Social Influence

• Compliance


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


  Behaving according to group membership, private values change only when with the group
• 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</b>
• Jenness 1932 study found individuals' second private guesses moved closer to the group's guess, providing evidence for ISI
• Variables affecting conformity


  • Group size (more Confederates = more conformity)
  • Presence of a dissenting voice (reduces conformity)
  • Task difficulty (more conformity for ambiguous 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's obedience study found 65% of participants were willing to deliver the maximum 450-volt shock
• Situational variables affecting obedience

  • Proximity to victim (less obedience when in same room)
  • Uniform of authority figure (less obedience without uniform)
  • Location (more obedience in prestigious location)
• Adorno argued that high levels of authoritarianism and prejudice were linked to personality factors
• Resistance to social influence

  • Social support
  • Locus of control (internal = less conformity)
  • Minority influence (consistency, flexibility, commitment)
• Social change often occurs through a 'snowball effect' as the minority view gains more acceptability and converts the majority
• Group membership affects how open we are to influence, with in-group members more persuasive than out-group members
• Governments can drive social change quickly by changing and enforcing laws due to their legitimacy of authority