Power, Obedience and Conformity.

Chapter 9: Social Influences on the Individual

What is power?

‘An individual’s (or group’s) ability to control or influence the thoughts, feelings or behaviour of another person (or group)’.

Types of PowerType of Power Source of Power

1 Reward power Individual’s identify with or want to be like or liked by others

2 Coercive power Having special knowledge and skills that are desirable or needed

3Legitimate power

Having resources or information that are useful and are not available elsewhere

4Referent power

Ability to give negative consequences or remove positive consequences in response to specific behaviour

5Expert power

Ability to give positive consequences or remove negative consequences in response to specific behaviour

6

Informational power

An individual’s status or position in a group, institution or society in general gives them the right (authority) to exercise power over those with a lower status or with less authority

Effects of status and power within groups• Status and power are influenced by the role that each individual has in the group

•A role is the behaviour adopted by an individual or assigned to them that influences the way in which they function or act in different situations and life in general

•Role expectations have a strong influence on an individual’s behaviour within a group, especially when their role provides considerable power and status.

•Famous experiment: Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Obedience•Obedience occurs when we follow the commands of someone with authority, or the rules or laws of our society

•Famous experiment: Milgram’s experiments on obedience

•Three factors that affect obedience: Social proximity, legitimacy of authority figures and group pressure.

Social ProximitySocial Proximity refers to the closeness between two or more people including physical distance and closeness of a relationship.

Example: Are you more likely to do your work if a teacher is standing right next to you?

Legitimacy of authority figures

An individual is more likely to be obedient when the authority figure is perceived as being legitimate and having power.

Group PressureAn individual is more likely to be obedient where there is a little or no group support for resisting the authority figure.

ConformityThe tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with accepted standards about how a person should behave in certain situations.

Famous experiment: Asch’s experiments on conformity

Factors affecting conformity: group size, unanimity, informational influence, normative influence, culture, social loafing and deindividuation.

Pages 396 – 402 in your textbook.

Find definitions for the factors affecting conformity.