Social Influence

Outline

Conformity Obedience to authority

What is Social Influence?

Social Influence - The many ways that people impact one another, including changes in attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behavior, that result from the comments, actions, or even the mere presence of others

What is Social Influence?

Conformity - changing one’s behavior in response to real or imagined pressure from others

Compliance - responding favorably to an explicit request by another person

Obedience - social influence in which the less powerful person in an unequal power relationship submits to the demands of the more powerful person

Why we Conform

1. Automatic Mimicry and the Chameleon Effect chameleon effect - the nonconscious mimicry of the expressions, mannerisms, movements, and other behaviors of those with whom one is interacting

Automatic Mimicry is Behind Social Contagion

o Emotional contagion: laughter, anger, depression

o Behavioural contagion: the case of suicide

o Mass psychogenic illness: the case of the Tennessee high school

o Mirror neurons: synchrony is necessary in social animals

Conformity

2. Informational Social Influencethe influence of other people that results

from taking their comments or actions as a source of information as to what is correct or proper

“when in Rome, do as the Romans do”

Sherif’s Conformity Experiment with the autokinetic illusion

Conformity

3. Normative Social Influence the influence of other people that comes

from the desire to avoid their disapproval

Asch’s Conformity Experiment

Conformity

4. Factors Affecting Conformity Pressures

Obedience to Authority

Milgram experiments, designed to explore mass atrocities, for ex the Holocaust in Nazi Germany

Why would ordinary people participate? The experiments: learner (confederate) and teacher

(the real participant) The procedure Stressful situation Surprisingly high number of ppts go all the way

Obedience to Authority: Milgram, 1963

F 15.7

Obedience To Authority Opposing Forces

a. Obeying a “legitimate” authorityb. Stopping suffering of the learner

Would You Have Obeyed?Fundamental attribution error: people

mistakenly think that the participants in this experiment are “sadistic”

a. They Tried But Failedb. Release From Responsibilityc. Step-by-Step Involvement

Obedience to Authority

Factors that increase obedience