social influence

• What are three types of conformity

  • compliance
  • internalisation
  • identification
• What is compliance?


  Going along with the majority, even though we privately don’t agree
• What is identification?


  Going along with the majority temporarily but changing our beliefs when we leave group
• What is internalisation?


  Going along with majority because we adopt their viewpoints and beliefs
• Situational factors affecting bystander effect

  • pluralistic ignorance
  • diffusion of responsibility
• What is pluralistic ignorance?

  Our reaction to an incident will rely on the responses of the people around them. If others are ignoring it, then they will ignore it too.
• Personal factors of bystander effect

  • similarity
  • mood
  • competence
• What is locus of control?

  The belief about the extent to which individuals have control over their own lives.
• Internal Locus of Control - individual believes that what happens to them depends upon their actions or efforts (e.g., hard work leads to success).
• External Locus of Control - individual believes that what happens to them depends upon external forces beyond their control (e.g., luck)
• situational factors of conformity

  • size of the majority
  • unanimity
  • task difficulty
• What is an authoritarian personality

  An individual who are obedient to people with high status and have lots of respect and admiration for authority
• situational factors of obedience

  • proximity of the learner
  • proximity of the authority
  • legitimacy of the authority
• ways to prevent blind obediance?

  • social support from others
  • question authoritys legitimacy
  • independent thinking
• What is culture?

  Beliefs, customs, and behaviors shared by a group of people.
• What is deindividuation?

  Loss of self-awareness and individual identity in a group setting.
• The Stanford prison experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971. It involved 24 male students being randomly assigned roles as either prisoners or guards in a mock prison environment.
• Task Difficulty - when tasks are difficult, we tend to look towards others for guidance.
• Unanimity - if everyone else conforms, we're more likely to do so as well.
• Size of Majority - the larger the group, the more likely we are to conform.
• Competence refers to whether we think we could do something useful to help. We're unlikely to intervene if we don't think we can make any difference.
• Similarity - if someone looks like us or has similar background/experience, we may be more likely to intervene
• In the Milgram Obedience Experiment, participants were asked to administer electric shocks to another person when they made mistakes on a learning task. The participant's shock level increased until it reached lethal levels.
• Informational Social Influence - conforming because we don’t know how to act
• Normative Social Influence - occurs when individuals conform their behavior to fit in with a group.
• what is a society?


  a group of people in a community who share the same location and social norms