying



MilgramMilgram’’s Studies:s Studies:Other Reasons We ObeyOther Reasons We Obey

1. Conform to wrong norm– Fast-paced nature of experiment• No time to reflect

2. Self-justification– Shock levels increased in small increments• Internal pressure to continue to obey

3. Loss of a personal responsibility



Summary and ReviewSummary and Review

• Types of Conformity• Classic Studies of Conformity and

Obedience• Reasons Why People Conform• How to Resist Conformity• Inducing Conformity

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition Elliot Aronson | Timothy D. Wilson | Robin M. Akert ©2013 Pearson...

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