Social Influence: Norms, Obedience and Conformity – Flashcards

Social norms - shared expectations about how people should think, feel, and behave; they are the glue that binds social systems together. Social roles - consists of a set of norms that characterize how people in a given social position ought to behave. Impact on behavior - social norms: regulate daily behavior, taken for granted. Social roles: different behavior expectations, role conflict can occur.

Many social customs that we take for granted as "normal" are not "normal" when judged from another cultural perspective. Humans develop common standards for behavior and judgement based on their cultural upbringing.

Informational - following the opinions or behavior of other people because we believe that they have accurate knowledge and that what they are doing is right. Normative -conforming to obtain the rewards that come from being accepted by other people while at the same time avoiding their rejection. Asch's Experiment - group was asked to identify something visually. Majority answered wrong each time... group conformed to that answer (informational). Members told the one person they went along to avoid making waves and suffering possible rejection (normative).

Group size - increased group size does not increase conformity Presence of a dissenter - decreases conformity. Serves as a model for remaining independent from group. Minority influence strongest when the minority maintains a highly consistent position over time.

Remoteness of the victim - obedience was greatest when the learner was out of sight. Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure - obedience was highest when the authority figure was close by and perceived as legitimate. Diffusion of responsibility- obedience increases when someone else does the dirty work. Personal characteristics - differences between obedient and nonobedient people were weak and nonexistent.

It is the situation of the person that determines how he will act.

Norm of reciprocity - involves the expectation that when others treat us well, we should respond in kind. Door in the face technique - a persuader makes a large request, expecting you to reject it and then presents a smaller request. Foot in the door technique - a persuader gets you to comply with a small request first and later presents a larger request. Lowballing - a persuader gets you to commit to some actions and then - before you actually perform the behavior - he or she increases the "cost" of that same behavior.

Social loafing - the tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone. Causes.measures to avoid - on a collective task, people will put forth only as much effort as they expect is needed to attain a vlued goal. Occurs when the task or the group has less value or meaning to the person. May disappear when members high value their group of the task goal.

Group polarization - when a group of like-minded people discuss an issue, the "average" opinion of group members tends to become more extreme. Causes/consequences - individuals who are more attracted to a group may be motivated to adopt a more extreme position to obtain the group's approval.

Groupthink - the tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek an agreement. Most likely to occur when a group is under high stress to make a decision, is insulated from outside input, has a directive leader, and has high cohesiveness.

Disinviduation - a loss of individuality that leads to disinhibited behavior. Why - annonymity to outsiders is key. Conditions that make an individual feel less identifiable to people outside the group reduce feelings of accountability and increase risk of anti-social actions.

Psychological influences - self justification, attribution of intentionality, catharsis (states that performing an act of aggression discharges aggressive energy and temporarily reduces our impulse to aggress).