SocPsych Chapter 6

Group size is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

It influences people's conformity because the more people are conforming to something, the more pressure people feel to conform. 3 to 5 people will elicit more conformity than just 1 or 2

What factors contribute to who conforms?

Personality and social roles. PERSONALITY: Generally more conformity- Higher in agreeableness and conscientiousness. Generally, less conformity- Higher in openness to experience. Believe in free will and personal control. SOCIAL ROLES: Conforming to expectations is an important task when taking on a new social role. Other factors that REDUCE the likelihood of conformity: High need for achievement, high self-esteem, high self-awareness, propensity to be leaders.

John wants to go out with Sue, but Sue is playing "hard-to-get." John is all the more intrigued and motivated to get a date with Sue. Explain this scenario in terms of the reactance theory.

Reactance theory is the concept that when others tell us we should do something, we sometimes react in the opposite way to preserve our sense of control. Reactance theory can give insight on this example because as Sue is playing hard to get and acting uninterested, John reacts to the idea that he doesn't have a choice by trying harder to woo her.

Briefly summarize the studies by Sherif, Asch, and Milgram by listing the topic and method of each. Be sure to also provide a real-life example of each study.

Sherif studied "norm formation" in cultural habits such as suggestibility, yawning, laughter, applause, mood linkage (Emotion contagion), chameleon effect (Mimicry), and mass hysteria. Asch studied group conformity by having group participants give a wrong answer to a question and seeing if the subject being studied would follow suit. Milgram- His experiment tested to see how far a subject would go in committing a cruel act (shocking a participant) because a figure in authority told them to.

Conformity

a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure

cohesion is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

"We feeling"; extent to which members of a group are bound together. The more cohesive a group is, the more power it gains over its members.

reactance

A motive to protect or restore one's sense of freedom. Reactance arises when someone threatens our freedom of action.

Descriptive norms

Information about what people commonly do in a situation.

Who created Social Impact Theory?

Bibb Latane

Compliance

Changes in behavior that are due to a direct request and/or expectations.

informational influence

Conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people. Ex. When reality is ambiguous, as it was for participants in the autokinetic situation, other people can be a valuable source of information. The individual may reason, "I can't tell how far the light is moving. But this guy seems to know."

Define and provide an example of informational influence.

Informational influence is the conforming to information provided by another person. For example, if a friend goes out with you to a specific restaurant, you may like that restaurant more because you infer that it is a restaurant your friend likes.

Obedience

Involves acting accord with a direct order or command, typically from someone in authority. Can involve acceptance as well.

Acceptance

Involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure.

Culture is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

Different cultures socialize people to be more or less socially responsive

status is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

Higher-status people and experts tend to have more impact.

Describe what was done and what was found in Asch's study.

In Asch's study, experiments were performed to see if social pressure would influence individuals to give a wrong answer to a simple question. Several participants were places in a group and shown lines of various length. Then they were asked to compare those lines to a specific line and tell which of the lines matched its length. There was a very obvious answer, but everybody in the experiment except one of the participants had been told to give a specific wrong answer. The goal of the experiment was to see if the subject would give the wrong answer after hearing all the other participants give the same wrong answer. In the original experiment performed by Asch in the 1950's, about 37 percent of subjects gave the wrong answer. While the majority of the participants were able to resist the pressure to conform, 37 percent is still quite a significant number, especially considering there were no external rewards for conforming.

Describe three of the variations done on Milgram's original obedience experiment. Be sure to discuss how the results varied as a function of these changes.

Jerry Burger performed Milgram's obedience experiment in 2006 with a different sample. His experiment included men and women, and the men in the modern experiment were twice as likely to disobey orders and stop the experiment, which may be due to being in a more individualistic culture. Nevertheless, the rates of conformity were still very high- 67 percent. Milgram repeated his experiment in 2000 with a slight variation- The actor who was "being shocked" first complained about heart health problems before the experiment began. Such complaints didn't do much to persuade participants to stop; 63 percent continued with the experiment through the end. In other studies that included women, it was found that the compliance rates of women were similar to men.

Define and provide an example of normative influence.

Normative influence is the social pressure that influences an individual to conform for the purpose of fitting in and being accepted. For example, if an individual liked a movie that was very unpopular, they might trash the movie in front of others for fear of rejection.

unanimity is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

Observing another's dissent can increase our own independence

public response is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

People conform more when they must respond in front of others.

Prior commitment is a factor that influences people's conformity. Explain why.

People who have made prior commitments to others feel pressured to keep those commitments.

Injunctive norms

People's perceptions of what behaviors are approved or disapproved of by others. What people feel is right or wrong based on morals or beliefs.

Social Impact Theory

The idea that conforming to social influence depends on the strength of the group's importance (the more important a group is to us), its immediacy (the more we are in its presence), and the number of people in the group.