Conformity and Obedience Note

Conformity and Obedience I. Conformity: When and Why Learning Objective: 8.1 Define conformity, and explain why it occurs.  For social psychologists, the essence of conformity is changing one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others.  Some people conform because they do not know what to do in a confusing or unusual situation. The behavior of the people around them serves as a cue as to how to respond, and they decide to act in a similar manner. Other people conform because they do not wish to be ridiculed or punished for being different. A. Features  Review Questions II. Informational Social Influence: The Need to Know What’s “Right” Learning Objective: 8.2 Explain how informational social influence motivates people to conform.  The behavior of other people is a powerful source of information that we can turn to in ambiguous and confusing situations. We conform because we believe that others’ interpretation of ambiguous circumstances is accurate and will help us choose an appropriate course of action. This is called informational social influence  An important feature of informational social influence is that it can lead to private acceptance, which is when people conform to the behavior of others because they genuinely believe that these other people are right.  Public compliance is conforming publicly without necessarily believing in what the group is doing. A. The Importance of Being Accurate  How important it is to be accurate at a task also affects informational social influence. In many situations, judgments and decisions have consequences, and you’re motivated to “get things right.” Researchers have found that this makes you more susceptible to informational social influence.  The major risk of using other people around you for information is that those people could be wrong. B. When Informational Conformity Backfires  During crises, when an individual is confronted with a frightening, potentially dangerous situation to which he or she is ill equipped to respond, the need for information is acute—and the behavior of others is very informative.  However, Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds broadcast and the “fake news” stories that proliferated during the 2016 presidential campaign are two examples of how informational social influence can backfire in a widespread fashion. C. When Will People Conform to Informational Social Influence? 1. When the Situation Is Ambiguous  When you are unsure of the correct response, the appropriate behavior, or the right idea, you will be most open to influence from others. 2. When the Situation Is a Crisis  In a crisis, we usually do not have time to stop and think about which course of action we should take. If we panic and are uncertain what to do, it is only natural for us to see how other people are responding and to do likewise. 3. When Other People Are Experts  Typically, the more expertise or knowledge a person has, the more valuable he or she will be as a guide in an ambiguous situation. D. Features  Review Questions III. Normative Social Influence: The Need to Be Accepted Learning Objective: 8.3 Explain how normative social influence motivates people to conform.  Beyond the need for information, we also conform so that we will be liked and accepted by other people. We conform to the group’s social norms—implicit (and sometimes explicit) rules for acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs.  Normative social influence occurs when the influence of other people leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted. This type of conformity results in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily in private acceptance. A. Conformity and Social Approval: The Asch Line-Judgment Studies  Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) conducted a series of now-classic studies exploring the power of normative social influence. He devised the studies assuming that there are limits to how much people will conform, that when a situation is wholly unambiguous, people will act like rational, objective problem solvers. B. The Importance of Being Accurate, Revisited  Even when the group is wrong, the right answer is obvious, and there are strong incentives to be accurate, some people still find it difficult to risk social disapproval, even from strangers. C. The Consequences of Resisting Normative Social Influence  One way to observe the power of normative social pressure is to examine the consequences when people manage to resist it. They can be taken aside and talked to, reprimanded, or even ostracized by a group. D. When Will People Conform to Normative Social Influence?  According to social impact theory, the likelihood that you will respond to social influence depends on three variables regarding the group in question: (1) Strength: How important the group is to you. (2) Immediacy: How close the group is to you in space and time during the attempt to influence you. (3) Number: How many people are in the group (see Figure 8.4).  The very act of conforming normatively to important groups most of the time can earn you idiosyncrasy credits, or the right to deviate occasionally without serious consequences.  Normative social influence is most powerful when there is unanimity in a group. If you have an ally, another person who disagrees with the group, this will help you buck the tide as well. In collectivist cultures, agreeing with others is viewed not as an act of submission or cowardice but as an act of tact and sensitivity. Because the emphasis is on the group and not the individual, people in collectivist cultures value normative social influence because it promotes harmony and supportive relationships in the group. E. Minority Influence: When the Few Influence the Many  An individual or minority of group members can also influence the behavior or beliefs of the majority. This is called minority influence. F. Features  Try It! Unmasking Normative Social Influence by Breaking the Rules  #trending: Social Norms and Bigotry  Review Questions  IV. Conformity Tactics Learning Objective: 8.4 Describe how people can use their knowledge of social influence to influence others. A. The Role of Injunctive and Descriptive Norms  Injunctive norms have to do with what we think other people approve or disapprove of. Injunctive norms motivate behavior by promising rewards (or punishments) for normative (or nonnormative) behavior.  Descriptive norms concern our perceptions of the way people actually behave in a given situation, regardless of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved of by others. Descriptive norms motivate behavior by informing people about what is effective or adaptive behavior. B. Using Norms to Change Behavior: Beware the “Boomerang Effect”  Efforts to change others’ behavior through processes of conformity must consider the different types of people receiving the message: Those performing the undesirable behavior at an above-average level (whom you want to convince to decrease the behavior) and those already performing it at a below-average level (who you want to continue doing what they’re doing rather than to boomerang by increasing the undesirable behavior). C. Other Tactics of Social Influence  The foot-in-the-door technique is a strategy in which getting people to agree first to a small request makes them more likely to agree later to a second, larger request.  The door-in-the-face technique is a strategy in which first asking people for a large request that they will probably refuse makes them more likely to agree later to a second, smaller request.  Social influence can also be used to pursue illegal, immoral, and unconscionable aims, as with the extraordinary example of propaganda, especially as perfected by the Nazis. Propaganda has been defined as “the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.” D. Features  Review Questions V. Obedience to Authority Learning Objective: 8.5 Summarize studies that have demonstrated people’s willingness to obey authority figures.  Obedience to authority is one of the strongest forms of social influence. From a young age, we are socialized to obey authority figures whom we perceive as legitimate. We internalize this norm of obedience such that we usually adhere to rules and laws even when the authority figure isn’t present (e.g., when we stop at a red light). A. The Milgram Study  In the most famous series of studies in social psychology, Stanley Milgram (1963, 1974, 1976) attempted to find out if an experimenter could influence ordinary people to commit immoral acts, such as inflicting severe pain on an innocent bystander (see Figure 8.6). B. The Role of Normative Social Influence  Normative pressures made it difficult for people in Milgram’s studies to refuse to continue. If someone really wants us to do something, it can be difficult to say no, particularly when the person is in a position of authority. Milgram’s participants probably believed that if they refused to continue, the experimenter would be disappointed or even angry—all of which put pressure on them. C. The Role of Informational Social Influence  Another reason Milgram’s participants complied is because they were in confusing circumstances and unsure of what to do. Informational social influence is especially powerful when the situation is ambiguous, when it is a crisis, and when the other people in the situation have some expertise. All three of these characteristics describe the situation Milgram’s participants faced. D. Other Reasons Why We Obey 1. Adhering to the Wrong Norm  Milgram’s participants continued to obey the experimenter and shock the learner because they were caught in a web of conflicting norms, and it was difficult to determine which ones to follow. 2. Self-Justification  Participants’ agreement to administer the first shock created internal pressure on them to continue to obey. As they administered each successive level of shock, they had to justify it in their own minds. Justifying one level of shock then laid the groundwork for the next level, and quitting would have produced dissonance. 3. The Loss of Personal Responsibility  Sometimes when you are a research participant (or an employee) and the other person is a legitimate authority figure, you become the “puppet.” They can define what it is you are supposed to do, and they are responsible for the end results—after all, it was their idea, and you were “just following orders.” E. The Obedience Studies, Then and Now  Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience is widely considered to be one of the most important contributions to the field of psychology. However, his research paradigm also ignited a storm of protest (and soul-searching) in the research community over the ethical treatment of research participants. KEY TERMS                Conformity: A change in one’s behavior due to real or imagined influence of other people Informational Social Influence: Relying on other people as a source of information to guide our behavior, which leads to conformity because we believe that others’ interpretation of an ambiguous situation is correct Private Acceptance: Conforming to other people’s behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right Public Compliance: Conforming to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what the other people are doing or saying Social Norms: The implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members Normative Social Influence: Going along with what other people do to be liked and accepted by them, which leads to public conformity with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not always private acceptance of them Social Impact Theory: The idea that conforming to social influence depends on the group’s importance, immediacy, and the number of people in the group Idiosyncrasy Credits: The tolerance a person earns, over time, by conforming to group norms; if enough credits are earned, the person can, on occasion, deviate from the group without retribution Minority Influence: The case where a minority of group members influences the behavior or beliefs of the majority Injunctive Norms: People’s perceptions of what behaviors are approved or disapproved of by others Descriptive Norms: People’s perceptions of how people actually behave in given situations, regardless of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved of by others Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Social influence strategy in which getting people to agree first to a small request makes them more likely to agree later to a second, larger request Door-in-the-Face Technique: Social influence strategy in which first asking people for a large request that they will probably refuse makes them more likely to agree later to a second, smaller request Propaganda: A deliberate, systematic attempt to advance a cause by manipulating mass attitudes and behaviors, often through misleading or emotionally charged information Obedience: A change in one’s behavior due to the direct influence of an authority figure