PSY004 EXPLORING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

- Lecture 4 Social Influence – Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience

Social influence
The process whereby attitudes and behavior are influenced (changed) by the
presence of other people.

 Social influences vary in the degree of pressure they bring to bear on an

individual. People may:
 Conform to group norms or maintain their independence
 Comply with requests or be assertive
 Obey or defy the commands of authority.

Conformity
 Tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are
consistent with group norms.

Sherif's Studies on Norm Formation

 Sherif conducted an experiment to demonstrate how norms develop in small
group.
 Participants were asked to estimate how far the dot of light had moved.
 Participants’ estimates gradually converged.
 Participants conformed to the norm that had developed.
 Uncertainty increased rate at which norm development occurred.

Asch’s Conformity Studies

 Participants were seated with several confederates and asked to compare
lines of different lengths.
 The confederates had been instructed to give incorrect answers.
 The studies investigated the extent to which participants conform to the
majority, even when they know the majority is incorrect.
 The participants in Asch’s experiments conformed to the majority about a
third of the time.
 Of the non-conforming participants, about 25% remained totally
independent, never agreeing with the incorrect majority.

Why Do People Conform?

Informational Influence
 People conform because they believe others are correct in their judgments.
 Under the state of uncertainty
 Following the collective wisdom might be an effective strategy
Normative Influence
 People conform because they fear the consequences of appearing deviant.
 based on the desire to be liked & accepted by others.
Types of Conformity
Private Conformity
 Changes in both overt behavior and beliefs
 True acceptance or conversion
 Truly persuaded that others in a group are correct
Public Conformity
 Superficial change in overt behavior without a corresponding change of self
opinion
 Pretended to agree when privately not
 To please others

Factors That Affect Conformity

 Personality factors/individual differences
 feelings of incompetence/insecurity – e.g., low self- esteem/need for
approval
 Cultural bias towards conformity
 may be more likely in collectivist societies
 Nature of the Task
 As the task facing the individual becomes more ambiguous (i.e., less
obvious), the amount of conformity increases (Crutchfield, 1955)
 Issues with no clear right or wrong answer
 The Size of the Majority
 As the size of the majority increases, so does conformity, up to a
point. After that, the addition of more majority members does not
significantly increase conformity
 Having a True Partner
 True partner effect: The phenomenon whereby an individual’s
tendency to conform with a majority position is reduced if there is
one other person who supports the nonconforming individual’s
position.
 When there was an ally in Asch’s study, conformity dropped by almost
80%.
 When we have a true partner, we can diffuse the pressure by
convincing ourselves that we are not the only ones breaking a norm.