Social Influence

• What is social influence?

  Change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors
• What is conformity?

  Changing behavior due to pressure from others
• What does internal validity measure?

  Results affected solely by the independent variable
• What does external validity measure?

  Generalizability of data to other situations
• What is mundane realism?

  Similarity of experiment to real-world events
• What is internalisation in conformity?

  Deep conformity leading to permanent behavior change
• What is identification in conformity?

  Moderate conformity to be part of a group
• What is compliance in conformity?

  Superficial conformity with private disagreement
• What is informational social influence (ISI)?

  Agreeing with majority for social approval
• What is normative social influence (NSI)?

  Agreeing with majority to gain social approval
• How does group size affect conformity?

  Increases with size, levels off after three
• What is unanimity in a group?

  Extent to which all members agree
• How does task difficulty affect conformity?

  Increases as participants assume majority is right
• What are social roles?

  Parts people play in social groups
• What is obedience?

  Following a direct order from authority
• What are situational variables in obedience?

  Factors influencing obedience related to circumstances
• What is proximity in obedience?

  Physical distance to the authority figure
• How does location affect obedience?

  Prestige of location influences obedience levels
• What is uniform in the context of authority?

  Outfit symbolizing authority and obedience
• What is the agentic state?

  Mental state of feeling no personal responsibility
• What is legitimacy of authority?

  Obeying those perceived to have authority
• What is a dispositional explanation?

  Behavior explanation focusing on personality traits
• What is the authoritarian personality?

  Personality type submissive to authority
• What is resistance to social influence?

  Ability to withstand pressure to conform or obey
• What is social support?

  Presence of others resisting social pressure
• What is locus of control (LOC)?

  Sense of direction of life events
• What is minority influence?

  Minority persuading others to adopt beliefs
• How does consistency affect minority influence?

  Effective if minority maintains same beliefs over time
• What is commitment in minority influence?

  Demonstrating dedication to a position
• What is flexibility in minority influence?

  Effectiveness increases with willingness to compromise