Social Influence - Glossary

• Conformity

  Change in belief/behaviour to fit in with a group, refers to group pressure
• Compliance

  Going along publicly, not changing view/opinions primarily
• Identification

  Publicly changing to become part of a valued group
• Internalisation

  Genuinely agreeing with group norms, making internal change (persists in absence of group)
• Informational Social Influence (ISI)

  Cognitive process regarding who has better information, individual or group
• Normative Social Influence (NSI)

  Emotional process regarding what's normal behaviour for a social group
• Asch's Line Experiment

  • Conformity in unambiguous situations
  • Increased group size to see effect on conformity
  • Unanimity - extent to which all members agree; non-conformity added to see effect on conformity
  • Task difficulty - made line judging more difficult to see effect on conformity
• Social Role

  Parts people play as members of social groups + expectations involved
• De-individuation

  Loss of personal identity
• Obedience

  Social influence in which individual follows orders from authority figure
• Situational Variables

  • Physical/social environment which influences behaviour
  • Proximity - physical closeness/distance of authority figure
  • Location - place where order is given, factor influencing obedience
  • Uniform - specific outfits, symbols of authority role, entitled to obedience
• Agentic State

  Allowing someone to direct behaviour, passing responsibility to them
• Autonomous State

  Directing own behaviour, taking responsibility for consequences
• Agentic Shift

  Moving from autonomous state to agentic (when confronted by authority figure)
• Binding Factors

  Aspects that allow individual to minimise effects of behaviour
• Legitimacy of Authority

  More likely to obey those perceived to have authority, justified by position of power in social hierarchy
• Legitimacy of System

  Extent to which a body is a legitimate source of authority
• Legitimacy of Authority within System

  Power individuals hold to give orders because of position in system
• Legitimacy of Demands or Orders Given

  Extent to which an order's perceived legitimacy stems from the authority figure