Conformity, Compliance, & Obedience:Lecture #6 topics

The automaticity of social influence

Conformity

Compliance

Obedience

The automaticity of social influence

social influence:

the ways in which we are affected by the real/ imagined _________ of other people

we are vulnerable to subtle influences e.g., _________, _________

effects occur within 72 hours of birth

The automaticity of social influence

Chartrand & Bargh (1999):

HIGH

LOW

Confederate rubsface

Confederate taps foot

Fre

qu

ency

of

par

tici

pan

t's

acti

on

s

Participant rubs face

Participant taps foot

The automaticity of social behaviour

the _________ effect (non-conscious mimicry):

_________ mimicking people’s subtle actions _________ our social interactions with them evidence: when a confederate mimicked them,

participants liked him _________

Conformity

conformity:

changing our perceptions, opinions, & behaviour to be _________ with _________

social norms are difficult to violate e.g., wearing jeans to a wedding

Conformity

individual session dot of light appeared before

participant in darkened room

task: estimate the distance the light had moved

after a few trials, their estimates converged on their own _________ norms

group sessions same procedure, except

participants worked in groups of 3 over 3 sessions

after a few trials, participants’ estimates converged on a _________ norm

SHERIF’S (1936) “AUTOKINETIC EFFECT” STUDY:

Conformity

Sherif (1936):

IndividualSession

GroupSession 1

GroupSession 2

GroupSession 3

Dis

tan

ce e

stim

ates

Participant 1

Participant 2

Participant 3

individual estimatesconverged on group norm

Conformity

ASCH’S (1951) “LINE JUDGMENT” STUDY:

participants either worked alone or with 6 other “participants” (confederates)

task: announce which of 3 comparison lines (X, Y, Z) was same length as target line (A)

Conformity

Is A the samelength as X, Y, or Z?

A X Y Z

Alone 6-person group

# o

f in

corr

ect

jud

gm

ents

Conformity

Asch (1951):

HIGH

LOW

Conformity

informational influence desire to be correct, esp.

when physical reality is ambiguous

leads to _________ (_________): changes in both outward behaviour & inward beliefs

e.g., _________ study; religious converts

normative influence desire to avoid social

deviance & to be accepted

leads to _________ (_________): change in outward behaviour but not inward beliefs

e.g., _________ study; politicians

WHY DO PEOPLE CONFORM?

Conformity

The difference between private & public

conformity: people who have _________ conformed

maintain that change _________ participants maintained normative group

estimates up to 1 year following original study

people who have _________ conformed do not maintain that change _________ participants’ conformity dropped when

they wrote their answers in private

Conformity

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONFORMITY

group size:

conformity increases with group size up to a

certain point beyond _________ people, additional influence is

negligible

Conformity

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONFORMITY

having an ally:

any dissent—whether it validates your opinion or

not—is enough to break normative pressures to

conform

Conformity

minority influence:

process by which dissenters can bring about change in a group

most influential when they are _________ , _________ , & _________ _________ shows that they are unwilling to yield,

forcing majority to compromise

Compliance

the language of request:

mindlessness can _________ compliance e.g., Langer (1978): butting in line for the photocopier

mindlessness can _________ compliance e.g., ignoring panhandlers compliance can be increased by unusual requests

(“spare some change” vs. “spare 17¢”)

Compliance

_________:

we should treat others as they’ve treated us

we feel obligated to comply with people’s requests as repayment e.g., Regan’s (1971) “pop” study wait staff write “thank you” on bills to increase tips

Compliance

SEQUENTIAL REQUEST STRATEGIES

foot-in-the-door technique:

break the ice with a small request that can’t be refused, then follow up with a bigger request

e.g., Freedman & Fraser (1966) _________ study

Conformity

Freedman & Fraser (1966):

HIGH

LOW

No phone survey; outrageousrequest only

Phone survey first, thenoutrageous request

Co

mp

lian

ce r

ate

Conformity

SEQUENTIAL REQUEST STRATEGIES (cont’d)

low-ball technique:

committing to an attractive proposition before hidden costs are revealed

once you’ve committed yourself to a decision, you justify it to yourself & resist changing your mind

Conformity

SEQUENTIAL REQUEST STRATEGIES (cont’d)

door-in-the-face technique:

_________ of a large initial request, followed by

a second, more _________ request e.g., taking juvenile delinquents to the zoo

Modest request only Large request, followed bymodest request

Co

mp

lian

ce r

ate

Compliance

HIGH

LOW

Compliance

WHY DOES DOOR-IN-THE-FACE WORK?

_________:

_________ request seems smaller than larger,

_________ request, so we concede

_________:when someone backs down from a large request, we respond by conceding to the smaller request

Obedience

obedience:behaviour change produced by the commands of authority figures

Adolf Eichmann

Obedience

Milgram’s (1963) obedience study:

75 to 105 volts

120 volts

150 volts

330 volts

Obedience

psychiatrists, university students, & middle-classadults predicted that:

they would quit at _________ other people would quit at _________

psychiatrists also predicted that _________people would go all the way to 450 volts

Obedience

Milgram’s (1963) results:

Participants who stopped at this level

Shock level (volts) # participants /40 % of participants

300 5 12.5

315 4 10

330 2 5

345 1 2.5

360 1 2.5

375 1 2.5

450

Obedience

what makes a person so obedient?

the _________ personality:

ethnocentric, intolerant of dissent, punitive _________ to authority figures; _________

to “subordinates” more likely to administer higher shock levels

Obedience

SITUATIONAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER

the authority figure:

his _________ & *apparent* legitimacy influenced obedience

obedience dropped when: experiment moved from Yale to rundown building (___%) experimenter was replaced by a “participant” (___%) experimenter issued commands by phone (___%)

Obedience

the victim:

participants were _________ from the student could maintain emotional distance from the

consequences of their actions

obedience rates dropped when: participants sat in same room as student (___%) participants had to hold student’s hand down on

shock plate (___%)

Obedience

the procedure:

participants didn’t feel personally _________ because experimenter _________ obedience dropped when participants thought they

were personally responsible

_________ escalation of commitment couldn’t escape the situation once they realized what

they were doing (_________) similar to how torturers of political prisoners are

trained

Defiance

disobedience is a _________ act:

having just 1 ally/ dissenter is enough to give people courage to dissent as well obedience dropped when participant was joined by

___ co-teachers who refused to continue (___%)