social influence

• Compliance


  Agreeing with the group externally but keeping personal opinions, a temporary change in behavior
• Identification


  Behaving according to the group's values when with the group, as membership is valued
• Internalization


  Personal opinions genuinely change to match the group, a permanent change
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  Looking to the majority for guidance on how to behave correctly, results in internalization
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  Wanting to appear normal and be approved by the majority, results in compliance
• Asch 1951 study found 32% of participants conformed to the incorrect group response
• Jenness 1932 study found individuals' second private guesses moved closer to the group's guess, providing evidence for ISI
• Variables affecting conformity


  • Group size (conformity increases with more confederates)
  • Presence of a dissenting voice (conformity drops if one confederate gives the correct response)
  • Task difficulty (conformity increases on more difficult tasks)
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment found participants quickly conformed to their assigned social roles as prisoners and guards
• Agentic state


  The individual believes they don't have responsibility for their behavior as they are just following orders from an authority figure
• Autonomous state


  The individual feels their actions are free from control
• Legitimacy of authority


  Individuals accept that those higher in the social hierarchy should be obeyed
• Milgram 1963 study found 65% of participants were willing to deliver the maximum 450-volt shock when instructed by an authority figure
• Variations of Milgram's study found obedience decreased when the authority figure lacked legitimacy (e.g. not in a lab coat)
• Dispositional factors like authoritarianism have been linked to greater obedience, but the relationship is correlational
• Factors enabling resistance to social influence

  • Social support
  • Locus of control (internal locus of control associated with greater resistance)
• Minority influence


  Minorities attempt to change majority opinion through informational social influence, a slow process that can speed up through the snowball effect
• Characteristics of effective minority influence


  • Consistency
  • Flexibility
  • Commitment
• Social change often occurs through a snowball effect as the minority view gains more acceptability and converts more of the majority
• Group membership affects susceptibility to influence, with in-group members more likely to be persuaded
• Governments can drive social change quickly by changing and enforcing laws due to their legitimacy of authority