social influence

• Compliance


  The most superficial type of conformity, you change your behaviour to be accepted by the group. You publicly conform to the behaviour and views of others, but only you keep your own views so your behaviour/opinion changes as soon as the group pressure stops.
• Compliance


  • A person may laugh at a joke that others are laughing at while genuinely not finding it very funny, or someone might give a positive view of a film they found rather boring just because others are raving about it.
• Identification


  An intermediate level of conformity and occurs because we identify with other group members. It is a temporary change in belief. You publicly and privately take on the norms of the group (behaviour and opinions) because membership of the group is desirable. It is a stronger type of conformity than compliance because it involves private acceptance but weaker than internalisation because it is temporary and is not maintained when individuals leave the group.
• Identification


  • Soldiers in the army may adopt the behaviour of other soldiers but when they leave the army and return to civilian life, their opinions and behaviours will change because they are no longer with their army friends.
• Internalisation


  The deepest level of conformity and results in a permanent change in belief. This is when the views of the group are internalised and you actually take on the new attitudes and behaviours of the group publicly and privately. The change in belief/behaviour persists even in the absence of other group members. The person's private view permanently changes. Internalisation is also referred to as 'Conversion'. A true conversion will survive, even when the person loses contact with the original group.
• Internalisation


  • A student may become a vegetarian because she has shared a flat at university with a group of vegetarians. When she returns home, she continues to live as a vegetarian. In this example she has permanently had a change of attitude and behaviour as a direct result of the group.
• Normative social influence


  • Conformity to social norms and pressures to behave in a socially acceptable way
• Informational social influence


  • Conformity to gain information and be correct, especially in ambiguous situations
• Asch's conformity study (1951) demonstrated normative social influence
• Asch found that participants conformed to the unanimous incorrect answer 32% of the time, even when the correct answer was obvious
• 74% of participants conformed at least once, showing strong group pressure to conform even in unambiguous situations
• Sherif's conformity study demonstrated informational social influence
• Sherif's conformity study procedure

  1. Participants made estimates individually

  2. Participants made estimates in a group

  3. Participants made estimates individually again
• When participants were alone, their estimates varied widely, but in the group their estimates converged, and when alone again their estimates were more like the group's
• Participants were influenced by the estimates of others and a group norm developed, as they did not know the correct answer and used information from others to help them
• Strengths of research on normative and informational social influence

  • Research evidence supports the theories
  • Laboratory experiments allow control of extraneous variables and replication
• Weaknesses of research on normative and informational social influence


  • Alternative explanations like social identity theory
  • Ethical issues in some studies
• The Stanford Prison Experiment (1973) investigated how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a simulated prison environment
• The experiment had to be stopped after 6 days as the guards became increasingly aggressive and the prisoners increasingly submissive and rebellious
• Strengths of the Stanford Prison Experiment

  • High internal validity
  • Demonstrated how the power structure of an organisation can impact behaviour
• Weaknesses of the Stanford Prison Experiment

  • Ethical issues with participants being exposed to degrading and humiliating treatment
  • Behaviour may have been due to role-playing rather than true conformity
• Obedience


  Compliance with a direct order or command from an authority figure, with an emphasis on power and hierarchy
• Conformity


  Changing one's behaviour to match that of a group, with an emphasis on acceptance and peer pressure
• Obedience research was prompted by the atrocities committed by the Nazis in World War II, which were seen as due to unquestioning obedience to authority
• Milgram's obedience experiment found that 65% of participants were willing to administer what they believed were dangerous electric shocks to a confederate when instructed to do so by an authority figure
• Milgram's findings suggest that ordinary people are capable of committing atrocities when acting under orders, rather than it being due to the 'national character' of Germans
• How do the minority bring about social change?
• Minority influence


  1. Drawing attention to an issue

  2. Building relationships with each other

  3. Remaining committed to achieving their rights

  4. Growing in size and picking up momentum

  5. Allowing social change to occur
• Minority groups that brought about social change

  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Gay Rights Movement
• The minority's influence is often forgotten once social change has occurred and become an integral part of society's culture
• How the majority brings about social change through conformity
• Normative influences


  People do what everyone else is doing because they want to be the same
• Informational influences


  People do what everyone else is doing because they think everyone else is right
• Conformity


  People do what everyone else is doing either because they want to be the same or because they think everyone else is right
• How obedience can lead to social change


  1. Dictators using power and the process of obedience

  2. Gradual commitment - small instructions leading to bigger ones
• Milgram showed that a disobedient model caused obedience levels to drop to 10%
• Factors needed for minority influence to be successful

  • Consistency
  • Commitment
  • Flexibility
• Consistency


  Remaining consistent in their viewpoint
• Commitment


  Being committed to their cause and showing courage in the face of a hostile majority
• Flexibility


  Not being too dogmatic but also not too willing to compromise