Social influence

• Kalman (1958) defined three types of conformity:

  • Compliance: agreeing externally with the group but keeping personal opinions, a temporary change in behavior
  • Identification: behaving with private values changing only when with the group, as membership is valued
  • Internalization: personal opinions genuinely change to match the group, a permanent change
• Informational social influence: individuals look for the majority for guidance on correct behaviors, resulting in internalization, a permanent change
• Normative social influence (NSI): individuals conform to appear normal and be approved by the majority, leading to compliance, a superficial temporary action
• Variables affecting conformity as investigated by Asch (1951):

  • Group size variation: conformity increased with more Confederates, but beyond three, conformity rates didn't increase
  • Social support: if one Confederate gives a correct response disagreeing with the majority, conformity drops
  • Task difficulty: when the difference in line lengths is small, conformity increases due to informational social influence (ISI)
• Milgram (1963) conducted a study on obedience:

  • Participants were asked to deliver electric shocks to a learner, with obedience dropping when the learner was in the same room as the teacher
  • Obedience rates were high, with 65% going to the full 450 volts, showing the power of authority figures
• Milgram's study on obedience found that situational variables, like proximity to the learner, significantly affected obedience rates
• Milgram's study on obedience to authority:

  • Participants were instructed to continue giving shocks up to 450 volts
  • Obedience dropped to 40% when the learner was in the same room
  • Obedience dropped to 30% when the teacher had to physically hold the learner's hand on the shock plate
  • Location replication in an office block in a rundown area showed obedience up to 47.6%
  • Uniform replication with the professor replaced by a Confederate in normal clothes resulted in obedience dropping to 20%
• Adorno's study in the 1950s focused on personality questionnaires revealing unconscious feelings towards minority groups, developing the F scale to measure authoritarian personalities
• Elms and Milgram's 1966 interviews of participants in Milgram's studies showed those who administered the full 450 volts scored higher on the F scale, linking authoritarian personalities to following orders
• Resistance to social influence:

  • Social support reduces pressure to obey or conform
  • Locus of control, with a high internal locus of control leading to more resistance to social influence
  • Minority influence requires individuals to reject majority behaviors or beliefs and be converted to the views of a minority
• Social change:

  • Minorities can change majority positions through consistency, flexibility, and commitment
  • The snowball effect speeds up the process as more of the majority convert to the new view
  • Social crypt amnesia occurs after societal change, where individuals refuse to admit they held the old view