Social Influence

• Internalisation


  A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a far reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
• Identification

  A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way as the group because we value it and want to be a part of it. But we don't necessarily agree with everything the group/ majority believes
• Compliance


  A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view, but privately disagree with it. The change in our behaviour only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be correct as well. This may lead to internalisation.
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance.
• 3 ways in which people conform (Kelman 1958)

  • Identification
  • Internalisation
  • Compliance
• Compliance


  Public but not private change in behaviour, and only do it when the group are present
• Identification


  Public but not private change in behaviour, and do it whether the group are there or not - all of the time
• Internalisation


  Public and private change in behaviour, and do it whether the group are there or not - all of the time
• Deutsch and Gerard 1955

  Developed a two process theory to explain conformity based on the two central human needs
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  Need to be right, cognitive process, leads to permanent change (internalisation), happen in new and crisis situations
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  Need to be liked, emotional process, temporary change (compliance), happen in stressful situations and situations with strangers or friends
• Schultz 2008 discovered that they could change the behaviour of hotel guests by using encouraging printed messages to reserve energy → guests used fewer towels → successful
• Asch's participants said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and were afraid of disapproval
• Study by Todd Lucas, found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when the maths problems were difficult. Participants did not want to be wrong, so they relied on the answers they were given.
• It's often unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in research studies of real life. Hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations.
• Individual differences in NSI
• Social roles


  The 'parts' people play as members of various social groups
• Examples of social roles in everyday life

  • parent
  • child
  • passenger
  • student
• Zimbado's volunteers


  24 emotionally stable American students - men
• Zimbado's experiment


  A mock prison at stanford university to test why prison guards behave brutally?sadistic personality?social roles?
• Instructions about behaviour in Zimbado's experiment

  1. Guards: reminded they had total power over the prisoners, given 16 rules

  2. Prisoners: could apply for parole rather than leave the experiment
• Uniform in Zimbado's experiment

  • Guards: uniform, wooden club, handcuffs, mirrored shades
  • Prisoners: loose smock, cap to cover hair, identified by number
  • More likely to conform to social roles with a uniform as de-individualisation
• De-individualisation


  Loss of personal identity
• Guards


  • Took up roles with enthusiasm, treated prisoners harshly
  • Within two days, prisoners rebelled - ripped their uniform, swore and shouted at guards
  • Used 'divide and rule' tactics, harassed prisoners constantly eg frequent headcounts
  • Identified more with their role becoming increasingly brutal and appeared to enjoy the power
• Prisoners


  • Became subdued, anxious and depressed
  • One was released because of psychological disturbance
  • Two more released on the fourth day
  • One went on hunger strike - guards attempted to force feed him
  • One was punished and put in 'the hole' (a tiny dark cupboard)
• Social identity theory


  Being grouped leads to prejudice and discrimination through conformity
• Categorisation


  • You know what group you are in
• Identification


  • You develop a shared identity and link your self esteem to that group
• Comparison


  • You have to compare favourably to the other outgroup to protect your self esteem
• Conformity


  A change in a person's behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
• Group size


  • Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates, thus increasing the size of the majority
• Unanimity


  • The extent to which all the members of a group agree
  • Unanimous agreement by all people involved; consensus
• Task difficulty


  • Asch's line-judging task is more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer
• Confederate


  A person who works with someone in secret- an accomplice
• Baseline


  An initial measure against which to compare to others
• Asch's research


  • Variables affecting conformity including group size, unanimity and task difficulty as investigated by Asch
• Asch's baseline procedure


  To assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others
• Asch's findings: Genuine participants agreed with the confederates incorrect answer 36.8% of the time. 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer.
• Variables investigated by Asch


  • Task difficulty
  • Group size
  • Unanimity